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Operating A House Cleaning Business As a Home Based Business

Owning a home based business such as house cleaning can be quite lucrative as well as fulfilling. Probably the greatest joy of being a business owner as a house cleaner is to set your own hours and have time freedom for your family.

My friend and I have just started our house cleaning business and we work on each house as a team.

In order to build our work from home business, we advertise on such sites as Craigslist, and other free Internet venues. We ordered house cleaning postcards from a print website and we walk prospective neighborhoods leaving these cards on the front door. Also, we are asking for referrals from our customers. The local realtors are good resources for getting houses to clean as well.

We do free interviews for a prospective client. This entails walking through the house to see how much work will be involved as well as the square footage along with special requests.

Some homeowners provide cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaner and others do not. If we provide our own cleaning goods the extra cost is built into the cleaning price.

Our routine in cleaning a house is to sweep down cobwebs, clean the bathrooms, dust, sweep or vacuum and mop. Lastly we put rugs and furniture back in place if we have moved them.

As you can probably see, it only takes about 3 hours to do one job. We normally charge from $60.00 up depending on details.

There are many work from home businesses that women can do. Visit my website to download a free Ebook on having a home based business.

Operating A House Cleaning Business As a Home Based Business / Author: Beverly

Occupation: Internet Home Based Business Owner
I am an Internet Home Based Business Owner. I love being my own boss working from the comfort of my home office.
http://www.formerbrokemom.com

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The PCI DSS – Implementing Strong Access Control Measures

Data security cannot be ignored in today’s business environment. A customer’s personal information is a valuable commodity, and more and more they are going to demand high levels of security and protection. So the question is: are you able to provide it?

The PCI DSS was created by the five major credit card companies to be a measure and standard that all merchants who store, process, and transmit cardholder data must conform to. There are 12 requirements to the PCI DSS, and all of them deal with security in one form or another, but three of them are specifically about strong access control measures.

Requirement seven states that you must restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know. In other words, only authorized personnel should have access to this sensitive information. What this means in practical terms is that you must limit access to computing resources and cardholder data to those people whose jobs necessitate it. Obviously, the more people who have access to a system full of cardholder data, the more likely someone with malicious intent, or even with dangerously inadequate training, can get to it.

A merchant must also include a mechanism on systems with multiple users to restrict access to need-to-know. In other words, your system should be set to “deny all” unless otherwise stated.

The eighth requirement of the PCI DSS is a little more involved. It requires you to assign a unique ID to each person with computer access. This makes it so that any actions taken on any critical systems are done by authorized employees or, more importantly, can be traced to those users.

In more specific terms, this means that every employee must have their own ID. They cannot share a single ID between them. There must also be passwords, token devices, or biometrics along with the ID to authenticate the users. These passwords must also be encrypted in storage and in transit. User IDs require a whole other layer of management to make sure they remain safe.

Access control measures have to be exactly that thorough, though. You can’t go just halfway when it comes to data security. When you manage your passwords, then, you must be sure to control the addition, deletion, and modification of the IDs. Always verify the user before modifying passwords, set first-time passwords to a unique value for each user and then change it after the first use. Immediately remove access by terminated users, and remove access by terminated users, and remove any accounts that have been inactive for more than 90 days. Accounts for remote maintenance should only be active during the necessary period of time, and you must not use group, shared, or generic accounts and passwords.

This is really just the beginning. But don’t get overwhelmed, here. All these procedures are extremely important, and also relatively easy to maintain once they’ve been put into place.

Requirement number nine of the PCI DSS states that you must restrict physical access to cardholder data. If someone can physically access cardholder data then they can remove the systems or hard copies which contain that information. There are a lot of restrictions here as well. A merchant must restrict access to publicly accessible network jacks and wireless access points as well.

Visitors can become a problem if you’re not paying attention. A visitor who is unauthorized to be there, and is also ignored while there, can cause a lot of problems. These visitors must be authorized to be in specific areas (where data is stored), or given a specific token that expires after a certain amount of time. You should also store media back-ups in secure locations. Off-site would be a good choice for this. Any paper and other hard copies need to be secured in safe locations as well. Possibly the most important thing to remember is that you must destroy everything that has this sensitive information when you no longer need it.

PCI compliance can be a tricky and time consuming process, but the importance of the PCI DSS should not be underestimated. Data security is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of a merchant’s continued success.

Andy Eliason is a writer at Main10, Inc. If you’d like to learn more about the PCI DSS or Data Security, visit Braintree Payment Solutions today.

The PCI DSS – Implementing Strong Access Control Measures / Author: Andy Eliason

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How Important Is Data Security And PCI Compliance?

Identity is an extremely valuable commodity in this modern business world. Customers are becoming more and more aware of the need to guard their personal information and to demand a high level of data security around any electronic transactions they make. The PCI DSS was created to be a standard and a measure against which merchants can be judged and a tool to help them achieve the necessary level of security.

PCI compliance is required of any company that stores, processes, or transmits sensitive credit card data. The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) was created by the five major credit card companies and consists of 12 requirements that merchants must conform to. These are not necessarily easy requirements to fulfill, nor are they necessarily cheap. PCI compliance can, in fact, be an impressive drain on your resources.

If, then, PCI compliance is so complex and time consuming, where is the incentive to accomplish it? Is the concept of data security on its own enough to motivate a merchant to take action?

First, let us back up and answer the original question. Exactly how important is data security and PCI compliance?

To answer this question we can look at some of the current examples of what can happen if you don’t place the proper importance on data security.

The TJX company is one of the most high profile cases in recent history. Starting around July 2005 hackers were able to spend about 18 months exploiting various vulnerabilities in their system to download nearly 100 million credit card numbers. But it didn’t end there. These hackers were also able to intercept information that was transmitted when a return was processed. This information is often even more sensitive than what is transmitted for a normal transaction.

What did this cost them? Between legal fees, regulatory fines, and other costs, some estimates put the monetary costs over a hundred million dollars. Other estimates put that number much, much higher.

The costs don’t end there, though. There are other, more detrimental costs that are, unfortunately, less quantifiable. These are the costs that include the loss of reputation and the increase of suspicion. When word gets out about their lack of security, how many customers will rethink their desire to do business with them? Herein lies the real detriment to future success.

Investigations continue, but it seems that the TJX company was not keeping up with PCI compliance measures. They were transmitting unencrypted data across wireless networks which means that any hacker that intercepted those transmissions can easily read that information. This is not good.

So what can most companies expect if they suffer a breach? Merchants can be fined up to 500,000 dollars per incident. If, after the breach, the merchant still does not reach PCI compliance, they may be subjected to more fines, which could include monthly fines and periodical audits as well.

Data security measures cannot be procrastinated, and they should always have a high priority in your business. Despite the inherent costs that come with PCI compliance, it will, in the end, be worth it.

There is another option for companies who do not believe they have enough time or resources to accomplish PCI compliance in-house. Many companies have emerged that specialize in data security and PCI compliance. Outsourcing payment processing and data security and storage is becoming a popular option for many companies. By relying on a company that specializes in these areas you can reach PCI compliance more quickly, and without any major interruptions in your normal business practices.

In the end, you cannot underestimate the importance of strong data security and PCI compliance. If you take care of your customers’ interests, they will take care of yours.

Andy Eliason is a writer at Main10, Inc. If you’d like to learn more about PCI compliance or Data Security, visit Braintree Payment Solutions today.

How Important Is Data Security And PCI Compliance? / Author: Andy Eliason

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Strict PCI DSS Compliance Requires Constant Vigilance

The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of twelve individual requirements that companies must conform to or risk stiff penalties and fines and possibly even the loss of the ability accept payment cards at all. A security breach is painful all around, yet many companies have yet to reach complete PCI compliance. Or, if they have validated their compliance, they begin to relax their standards, believing they have done everything necessary to keep hackers at bay.

This is, of course, a fallacy – and one that could prove very costly to merchants and consumers. PCI DSS compliance is not a static state of being. Hackers and criminals continue to employ new and more aggressive tactics, and, as such, merchants must be able to keep up with these changes. Complying with the PCI DSS does, in fact, require you to do just that.

But as merchants continue to experience breaches many studies are discovering that they have some problems in common. Some of these problems are:

Encryption practices that grow lax and inconsistent across a company’s systems. As time goes by, sensitive information gets separated and some of it gets encrypted and some of it does not. Maintenance and vigilance is the only real way to make sure that his does not happen.

Storing unnecessary information after credit card transactions. Not only do companies store information that they shouldn’t, but eventually that information will start moving around the system, and cross numerous less secure areas. This is exactly what the PCI DSS wants to prevent, and exactly what the criminals are waiting for.

Failing to properly track and log network activity. Again, this is a PCI DSS requirement, and one that can, after validation, begin to receive less attention. Without good logging procedures, however, it is almost impossible to discover what went wrong and who is responsible.

Regular scans of the network are also necessary. This means that throughout the year, and not just at the time of validation, these tests must be performed. These procedures are meant to help you discover any vulnerabilities and abnormal activities on your system or software.

These are just a few of the things that have caused many merchants many headaches in the past. So what can we learn from their experiences?

The first thing we can do is look at the common elements in these problems. The source of these failures is a lack of follow through – or maintenance or vigilance. Hackers can be a patient lot, and they’ll be waiting for you to make a mistake. Through simple vigilance, a lot of these problems can be avoided. Why, then, do these issues keep cropping up?

The modern business world places many demands on the average business owner. And with these day-to-day tasks and demands on them, many merchants felt like they must (or can) procrastinate the more time consuming requirements of the PCI DSS in favor of these other necessities.

But this is not a good idea. While the overwhelming nature of the modern business environment is certainly understandable, the PCI DSS must be considered one of those day-to-day tasks that demand your attention.

Consider as an example the recent breach of a chain of grocery stores on the east coast. It wasn’t the worst breach in recent history, but it did have a shocking element to it. As it turns out, the company had not too long before hand been validated as compliant with the PCI DSS.

What does this mean? Well, the investigation continues, but on the surface it could mean one of two things. The first is that the validation was somehow taken care of incorrectly. But the other is that the chain had become lax in its vigilance, and after validation let their adherence to the PCI DSS slip.

Whatever the case may be, the recent security breaches should be enough to show that only by consistent testing, vigilance, and maintenance can a merchant keep their customers’ sensitive data protected.

Andy Eliason is a writer at Main10, Inc. If you’d like to learn more about the PCI DSS or achieving PCI compliance, visit Braintree Payment Solutions today.

Strict PCI DSS Compliance Requires Constant Vigilance / Author: Andy Eliason

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Private house sales - be part of the online revolution

UK estate agents are not a particularly loved bunch. There remains a belief that many abuse their position because people have no option but to deal with them when buying or selling property.

However, the Internet has revolutionised private house sales which can now be quite easily carried out without recourse to estate agents in the UK, potentially saving you thousands of pounds in fees.

I want to sell my house privately, how do I go about it?
The process of completing a private house sale over the Internet is one which is constantly being simplified with a number of listing companies offering assistance when selling houses privately.

UK house-hunters are increasingly turning to the web with over 70% of buyers now searching for property online. This provides you with the opportunity to miss out the middleman when selling your house. Online selling’s popularity owes much to information regarding property prices, which was previously only available to estate agents, now being in the public domain.

How do I carry out a private house sale?

Register with an appropriate website which assists with online house selling. If I were to sell my house privately I would forego the services offering free registration. Sites which charge a small fee for registration are likely to be far more active on behalf of those selling a house privately.

Enter the details of the UK property including particulars and photographs. Private house sale sites register these details with a variety of platforms to advertise the house. Online selling is then in process so sit back and wait for the offers to come flooding in.

Can I still sell my house privately if I’m already using an estate agent?
Yes, and, depending on the type of contract you have signed, you may still save thousands of pounds in fees with a private house sale in the UK.

Sole Agency contracts mean only the estate agent has the right to sell and you will still need to pay them even if you find a private buyer.
Most other types of contract allow you to complete private house sales without paying the estate agent, but seek clarification on this matter.

I’m still undecided about whether to sell my house privately
Quite rightly you want to avoid expensive mistakes when selling your house. Online selling through reputable companies is perfectly safe and far more effective. All sites will have some form of identity verification system for potential viewers of the house. Online selling has a number of other benefits including:

The ability to reach far more potential buyers when carrying out a private house sale.
Guidance through the step-by-step process of selling your house privately.
Conveyancing services and mortgage advice for those buying or selling a house privately may also be offered.

Private house sales conducted with assistance from UK Internet listings companies do not neglect traditional methods of selling and the best firms provide a For Sale sign. This remains an excellent way of attracting buyers for a private house sale. If I want to sell my house privately I want to have all bases covered and reach as large a number of potential buyers as possible.

Help selling house, privately-brokered transactions and more
You want your private house sale to fetch as high a price as possible. Internet companies are a good way of maximising the value when marketing your house so online selling should definitely be considered.

For a one-off payment you will get everything you need to sell a house privately in the UK including:

Professional schedule particulars for selling a house privately.
Management of enquiries.
The drawing up of formal legal documentation required for a private house sale.

Private house sales are growing in popularity due to the vast sums of money that can be saved in estate agents fees, freeing up more of the profit made on your house. Online selling may include virtual video tours and the facilities to produce professional floor plans to help those selling a house privately.

This method allows you to take control of your private house sale and potentially save thousands of pounds. If I sell my house privately then I’ll definitely deal with an online selling company rather than an estate agent.

article written by Tony Head.
http://www.thebigmoveonline.co.uk

Private house sales - be part of the online revolution / Author: petter gomes

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