What FACTA means is that if you, as an individual, lose information on anyone you have ever hired; or, for any business in United States of America that collects any personal information on people, if information should be lost due to not destroying information properly, then two things can happen. First, there are federal fines of up to $2,500.00, and state fines up to $1,000, per employee, per incident. Second, business is liable for any damages individual suffers as result of a breach of information.

Take an example that company loses information due to negligent destruction (i.e. you don’t own a shredder and throw information into dumpster). Nothing in FACTA really determines what employee has to do to prove “negligent destruction” on part of employer, so an employee could simply state that employer had lost information, and even if employer had burned information into ashes, it would be up to employer to show that information had not gotten out due to his or her company’s negligence.

Business Week says that average damages for Identity Theft victims are $92,000.00 and up per person. Using this statistic, if you have 10 employees lose their identities, then on average, your liability is $920,000.00. Statistically, you are responsible for an average of 75 bad checks and 8 credit cards per employee. The average Identity Theft victim also spends 600 hours getting their credit restored, which means that you will have 600 hours per employee, so potentially 6,000 hours for 10 employees, which you will be responsible for paying employees who aren’t even at work, because they have taken time off to deal with Identity Theft.

According to John Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for Entrepreneurial Soul, “The damages are devastating to any business.”

There are many problems related to people’s identities that don’t deal with credit issues. Contrary to popular belief, only 26% of identity theft issues relate to credit issues. The other 74% of issues, according to Gardner, are related to following four areas:

Someone stealing your DMV record. Example: An identity thief wants to drive under your employee’s name instead of theirs. This will help Identity Thief to not get caught in cases of DUI, unpaid speeding tickets, etc. Your employee is then blamed for their driving record.

Someone stealing your MIB record. This is your Medical Information Bureau Record. Example: An Identity Thief wants to have an AIDS test done in your employee’s name, rather than theirs, or have their prescriptions filled using your employee’s Medicaid or Medicare benefits

Businesses are run mostly on auto-pilot and any problem areas are only dealt with when they are already critical, but by then it may already be too late. Most business managers are too busy with day-to-day work to sit back and look at business critically in terms of its context and direction it is going. Brian Tracey's Turbo Strategy provides a checklist of areas that should be regularly examined by all businesses to ensure that it remains on right path towards success and profitability.

In book, author introduces practical techniques that will help you come up with strategies and more importantly turn up profit quickly:

1. The answers have changed – most businesses operate way they do because they are “tried” strategies, not because it is efficient and profitable. 2. Flexibility is essential – from time to time, it is important to take a step back and reevaluate situation, then do something about it. 3. The one true measure – two basic questions you need to ask everyday “What is working?” and “What is not working?”

Conduct a Basic Business Analysis Whenever you go in for a complete medical exam, doctors and nurses follow a set procedure. In same way, there are basic business examination questions that you need to ask and answer continuously to determine overall health of your organization. Remember following:

a. The Customer as Centerpiece. b. Determine What You Sell. c. Define Your Competitor. d. Set Clear Goals.

Design Your Ideal Future Practice Idealization. To do this you must think of what your company would look like five years from now if everything were perfect. Then think in terms of possibilities. Are goals you set achievable in five years?

Create a Mission Statement and Determine Your Values A mission statement is essential to an organization because it gives meaning and purpose to people in their daily activities and work. It inspires loyalty, commitment and become a key factor when making business decisions and when you are clear then you can easily revisit your mission statement and follow its guidelines.

Select Right People The two key qualities in finding best people are that they can be counted on to get job done well and to get it done on time. Another quality is that they should be good team players.

Market More Effectively The four essential elements of marketing are: specialization, differentiation, segmentation, and concentration. All marketing elements are important but you should constantly evaluate what you are doing. Remember that market is changing and changing fast! You may have to change one of your strategies or more than one at same time.

Analyze Your Competition You have to know your competition. You have to find out why customers buy from them, what values and benefits do they get from buying from them. The biggest mistake you can make is to belittle your customers. You have to study them and learn from them.

Three Potential Areas of Superiority

1. Operational Excellence 2. Lead Field 3. Be Close to Customer

Change your Marketing Mix

1. Product – define your product or service in terms of what it “does” for your customers. 2. Price – be open to possibility that you may have priced your products or services wrong. 3. Promotion – this encompasses everything you do in process of marketing, advertising and sales. 4. Place – this is location where sale of your product takes place.