Technologies I use

Many small business owners who know my background in high-tech (and banking, etc.) ask me what technological tools I use for various tasks. For them, I've decided to list all the technological tools I use:

Email marketing

After examining several systems including MailChimp, Send-Message, VIPMail, ActiveTrail, and a few others I don't recall, I chose to work with Rav-Masar which, in my opinion, provides the best value for money. In other words, it's not the cheapest system at all, but it has a good cost-benefit combination.

Want to try it for free? Click here

On the subject of marketing I also use Poptin – a software component that integrates with a website and pops up promotional messages when a specific event occurs, for example:

• After the user has read three articles on the website
• When the user intends to leave the website (mouse cursor moves towards the website's address bar or the back button)
• And more

This way, you can identify a user who is about to abandon the site, for example, and offer them a free chapter from my book or any other offer.

Efficiency

A Google Calendar that I share with anyone who wants to schedule a meeting with me, so they can choose an available time slot independently.

Freedom A wonderful system that disconnects all distractions for a certain period of time. Quiet from Facebook or any other distraction on your phone and computer. Click here. Highly recommended.

webinar

A webinar is the best way to generate personal exposure to your audience without actually organizing an event with a hall, catering, etc. Using webinar tools, you can create your 'live performance" over the internet.

I love and use tools – Webinar Jam

Information security

I am using a local Seagate cloud with a backup to an external cloud Dropbox.

For virus protection, I use Norton Antivirus. Norton allowing protection for about ten devices (phones and computers).

The term information security typically includes two important characteristics:

• Recovery from a situation where our information is damaged. For example, if I saved files on my computer and the hard drive stopped working or a virus damaged the files, how can I continue my work? In this context, it's also very important how long it will take until I can return to normal work.
• Recovering from human error. Perhaps the greatest danger to our information – we or someone working with us will accidentally delete the information.
• Misuse of our information.

Personally, this issue keeps me up at night. I've spent years working in database and software development. I used the best technology to protect commercial corporations' information, but I discovered its importance firsthand a week after my first daughter was born. Try to imagine our home: a one-week-old baby, a mother with a one-week-old baby, and a computer with all the birth photos and the first week of the child's life, but the computer clearly indicates it's about to never work again. Fortunately, the lab eventually managed to recover the photos from the hard drive, and the appointment at the rabbinate wasn't needed. Since then, I've been examining various data backup systems with two conditions for me: The system must work automatically. I don't believe in backing up data once a week. There's always something more important to do. The data must be stored off-site. It would be foolish to back up data to a portable disk and then discover that a flood at home or a break-in rendered the computer unusable along with the backups.

On a professional level, the damage can be greater than losing photos. A mortgage consultant usually keeps extremely sensitive client files on their computer: pay stubs, ID scans, bank statements, and more. In this context, it must be said that storing credit card details on a computer is forbidden. Credit card information of a client should only be processed at the time of receipt for the purpose of collecting the actual payment.

By using a photo of a client's ID, information about their workplace and income (payslip), and their bank account transactions, it's quite easy to impersonate that client and withdraw their funds.

It's convenient for everyone to carry all client files on their computer and even sync them with their mobile phone for quicker retrieval. But what happens if the phone or computers are lost, stolen, or taken to a repair shop?

After examining several technological solutions, I have arrived at two software programs that I believe can significantly enhance information security in both its aspects: disaster recovery and prevention of misuse.

The first software is Dropbox Most people are familiar with its basic use: efficient synchronization between multiple computers and phones so that files are always with everyone. In the paid version of this software, you get two important things:

• 1,000GB (1TB) storage capacity.
• The option to delete files on a remote device. This means if your computer or phone is lost, you can remotely delete all sensitive files. This point alone is worth the extra payment in my opinion.

Dropbox has, according to my checks, three major advantages over Google Drive's solution:

• My experience has shown that it's more reliable. It's a bummer to find out at the worst possible time that some files didn't sync.
• It allows selective synchronization.
• Saving of the last 30 versions of every modified file, as well as saving for an additional 30 days of a deleted file.

Selective sync It's the ability to control what passes between computers and what doesn't. For example, if I use a system to back up all my photos and videos on my home computer, I don't need it to also sync to the laptop I take to meetings.

Versioning  Protect me from human error and viruses. The problem with a virus is that once it has affected a file and used it, backup systems will start backing up a corrupted file and there will be no benefit. By saving 30 previous versions, we know that if we notice a virus within 30 days of infection, we can restore clean files.

The second software I use for protection is Norton Antivirus, which is also a long-standing program. Purchasing this software allows for the protection of 10 phones and regular computers per subscription. Beyond protection against viruses on both phones and computers, the system has a feature that I like. Typing a code every time I unlock my phone annoys me. I operate under the assumption that most people are good, and that if I forget my phone somewhere, an honest finder will look in the phone book for contacts like "Mom" or "Home," and thus the device will be returned to me. Until now, I couldn't leave a device without a code because of the files on it. Moreover, when handing over a device for repair, the code is removed anyway. Norton's system allows for setting a secret code on the apps themselves. This way, I can protect all the apps where files are stored: email, folders, Dropbox/Google Drive, etc. This is an additional layer of security, and now even if my device falls into the wrong hands, the information on it is protected. Norton also allows for a complete remote reset of the phone.

Good luck.