Something I see all the time that just drives me batty!
March 14, 2011
Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist
In the past few days, I've have seen something similiar happening with women business owners -- and what's the saying...where there's smoke, there's fire?
I"m seeing a trend with women business owners (I'm sure men do this, too, but this is a blog about women for women) who don't have the login information for the websites and other critical marketing or technology accounts.
They think because someone else is "in charge", that they don't have to have the information to log into their own accounts. That's not delegation, that's poor stewardship as a business owner.
I liken this to not having keys to your summer home. Just because you've hired someone else to manage the property, doesn't mean you shouldn't have keys to your OWN house so you can let yourself in and lock other people OUT, if needed.
I see this all the time. This happened to someone I know well with her Twitter account. She's smart as a whip and a seasoned business woman, but the person she had "Tweeting" for her locked her out of her own Twitter account when she had a dispute with him. How EMBARRASSING!
Make sure you have ALL your login information squirreled away in a safe place, that's backed-up and easily accessible to you whether your in front of your computer or on the road. If you have someone working for you, test your logins every so often so you make sure they're still valid. Require that if they change the password on an account, they send you a notification IMMEDIATELY (some services require that you change your passwords every so often upon login so the person can't NOT change the password).
These online accounts are part of your BUSINESS. If you're not doing so already, start treating them as such. When you don't know how to log into your own web service accounts, guess who looks like they don't know what they're doing?
@Yvonne:
That's awesome that you can remember all your credentials. I don't think it's a matter of committing them to memory though, it's a matter of having them in a place that is accessible to you so that if you need to lock someone out, grant someone else access or access the account on your own, you can and business owners don't have to ask someone else for permission to get into their own technology.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Posted by: @LenaWest | March 14, 2011 at 01:48 PM
This is why I remember ALL my passwords and login account information. I do not let IE remember it for me nor do I think Tom should do it (he keeps a good record so if I do forget, or just can't recall at that moment, I'll check with him).
We travel a lot and if I didn't KNOW my login to my many accounts, I'd be lost. Like you, Lena, I've heard folks whining that they can't get into an account because... someone else has the login, or they just didn't bother to commit it to memory themselves.
Posted by: Yvonne DiVita | March 14, 2011 at 01:30 PM
@P.S.
I'm not sure that I find it hilarious, I do think it's sad though. And, you are right she didn't think it was funny at the time although now she looks back on it and chuckles at how naive she was.
And, I agree with you, there are ways to give people access without giving them "full control" access.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Posted by: @LenaWest | March 14, 2011 at 01:06 PM
I find that hilarious that someone was locked out of their Twitter account by someone who essential works for them. (Although I can appreciate that she probably didn't think it was that funny.) Not only should you always have your own logins, those logins should be secret from the people you're working with. Instead of giving them your login, you grant access to the your account through another program or adding a another login. For example, don't give others your WordPress login; Make them a user account you have control over. Don't give them your Twitter login; Give them access through a program like Hootsuite.
Posted by: P.S. Jones | March 14, 2011 at 11:19 AM