p15, v6.42 — Business News & Trends

Business News & Trends

Mountain Views News Saturday, October 20, 2012

MVNews this week: Page 15

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views News Saturday, October 20, 2012

OMG! OH MY GOSH DID YOU
KNOW…………….. By Patricia Richardson, M.B.A

BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques

This is a note to let you know that SCAMMERS are working our area. As I
sat down to write this article I got a phone call that gave me pause.

My private line rang and the caller ID reported unknown caller; usually I don’t
answer those types of calls, but, since I was coordinating a new class I thought
that some of my students might be trying to reach me. When I answered, it was clear that the call
was coming from a call center in India. I was told that they were from Microsoft and my Windows
platform was reporting errors caused by a virus. He wanted me to turn on my computer so that he
could remove the virus for me.

I may be blond but…my first thought was that my modem and phone service are both provided by
Time Warner so perhaps there was something happening that I could not see, why else did they have
that phone number. He was pretty persistent about me turning on my computer which was already
on. This is one of those times I went with the feeling that something was wrong and hung up on him.
I know that does not sound very polite, but it was scary and my network was at risk. After hanging up
I turned off all of my computers and hid in the closet (not really), I did turn off all of my computers
and rebooted everything hopefully making my dynamic IP address a little more invisible (all you
computer folks probably think I’m nuts) but it made me feel better. After rebooting my system I went
online to see if this had happened to anyone else.

According to www.computerrepairtips.net it is a scam. The original article began receiving victim
posts in 2011 and has had 279 posts regarding this scam. The article has been updated in 2012, and
has had an additional 79 victim posts. They say that the scam is growing in the UK and Ireland, “It
is also affecting homes all across the USA”. I can attest to the fact that it is happening in Monrovia,
California.

This is how it works. “The general way the phone scam works hasn’t really changed since the publication
of the 2011 article. The caller will usually ask for the main bill payer of the household by name.
They will know your address (quite often because they are just reading entries out of your country’s
Phone Book). They will either claim to be Microsoft or a company working on behalf of Microsoft, or
sometimes they don’t even bother and they just say they are a Technical Support company, or they will
mention recognizable key words like Windows or Operating System. In the background, you might
hear other voices indicating that they are in a busy call center. You may even hear another operator
reading from exactly the same phone scam script.”

Their goal is to get you to think that your computer is infected with a virus and sending them error
reports so that you will let them remotely access your computer. The scripts vary some but you can
read about them if you are interested on the website quoted above. My recommendation is that you
tell the caller you are not interested and hang up. Do not give them access to your computer and
ultimately do not pay them for running a fix program. If you think you have a problem with your
computer call a local reputable computer repair vendor.

Important: “Microsoft will not call you directly about anything like this. Although your copy of
Windows should be registered with Microsoft, they normally do not know who you are or exactly
where you live, unless you have informed them in some way, which is unlikely. So anyone that cold
calls about a virus and knows your name and address and claims any relationship with Microsoft is
a scammer”.

What else is happening this month?

Sales tax reports and 3rd quarter payroll tax reports are due by October 31, 2012

New workshops:

During the month of October on Friday’s between 9:00am and 9:30am I am hosting an online QuickBooks
Q&A forum. Email the registration form from my website and I will send you the info you need to tune in.
Have your questions ready it is a great time to stump the trainer. Also during the month of November
look for Saturday QuickBooks workshops. It will be a BYOL (bring your own laptop) workshop.

Patricia Richardson the owner of Monrovia Computerized Business Service and is a local accountant,
educator and trainer working to help business owners realize their business mission and vision
by empowering them with tools and training in areas that may not be their core competency. For
additional information, patti@qbworkshop.com or www.QBworkShop.com

By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA

LOOSE TEAS IS “PIPING HOT”

Master tea brewers Kim Nguyen and Cindy Thai have found their niche in
America’s $27 billion dollar tea industry. It takes only one visit to Loose
Teas, their gourmet and specialty tea café in Monrovia, California, to
understand why they have so many repeat customers. Each cup at Loose
Teas is brewed to perfection, sweetened to the individual customer’s palate
and served hot or iced - minus the dangling tag from a tea bag. They can
create hundreds of custom blends from the nine main varieties of premium
teas they carry.

Their quality teas include traditional favorites, as well as exotic flavors. Some of their most popular
brews are Coconut Oolong, as well as Almond Biscotti, a black tea made with roasted almonds and
milk. Loose Teas has created some unique selections to take you through the holiday season, including
a Pumpkin Spice Rooibos Tea Latte, their signature “Trick or Treat” brew that derives its orange color
from carrots and tastes like candy, and a “Christmas Spice” black tea flavored with cinnamon, cloves,
apples and other holiday spices – customers refer to this one as “Christmas in a cup.”

Their expert treatment of teas makes
it easy to overlook their other menu
items, but this oversight would be a
mistake. You don’t want to miss the
opportunity to enjoy one of their coffee
drinks or freshly-made salads, hearty
sandwiches or panini’s. Loose Teas is
a great place for lunch. This cozy cafe
has an impressive inventory of gift items
ideal for tea lovers, including books,
tea infusers and tea pots. They carry
a variety of beautiful cast iron tea pots
that look right at home in an art exhibit
or displayed in a museum. Of course,
you can pick up a pre-packed gift set of
teas or have them prepare a set tailored
to your liking, complete with brewing
instructions.

In addition to the pure enjoyment that people get from drinking tea, it has medicinal benefits as well.
Nguyen’s expressed, “There are specific teas for energy, headaches and insomnia.” A wide body of
research on teas indicates other health benefits including antioxidants (cancer-fighting), anti-aging,
detox and digestion.

Nguyen and Thai are students of their industry, attending the country’s largest annual tea convention
each year to stay abreast of trends. Usually held in Las Vegas, the event is a resource and network hub
for tea wholesalers and more than 4,000 specialty tea rooms and retail shops across American. Loose
Teas is in an elite class, with creative blends, personalized brewing and great customer service. When
you visit, try one of their other popular blends, the London Fog – whether you get it hot or cold, you’ll
understand why this business is “piping hot.”

Visit www.thelooseteas.com to browse their menu or gift shop. Loose Teas is located at 666 W.
Huntington Drive (next to Toys R Us), Monrovia, CA 91016 – (626) 303-2283.

$5.00 off any service(at regular price)
IDEAS TO GET MORE ACTION ON YOUR
FACEBOOK POSTS

Engagement is the action you get when you post something on a social media site. In Facebook, it is
the “Comments,” “Likes” and “Shares” that initiate and create engagement. The more action you get
on a post, the higher it ranks in the news feed. More people will see a post that has a lot of activity.

If you want to strengthen your presence on Facebook consider posting things that encourage
engagement. Here are three ideas:

1. Tie into current events. For example, during the Olympics, Palau Dive Adventures posted
a picture of the Palau Olympic Team and said, “How many “likes” can we get for the Palau Olympic
Team? Please “Like” and “Share” this post if you are as proud of them as we are!” 33,004 people saw
their post, 160 people shared it, 78 commented and 1,340 gave it the thumbs up.

2. Post a fun photo and ask people to give it a caption. Last week my brother decided to have
some fun with Photoshop and the Space Shuttle Endeavor on our business page. He got a great photo
as the shuttle was passing through his neighborhood and “creatively” added a HUTdogs billboard
to the background. He asked people to give it a caption. We had lots of clever comments like “No,
Richard, I said ‘let’s stop for a HOT DOG!’”

3. Fill in the blanks. Ask open-ended questions and tell people to fill in the blank(s). If you own
a cupcake shop, you might post something like, “Cupcakes and Frosting go together like _______
and ________ (fill in the blanks.)”

The idea is to have fun with your posts. If you are posting the same boring things all the time and not
getting any “engagement,” perhaps you need to shake things up a bit and think outside of the box.
Give people something to talk about!

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, a creative services business that specializes in
Social Media Education for business owners. Join their conversation on Facebook and get good tips
and tricks about social media, www.facebook.com/hutdogs.