Defining the Solopreneur's Essential Capacity

By Priya E. Abraham

Note: This is Part 2 of a 3-part series about the opportunities and challenges solopreneurs and digital nomads have in the Future of Work.
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As a solopreneur or nomad you want to develop a workplace culture that is conducive to cybersecurity and privacy – in short, you are responsible for establishing your solopreneur cybercapacity.

But what is solopreneur cybercapacity and why is it important to your business? As a nomad or remote worker, how will you ensure that you and your client’s data is secure as you work on platforms and tools managed in the cloud? And what are some behaviours that you can start to put into practice to improve your cybercapacity while at the same time strengthening your brand and digital identity?
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We’ll delve into the answers to these questions in this post. 

Secure your Brand with a Data and Privacy Strategy

​In cybersecurity the human is the weakest link. Being aware of this fact, you’ll need to do everything you can to demonstrate digital competence as a nomad, which includes fostering inclusive customer relationships as well as reducing any outside risk.

That’s why it’s imperative that you develop strategies for managing personal online information and keeping it secure from online risks such as identity thieves. You’ll also want to develop enough cyber self-awareness to become resilient to attacks or data breaches. Remember that at the end of the day, your nomadic digital identity is dependent on you, your interactions, and your brand. This includes how your data and privacy strategies function with regards to customers as well as your day-to-day behaviour.
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Bear in mind that an enterprise’s ultimate cybercapacity entails the following components: 

A Solopreneur's First Steps to Essential Cybercapacity

Obviously, you’re not a big enterprise, so you don’t have the challenge of setting free the mindset of an entire organisation. But as a brand of one, you are responsible for every single interaction between you and your clients, so you should be extra cautious about your online behaviour in your remote as you travel through airports and hotels throughout the world. Here are a few tips to get you started: 

• When travelling in different public places, such as airports, hotel rooms, or any public Wi-Fi, be careful to use a VPN
• Make sure your VPN isn’t leaking data, or your IP could be exposed and your data leaked (which is why you have a VPN in the first place). There are various URLs which check to see if your VPN leaks.
• Find out the privacy policy of any smart hotel before you agree to data sharing. These hotels can be used by malicious actors to take your data. Avoid being hacked by opting out of data sharing in hotels.
• Consider using a tablet instead of a laptop when in transit, and turn off Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth functions on your phone when you aren’t using them. 

Start with these steps and consider adding more to your digital literacy as time goes on. This blog series will cover more essential steps for solopreneur cybercapacity. Remember, it is vital that your customers are able to trust you with their data and information.

Note: This is Part 2 of a 3-part series about the opportunities and challenges digital nomads have in the Future of Work.

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