Episode 201: Google Authenticator
Regardless if you are a business owner or not, this tip can help you. In today's episode, Fiona shares a tool to help us be more secure. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
How To Start A Podcast Course
Google Authenticator
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Hello and welcome to episode 201 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. I can't believe we're in the two hundred. If you are listening to this and you are thinking, she's already done 200 episodes and I haven't even started my podcast, believe me, I have been there. I have been there so many times. I wanted to start a podcast in 2016. I bought an intro track. I was like, I'm gonna start. And then all things happened and it just prevented me from starting. And it wasn't a number one priority, according to some other stuff that had to take priority. And so I delayed and delayed. And I remember listening to podcast episodes and being like, I wanted to start at the same time that that person started. And they're already at this many episodes and I'll never catch up.
And what's the point. And all the other things that you say, and today's episode is actually not about podcasts at all. But I just thought, I would say that because if you are listening to this and you're interested in starting a podcast, we have a course, How to Start a Podcast, which actually goes through the systems that you need, cuz you can find all the information out there for free about which might buy, Are you gonna use Lipson? Are you gonna use what is above sprout? I use a Simple Cast. I mean, there are so many different hosting platforms, but there's so much information you can find out there for free. What I couldn't find was the systems to actually keep going. Cause it's one thing to like set up a podcast and put out four or five episodes.
It's another, to be here to be two hundred one episodes without it overtaking your life. And so I created a system and that is what I actually teach in the How to Start a Podcast course. And you can find that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast. And regardless of whether you buy the course or not just start, just get started because I wish that I had started in 2016. Like I really wish I had, however, life experiences also help this podcast, be what it is. And so this is good and bad, but if you're listening to this and me saying episode 201 was any kind of trigger for you for like, I really wanna start. Or I wish I was at 201, just start. Anyway. That was a bit of a tangent. So today you're listening to a quick tip episode and this is one that I think could really help every single person, regardless of whether you're a business owner or not.
It has definitely helped me. I just keep seeing more and more instances where people are kind of getting stuck with something. And I was thinking, I wish they had known about this. And I've told so many people and they've switched over. So I thought I would tell everyone on the podcast as well, but before we get stuck into that, I just want to of course pay my respects and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on the beautiful land on which I record this podcast, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to the elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. All right, let's get on with today's quick tip episode.
So it is a quick tip episode, which is really where I talk about a tool or tactic. And today I'm gonna talk about a tool. Now, this is something you can use in your normal life and also in your normal business life, but just in all parts of your life. And I actually think that everyone should be using it. I know people have issues with Google and it is a Google product, but I just think it is such a great product and considering the way the world is going and more and more instances of certain things happening. I think that it's just a really useful product. So what is the tool? The tool is the Google Authenticator app. Now, obviously not obviously I shouldn't say that obviously, maybe some people haven't heard, but there have been so many instances of cyber identity theft people hacking accounts.
I actually had this wonderful woman who came to a marketing course ages ago that I ran and about a marketing workshop and we'd stayed in cut over Instagram and she lost all of her accounts and not just all of her account, but all of her photos and so much other stuff. And basically, somebody had hacked her account and got in there and literally overnight she woke up and I think it was like 30 or 40,000 followers just gone. And this is again, kind of goes back to the whole point that I'm always talking about social media is not your marketing plan. Social media should be one element, one connection channel of a bigger marketing strategy. Aside from that though, social media, we all use it. I use Instagram all the time, less so Facebook, but Pinterest, I love Pinterest.
I am on TikTok. I don't really post much there. Maybe that'll change. I don't know. I just sort of scouring and lurk and watch all these funny things. But I can't say that I'm not on social media all the time I am, but I think that we've become so used to these things and just expecting that they'll be there, that we haven't necessarily put in place security habits and security platforms and tools that can help us. And Google Authenticator is one of those. So as the name would suggest it authenticates things and it doesn't just authenticate say log in to Instagram, you can put any third-party platform into the Google Authenticator app. And what will happen is that it kind of spits out a new code every like, I don't know, 10 seconds or every 20 seconds.
And so you will put it in your normal password if you are getting into a platform. So, let’s say you were on MYOB or QuickBooks or Xero or one of those and you would log in and you would then have your normal login and password. And then it will ask you for a second step verification, which is the Google Authenticator app. And so you can have in the Google Authenticator app, 50 platforms, or whatever you wanna have in there. And say for instance, in the MYOB example, you would then just open your phone, and get into the Google Authenticator app, which is usually a face recognition. And then it'll give you a code and it'll be red if it's about to run out and then it'll be blue for another like 10 seconds. And it was just new numbers all the time.
And so then you just punch in that number into your MYOB in this example, and then you are in and so no one else can have that except you. And so it just gives you one. I mean, none of these things are absolutely perfect, but it gives you one more step to go through and a Google Authenticator app that is constantly changing the numbers. So people can't kind of rigger, or I don't know if they hacked in, maybe that has the wrong number. I don't know how all that works, but I do know that the Google Authenticator app has really just helped me feel a little bit more secure. There are so many other things you can do. I know on Instagram and Facebook or whatever social media you're using. If you go into the settings, you can actually change it to two-step verification.
In which case it'll send you a text message or it'll send you an email or whatever way that it is, or it will ask you for an authenticator app such as the Google One. And so it just means if you're making changes to things, if you're updating your password, if you're doing other stuff, there's just this extra step that has to get through. And I hear it all the time. Like not just that lovely woman who came to the marketing workshop, but I hear from other people who are like, somebody hacked my account. And I remember another person actually, who came in and was lovely to do a reels tutorial in the good business group on Facebook. And I remember that she was launching something soon after that. And somebody hacked her account, or I can't remember if they hacked it or there was some issue.
And so then she had to start another account and was trying to drive people to that account. And it's just so much work. And I think we forget that there are actually tools out there to help us be more secure. None of them is fail-safe. I'm sure, but they just give people that little bit extra security and confidence, I guess, that you are putting in these extra steps for things. So I use the Google Authenticator for multiple platforms. I have at least probably 10 or 12 on there, and even saying this I'm a little bit like is somebody gonna listen to this podcast? And then like, make it their life's mission to like hack into all my stuff. I have everything on there so that if I'm logging into something, I do not just have to log in and usually like with face recognition and then password, and then the Google Authenticator app, and sometimes even another security question at the other end.
So if you are somebody who is regularly going in and out of different platforms, and you just sort of feel that the amount of people that you're seeing around you that have like, had certain platforms hacked or had people get into bank accounts or other sorts of things, maybe check out an authenticator app of which Google has a free one. So how do you do it? You literally go on over and will list this in the show notes as well, but you just go to, you can either go to like the App Store and literally up Google Authenticator app, or you can go to googleauthenticator.net or one word. And I mean, you can just go through the App Store if you find that easier. And basically, it'll just walk you through how to set this up. And what usually happens is if you have a third-party platform say Shopify or Stripe, or Instagram or whatever they are, you can then set this up, it'll literally walk you through the steps, and you'll get a QR code.
We all are familiar with QR codes these days, and you literally scan that and it will set it up and then you can test it and it's good to go. And the only thing that's sort of annoying sometimes is if you don't have your phone near you. And say, so like I have my office out the back of our house in the garden and sometimes I'll leave my phone inside and then I need my authenticator to get into certain platforms. And that's like really the grand scheme of like having to go outta the office and walk into the house and get my phone and come back is really not that bad considering what this is potentially saving. So I thought I would share that today because I know that cyber security is a real concern. Obviously, I'm not a cyber security expert.
So definitely get in touch with at least your web developer or other people that are in that space. But this is a fair step to try to make you a little bit more secure and a little bit more confident with your security online. So I'll leave it there. If you wanna check out the show notes for this, you can do that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/ 201. This is episode 201. And as I mentioned at the start, if you're keen to create your own podcast and you wanna understand how to set up a system so that you can actually just do it week after week or whatever your frequency is, check out How to Start a Podcast. And you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this useful, I would love it so much if you could take two seconds and just leave a review, it just helps other small business owners find this podcast, and who knows, maybe they really need help with their security right now. Thanks for listening. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you wanna get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram @mydailybusinesscoach.
