🚨 Check Fraud PSA + Strategic Sprints 🏃🏻♀️
Hi Friends,
You’ve probably read or watched this in the news, but fraudsters are plucking checks out of the mail and re-writing them to themselves en masse.
I knew this, but the online system to pay my NYC S-Corp taxes kept glitching, so I only reluctantly put a check in the mail. I even wrapped it in paper so the envelope wasn’t see-through.
(If you’re Gen Z, you’re probably wondering, “What even is a check? Those blue verified badges that social media influencers have?”)
Still, someone saw the addressee and took my $7,200 check, changed a few details, and cashed it to themselves. Now I need to close a checking account I’ve had for decades (they have my address and signature). Thankfully, because I have a checkbook with carbon copies, sending that helped expedite the fraud review process, and the money has now been refunded.
I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned:
Do not send any checks in the mail if you can help it, especially for tax time (it’s obvious what’s in those envelopes). Do direct deposit!
If you must send a check, take a photo of it so you have a record if needed.
My bank’s fraud team would only accept this image via fax (“Fax?!” I said incredulously to the customer service agent, “But I haven’t sent one of those in twenty years!”) Thankfully Dropbox offers faxing. Who knew?!
Do not auto-confirm fraud texts from your bank without looking at the scanned image of the check that was actually cashed, even if it’s for the same amount as the one you wrote.
📰 Read more about this in the New York Times’ We can’t stop writing paper checks. Thieves love that. (gift link)
“You can buy checks on the internet for $45, with a perfectly good signature,” said John Ravita, director of business development at SQN Banking Systems, check fraud detection software. “There is one website that offers a money-back guarantee. It’s like Nordstrom.”
Now onto this week’s round-up + Plus extra goodies over the paywall rainbow at the end . . .
⚙️ Tips & Tools
If you’re looking for help batching social media, launch copy, repurposing existing content, or anything in your business, I highly recommend
! She has been an angel on my shoulder for all three book launches, and a key to the success of several big community launches (as an OG member herself).Congrats on her new
publication too!🚀 Choose your own adventure . . .
And enter promo code JENNY for 10% off at checkout:
🎙 Revisit Two Favorites from the Podcast Archives
Although the podcast is currently paused, you can still browse the archives and subscribe here »
📆 Upcoming Events
📘 New Yorkers: Speaking of Free Time, Together Agency co-founder
will be delivering a presentation taking us behind the design process of the Free Time brand at the upcoming First Round New York design conference in Brooklyn on May 10. I’ll be there too, if you want to join us! Marisol writes:This is a one-day showcase of original first-round design presentations. It’s an exclusive opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of a client presentation — all the thinking, heart, and creativity that goes into big brand endeavors. And, drumroll please…I’ll be presenting our work for Free Time 💸 In person and remote access is available—use code FR-NYC-TOGETHER for a 10% discount.
+ Pair this with my three Free Time podcast conversations with Together Agency co-founder
.💻 Paid Subscribers: May 15 — Office Hours hang: ask me anything about a question or challenge in your business, and get input from fellow Heart-Based Business owners! 🔗 The link to register and attend is below the paywall in the footer of this email.
+ 🏝️ Does your business pass the Fiji Test? For my favorite systems and principles from the book distilled into a one-hour workshop to set even more time free this year, paying subscribers can also view the recording from yesterday’s workshop in the footer below the paywall👇
💬 Quote
“Workaholics miss the point. They try to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at them. They try to make up for intellectual laziness with brute force. This results in inelegant solutions. They even create crises. They don’t look for ways to be more efficient because they actually like working overtime. They enjoy feeling like heroes. They create problems (often unwittingly) just so they can get off on working more.”
—Jason Fried in Rework
💭 Questions
Where are you trying to “fix problems by throwing sheer hours at them”? What would a nonlinear breakthrough look like? What’s the more elegant solution?
📝 Permission
Step back and stop problem-solving for a minute. Let it simmer, and new ideas may bubble up to the surface. Give yourself permission to take a day off, mid week, to do something indulgent! It will recharge you and your problem-solving abilities.
🍩 Recent at Rolling in D🤦🏻♀️h with Jenny Blake
Here’s to setting even more time free! 🥂
❤️ With Gratitude,
P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰
🔐 Thank you to our generous paying subscribers who help sustain Time Well Spent! Upgrade to unlock this week’s make-you-smile memes as a token of my gratitude ☺️