Yuqiong Liang Networks With Business Owners and Learns Valuable Lessons

by Yuqiong Liang

Silencing my alarm at 6:15 on a gloomy Thursday morning, it was a difficult task getting off the bed. Eventually, I got up and got ready to attend an event called “Dave King – Gone Phishing: A Forensic Cybersecurity Breach Examination,” sponsored by the National Association of Business Owners and Executives (NABOE). The event was held at the Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland. Before turning onto the road that leads me to the destination, some signs stated, “Private Property” and “No Trespassing.” While I was going there, the GPS lost signal and navigate me to the rear of the Woodmont Country Club. As I approached the destination, it started raining hard. Even though I turned the windshield wipers to the fastest speed, it quickly covered my windshield. The gloomy skies and the rainy weather did not stop me from attending this event that started at 7:15 AM and lasted until 9:15 AM.

Running to the door without an umbrella, I slowly walked in, unsure of whether I was at the correct location. Everyone, there were formally dressed, some were casually dressed and introduced themselves to other guests. A few people exchanged business cards with each other and talked about their innovations. I then reached into my pocket to check to see if I had my Hillman business cards with me, smiling gladly, I had them. While I was checking in, I was greeted by John Kolm. He is the CEO of Team Results USA which runs simulations to help build leadership skills and create positive behavioral changes. Kolm introduced me to different entrepreneurs who developed their businesses successfully. Kolm introduced me to Doreen Hommet who was a kind lady working as a Senior Manager of Eagle Bank. Surprisingly, Hommet was an alumnus of Montgomery College and told me to spread the word to the Hillman family to find her to talk about any future financial challenges and/or loans that are needed.

Before the presentation started, the event offered breakfast by serving pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Everyone sat in large round tables with people in different business professions. Each person in the tables introduced themselves, including me. I shared my business idea about the Panda Tea House and my Hillman Entrepreneurship business cards among the different CEOs and managers from the various companies. I met and spoke with a couple of people at the event; David Allen King II is a Senior Manager of UHY Advisors, Joe Young is an Executive Vice President of Payroll Network and Jon Rutenberg who is a CRM at Computer Consultants Corporation. Each person had wonderful stories telling everyone how they developed their innovations and how they have gotten to where they are at today.

A couple of moments later, it was 7:15 AM, the speaker came into the room. The speaker was Dave King. During his talk, Dave provided a step-by-step presentation about how to prevent a disciplined cybersecurity breach that could affect financial losses and many accounting departments. Dave was a manager at PwC’s IT Security department for over two years. He was responsible for the protection of cybersecurity attacks. Dave King now works as a Senior Manager with UHY’s Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance group, where his job is to advise businesses and technology executives on cyber securities. I was very thankful for being invited to this beautiful session to meet and listen to Dave King and many other successful entrepreneurs. These community engagement sessions are very informative, and many successful leaders can share their developments and knowledge among the community. After attending this session, I have learned much about how important it is to understand internet security in the business field and saving your passwords on Google Autofill is surprisingly a safe place to keep all your credentials at one place. In the future when I have my own business, I will be more cautious about what I place on the internet.