Avoiding Underhanded Businesses
There are no shortage of scams out there, and it can be very difficult to source legitimate business partners. A handshake, a website, a business card, a deposit—these things don’t necessarily determine whether or not a business is “on the level”. You want to know their history. You want to know their legal status. And you don’t want to pay for that information.
There are certain scams which will take out ads in newspapers, put them on craigslist, and buy them in little periodicals circulated at gas stations. These ads tell applications of job opportunities which may yield a five-figure income based on said applicant’s passing a certain training program.
The applicants go to the interview and are told they are “management material”, and that they could go far with “Company A”; there’s just a “mandatory training course” they’ve got to complete. It turns out the training course involves going door to door and selling product for which the applicant is financially responsible against a fee they must pay to get out.
The business who has hoodwinked such potential applicants into working for them has done nothing illegal. All they’ve done is played on naïve people’s hope. Now expand that outward. A company that is able to turn a profit through such “free” salesmanship may eventually accumulate enough net worth to begin a merger of sorts, or a partnership.
Now such a company is going to represent itself to potential partners as an above-the-board, forward-thinking, progressive, opportunity-rich enterprise with a solid product that sells itself.
There may even be an applicant or two who managed to rise above the “training”, and is now part of the internal circle of hoodwinkers. How could you possibly know from their testimony?
Clients are happy about the products delivered. Products themselves don’t have any problems—they’re sourced from overstock situations and resold at a markup. The company is “in the green”.
But as a corporation, they’ve built their entire model around deception and exploitation. Such practices are core to their operational practices, and will follow them into your partnership. That described here is a traditional “pyramid scheme”, like Amway.
Vetting Organizations
It’s integral to have means of sourcing a corporation’s roots. According to SecStates.com, performing a business entity search gives you access to: “…information on any corporation or business entity in California or another state by performing a search on the Secretary of State website of the state or territory where that corporation is registered.”
This can give you vital data pertaining to a corporation’s scope, longevity, legitimacy, and more. The likelihood is, they’re going to look good on paper, and sound as legitimate as you would expect them to be.
Certainly, not all businesses are some underhanded agency looking to wreak havoc on your operations through exploitation. Some may just be new to the scene, while others are old bastions of the community. It doesn’t really matter. What is important here is that whatever organizations you’re thinking about buying from, partnering with, or promoting are “on the up-and-up”, as the saying goes.
Practicing Safety Protocols
When you can conduct a free business entity search as simply as entering such a company’s name into a search bar online, why wouldn’t you? Probably for the same reason some people don’t wear seatbelts when they drive.
Sure, you’re not going to get into a car wreck every time you take your Sedan out of the garage. But then, you only need to get into a wreck once to lose everything. With business, there are many similarities to consider.
