I can’t stand dealing with fools and charlatans, it drives me mad. The only resource I have that’s finite is my time, and every second wasted with idiots and liars, I will never get back.
But everyday I meet or contact an number of new people or businesses, that I have never dealt with before. So I have a quick system of validating their bona fides before investing time into them.
Here’s four resources I regularly use to conduct a quick check on new businesses I interact with.
If your company name has Pty Ltd or Ltd on the end of it,and you are in Australia, I better be able to find you in the ASIC register. If you’re not there, you’re lying to me. If you’re from the UK or the USA, I can easily find you there as well. And by the way, checking your ABN number is as easy as going to Business.gov.au
If your address isn’t on your website (which makes me nervous), I better be able to find you in the white pages. If not I have to ask “why are you hiding”?
If the only reference I can find to a business business name when searching on Google, is on your Linkedin profile, I really have to wonder whether the business actually exists? Additionally, if I conduct a search on your asserted address or phone number and find 50 other companies sharing that address, I can be fairly sure your business is not substantial.
Sometimes the Whois database come in really handy, as it can tell you who owns a domain name and the registered address. This information isn’t always available, but it it does it gives me two more reference points for ferreting out information on you at ASIC, the Whitepages and Google. For international enquiries (eg .com’s I tend to use www.Geektools.com )
So why do I point this out? Because at least once a week, I come across someone who’s being fairly generous with the truth. When I gently confront them (eg “your ABN number doesn’t seem to be exist, can I confirm it?”). I always get a story about some muckup that’s just occurred. However when I do the same check a week later, nothings changed.
Its not just scammers you have to be on the lookout for, its idiots who don’t play by the rules and therefore waste your time and put you at risk.