As the owner of an LLC, I recently received a scam letter from the California "Annual Review Board" asking for $200 to file a Statement of Information for my business. I was lucky enough to figure out that it was fishy, but it would be nice if this community had a place where business owners could alert each other or ask for help identifying scams.
FYI, here's the best info I've found about this scam online, from Free e-business Help:
The letter from the Annual Review Board requiring payment of $228 is one of the newest California Limited Liability Company scam letters. Targeting small business owners who set up an LLC on their own, this scam letter looks very legitimate at the first glance. Also, its due date is very soon, which may confuse people and cause them to make hasty decision without being suspicious.
It asks for over $200 for the filing of LLC’s Statement of Information on the business owner’s behalf. Notice its filing address is Los Angeles, not Sacramento.
Business owners should read any letters very carefully when the letter asks for fees. This scam letter does say that “Annual Review Board is not a Government Agency” in the very small fonts.
Here's a summary of how discussions about business scams are happening in community:
http://community2.business.gov/t5/In-the-Loop/Idea-Exchange-What-Would-You-Like-to-Discuss-in-the-Community/ba-p/4321#A67
I feel the need of a platform on this site where business owners can exchange ideas and possibly help each other within their states. We could have discussion forums for each state in the USA. I feel that this is a great platform to get to know many business people, however, it would be wonderful if I could be known to someone, who is living in the same town or at least in same state that I am living in. I haven't yet seen, as far as I could read through the forums, any business broker who could offer assistance to someone to sell his/her business; I guess because business brokers work with local businesses and this site is very vague for a business broker. I hope this makes sense to others as well.
I think, to encourage visitors to post here (even when they might feel they have nothing to say), you might want to create a place where they can introduce themselves and their businesses to the community. That will give them a place to get started and it might make this place feel more like a community.
Imagine walking into a social club and being expected to participate in the conversations without having an opportunity to introduce yourself. You might be able to do it, but why would you want to? And would you feel like a part of that community when you went home that night?
I think the success of this place will depend on doing whatever you can to help participants take ownership of it. Inviting them to introduce themselves seems like a good place to start.
These are difficult times for businesses all over the world. The current financial crisis has left many corporations – large and small – with lower revenues and shrinking budgets. During these difficult days, it is absolutely essential that marketing campaigns reach their desired targets with frequency and efficiency. And that is why, with marketing spend dollars so precious, that there has never been a better time to turn to the web as a means of reaching new customers.
Why Online Marketing is More Important Now than Ever
There are two primary reasons why your business needs to get online, in a hurry, during this recession:
· Your competitors are already there. This is no time to come late to the party. With your competitors already online, they are established their web presence and authority and building solid rankings for the keywords relevant to your business.
· It is the most efficient way to reach customers. Send out 10,000 direct mail pieces and you’ll be lucky if even a handful get to your intended targets. Create an optimized web site, and the customers who are looking for you RIGHT NOW will be presented with links to your site.
The Online Marketing Techniques you need to Implement
· An effective website. It all starts with a great website. Your online presence should be an extension of your brand – offering visitors product information, answers to commonly asked question and an overall compelling experience that makes them want to come back time and time again. Why it’s important during a recession: Think of your website as a storefront with little overhead and a 24/7 cycle of operation that customers can visit any time of day or night.
· Blog development – After your website, a blog is the best way to disseminate information about your business on the web. Your company’s blog is a place to share industry news, spread viral content throughout the web and let customers interact with you and other people from around the world. Why it’s important during a recession: Blogs are another inexpensive way to spread the word about your company online. More people will find your blog thanks to search, which can drive them back to your core site.
· Search engine optimization – Perhaps the most important aspect of web marketing in 2009 is search engine optimization (or "SEO"). With SEO, you build the content of your site around a number of relevant keywords and phrases. If done correctly and professionally, your site will then come up at the top of the search results for Google and Yahoo! when a customer enters those terms. Why it’s important during a recession: Hands down, there is no more cost-effective way to reach customers in a highly targeted manner. The leads you will get from SEO are incredibly qualified because they represent individuals who are searching for your business right now!
The government has a wealth of data that should be made available to the public in a standardized format. Businesses could use this data to make reports, publish findings, and creat a variety of online tools that will bring great benefit to the public and to businesses. By using standard, open data formats there are hundreds of predictable benefits to our country, and probably thousands that we've never considered.
Hi, my name is Melanie and I help run a site that informs consumers about health insurance and their options. Since I spend most of my day reaching out to other business owners, I was happy to have found this forum.
I'd like to see some actionable discussion surrounding what tools are available to help faciliate the operation of runnning and marketing an online business. This could range from community program discussions to support group meetups to listing administrative online tools.
There are also a plethora of social media related tools for business owners and I believe it would we worth it to share and discuss, for those that are wanting to expand their businesses and grow into the Web 3.0 world.
I would like the opportunity to learn more about opportunities that small businesses can utilize in order to help themselves grow financially. Any benefits or grants available to new businesses by the government would be great being a small business owner myself.
I think it would be benefical to everyone if there was a section dedicated to marketing and adverting regarding your business. Lets face it, everyone needs to market or advertise at one point or another; where it's cold calling, internet marketing, TV commericals, newspapers, etc. It would be great if there was a place to ask questions and get answers on techniques that worked for different businesses.
Hi Mosita:
Since your discussion topic is more of a specific question, I moved your post to our Other Business Issues board where you are more likely to get a response. I hope you get some great responses from our helpful forums.
With the current state of technology and the IT Security issues being faced in it. It would be prudent for us to have an IT Security section on the board that will help business prepare and protect for what is ahead of them. It is a good thing to have these wonderful resources to start and run a business but what about protecting the business.
Can we get an IT Security section on the board?
I wouldn’t mind helping with these kinds of issues at such a critical time for many in and starting a business.Your thoughts.
New ideas on green energies. What's new and promising. Future employment possibilities, especially for high school aspirants to help avoid changing college in the middle of their education goals. Help returning GI's to secure jobs as a way of showing thanks for their defending our freedoms.
I welcome anything to do with Algae which is an open field. This is my industry and have many ideas to follow. Too many to list here. Stay tuned and lets get together with ideas.
