When building a business, we tend to look for reputable trade associations and assistance to help distinguish ourselves as a steady and reliable company.
We are Recession Proof Holdings, LLC (RPH).
In doing so, we turn to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) as it was thought to be a reliable source of information and was used by many companies as a benchmark resource to inform customers about how serious and committed a business is.
We looked into many business associations, such as, The Chamber of Commerce, The Elk Lodge, Rotary Association, and many others.
The interesting thing we learned was that each of these organizations charged a nominal fee for membership. While most were upfront about the fees and benefits they offered, there was one that was not so easily understood. The Better Business Bureau (BBB).
The BBB appeared appealing in name and benefits. Just look at the name... "Better" (enhancing better businesses) "Business" (the understanding of businesses) "Bureau" (a term used by government agencies). I can remember thinking that this was a Federal Agency when I was a young man.
This was the "Agency" to use, I thought, for our burgeoning business. Perfect! A government agency that my tax dollars had paid for already. A great way to register our business with the Federal Government, I thought.
We started researching. We saw the logos on many small business doors and windows, understood that this is where we report any problems with the business that we might have. Heck, they advertised that they even helped settle any disagreements between business and customer. This has got to be it!
After preliminary research, we decided to make the call. An older sounding gentleman answered our call. Very enthusiastic and optimistic sounding, he asked; "what type of business do you have?" I replied; "We are a holding company," being so proud to have established, what I thought was a perfect business model.
We had started with, real-estate, owning our properties outright, established a property management and maintenance company to oversee our operations. We own a Consulting Company, working in the marketing, advertising, technology, Executive and Business Consulting spaces.
We also hold a Non-profit organization geared towards our military, veterans and their families as our way to maintain community engagement, create additional employment opportunities and support other nonprofit organizations in this space.
He replied, "What is a Holding Company?" A little taken back, I started to explain. "We are a Parent Company that provides governance to our subsidiary companies, we provide liquid assets and absorb the majority of the tax burdens," I said. "A SMB" (small to medium sized business).
I continued, "We're registered with the Secretary of State, the Federal and State Internal Revenue Departments. We maintain our subsidiaries under the same Federal Tax Identification Number" (TIN or EIN). Our NGO (Non Governmental Organization) has a separate tax ID number."
We... He interrupted me, saying "What's you websites address? I can just look it up there."
Well, a little confused that a Bureau for business didn't know what I was describing, struck me as a little strange, I rattled off "www.recessionproofholding.com."
"Okay sir" he said. I will take a look at it a call you back tomorrow. "Sure thing" I said. "Look forward to hearing back from you sir."
The following day, he called. He said, his manager was concerned about the affiliate marketing campaign on our website and asked what it was. I explained, that our Consulting Company understood this market and were advertising our ability to assist companies and individuals in this space. He appeared to understand and respect this explanation. Finally, he then dropped the one thing we wasn't expecting... the price.
It appears, that our Holding Company, Recession Proof Holdings, LLC, our Property Management Company, dba Murphy Properties, LLC, and Consultant Company, RPH Consulting, LLC, all needed to buy a product from BBB. And, if we so desired, we could add an additional service for RPH's Foundation for Military and Veterans Affairs (the NGO).
If you understand business, you know what I was thinking! Here's another organization that's claiming to work in good faith between company and customer, trying to profits from businesses while claiming to represent consumers.
This concept was and still is beyond me. Why would we pay for someone to determine whether we are operating on behalf of our customers? If we were to have a non-legal dispute, wouldn't it be better to settle with our customers, rather than pay a rolling fee to a organization to stand in the middle, then siphon it's operating costs for us?
"No go," I said, not explaining my rationale to the older gentleman. He then began to try to negotiate a better price. "No go," again. Surprised, he turn to "Let me talk to my supervisor." At this point, I'm blown away.
In typical fashion, his supervisor called. "We're concerned that your company is engaging in MLM!" (A term that means Multi-Level-Marketing or a pyramid scheme). I explain kindly, we understand the affiliate marketing programs and strategies companies use to recruit salesforces, we help companies utilize this resource. I rattled off some of the large companies that we were promoting such as, Hewlett Packard (HP), Google, Microsoft, etc..
It was then clear to me, we had left the respiratory of a traditional small business mindset behind. We had jumped the small business theory of business and possessed a medium to large business standard operating procedures.
However, the better business bureau (bbb) stuck in the dinosaur age and like a tick or leach, stuck on our businesses and many more like us. They keep a database, derived by internet searches from complaining consumers. They attempt to force businesses to pay their operating costs to clean up negative feedback. We're supposed to pay them to address each issue or let us respond publicly, to what may or may not be legitimate comments or complaints. Wow, what manipulation!
If nothing else, we've learned from this experience, to choose our battles. More importantly, never engage with unscrupulous entities. Yes we are silent, but for only publicly but not in our diary of thoughts.
By Jeffrey Murphy,
Founder and President
Recession Proof Holdings, LLC
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