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Use Your Information Resources |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
by Roy Slocum, from our issue #32
Information can be a powerful thing. In business, those without it are
often at the mercy of those with it. By using some simple Internet
tools and the telephone you can better prepare yourself against failure
by asking informed questions based on your research.
Basic information about a company and the business opportunity they
sell usually can be found by searching the World Wide Web. I’ll step
you through a sample search process for a defunct worm company,
Vermitrade, and show you what we can find out about that company and
give a few samples of questions to ask via the telephone:
Let’s start by assuming we know nothing about Vermitrade. The first
obvious place to harvest information is the company’s own website. We
want to write down names of people, addresses, other trade names and
those states in which they have sold or are currently selling
contracts. You can sometimes find this information in the testimonial
section of their website. A quick check of the Vermitrade website tells
you that Vermitrade has no website. At this point a quick handy search
to do is a domain name registration search. Surf over to whois.com
and search for Vermitrade.com and you find that the administrative
contact for that account is James Busch of B and B Worm Farms;
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
If both of these companies were in business, a
good question for you to ask of them would be “What is the relationship
between your two companies?” For an active company, with an active
website, this search usually doesn’t yield much new information other
than a confirmation of address.
The next search is to do is a general search of pages on the Web. There
are many search engines available; my favorites are Google and Dogpile.
Using the engine at dogpile.com,
a search of Vermitrade shows that Vermitrade, Inc. of Las Vegas, NV was
issued Cease and Desist orders in Iowa and Nebraska in March and June
of 2000. It is important to read the cease and desist orders to see why
a company was issued such an order. Most orders are issued to protect
the consumers in that state by requiring compliance with state laws to
register with that state as a company selling business opportunities.
In most circumstances this should raise a red flag as to a company’s
willingness operate as a bonafide business. In this particular case we
have three or four phone calls to make to Iowa and Nebraska for more
information on the orders, to your own state to see if Vermitrade is
operating legally, and because we read that Vermitrade is a Nevada
corporation, to the State of Nevada to ensure they are in compliance
there, as well. In this search, don’t forget to use search keywords
like “cease” “desist” “state” and “action”. Use both the company name
and the name of any individuals you find.
The second kind of search you can use to inform yourself is a public
records search. The search services available online vary from State to
State, and searches not available online can often be done with a phone
call to the correct state’s department. You can “Dogpile” your way to the site or use these handy links at BRB Publications. Because we know that Vermitrade was a Nevada corporation, we go to the Nevada corporations
site. Using the corporation search for “vermi”, we find “Vermi Trade,
Inc.” Its corporate status is revoked (they are no longer in business)
and the search gives us the names “Scott Haley” and “Dana Allen”. Using
the same database, but now searching for corporate officers, we find no
result for “S. Haley”, but “D. Allen” yields two company names: Organix
Corp. and Universal Sports. By repeating the process of using these
search tools, running down each name, address and action and applying
them to similar companies currently in operation you can often generate
more questions.
The telephone is often the most powerful tool of all. As mentioned
earlier, a phone call to your own state’s securities department can
often answer the easy questions of whether or not the company you are
interested in is doing business legally in your state. If your searches
leave you with more questions than answers, pick up the phone and call
your target company. See how well or willing they are to resolve your
questions. If they are evasive or confrontational, you have the answer
to your original question: Should I do business with this company?
Here are some examples of information found on the Internet on current and former worm buyback companies:
Vermitrade
• Incorporated May 1999 in Nevada
• Principals were Scott Haley/Dana Allen/Dawn Allen
• Vermitrade.com owned by B&B Worm Farms
• Cease & Desist, IA 3/6/2000:
• Cease & Desist, NE 6/28/2000:
C.R.S.
Cease & Desist, PA 7/2000;
Barry Wise, President and CEO of CRS, Gary Cesaro, Vice President of
Operations for CRS, and Scott Haley, Vice President of Marketing and
Business Development for CRS listed respondents.
• Cease & Desist, WA 7/2002; Combined Resource Systems, Barry Wise, Kevin Hall, CRS employees, and agents listed as respondents.
• Operates the Yelm Earthworm and Castings Farm in Washington
B & B Worm Farms
• Incorporated 11/2000 in Nevada
• Cease and Desist in OK beginning 5/2002
• Cease and Desist, KY 3/2003
• Cease and desist, MS 4/2003
Organic Systems & Waste Solutions, Inc.
• Principal is Larry Bateman
• Incorporated 12/2002 in Nevada
Vermicom
• Wholly owned subsidiary of The Seaberg Group, Inc
• Seaberg Group tax ID in TX is 32003478560
• Currently not in good standing in TX
• The Seaberg Group address on the TX registration is a Nevada address.
• The Seaberg Group is not registered as a Nevada Corporation
• No Vermicom Inc. registered in TX
Vermiplex/Ecology Technology
• Vermiplex incorporated 12/1997 in Idaho by David Monroe
• Cease & Desist, WA 4/1999, Vermi-Plex, David Monroe, and employees; respondents
• Ecology Technology incorporated in 8/2001 by David Monroe
• Vermiplex dissolved 3/2003
• Vermiplex.com is re-marketed under Ecology Technology
Remember, as you consider any business opportunity, to take
advantage of the many resources available to you in this information
age!
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 September 2005 )
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