I am not new to business as I have had another business as personal trainer/ lifestyle mentor previously. In that industry however people are not wanting to take advantage of you.

I paid someone interstate in June last year to set up my company on the advice of another person who make promises but doesn’t deliver on them but that is a long story. This person told me his rate for setting up my company and told me the postage and handling of my actual company register was included in that price there were no legal contracts just a verbal agreement and an invoice that I paid after receiving my company registration certificate and the expectation that he would post my company register to me. Which never happened.

I emailed, rang and texted him and so did my new accountant for many months trying to get him to send me my register and he never responded to myself or my new accountant. He completely ghosted us for the entire time.

I put a complaint in with his governing body about his behavior and they did nothing about it even though this so-called professional was keeping something the legally belonged to me.

Last Sunday night I got a text from this person saying that he would not send me my company register unless I paid him an extra $300 for it. in his test he said if I did not send the money to him he would deregister my company and peruse collections. The thing was he never told me or even sent me any invoices for this extra $300 over those 6 months he had my register even though he had ample opportunity to do so.

He could have at any time in those 6 months that I was contacting him about it responded to me saying that what he did in the text message, but he did not because I did not woe him any more money. He was only trying to blackmail me for more money.

This all felt bad and completely wrong to me so I responded to him saying I would go to the police if he did not send it to me and that he never in the time he had my register responded to me or the other person taking over my account about any such funds.

I rang ASIC and told them about it and they told me that I did not need my company register as single directorship companies with only one director\owner do not need to have a company register at all and that I could if I wanted to take him to consumer affairs for not rendering the services I paid for.

ASIC have now changed my company log in details on their system and are sending them to me so I can manage my account on their system myself. I then decided to block this person who was holding my company register for ransom as he can’t do anything to my company according to ASIC as he would need my written consent which he does not have and therefore his blackmailing efforts were in vain.

So here are the lessons you need to learn from my situation I told you about above.

1) If someone is trying to blackmail you for money, they say you owe them go back through all your communications you have had with them in writing and check it first before continuing anything with them.

2) Don’t overreact and take it personal as there are lots of shonky businesses out there.

3) Do your research on the businesses you get involved with (internet, verbal on the phone references etc…)

4) If it feels wrong go with your gut and research what they say especially if it is something legal to do with your business (speak to governing bodies, government agencies and solicitors that will know about these things and will give you an honest answer)

5) Never unless you know they are a legitimate business, or you have done your homework on them or you have dealt with them before hand over more money to them if there is no evidence in writing that they are telling you the truth.

6) There is no use continuing a conversation with a dodgy business if you don’t legally need the thing they are holding for ransom. Just block them as they are not worth your time of day in arguing with them. ©

Copyright © 2022 Lynette Diehm.

All rights reserved. No part of this post may be used or reproduced by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews

#daretobeyou, #daretobeyouinlife, #daretobeyourself, #selflove, #loveyourself, #empowerment, #selfawareness, #selfesteem, #selfconfidence, #selfrespect, #selfcare, #daretobeyoucoaching, #mindsetcoaching, #transformationalcoaching, #coachingdaretobeyou, #daretofaceyourfearsheadon, #daretobetrasnformed, #personaldevelopmentcoaching, #personalcoaching, #daretobesuccessful, #daretosucceed, #mentalhealth, #personalgrowth, #selfworth, #gratitude, #Yourself, #Outstanding, #Unstoppable, #Dare To Be You, #inspiration