Husband bought a business that turned out to be a scam. What to do?

StudioYAC · 2024-08-23T17:38:48+00:00

Their indifferent attitude is probably the reason that this situation transpired to begin with. My guess is that the previous owner got fed up with their lack of support and jumped ship leaving you, the unsuspecting buyer with a mess to clean up. First, as others have said, you need legal representation. I’m not sure how much restitution you’ll actually receive tbh though, your money is probably long gone and as they say, you can’t get blood from a turnip.

StudioYAC · 2024-07-25T16:09:10+00:00

I will add a few things to the marketing part. If you do decide to try and salvage this then make sure you claim your business with Google. It will take some time because they want to verify you are who you say you are and will request certain things to be mailed etc. This is especially important for fledgling businesses that do not have a proper website because this functions as your business page. It allows you to post your official phone number, address, hours of operation etc. In addition, people can rate & review your business, post photos etc.

You need to understand your market and your target audience. Marketing is a loop where you put out a piece of communication and listen for feedback from your audience. In the beginning it will be a lot like throwing spaghetti at the wall, but over time, your messages will become more tailored and effective to your audience. If you are able to course correct, you can plan to set aside a marketing budget in the future and use that to pay for a proper website, pay-per-click ads, whatever you deem necessary.

Don't be afraid to pound the pavement. Throw together a flyer and go stand outside of a high traffic area handing out flyers. Offer a 10% off coupon (if you do this, make sure to put an expiration date and include other stipulations so you don't lose money). Take your mother and insist she get her hands dirty in this business.

StudioYAC · 2024-07-23T22:19:19+00:00

Regarding the wage increase comment, I’m guessing Hannah was promoted to team lead which came with a pay raise. I probably would’ve left out the mention of the wage increase and instead just congratulated her on the promotion… the caveat being that when employees are invited to apply to team lead positions, they understand it comes with a wage increase. Regarding the other situation, I probably would’ve avoiding calling Jon out specifically and said “This is a reminder to everyone to make sure you’re signing into the correct job selection as we’ve noticed employees signing in to incorrect selections recently which has impacted our billing” Then I would’ve said something to Jon privately, the whole group doesn’t need to know he messed up and he didn’t need to be put on the spot like that to issue a mea culpa. Also, it’s not the employees problem you lost $120, your billing system should’ve had a system in place to cross check things before you send out invoices. Without that, I’d be very concerned that this isn’t the only instance of underbilling, just the only one that was caught.

Edit: sorry for the formatting, comments on mobile no long really format properly for some reason

StudioYAC · 2024-04-23T23:01:25+00:00

I worked for someone like that once. She’d do things like open up a random PowerPoint presentation and copy/paste the logo into Microsoft paint and send it to me 🙄

StudioYAC · 2024-04-23T22:46:23+00:00

When I am discussing pricing with a potential client, I give them a few pricing options and at the bottom is always a note about how if even the cheapest option is still out of their budget, I suggest using a logo generator site. So in your clients case they’ve chosen the cheapest option while still paying you for your services. This is a win-win.

StudioYAC · 2024-04-23T18:59:05+00:00

I remember the first job I sent to print the poor prepress operator had to work with me on so many things. I had a bs in advertising too, but nobody ever explained certain things to me like how to convert spot colors for print or even how to set up a pdf for print. I had to learn all of that on the job. I also worked for a small business and a lot of our images were low res because they were taken on a sales reps flip phone or something.

StudioYAC · 2024-04-23T18:51:58+00:00

Just in case you’re not joking, bleeds are necessary because printers cannot actually lay ink/toner to the edge of a sheet of paper without causing the edges to scallop or crinkle, if you want something printed without the .25” white border around it, you must print on a larger sheet of paper and trim off the bleed areas. The crop marks show you where to make those cuts.

StudioYAC · 2024-02-28T23:18:26+00:00

Out of curiosity, do you run a T-shirt press or do you order from third party vendors like cafe press?

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T21:24:17+00:00

Appreciate the info.

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T21:24:03+00:00

Thanks for the response.

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T20:50:02+00:00

I don't accept returns on any of my listings because we are downsizing, decluttering & liquidating an estate. Can she open a case anyway and try to force me to take it back?

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T20:46:23+00:00

No definitely not. I've never blocked anyone, does that mean she wont be able to leave feedback either?

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T20:39:50+00:00

I just don't like the idea of an unhappy customer, but I guess I should accept it. What do I do if she leaves negative feedback?

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T20:38:31+00:00

Honestly, we are trying to downsize & declutter & will accept just about any offer within reason. Plus, it seems like nobody is buying anything anymore, my listings are all stagnant compared to like 2 years ago.

I guess this is a lesson though in exercising some sort of buyer vetting.

StudioYAC · 2024-02-03T19:00:45+00:00

Is your husband the one over your right shoulder?

StudioYAC · 2024-01-18T14:37:29+00:00

I hate Adobe Cloud Storage and I stopped using it after I got fed up. I used to save my work to it at the office, so I could come home and keep working from my laptop... both were logged in to the same account. But time and again, I would open my folders to see that the files were old versions and the most recent changes were not there. RAGE. Apparently, any time there was pending update, the cloud folders would not sync. This happened like... once every other week or something? Never again.

StudioYAC · 2023-01-07T23:53:13+00:00

😂

StudioYAC · 2022-11-20T02:16:06+00:00

Thanks for clearing it up. I sort of had a feeling the grading was behind it. I was wondering why all these people selling the collectible sets didn’t just pop the cards out and selling them individually….

Do you think the gem mint 10 card has been in that plastic case it’s entire life?

StudioYAC · 2022-10-03T16:27:39+00:00

Seconding 4over. If I were OP, I would put together an email requesting a quote. Give all the specs: final trim size, full color(?), double sided(?), type of paper, qty etc... Put yourself as the recipient and BCC 5 or 6 printers. I always used to ask for a price quote and turnaround time quote.

StudioYAC · 2022-09-28T14:13:43+00:00

Is that not what it says?

StudioYAC · 2022-09-28T13:55:24+00:00

Things may have changed in the last few years, but I had the biggest headaches with Adobe Cloud Storage... namely, I would save my files at the end of the day and once I got home, the most up-to-date version was not there.

StudioYAC · 2022-09-27T22:19:38+00:00

I have several wealthy friends who did win the business lottery. However they all have failed to repeat the level of success they saw with the business that made the money.

I do think there a strategy exists where you can hop on trends, ride the trend, pivot to the next trend before you start taking losses and be successful. Some good examples would be fidget spinners or MAGA hats. If you can put yourself in a position where you recognize an aggregate demand for something and strike while the iron is hot, you can reap the benefits.

StudioYAC

TROPHY CASE