Well it started OK but quickly went down hill in January, when I found out that the blog put on the internet by an anonymous blogger, was causing me problems with my new business venture - but that did not deter me, as I have always treated the anonymous blog as an itch that I couldn't scratch!
I say 'couldn't' because by the close of 2012 I am now very close to identifying the gutless, spineless anonymous blogger, that wasn't even a franchisee or licensee of Advanced Media Information Limited.
I cannot elaborate on the details of the how I have traced the anonymous blogger, as there is a set legal procedure that I need to follow, and I would not want to jeopardise the procedure and the outcome.
Around the end of Q1 of the year things got really interesting with the Insolvency service and the report to creditors that they issued.
They, the Insolvency Service, issued a report that stated the company had been closed and had debts of £1.4million, when in fact the company was closed with debts of £7,000!
What the Insolvency Service had done was to add up all the franchise fees, master license fees and license fees received by the company and add them to the £7k, and this was the figure that they, the Insolvency Service, determined the company debts were.
Well, as you can imagine I was astounded and asked a very simple question;
"How can you add in all the franchise fees, master license fees and license fees and class them as debtors when they have received everything that they paid for?" To date I still have not received a coherent answer to my question.
I have sought advise from independent professionals in the Insolvency industry, and they too are baffled as to why the Insolvency Service would do this.
Every franchisee was paid any commissions due to them, save for one that had started legal proceedings against the company claiming that he had never received the support he was contracted to receive. I am only sorry that I never got my day in court with this guy because he would have had to answer some questions that would have made him feel very uncomfortable.
So, as you can see the Insolvency Service certainly has a lot to answer for but getting those answers is an entirely different matter.
As my solicitor says "Being in business leaves you open to attack from everyone you are in business with, doing business with or may do business with. And once the Government, the CIB et al, have you on their radar screens you will never be left alone no matter what you do or how good your business is"
Wise words I believe.
For those of you new to this blog here is a post from 2010 to give you some background.
ADVANCED MEDIA INFORMATION LTD, ITOUCHWORLDWIDE.COM (ITW)
March 11, 2010 by Philip Smith-Lawrence
When I, Philip Smith-Lawrence, took over Advanced Media Information Limited I did so knowing that I was acquiring an exciting and profitable business that had an innovative product. I was without doubt excited but I still undertook a process of due diligence.
This process did not last long but as a businessman it was a ‘no brainer’ decision to engage in the process.The business used the brand name AskAmi and I had to change that to itouchworldwide.com because of a certain blog and forum.
Now any business has problems, just look at the airline industry, although I do like a cetain CEO’s approach to addressing his company’s bad press by using the very people that published the bad press to answer them. I certainly will not be using that approach though.
Franchising, as a business, is no different to most other businesses when it comes to bad press but no one, least of all me, had expected it to come from within the network of franchisees! Nor did I expect it to come from someone, I have probably never met, that has a personal vendetta against the previous owner of the company.
I would like to make it clear that the blog that is currently available online is defamatory.That is not my opinion but the opinion of the company lawyers.As such, in conjunction with the company lawyers, an investigation into whom the author(s) of the defamatory blog is/are has been undertaken. I am pleased to inform you that, very soon I will be able to seek legal redress against the author(s) in the courts of England based on the evidence obtained.
The concerns of the franchisees quoted in the defamorty blog and forum have been addressed.
I was quite astounded that the franchisees business sense had been clouded by the need to vent their concerns online without them realising that in fact, they were damaging not only my business, but they were in fact damaging their own businesses in the process.
I was quite astounded that the franchisees business sense had been clouded by the need to vent their concerns online without them realising that in fact, they were damaging not only my business, but they were in fact damaging their own businesses in the process.
I have no view eitherway on the conduct of the previous owner of the business when he was running his previous business. That business clearly has not got any association with Advanced Media Information Limited.What he did prior to starting Advanced Media Information Limited is bewteen him, his conscience and anybody that foolishly did not undertake a process of due diligence before dealing with him.
I know that business is not black and white, there are plenty of grey areas, but to publicly defame both me and my company, without allowing me the ability to publicy refute the ridiculous defamtory comments on the blog in question by placing comments on the said blog,is without doubt the work of a coward.
There are many positive facets to itouchworldwide.com as a business, the main one being it is a very simple business to run as a franchisee/licensee, if the system is followed.This claim can be substantiated by the fact that a master licensee has generated revenue in excess of Euros100,000 in his first year and a franchisee has generated over £30,000 in the first four months of operating his franchise. There are other Regional Directors and franchisees that have had simliar success.There are also some franchisees that have not had as good a success rate as the aforementioned but we are working with them to bring them upto the same level and of course there are some failures.From what I have seen the failures are down to the franchisees trying to run two or more businesses at once, not taking the advice and support from head office and /or thinking they can ‘re-invent’ the system, all of which are simply not conducive with running a successful and profitable business.There are two main skills needed to run the business and either can be employed, singularly or intandem, they are management skills and sales skills.
Thanks for reading and come back soon for Part 2.
Best regards,
Philip Smith-Lawrence.
