Many times in business it's hard to tell what's necessary or not. There is also a fine line between ignorance & scamming. Unfortunately from the United States Government's perspective, ignorance doesn't alleviate you from punishment. There is a man I've been following for some time named Dr. Umar Johnson.
I have recently been made aware of multiple YouTubers who have made documentaries "outing" Dr. Umar. As a Muslim, I have to be careful speculating & hopping on the bandwagon without undeniable proof of wrongdoing. This is why I have been hesitant to make a judgment regarding his alleged fraud. He is registered under a nonprofit & has been collecting funds. People are now questioning him due to how long it's taken to open the school he's raising the funds for.
Anyway this isn't about him. I wanted to cite his situation as a reference for my article. When I got my first brick and mortar location I was completely lost. I did not have the money to secure a business attorney nor did I have anybody around me who could assist me in understanding how to deal with the intricacies of business in the United States. By the time I got through my 1st IRS audit in 2018 was when I realized that I needed to do some heavy research to prevent myself from getting in trouble. I had to pay an accountant for advice and he was very helpful.
That's why I ended up outsourcing for all of my bookkeeping. I also learned the importance of itemizing all of the deductions in their appropriate categories due to potential IRS penalties.
When I see cases like Dr. Umar I think it's 1 of 2 things. Either :
He is a straight up scam artist or
He doesn't know what he is doing(Budgeting, profit loss statements, county/state entity registration, etc). And also has an issue either obtaining help due to ego or fear of being betrayed.
Either way, the way this system is set up Uncle Sam couldn't care less. Especially being a public figure. You don't have the grace nor compassion from others to fail.
I completely empathize with the situation if it's #2. I experienced this in 2016-2017 when I had the following happen:
>Not knowing how to apply for a commercial rental space v. residential
>Not understand how to obtain a Use & Occupancy permit
>Not knowing I needed a permit from the local municipality as well as the fire marshall
>Not understanding how to keep immaculate financial records
>Not understanding how to deal with a crazy landlord (I wrote about her in the 1st chapter of my book https://www.theresearchdepartments.com/The-BYTCH-book.php )
> Not having the emotional capacity to separate business dealings with home life.
>Not having a mentor to speak to regarding the aforementioned issues nor the sense to search YouTube.
The difference is, I was allowed to break in private simply because I don't (& didn't) have a large following. No one knows about the bankruptcy or bad credit. No one knew about the LLC I had to let expire due to lack of finances.
How do you think some of those people with PPP loans got "caught up"? What do you do when no one is there to advise you that has experience as an entrepreneur? You can only ask an accountant but so much before It looks like you're attempting to commit fraud. I absolutely believed that some of these people really thought that they had legitimate businesses. Some people know that you need to register for certain things like a partnership or an EIN number. However, how would you know what is more important than the other and which one will get you locked up versus which one won't?
Many of us are literally "winging it" or in the proverbial sense "grabbing for straws" trying to figure out what's legal and what's not simply due to lack of resources. By the time you realize that you need advice, you have to question who you're going to ask, simply due to you not understanding people's intent. Business people can be very malicious just like people who don't work for themselves.
It's like living in a world by yourself at times with no one to talk to. That being said, you must understand as a business person you will not be friends with everyone you get advice from. You need to push your feelings & insecurities out the window to get valuable advice. There is a lot of "feeling people out" & getting second opinions. I have a free 3 day business course for those wanting to know the basics of starting a business at:
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