I had a client who came to me needing a few business document modified after their experience with financial-projections.com. The local VC firm Stole Rives had made some suggestions to my client to rework their documents after it had been completed by this company and he expressed some concern about the quality of what he had received. They purposely searched for a local person/company that they could afford.

Some quick research made me wary. I check to see if there was an office we could meet at. This turned out to be a company with an address in a vacant house in the suburbs. The website stated they were located in Portland with no physical address. I looked into state records for financial-projections.com or butler consultants to confirm that the address of business really was a vacant house. There were no business licenses to be found.

This place has google reviews much like other virtual retailers but seemed unusual for a consulting business. There is no better business bureau record despite the amount of google reviews.
I checked back with the website and tried to find out if there is a person who could sit down and speak to me and my client and found instead that the business also has an address in Plano Texas.

The experience my client had combined with what I had found left me unsettled. There were no descriptions of staff other than the one person who owned the domain, there was no office associated with the state paperwork. I couldn’t tell if my client had anyone local at all on his plan or if it was farmed out. The principle location of the business pointed to a vacant house, not what I or my client expected based on the site. My client had gone with the least expensive option that was close by, hoping that when the time came, he could make the changes needed to his documents.

Aside for the lack of licensure, I’m not accusing this company of any wrong doing or crime. It was simply not what my client or I had expected of a business consulting company.

I decided that this was too fly by night to pursue. No address, vacant house, no staff to sit down with despite the website, no BBB accreditation. I still don't know if my client was dealing with an individual or an actual company.