Are you tired of business owners ripping people off? Are you looking to connect with real, authentic businesses that operate in transparency? The In The Clear Podcast is where we connect with business owners who do things differently and raise the bar on how business gets done. Listen in as we discuss the power of transparency and explore new and better ways of doing business.
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Episodes
Instead of a criminal search, what else can I do to look into a business?
There is so much more you can do when looking into a business, especially since a criminal search is not applicable to every business. The answer gets into the mechanics of how you do due diligence and what due diligence looks like looks like. Here are some other things you can do when looking into a business Look at the business history. Often times people won’t stop and take a look at the business history and how long a business has been doing something. Now, take into consideration, that sometimes you will come into contact with a business that is [...]
In The CLEAR – First Podcast
In a world where frauds and scams can be disguised as legitimate opportunities and anyone can be a self proclaimed business expert who do you trust? Before you invest time or money…listen in to make sure your business is in The CLEAR. Justin and Tonya Dawn Recla are Army veterans and former government agents who bring over 20 years of combined counterintelligence experience to the business world. They established Avent-GuardTM due diligence and vetting solutions and created The CLEAR Business DirectoryTM. The CLEAR Business DirectoryTM allows members to operate in full transparency and to proactively address any potential reputation issues that may [...]
One of the Most Recent Scams Involved Fox News
One of the most recent scams was a news story involving Fox News. “Arrested on fraud charges and falsely claiming to be a CIA operative, Wayne Shelby Simmons has been caught feeding disinformation to Fox News for over a decade.” (Source http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fake-cia-agent-fox-news-claimed-19-paramilitary-islamic-training-camps-operating-u-s/#VKr6KHWpiXf6ebee.99) That’s 10 years of news stories that have been completely discredited. That’s 10 years of credibility out the window all because Fox News hired a self-proclaimed expert who turned out to be a fraud. How did this happen? Fox did not do ANY due diligence. The fact of the matter is that something like “worked for the CIA” is [...]
What happens if you discover derogatory information during a criminal history check?
First off, we advocate for a self-disclosure process prior to doing any kind of vetting or due diligence on somebody. The reason for that is it gives them an opportunity to tell you what may or may not be in their background. Then when you go about the process, if you discover something, the first thing you do is see if they have disclosed it. If it was not disclosed, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lying to you. It may be that they are not aware that information is out there, depending on how far back it was or how [...]
Fraud Detection on Facebook
Fraud detection on Facebook can be easy, especially if you know how to look for the signs. Fraud detection becomes even harder when the person you are connecting to appears to have multiple friends in common. Here are ten things to help you identify potential fraud on Facebook: 1. You receive a friend request from someone you never met. 2. You receive a friend request from someone who appears to have common friends. 3. After accepting the friends request, the person engages you in conversation that has nothing to do with your business. 4. The conversation moves from business to [...]
Background Check Companies – The 3 Reasons Why You Should NEVER do a background check
With the slew of background check companies online it can be easy to get swayed into paying for what appears a quick and easy answer to your hiring problem. However, as a business owner you should never do background checks. Sounds kind of funny coming from the due diligence people, right? But the biggest misconception about who we are and what we do at Avent-Guard is that “we perform background checks” for businesses. Nope, we don’t. Matter of fact we advocate AGAINST solely doing background checks because they are unreliable. There are so many factors that go into what a [...]
Fraud Protection Through Transparency…The New Way of Doing Business
Fraud protection through transparency is the new way of doing business. Let’s face it…the old ways of doing business are dying. Long gone are the days of hiding information or passing a sub-par service off as legitimate. Your clients know when something doesn’t seem right, they feel it just as you do when you engage with someone who isn’t being authentic. Today’s customer looks for businesses that operate within some sort of ethical code, moral based system, or have a foundation of social entrepreneurism. It’s simple really… people want to connect. They’re looking for authenticity and they want to [...]
How to do a Background Check: Where the Spy World meets the business world – Understanding Due Diligence.
I is important to understand that even if you know how to do a background that background checks do NOT constitute full due diligence. The concept of due diligence is vast, obscure and overwhelming. Most of our clients privately confess to us that they only have a vague idea of what due diligence means and absolutely NO idea how to do it. Sound familiar? If so, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Most people throw around the term due diligence and claim they do it, but secretly hope no one ever asks them specifics about it. Most never really understand [...]
How to do Background Check: What Business Can Learn From Government Failures
All the training in the world and all of the information on how to do a background check won't protect your business. The government does background checks and they don't work. As you may recall the Office of Personnel Management had a major security breach in June, affecting 14 million individuals who hold security clearances. A recent Business Insider Article titled “The US agency plundered by Chinese hackers made one of the dumbest security moves possible” covers some of the major issues that led to the breach of information. The article points out some “common sense” security practices, such as [...]
Avoiding Business Fraud with Confidence
Business fraud is easily prevented when you do your due diligence. However, the concept of Due Diligence is both confusing and terrifying to most business owners. People constantly come up to us and, in hushed, confidential tones, confess they have no idea how to do due diligence for their business. They’re typically scared of trusting the wrong person, but they don’t know how to make sure to find the right one. That’s where we come in. By demystifying the due diligence process, we empower business owners to take control of their decision-making process and operate with confidence. We help them [...]