Business and Ad Accounts: Ownership and Structure

The commonest call I get on this subject opens with one sentence: "the person who used to work

with us left, and we cannot get into the page."

And the problem did not happen the day they left. It happened the day the account was created.

The rule this course rests on

An account you do not own is not yours — it is on loan.

Read it twice.

Access is not ownership. Whoever can log in today may not be able to tomorrow, **and whoever owns

the asset stays its owner however everything around it changes**.

And the difference between them never shows while you are comfortable — **it shows on the day of a

disagreement, a departure, or a forgotten password**.

Four ways owners lose their accounts

1. An employee created it on their personal profile ← **so the asset is owned by a person rather than

your business ← and it leaves with them**.

2. Whoever runs the ads built it inside their own account ← so you are a tenant rather than an owner

← and when the relationship ends you take nothing: not the account, not its data, not its history.

3. Only one owner ← who forgot, lost their phone, or left ← and nobody can restore access.

4. Everyone is an owner ← whoever can remove you is able to do it, **and ownership becomes

meaningless**.

And all four are fixed by one decision taken in half an hour — before you need it.

Four questions this course answers

1. What do I actually own? ← the asset inventory (lesson two).

2. Where should they live? ← the structure (lesson three).

3. Who can do what? ← roles and access (lesson four).

4. What happens when someone leaves? ← (lessons five and seven).

And try them now: answer all four. **And if you hesitated on the first, start at lesson two and do not

move past it.**

What this course is not

It is not about protecting your accounts from takeover — passwords, two-step verification and recovery

after a breach are in the "Protecting Your Business Accounts" course. And the difference in one line:

that one stops someone else taking them, this one makes sure they are yours to begin with.

Nor is it about running the ads — choosing a keyword, an audience or a budget is in the other

advertising courses, and this is about the layer beneath them.

And I will not explain the interface buttons. They change every few months, **and any description of

where a button sits becomes a source of error within a year ← and this course is about decisions that do

not change: who owns, what they own, who reaches it, and how it is recovered**.

And I will not name a platform or a program. Names change and the structure does not — **every

serious advertising platform has the same three layers: an entity for the business, assets beneath it, and

people with roles**.

And whatever concerns contracts, intellectual property and liability — consult your lawyer. **And

whatever concerns invoices, tax and spending limits — consult your accountant. I am an engineer, and what

I know is how accounts are built and handed over.**

When this course does not concern you

Three cases, and I will say them before you continue:

1. You have not created anything yet ← and this is the best case: **read it before you create, and

you save yourself everything that follows ← and the order of creation is half the course**.

2. You are alone and nobody else will ever have access ← lessons six and seven are enough: payment

and recovery.

3. You do not intend to advertise or to sell online ← then you need no business account at all ←

and do not create what you do not need.

And the third is the one people resist: **an account you do not use is not an asset — it is an open door

you forget.**

What you need to start

And you need no system:

• A list of everything you or someone else created for your business — even from memory
• The names of everyone with access today — including whoever has left
• An email address belonging to the business rather than to a person — **and this is the first thing you

will need**

• Half an hour — and most of this course is decisions rather than work

Action steps

1. Write the rule: an account you do not own is not yours.
2. Go through the four ways and identify which applies to you now.
3. Answer the four questions and record where you hesitated.
4. Ask: if so-and-so left today, what do I lose?
5. Go honestly through "when this does not concern you".
6. Prepare an email address in the business's name, not a person's.
7. Create no new account until you finish lesson three.
8. Write the names of everyone with access today — and whoever has left.