| Comment Number: | 522418-05922 |
| Received: | 7/4/2006 12:56:43 PM |
| Organization: | quixtar |
| Commenter: | steven post |
| State: | FL |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
My wife and I have been Independent Business Owners with Quixtar for 8 years. Previously I was a Pub owner in Newport RI for 25 years and my wife an attorney in Hingham Ma. We viewed the opportunity for what it is, a chance to free enterprise, not a guarantee, we knew there were risks just as there were risks in the restaurant business and in any investment of time money and effort, always the possibility of unmet expectations and the loss of money time and effort. The major difference with the Quixtar opportunity is that the risk is extremely low when compared to any traditional business venture. Everything has a buy back or money back policy, from products to educational support, to registration fee's, which are less than $50.00. The biggest risk in our business is that we might be lazy; the business doesn't work, we do. Each IBO has an equal chance to build and operate their own business with the support of Quixtar and a business support team. My wife and I applaud your efforts to police the industry and rid it of the dishonest and the illegal schemes that do exist and we trust that you will do so without injuring the honest, sincere and hardworking members of our industry. It is clear that your intentions are well meaning and we appreciate the chance to offer some input. As I understand it the goal of the proposed regulation is to protect people from losing their money to illegal schemes, what some call pyramid or ponzi schemes. At best this is a difficult task, at worst it hurts those legitimate business opportunities by overly restrictive rules. The difficulty lies in protecting people from themselves, one of the reasons that so called get rich quick pyramid schemes exist, is that there are many greedy people that want to get rich quick without hard work, they don't last long in business, and when they quit they blame everone but themselves. I can relate, my wife and I endured the stock market crash, where we saw our portfolio go from $540,000 in March of 2000 to where our IRA is currently less than $110,000; there was no regulation to protect us from ourselves and our broker at Smith Barney, we realized that we shared the decision making process and therfore the blame. I mention that only to try and put the Quixtar opportunity in its proper perspective, the risk is far less and the rewards have been far greater. The greatest thing about this country, in my opinion, is the chance to take a chance. With that in mind there must be a way to create a set of common sense rules without hurting those opportunities that are legitimate, not withour risk, legitimate. I don't have the answers, don't pretend to, but I can offer a few suggestions. Focus on those deals that require a large outlay of capital, I don't know maybe $1500 or more, or that require a large inventory purchase, without a buy back policy. Some might argue that in some states these regulations already exist, and they may; however I would argue, if enforced, these are sufficient to rid our industry of the dishonest. Until the current regulations are enforced the only people that will be affected by new ones are the honest business people. Those people that are ignoring the current laws and regulations without penalty will more than likely ignore the new ones. There are sufficient regulations, there may not be sufficient enforcement. There are many from our industry more intelligent and articulate than I, who can and I hope will also offer input to your efforts to rid our industry of the unscrupulous and the dishonest that give us all a bad name. We applaud any sincere efforts to improve the image of our industry and we recognize the difficult nature of your task, to eliminate the illiegal schemes that do exist without hurting the honest and sincere independent business owners with the same rules. As my mother would say, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Sincerely Steven & Christine Post