Comment Number: 522418-06550
Received: 7/6/2006 5:39:21 PM
Organization:
Commenter: s ramachandran
State: FL
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

Dear Sir/Madam, I have been an Independent Business Owner (IBO) affiliated with Quixtar for over 3 years. This business is one of the best things ever happened to me. Apart from the money I receive from Quixtar in the form of bonuses, this business has helped my almost double my job income because of better people skills I learnt building this. Also it has helped me to bring my medical bills to almost zero as I am healthier because of the products they offer. Having been in a network marketing insurance and burnt badly, I was skeptical when I saw this oppurtunity, but because of the positive changes in my friend's personality, I decided to give it a try. I had a million questions, some of which he was able to answer, rest he directed me to someone I could talk to. That is the same approach I follow when I sign up a new IBO. In our team, we encourage signing up people with a 100pv + registration which turns out to be around $325. We tell them that any product they are not satisfied with can be refunded for 100% money back and also if they decide not to do the business they can get most of their registration fee back (I guess they lose about $5-$10). I am personally not too much of a fan of the proposed 7 day wait as it impedes the momentum and growth of the organization, esp when we are targeting to qualify for promotions and different events. Also most people take about 2-3 days to go through the information package given to them at the end of the marketing presentation which gives them just the right amount of time to make a quality decision. Regarding the question about providing references, anyone who is a prospective IBO meets the local support team before they sign up. We have strict code of ethics which avoids any crosslining. Also providing anyone and everyone with the contact information of the people in the team violates their privacy. As they come to more meetings, the team provides an environment for people to know each other and develop friendships. Regarding the question about providing the prospect with litigation history against Quixtar, my viewpoint is that when someone goes for an interview with a company like Microsoft, they dont talk about litigation against Microsoft. Everyone wants their business be portrayed in the best light. Also there haven't been any lawsuits in which Quixtar was found guilty. So why talk about the noise when there was no incident. Also each team operates mostly independent of others, so it is unfair to make a list of other people's business whether good or bad. Regarding disclosure of income, anyone who is involved with Quixtar would agree with me in the fact that the benefits are much more than monetary. It is difficult to put a price tag on all we receive. Also it is difficult to explain the different expenses and investments separately. It is because something that is an investment to someone may look like an expense to someone else. Also any private business has the right to keep their balance sheet private except disclosing it to the IRS. We dont have any shareholders and we dont work on other people's money. So why should we need to disclose our income statement to anyone but IRS? When we explain our business, we discuss about our total sales in the organization but we dont detail on the income, expense, investment and all other stuff and we shouldn't need to. I don't get the credit history of my employer when I go for a job interview, why do I need to show my financial records to someone by law? If someone wants to do business with me and they want to know about where I stand financially, it is my right to say yes or no to that information. I understand that there may be some people making false claims and do business fraudulantly, but that is the case with any business. You need to know who you partner with and that is a risk you take in any business venture. The only way to minimize fraud is to make money back guarantee which we do.