Comment Number: 522418-09461
Received: 7/14/2006 3:38:18 PM
Organization:
Commenter: Roland Januzzi
State: OH
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

My wife and I have been Quixtar IBOs since registering with Amway in the mid-1990's. We have had mainly favorable experiences even though we have not attained our financial goals. The IBO experience offers a way for people who otherwise would be unable to own a business an avenue to business ownership. As in any business there is hard work, risk, and opportunity. The business team that we are associated with has never made unrealisitic promises or expectations and has been honest about the risks and rewards. The Amway and Quixtar companies have been beyond reproach regarding the integrity and ethics of our dealings with them. I would recommend them as business partners to anyone. The registration process that we experienced and utilize is a thorough, informative, low key process which typically takes place over a 7 to 21 day period. The monetary investment is around $130 with optional investment opportunities in continuing education, motivation and professional development. We spend about $350/month as customers of our own business while purchasing necessary home, health, and personal care items which we would be purchasing elsewhere if these items were not available through our own business. Regarding the Business Opportunity Rule being discussed I would like to address a few specifics: (1) I personally have no problem with a 7-day waiting period as our process typically runs 7 - 21 days, however, a more reasonable waiting period would be 3-5 days so as to help new IBOs get their business started as quickly as possible. (2) I feel a requirement for each individual IBO to provide references places an unfair burden and restriction on the ability of new IBOs to build a business. A more fair method may be to require the parent company, in our case Quixtar, to establish a reference web site whereby persons who are considering the opportunity could view the experiences and opinions of IBOs at every level. (3) The litigation list proposal is helpful in spirit, but not practical and in fact harmful to free enterprise. Another method may be to require full disclosure of any successful litigation against the IBO who is presenting the opportunity with the possibility of a password protected site which contains documentation of all successful litigations company-wide within a recent period of time, perhaps 3 years. Listing pending or unfounded litigations would be frivolous and damaging without just cause. (4) We currently provide access to the earnings disclosure document SA-4400. This is adequate as far as an earnings disclosure. As in any business opportunity the earnings potential varies widely based upon a number of variables, many which are not within the control of the business owner. No guarantees can be made regarding earnings. (5) Regarding financial substantiation, if an IBO implies that success as an IBO has resulted in specific material gains, it would be ethical for the IBO to provide substantiation. This being said, requiring substantiation would not necessarily be a benefit to the potential IBO as each individual's financial condition varies widely depending upon current and previous sources of income, investments and financial management. A disclsoure as to what percent of the IBOs current income is derived from the business opportunity may be helpful, but this can be somewhat misleading as well due to the fact that many successful IBOs have invested wisely into other businesses and investments with their prior IBO earnings. The bottom line regarding substantiation is that every citizen has a right to keeping their personal finances private unless a court of law determines that it is necessary to make these records public due to violation of laws that have already been established. Thank you for the opportunity to express these opinions.