| Comment Number: | 522418-11841 |
| Received: | 7/17/2006 3:55:14 PM |
| Organization: | Quixtar |
| Commenter: | Thomas Church |
| State: | NJ |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I have been an IBO for over 10 years. Even though I have not reached the level I would like, I realize that it's no body's fault but my own. When I was sponsored into the Quixtar business I was told right up front that it was not a get rich quick business. I was told it would take a lot of consistent effort on my part. The great thing about it is that no matter what you have done in the past, any time you resolve to put in the required effort, you can achieve success. However, aside from the financial end, I have grown a great deal from the association and the training. I changed so much that I was approached by my superiors at work. They said they didn't know what was causing it but that my attitude and people skills had improved so much that they wanted to promote me to management. All of that said, I believe that if your proposal goes ahead as it is written now, legitimate business opportunities like Quixtar, that are affordable to just about anyone at less than $200.00 to get started, would be put out of business. As my sponsors told me and as I tell new prospects, this business is definitely not easy, but what you propose I believe would make it just about impossible. When it comes to the 7 day waiting period between seeing the business plan and being able to sign up, first, I think most people will have forgotten most of what you explained to them by then and they will also probably ask every one they know what they think of it, when the people they are asking didn;t even see the plan, so they have no information to judge it on. I see no reason for the wait since if they are not satisfied after they have signed up they can still get all of their money back. Should a prospect want to meet and talk to other IBO;s before they register, they can go with their prospective sponsors to an open opportunity meeting where they can meet and talk to IBO's at several different levels in the business. People these days are so protective of their addresses and phone numbers that to require that we give this information out to people they don't know may be enough to cause them to turn the opportunity down. You stated in your proposal that you wanted to require that we provide prospects with personal financial documents. I'm afraid I totally disagree with this. This is too much of an invasion of my privacy. In the event of an audit or investigation by the FTC or the IRS of course that information would be given to the authorities only, but not to just anyone I may meet on the street. In closing I would just like to say that generally, I really like what you are trying to do. In all honesty, In the past, I considered getting involved with at least two of the opportunities that you said were less than legitimate. I guess I'm very naive in that when someone tells me something I generally believe them unless I am given some reason not to, and I understand that what you are doing is simply trying to protect people like myself from getting hurt by getting involved in a scam, but please keep in mind that legitimate business like ours are a great way for the average Joe to be able to reach some level of success and create a better life for themselves and their families. It seems to me that what we really need to do is hold people accountable to what they say so that they can't make incredible claims that have no validity behind them. I am so glad that I got involved with the Quixtar business and I feel it would be a crime if in trying to help people like myself you imposed so many requirements that you in fact put them out of business. I understand that you are after the unscrupulous ones, but please don't trample on the legitimate ones in the process.