Comment Number: 522418-04835
Received: 6/28/2006 3:22:37 PM
Organization:
Commenter: Larry Houser
State: MT
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

My wife has been a Quixtar IBO since 9-1-1999 and was invoved with amway for about 5 years prior to 1999. She started a business because as a busy professional along with my income we were having a hard time making ends meet. She invested in educational materials and time going to motivational seminars as well as learning about running a business. She and I have both benefited in a huge way from a personal growth program that was recommended to us as well as she has made some nice supplemental income. As important as the income however we were taught how to get and stay debt free, some of our mentors are christians and have taught us about the importance of giving to charities, all of these things have also benefited us in a tremendous way. We were also taught to stay committed to a course of action that includes staying married which we are today totally because of the examples of the leaders in this business. We would be divorced today without this opportunity and you will find this as a common thread I am sure with many. The proposal to provide enough information for prospective IBO'S about our industry I think goes further than needed and the need to give references for example must violate the privacy of the reference and in fact most of the potential IBO's are encouraged to come first to a organizational meeting where they have the opportunity to visit with many people and to ask thier opinions and get feedback. Anyone who spends more than one meeting with a sponsor will know that this is not a get rich quick scheme, the current disclosure on the sa4400 form is very clear about that and frankly my experience has been that the potential IBO prospects are given probably more information than they typically want. As far a guarantee goes I know that the company stands behind thier 100% money back guarantee so having a 7 day cooling off period is unecessary. I have 30 years background in the typical business world and thier are no guarantees with normal business, that's what makes our country great. The ability to risk and to own businesses, What other businesses have a money back guarantee? The insurance business operates so much like our business it's really incredible, there is no guarantee with that or the Real Estate business. How many people that I have seen come into the financial services business and the real Estate business I would say is in the thousands, how many have survived and made the kind of money they said was possible, darn few. What about corporate america today where you can invest years only to be (fired, Downsized, etc) for all the reasons that you can read about in the new papers. There is no guarantee, go to a Communist country if you want guarantees. This is still america I think. The land of the free and the home of the brave. The opportunity to try and fail and to win if willing to work for it. Saddly many have forgotten that with the winning there is a price to pay, late nights working when others are playing, learning how to make something work rather than figure out why it is someone else's fault because they weren't given a guarantee of success just by showing up. I think the business has enough restrictions and the real truth is that its hard enough to find people who will stay committed to any course of action and be willing to be guided instead of quitting at the first sign of difficulty. There is more integrity with this bunch than I have seen anywhere in America. There will continue to be whiners in any industry so some guidance is necessary, I think we already have it covered. Thanks for accepting my comments. Larry Houser