Comment Number: 522418-05880
Received: 7/4/2006 2:51:15 AM
Organization: Quixtar/BWW
Commenter: Joyce Welsh
State: FL
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. I have reached a 1000pv. My next goal is to go 2500 by the end of the year. The Quixtar business fits very well into my lifestyle. In fact, many of my closest friends are people I met through the business. I work as a geologist. One of the greatest benefits other than the income are the people skills that I have learned. These same skills just landed me a new job and a 40% pay increase. Quixtar and BWW are very adamant about providing complete accurate information right up front. We always say I can't guarantee you anything, but this is not a get rich quick deal, this is a legitimate business model that works if you work it. A new prospect will typically spend about $130 to register. About $95 of that is for products. I have only had a couple of people ever ask for their money back. I gave it all back to them. I was able to send the products back to the corporation or use them for demo purposes and I used the paperwork for customers. If you had a business, would you want to force an employee to stay who really did not want to be there? It doesn’t make sense to “force” an IBO (Independent Business Owner) either. If I had to wait seven days before registering a new IBO, I would loose a lot of qualified people. Should a business have to wait 7 days to extend an offer of employment? Or should there be a mandatory 7-day waiting period to be able to buy a franchise? No legitimate business should be burdened with forced 7-day waiting period. If that were the case, I would have never gotten to be an IBO and most of my people would not have either. As I said earlier, we are open and up front about the costs, the work and expectations. A 7-day waiting period is not going to change that. If I were required to provide a list of local IBO’s for my prospects to contact before they decide to register, that would be paramount to business suicide. 1) For an IBO to be able to develop a group of partners, they must be able to develop trust. Look, there have been a number of times when a prospect of mine had also spoken with someone else about being an IBO. If any prospect wants to speak with other IBO’s I am happy to provide references. Would you want to go to a Dr that was required to give you the names of all the other specialists in the area? Or what if a potential employee was REQUiRED to give references of every supervisor they ever worked with. Haven’t we all worked with folks that were the reason for us moving on? The requirement does not make sense. 2) That would be a violation of the privacy of every existing IBO. I would not want my personal information given out to just anyone. Especially as a woman, building a home based business. 3) As IBO’s on the BWW team, we get together as a team to share the business model with prospects and new IBO’s. Discussion and dialog are encouraged across the board. Yet, at the same time, tenured associates can make sure that the exchange of ideas and information is accurate. If a prospect had to contact an IBO at random, I would have no way of knowing that my prospect was getting accurate information. Again, in any profession from plumbing to medicine, why should any professional have to be required to provide references? I want to work with people who want to work with me. I am going to do my best to give early, accurate information. I don't make money off of SIGNING UP people. Therefore, the REQUIREMENTS are not any more appropiate for me as an IBO than they would be for any other franchise style business. Quixtar provides a website called thisbiznow.com. It provides accurate, detailed information for any prospect that wishes to access it. The SA 4400 form is included in every prospects startup kit. Please do not make difficult for me to operate my business. It has served me well and I have never taken advantage of anyone. Respectfully, Joyce R Welsh