| Comment Number: | 522418-06503 |
| Received: | 7/6/2006 2:52:05 PM |
| Organization: | Symil International |
| Commenter: | Michael C. Jones |
| State: | CO |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
To Whom it may concern at the FTC: My name is Michael C. Jones. I am a 42 yr old married father of 2 and a Quixtar IBO for almost 3 years. My younger brother is my sponsor and he is an officer in a branch of our armed services. I have a Quixtar business that has registered about 15 businesses and my business does about $6k -$7k in volume per month so it is not very big but it is growing and I view this business as my family's financial future. My background was in the music industry where I spent the last 10 in music distribution as a senior executive. I was responsible for overseeing a sales team that did over $70 million in billing. As a result of my professional experience outside of the Quixtar business I was able to evaluate the opportunity from a real business perspective. Based on my experience, I have found the Quixtar business opportunity to a smart and well organized direct selling opportunity. It simply puts people in a position to aquire goods and services they already use and expose others to a more efficient way of aquiring the same. As a result of this individuals have a way of starting a low cost, low risk way of starting a legitimate franchise that can provide anywhere from a few extra dollars of savings or income to a way to become financially independent. I understand and agree wholehearteldly that there should be a uniform standard administered by the FTC that holds business opportunities to legal and ethical standards of the highest order. I also see an inherent danger of overreaching and over burdening businesses and business owners that have already met those same standards already and continue to evaluate themselves to ensure they stay within those standards. I believe the Alticor corporation and Quixtar should be held as the gold standard by which other opportunities are measured. I believe this because there is a "buy back" rule that covers individuals on products and educational materials by recognized teaching and mentoring organizations on the IBOA board for up to 6 mos. The registration fee is refundable up to 12 mos from date of registration and the Quixtar corporation goes out of it's way along with the IBOA board representing IBOs to ensure there are quality materials avaialble to prospects to get the facts before they sign anything to start their independent business. The proposed financial disclosures, references and 7 day waiting period would irreperably harm my business and that of thousands of other Quixtar IBOs in that it puts an unfair burden on us to prove that we are legitimate busness owners looking to exapand our businesses. The business opportunities whose unscrupulous and deceptive practices have put a blemish on the direct selling and franchising industries can and have been dealt with through the court systems and arbitration means at the disposal of anyone who feels they need to use them for remediation. True, some of these instances have happened within the Quixtar business opportunity but to my knowledge never at the level of the Alticor corporation but at the level of individuals who for one reason or another feel it necessary to misrepresent or deceive individuals for their own gain. Quixtar has arbitration for these instances. The BBB has given Quixtar a favorable rating and there are several major and minor corporations with stables of attorneys who have evaluated the Quixtar business model and found it a sound business affiliation. Circuit City and Barnes and Nobel are partner stores for Quixtar and were two companies that I did business with in my former profession. Sony Music which is another partner was a former employer of mine. The Quixtar business is a unique direct selling oppportunity with over 40 years in business and relationships with well recognized publicly traded companies with a lot to lose if they were in business with a company that lacked the integrity Quixtar has. This is a sound business opportunity for all.