Comment Number: 522418-11262
Received: 7/17/2006 9:24:43 AM
Organization:
Commenter: Shirley Dennstaedt
State: MD
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

We have been IBO's for over 20 years and our Quixtar income has been a major part of our family's finances and is now our primary source of income so we have a vested interest in this proposal. While we agree that it is important for prospective IBO's to have an accurate picture of the business before they make a decision to sign on, some of these proposed guidelines are overly intrusive and at least as far as Quixtar is concerned are really not necessary. For instance -- regarding providing references and waiting for 7 days. In our experience, we generally have met with a prospective IBO several times before they register -- sometimes it takes a week, and sometimes less -- sometimes even more because of people's busy schedules. We make sure we have spent time answering their questions and we always invite them to attend a meeting where they can meet other IBO's and we encourage them to ask questions there. The cost to sign up is very low -- many times people opt for the basic fee of about $42.00 -- and that is completely refundable! We also encourage people to order some products from their new business so that they can be assured of the quality (by the way, this is after we have given them a number of samples to try first) and again -- all products are also completely refundable. So there really is no risk to the new IBO at all. Also, there is no advantage whatsoever to us to register someone quickly -- we want to help those who genuinely want to build a business with us, so it is to our advantage to be sure that this is something they want to do . On the other hand, when someone is sure that this is what they want to do, it is often more time effective to be able to help them get registered right away. A 7-day waiting period is just an arbitrary number that wouldn't add any benefit to the new IBO and just limits our flexibility. As far as disclosing more about income. We always point out the average gross income of IBO's which is printed on the literature we hand out -- it is about $88. And we explain the variety of goals that people have who are involved in this business. In our own organization we have people who are active IBO's -- but they are mostly just using the products themselves and selling them to a few friends or family -- enjoying the benefits of the products. We also have some active IBO's who enjoy attending our educational functions -- because they are around upbeat, positive people, and because they learn principles that can be put to practice in any arena of life, but they may not be actively pursuing the business opportunity in terms of trying to register IBO's into their own business. We have people who will tell you that they credit their experience in the Quixtar business with learning principles that helped them to achieve more in their fulltime jobs, to learn how to get out of debt, and to build better relationships with friends and family! So there are many reasons people stay involved with Quixtar beyond building an income. In our case, however, our goal was to build an income that could provide for our family and we did learn how to do that, so we always show people how that is possible and make sure that they meet those who have accomplished that goal. That is certainly the big picture that we offer people -- the potential to build a business that could replace your current income if you want. Drawing out the plan as we do (shown on the current literature that we provide -- the SA4400) shows how income is generated and how much money you can make at each level. Then they can meet people who have actually accomplished that level. I believe that is a completely adequate way to give people a fair picture of the potential of this business. I do not think it would be necessary or appropriate to give out specific, personal income statements. I feel that would be an invasion of my privacy. We are looking forward to continuing to build our Quixtar business for the future.