Turning a Biz Opp into a Coaching Program?

With the new Biz Opp rule from the FTC, many Biz Opp marketers were advised to turn their Biz Opps into an educational product and coaching products. For those marketers, FTC v. IVY should be reviewed carefully. The people who spent more than $100 million on “coaching” services sold by Ivy Capital and related companies thought that's what they were buying a home based business combined with a personal coaching platform. But according to the FTC lawsuit, that’s not what Ivy Capital delivered. The FTC alleged that Ivy Capital’s telemarketers called people who had responded to email or ads for work-at-home or web-based business opportunities. But the “ads” originated from shell companies Ivy Capital set up to generate leads. From the ad or website, consumers would receive a call from telemarketers promising that people could make thousands of dollars by working just 5-10 hours a week from home. Once consumers signed up, the defendants sold the consumer data which resulted in consumers receiving sales calls from affiliated companies offering access to credit, expert tax advice, and yet additional “coaching” — all at a premium price.