Home Business Start Up Advertising Rules Proposed for Business Opportunities in the General Media Tip! As with almost anything these days, the Internet provides a free and useful tool you can use to help narrow down your search for the best franchise business opportunities. You can use it to track down other people who have paid the price and tried to make a go of it with any particular franchise. There are new rules being proposed for Business Opportunities (Biz Ops), which advertise in the General Media, such as Infomercials, Websites, Radio, Cable or Pod Caste. Have you ever heard some of the business opportunity advertisements out there? Make $10,000 per month stuffing envelopes part-time from your own home? And you are thinking yah right? Sure I am going to make 10K monthly working a few hours a day in my under ware? Well The Federal Trade Commission agrees, so they have proposed a new set of rules to govern business opportunity advertising in the general media and here is their proposed rule. Proposed section 437.4(b): General media claims "Proposed section 437.4(b) would address the making of earnings claims in the general media.197 Specifically, a seller can make an earnings claim in the general media provided the seller: (1) Has a reasonable basis for the claim at the time the claim is made; (2) Has written material that substantiates the claim at the time the claim is made; (3) States in immediate conjunction with the claim the beginning and ending date when the represented earnings were achieved and the number and percentage of those who have achieved the presented earnings in the given time period. Tip! When considering any home based or small business venture be sure to understand the total time effort and financial resources required before you leap. 200 These requirements are necessary to prevent deceptive and misleading earnings representations in advertisements, as well as to enable a prospect to assess the typicality of any advertised earnings claim." If you are a seller or specialist in the Business Opportunity sector you may wish to comment on this proposed set of rules by the Federal Trade Commission. If you are in the advertising industry, heads up to you also, as you may wish to perhaps ask some questions when your hear outrageous claims from your clients. Consider all this in 2006. Lance Winslow