While entrepreneurs and marketers alike are often aware of the FTC’s involvement in the direct sales space, clients largely remain unaware of the Security and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) involvement in network marketing. The SEC oversees the enforcement of federal securities laws. This means the SEC is designed to ensure companies do not offer or sell securities in the absence […]
Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, gave a powerful speech at the DSA’s Business and Policy Conference in Washington on October 25th. While some in attendance were expecting a non-substantive speech, the kind one would expect from a high-ranking government official, Ramirez was anything but boring. She gracefully navigated some very controversial terrain […]
The term “crowdfunding” has been thrown around a lot over the past several years. But what does “crowdfunding” really mean? And how does crowdfunding, particularly the recent enactment of rules from Title III of the JOBS Act, relate to network marketing? At its most basic, crowdfunding is the pooling of financial contributions via the internet for a […]
Congressman Marsha Blackburn, House Representative of the 7th District of Tennessee, has proposed the Anti-Pyramid Bill Federal that aims to clarify the differences between pyramid schemes and legitimate network marketing companies. If you’re connected to the network marketing industry, whether as a distributor, executive, vendor or owner, the importance of this bill (or a modified […]
Out of all of the topics covered in MLM law, there is not a single topic more obfuscated and misinterpreted than the 70% Rule. This rule has been purposefully screwed up by MLM critics in an effort to craft a narrative that suits their agenda. Candidly, I’m shocked that neither myself nor my peers have […]
When Paul O’Neil delivered his first speech as CEO at Alcoa (the aluminum manufacturing giant), he shocked the audience of shareholders when he disclosed his top priority for his tenure as CEO. Instead of doing the usual dance where the CEO talks about increasing sales, increasing margins and driving down costs, he talked about something […]
