Sigh…here we go again. I’m guessing at this point that we’re just going to keep pushing this notion about YTB being some sort of “pyramid scheme” going until a court, or other legal authority rules in favor of it. I think most are just happy saying it enough times to themselves thinking that if they do, it will actually come true. (There’s no place like home….there’s no place like home….there’s no place…..)

Once again, we have someone (who happens to be the State of Illinois) who thinks that in order for anyone to have a chance to recruit others into the YTB opportunity, business, what ever you choose to call it, you need to pay to play. I contend, just like I have all along, that nobody pays a single red cent for the “opportunity to recruit others”. Instead they pay for a booking engine, a product, to sell travel, services, and goods. What they do with that product and how much money they make using that product depends on how serious they are about marketing with it.

Some could contest that Jerry Brown has stated that he has put an end to to the elaborate scheme based on his press release last Thursday. However, for as many times as I’ve read the actual settlement, the word “pyramid” was only mentioned once, we denied it, and it was never challenged or brought up again by the State.

Instead, the settlement outlines what we’ve been doing all along; that nobody is required nor does anyone pay to become a Rep, Independent Marketing Representative, or what is now stated in the settlement as a “Website Seller”. You are also free to become a Website Seller without becoming a Website Owner or a Website Owner without becoming a Website Seller.

Contrary to what some of the papers and media have been reporting, YTB is still doing business in California. In fact, Scott and Lauri Tomer we there for two meetings this past weekend. Why Scott would visit so soon after YTB ended, or from being banned I couldn’t tell you.

Maybe ego’s need to be stroked and the media is just looking for a juicy headline…hummmmmmm.

I’ve never seen a week when more Google Alerts and Trade Publications mention YTB more than it did last week. Not even at Convention last year when the carefully crafted suit was filed in hopes that is would make everyone scurry home instead of enjoying what we came to see. (One heck of a show and some good fellowship with like minded friends.) I even went back to check my e-mail on the Google alerts and it wasn’t even half as many as last weeks all time high. Reading the headlines and a couple of the stories associated with them, I just have to shake my head and wonder what this fascination is with our company.

Bottom line, I have to believe that it’s “fear” based on pure ignorance. (False Evidence Appearing Real) Ignorance by the way does not mean that you’re stupid by the way, it simply means that you don’t know what you need to in order to make a sound choice or decision. I have to also say this is my “belief” because I certainly don’t, nor would I ever want to “think” like some of these poeple think. It’s just not a makeup that suits me (or anyone) favorably. Most of the focus is based in that green stuff we call money. They say that money is number one cause for divorce, and for good reason. Most poeple don’t know what to do or how to feel about money. It’s an item that has far to many limiting beliefs attached to it.

When it comes to YTB and money, you certainly don’t have to pick sides of who you’re pulling for or you’re hating here. You can, and most do, pick both.

On the one side, they hate the greedy rich people who conned everyone out of their money and are now living the high life in big mansions, driving exotic cars and flaunting it in front of everyone. Then there’s the other side, the “victims”, the people who got their pockets picked that these crusaders are trying to protect and keep safe.

This protecting that they do, reminds me of a story about a man many, many years ago who decided it might be best to actually teach people to fish, rather than give them a fish so they can eat for one day. But that might have to wait for another time and another post. (Although teaching is what I’ve been doing with this blog for many, many years for those who want to listen.)

So here we are, right back where we started again. California behind us, and able to continue doing business with some better clarification on what makes them “feel better” about who we are and what we do. Now it’s time to find out, and we do have a much better idea of what Illinois concerns are, to help them with their issues surrounding who our company is and what our company actually does.

By the way, and I’ll leave you with this before I head up to Wood River this morning for Red Carpet.

While it was mentioned back in August that Illinois was co-operating with California during it’s investigation of YTB, did you know that Illiniois didn’t bother to contact YTB once during the entire 9 month process? Heck we didn’t even know what was filed in the suit until Friday when we they fixed thier fax and sent it to us. (Apparently they only had one in the office that was broken.)

We did get in touch with them on Friday, and we’ll have our first sit down with them shortly concerning what they believe. I know…it might have helped during the California proceedings…but that’s not how this whole thing is designed to work here. The plan is to keep the words “pyramid” and “deceptive” in the public eye long enough that it bleeds the company dry via legal costs and loss of recruiting numbers to put us out of business.

Or at least that’s the hope. ;-P

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Doug & Ronda Bauknight AKA: TravelPro Travel Agent / Networker Phone: 678.458.5812

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Tags: MLM Myths, Pyramid Scheme, YTB

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Anti-MLM, Critics, MLM, MLM Myths, Money, Red Carpet Day, Scam, YTB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.