If you’re a regular reader of this site – you should know my views about the Better Business Bureau. Truth is, regular reader or not, the articles I wrote last year are widely read with links from BBB Roundup and Google searches from individuals questioning the validity of the BBB.

Once upon a time, the Better Business Bureau was a well-respected and viable source to gauge a company’s performance. However in recent years, the Bureau has come under tremendous fire with high pressure “pay to play” shenanigans mistakenly reserved for Network Marketing companies.

Their problems all started when the BBB changed their system in January of 2009 from a simple “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” rating system to an A to F “grading” system. Since the switch, the BBB has been exposed as playing favorites to those who pay for better grades or downgrade companies who complain to the BBB about their existing grade – which misleads the public. I’ve seen several posts on Facebook over the last 9 months about an ABC news piece that exposed their horrid tactics. When the BBB gives an A- to an organization like Hamas (the Middle East terror group) and an A+ to a skin head white racist group called Stormfront who bought their grades simply by paying the BBB for accreditation – it raises some serious heat. Anyone who saw the piece knew that the BBB themselves were on the take.

After the airing of this news piece last year, Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal sent an official demand letter to the national headquarters of the Better Business Bureau to stop using the grading system, stating the grading system was “harmful and misleading” to consumers.

Imagine that?

Since writing the articles last year, I’ve yet to see a single thread of evidence that the BBB has changed their tune. As far as I’m concerned they’re still just as shady as the day is long.

To my surprise last night, a memo came from the YTB home office about the companies poor rating the last few years being upgraded to a C+ rating. I have to admit – the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the memo was that the company had succumbed to the BBB’s pressure tactics and paid for accreditation. I’m happy to report however, that the home office DID NOT pay for this upgrade. (YTB is still listed as a Non-Accredited Company.)

So what’s with the change in grade from the BBB?

First, the company’s explanation to the BBB’s change of heart.

According to the memo that was sent out to the field, both Sandy Pippins and Casie Fuqua have been working with the local BBB chapter to clear up some of the misrepresentations the BBB has concerning YTB. Another huge plus for the upgrade in their system is the frivolous lawsuits filed against the YTB International (and other non-relevant third parties who were also named) is now behind the company. I don’t know what happened to “innocent until proven guilty” in this country – but the mere filing of a lawsuit (no matter how outrageous the suit appears to be) constitutes a failing grade with the BBB.

Anybody can file suit – but then you have to actually prove your case in the court of law to determine the outcome.

I realize there are groups of individuals who believe that deflecting on “issues” or trumped up “problems” is the way to go. The BBB grade the last few years was one of the “issues” people were warning others about to stay away. While venting makes these idiots feel better (momentarily), there’s never really any resolution or solution attained using this method. We’ve seen that example all too often from irate and irrational critics who’ve been attempting to slander YTB with what ever they can dream up. If you take a look at then, verses now – these same clowns are no closer to a resolution than the day decided to start crying about these so called problems.

YTB on the other hand is a company that focuses on solutions rather than problems. They act like adults rather than children who haven’t attained the proper tools to resolve the most elementary issues. By discussing their differences calmly and logically (instead of emotionally charged outbursts) any differences or issues are eventually resolved.

Anyone who’s willing to sit down honestly with YTB (or anyone for that matter) will have a completely different view with proper dialog. If you’re capable of actually learning and comprehending basic business – it’s not that hard to see why YTB or Network Marketing works. Besides, if a company can manage its way through all the mudslinging and false claims it had levied against them – there’s got to be something more to YTB than what you may have seen or read here on the Internet.

Another reason why the BBB may have upgraded YTB’s rating is the BBB, (like Steve Cox, President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus) may finally realize that they need to supply a more honest review of businesses if they want to salvage any chance of being a respectable organization. From what I hear, pay to play is a big “no no” – and with the cat out of the bag about the BBB – it’s about time they make some changes to this hideous grading system. While the apology from Cox for the BBB’s lack of proper investigation and strong arm tactics was certainly warranted – it’s really just lip service unless you actually DO something to change the way you grade and operate.

As a result, I’m somewhat torn about this new upgrade in YTB’s grade. On the one hand, I want to give the BBB the benefit of the doubt that they’re attempting to make an obvious wrong right. People do it, and companies do it. On the other hand, I also know how lazy our society has become and how a growing segment of the population don’t actually take the time to investigate anything on their own. A C+ could prompt someone to dig a little deeper and the smart one’s would be pleasantly surprised if they obtained information from sources that actually have some type of experience or logical insight.

I guess until I see some more real – honest changes from the BBB, they’re still on double secret probation. Extreme caution and other more reputable sources are still in order when it comes to the BBB for the time being. (I do however hope they can pull it off.)

Regardless of how I feel about the BBB personally – this IS another good sign that the malicious mudslinging that was thrown YTB’s way by confused and uneducated twits’ continues to be wiped away. Like the lawsuits that were designed to destroy a fine viable company – overzealous critics no longer have the BBB to use as a mud ball.

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Please accept my apologies for not getting this out sooner. I’m not a big fan of Network News and typically avoid the media and news programming altogether.  All the negativity that’s broadcast on these programs is unnecessary baggage that slows me down when I could be doing something else that’s more productive. If it’s important enough for me to find out about, it’s going to find it’s way to me via another format and time.

Such a clip made it to my inbox earlier this week that not only caught my eye, but wanted to share with you.

Why did this news piece catch my eye? Because it features an industry that helps more then 16 million people make ends meet in a $28 billion a year industry. They call it Direct Sales, but it’s also been known as MLM or Network Marketing.

What I want to highlight in this piece is how our industry literally came to the rescue for these families when traditional models failed during the turmoil and poor economy everyone felt in late 2008 – 2009. Businesses tanked, a spouse was laid off – and in one instance – both lost not only their jobs, but their home as well.

In all these cases – Direct Sales companies provided a viable answer and income to provide for themselves and their families when “traditional models” failed. A theme Ronda and I are all too familiar with.

From 2000 to 2005, I was trapped on a roller coaster ride of different companies. Every one of the companies I went to work for told me about the limitless mountains I could climb – only to be dropped on the other side in an uncontrolled free fall. Some downsized, others ran out of money, another was bought out and replaced employees with “friends and family”, and another was shut down, with the founders jailed for cooking the books. When the last company I worked with filed for bankruptcy, it was obvious that this so called “American Dream” that I was told would provide for me and my family – was one big ol’ lie.

Even Ronda wasn’t immune. While she had a very lucrative position with BellSouth, we were constantly walking on egg shells every time another round of lay offs popped up. After six years of service with the company – she too was let go so the big boys at the top could afford their plush positions and bonuses.

There’s an old Buddhist Proverb that says “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” That’s what Direct Sales has been for us and from the examples listed in the Good Morning America piece – they were ready too.

Direct Sales has been a viable model for over 100 years. While it gets it’s share of critics who simply won’t understand – because they won’t actually “work” to make it happen for themselves, the industry deserves a sincere and honest look.

Millions of people are involved in the industry on a spare time, part time, and even a full time basis.

Could all 16 million be wrong?

If you’re a clueless and obnoxious anti-MLM zealot who desperately needs to be right, obvious yes. But for us normal folk would posses common scenes and the most elementary reasoning skills – certainly not.

That’s not to say the Direct Sales is for everyone. Many simply aren’t equipped and won’t welcome or embrace it’s benefits. It’s not always easy – and it’s certainly not “quick”. For anyone new, there are quite a few limiting believes – or weeds that need to be pulled. However, if you have enough belief in the product and eventually in yourself – there’s literally no amount of money you could think of that’s not possible in this model if you want it and actually work for it.

Like the article says right at the beginning – all these women had to do was turn up the heat on their commitment to generating a serious paycheck.

Turn up the heat in the traditional world and you could end up being fired. ;-P

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Do you remember the outrage a year and a half ago when the CEOs of Ford, Chrysler, and GM flew to Washington, D.C. in private jets to ask for $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy? Not that selling off private jets would have covered the $25 billion these guys were asking for – but it would have been a nice start.

It’s unfortunate that we see this kind of arrogance and greed in the Corporate world. Millions of people were laid off from thousands of companies while big wigs like these CEO’s live in the lap of luxury. You saw very little about any CEO taking a pay cut during the turmoil this country went through during the latter part of 2008 and 2009. Instead, they cut out the jobs of average American’s while keeping their pay and perks intact.

Most CEO’s have a lucrative bonus plan in place – including the Founders of YTB. The difference between our Founders and the CEO’s of other companies is that Coach, Scott, and Kim’s bonus is based in part on the performance of the company. Some based on pay or salary, while another chunk is based on stock options. Unlike other CEO’s or companies (like the Big Three in Detroit) our three founders forfeited 355,000 shares in options each of the last two years because the company didn’t meet the performance goals they wrote down to achieve that would trigger each bonus.

In case your wondering – that’s called accountability.

While there were some riffs about the forfeiture of options from critics, I would have loved to see the outrage over actual shares being awarded. It’s one of those “damned if you do – damned if you don’t” scenarios we enjoy from Zealots who flip flop depending on how it furthers their own agenda.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, the fact is our Founders aren’t the type who take big pay days when the company isn’t performing as promised. The buck stops with them so to speak – which goes back to their AL Williams days as “Reps”. (Not to mention its just good business.)

To further illustrate our Founders desire to create a healthy, viable company they’ve restructured their compensation based on overall performance rather than acting like the fat and happy Executives we see in traditional corporate models. The company announced the new pay structure in a press release on Tuesday:

In order to ensure the Company continues its best practices related to executive compensation, YTB is transitioning to a performance-based incentive compensation program. Effective for the 2010 fiscal year, certain Company executives are entitled to incentive compensation if the Company achieves growth in the number of Business Owners at fiscal year end compared to the beginning of the fiscal year; if the Company meets or exceeds certain financial objectives established at the beginning of the fiscal year; or if the executives meet or exceed certain personal or departmental financial and budgetary objectives established at the beginning of each fiscal year.

Nothing like taking personal responsibility and holding yourself accountable for the overall health of your company now is there? If our Founders and Executives don’t perform to acceptable standards – they’re not paid that handsome bonus other CEO’s are paid. Instead they created an incentive to meet or exceed goals which could compensate them above and beyond their previous pay structure.

Because YTB is a public company obviously all this was filed with the SEC and you can find details of the new compensation package along with a breakdown of objectives that are now required from the Executive Team. Compensation now rides on and includes the growth of business owners (or IBC’s), cash flow and available cash on hand, bottom line earnings reported to stock holders, and other discretionary objectives for each department.

Based on the Press Release that was issued – and the terms of the new compensation that were filed with the SEC – simple logic would have you conclude that the Founders and Executives are at the very least willing to do their part for the overall health of the company.

That being said – not everyone who read the filing was able to comprehend or discern what went down. In a very comical and incredibly bizarre “Google Alert” – some jack ass laid claim that our Founders could be getting ready to resign after landing a sweetheart deal.

I’m not kidding – our self-proclaimed “YTB Expert” thinks you can quit (or resign) AND collect severance to boot. His focus – a two year deal that’s structured under the old compensation package that he claims will enable Coach, Scott and Kim to ride off into the sunset. While they haven’t resigned (yet) according to this dolt – we all need to be cautious of this severance stipulation.

Typical.

For the record, the clause he didn’t “copy and paste” on his blog stated otherwise:

Accordingly, a beneficiary under no circumstances would receive any payment under the Program if he left YTB without good reason or was terminated for cause.

It’s not that a clause like this is really necessary. Can you imagine walking into the Boss’s office sitting yourself down and stating “I’d like to resign – what kind of severance can you offer me?”

You’d either be thrown out and most likely fired “with cause” (for being stupid) or suffer the brunt of company jokes for years to come. (Again – for being stupid.)

You might be wondering if this idiot wrote this out of desperation or due to sheer stupidity. While I’m certainly not a mind reader and I hate having words put in my mouth (like he does with me) I’m pretty certain that this zealot thinks we’re the suckers due to the growing number of YTB’ers (including myself) that make it into his “Dumbass Den”.

In his own arrogant and self-righteous way, our lack of intelligence can’t possibly uncover the obvious error because those in MLM aren’t smart enough. We’re beneath the almighty professionals who pick – poke – and pry at anything and everything our company does.

On the other hand: If you think Coach, Scott and Kim have even the slimmest chance of quitting and having the Board of Directors approve a single dime of the two year severance package that was written – you DO belong in a “Dumbass Den”.

Likewise, for those who are reading up on the internet about ZamZuu or YTB at this time – go back to Tuesday’s article and the statement that John is helping us weed out those that aren’t intelligent or responsible enough to uncover fact or truth. Seriously – If a big old red flag doesn’t come up warning you that nobody gets a severance package when they resign – how could they even be considered a viable prospect?

See my point?

Are his statements ridiculous, absurd, bizarre? Sure they are – that’s what we’ve all come to know, but not quite love about John. But trust me, there’s no way you’re going to convince an arrogant pompous ass like John Frenaye that he’s wrong. His ego is just too big and overpowering to allow anyone to knock any logic or sense in that brain of his. (That – or there’s just not enough room down there.)

At this point, the best you can do is smirk (or laugh out loud like I did) and be thankful and grateful that you’re not as desperate (or stupid) – nor are you likely to run into anyone who is because John’s pretty much got a lock on weeding out any bottom feeders for us.

Instead, turn it around and be thankful. If for nothing else – for ability to read and comprehend the English language.

Then you can move on and be thankful that our Founders are willing to do what it takes to provide a viable, profitable, and respectable business opportunity for those of us who see things for what they really are.

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I don’t know how many of you were at last years National Convention. I was, and I absolutely loved it! I’ve really been looking forward to all the announcements which in years past have nothing short of blockbuster. The Success from Home Magazine two years ago with the guaranteed income was such a big help for many who wanted to learn what it takes to be successful. (Working your business each and every day.)

Last years National Convention brought us the new booking engine and marketing site designs were nothing short of incredible. (Both of which have been improved even more.) We had also posted our first Quarterly profit just before the National Convention, (HINT) and with our first listing in Travel Weekly at #35 made YTB stand strong and proud as we should.

Going into this years Convention, I’ve never seen so much media and trade publicity concerning our company. I mentioned on Tuesday that our “consideration” of moving from a Referring Travel Agent model to a Franchise model was the most viewed news story in Travel Weekly. (It’s also the most e-mailed article on the Travel Weekly servers.)

It’s really very impressive if you think about it. The focus and attention on YTB right now is at a frenzy and our biggest event of the year is still two weeks away with even more good news for all those who can’t get enough concerning YTB. We’ve clearly moved beyond these silly blogs, message boards, and YouTube videos that are plastered all over the Internet attempting to spin and create their own stories about what they want to project with pointless opinions and spin.

I mentioned here many times that the truth always has a way of coming to light. The truth started to surface back in April when our Annual Report provided YTB its first yearly profit in just 6 short years. This gave way to investors who actually know something about company growth and success to speculate that YTB could be the next Travel Darling in the Travel Industry. Financial analysts such as Benchmark Journal and Bellwether Report also jumped on board offering their take on this growing company.

I was also extremely proud of Travel Weekly this year, which singled out YTB in their Power List publication of the Top 50 Agencies when they quoted:

“YTB has to be singled out because it faced another year of controversy because of the structure of its business – losing IATA and Royal Caribbean accreditation. Editors checked with the company multiple times to ensure that its reported total represented only direct travel sales, not referrals or any other nonqualified revenues.”

To have the Travel Weekly editors inform everyone that the $414.5 Million in travel sold is in fact travel, should certainly draw a distinct line between those who can read and comprehend and those who simply want to spin in their continued downward spiral. To have YTB singled out and answers concerning all the meaningless questions thrown out since last years publication were certainly put to rest. (Though a few critics persists with even more questions in hopes that someone other than YTB or Travel Weekly will answer.)

ABC News picked up an affiliate story a few months back and aired it on Good Morning America and now has our Lady Liberty on their servers. WGN also aired a similar story a few weeks back as their Cover Story. The thought of having our Lady Liberty dedicated to fallen Police, Firefighter and Servicemen for my children’s children children to visit and look at for hundreds of years really says a lot about a company who appreciates and acknowledges the sacrifice these brave men and woman paid for the safety, freedom and liberties we enjoy today.

It’s not the first time YTB, Beryl Martin, and UPS have teamed up for the local community, but it looks like this time it may be viewed on a national stage when they start to transport Lady Liberty which is only a week and a half away.

The hot topic right now IS YTB and we are still two weeks away from the opening of its National Convention in St. Louis. I personally can’t wait to see the after effects of what will be announced when we actually get there.

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