Now that we’re inside 30 days until the Convention, most of the “news” and “upgrades” are saved for those who actually show up in St. Louis. I went back to July, 2008 to review all the excitement of our largest Convention to date – the buzz about Lady Liberty – and clear signs that YTB was doing everything they could to appease California’s claims about YTB being a “gigantic pyramid scheme”.

The month before Convention, YTB announced they were contemplating a franchise model, and also removed the booking engine link from the marketing sites although nobody really knew why these changes were being made so close to Convention.

Hindsight is always 20/20 – and it’s clear looking back that YTB and California were communicating at the time. YTB was making the appropriate changes during their discussions to conform and ease the concerns California had.

Discussions had been going on since January 2007 when YTB came out with booking requirements for credentials in California. New legislation passed in the state required that any agent had to actually book travel before they were qualified to carry any card offered in the industry.

Typical of critics and zealots who have no clue – they thought this legislation would stop the massive growth of YTB and end the reign of MLM’s in their industry. What it did was put YTB on the map in California. At the beginning of 2007 there was somewhere around 3000 RTA’s in the state. By the end of 2007 – there were more than 20,000.

Oooops.

So zealots and critics do what they always do – they come up with more obstacles. Another group of “professionals” convinced Royal Caribbean to pull the plug on bookings with them to make it look like suppliers were now against MLM.

Problem was – business isn’t that stupid – bookings are bookings and only one other company YTB did a small number of bookings with pulled the plug besides RCL. (There was one other, but I can’t remember who it was. We never did business with them to begin with but any critic could tell you because it matters to them.)

After only securing 3 vendors with no more in sight, critics then came up with more complaints and more hoops that YTB had to jump through in order to remain “compliant”. The heat was cranked up after the company showed a profit to the SEC and was labeled a “Darling” instead of a “scam”. The company got their stock symbol off the Pink Sheets and back onto the OTC.BB. We also can’t forget YTB’s 9 point jump in Travel Weekly’s Power List from #35 to #26.

It scared the living daylights out of the dolts who can’t accept MLM and Network Marketing as a legitimate and viable business model. Remember THEY have to be right – otherwise they’re entire world collapses. MLM’s just can’t do things like this – it’s not right and there has to be something wrong here. (Small thinking I know – but look at whose pointing fingers at us.)

Since nothing critics said or did appeared to be working – they did what they always do when MLM grows to big too fast for their comfort zone. You file a $25 million lawsuit and for added impact they did it the day before everyone got together for the largest Convention to date.

That ‘ill show ‘em! Right?

Wrong…

Fast forward to 2009, and we find Jerry Brown announcing that he “brought an end to an elaborate pyramid scheme” in a very amusing press release. Legal documents however confirmed that all the time and money spent on the litigation pointed directly to the hoops YTB jumped through before the suit was filed to appease concerns about being an illegal pyramid scheme.

If you’re thinking the pyramid schemes are illegal – you’re spot on. Programs and companies that fall into that category are shut down – abruptly.

Since little had changed and Jerry’s claims about shutting the company down fell woefully short – we showed up a year later for another Convention.

California’s suit did work to some degree however. The suit did bleed the company of money with litigation and we never achieved the franchise model announced in 2008 as a legitimate or respectable “franchise”. We still don’t have a franchise to sell. After California took $875,000 from YTB’s pockets, (leaving only $125,000 for the “victims” they claimed they filed it for.) they handed their false claims over to Illinois to squeeze more money out of the company. The company continues to tolerate this myth that someone actually pays for the opportunity to recruit others into a pyramid. (Something that YTB has never done since it’s inception in 2001.)

The Illinois litigation has been stalled since it was filed – ironically filed  just 4 hours after the settlement with California was announced more than a year ago. After passing the baton, millions continue to be spent by both sides over ignorance, bitterness, and sheer stupidity instead of actually spending time and money on franchising.

Now that we’re two years removed from California’s stunt and we’re gearing up for our second Convention since the California A.G. announced his goal of ending our “pyramid scheme” I have to wonder if critics of YTB still think they won and we lost. Sure YTB has been bloodied and battered over California’s claims. The perception over the mere appearance of the word pyramid scheme would put some companies out of business.

Unfortunately, perceptions and accusations can’t overcome or extinguish truth or fact. The false claims from States like California and Illinois and the incessant shaming of our founders and members of YTB by overzealous critics has – in its own way – done some good.

Anyone who takes what they’ve read verbatim or doesn’t conduct their own due diligence about YTB (or Network Marketing in general) certainly won’t take the steps necessary to build a business. I learned very early on in my carrier with YTB that changing habits and perceptions over the ridiculous myths about money just rolling in without doing any work is an unnecessary step in the process. For the vast majority, it stacks the odds against them. While it’s not impossible – it’s a long shot at best that you can extract the weeds that choke logical thinking or change lazy habits if someone is unwilling or uncooperative.

To use an already overused verse – “You can lead a horse to water – but you can’t make them drink.”

I’ve seen and heard about the fears about brain washing. I’ll freely admit that I’ve been brain washed and take the term literally.

Thanks to my journey with YTB and the study I’ve done over the years, my mind has been cleansed. Dirt, stains, limiting beliefs, or any matter that doesn’t serve me has been washed away. One definition is “to free from spiritual defilement” which is appropriate when it comes to the brain. You are what you think about most of the time. What you focus on expands.

Some will continue to focus on perceptions, claims, fears and phobias. (Daily no less.) While the smart ones will see right through the hype and limiting beliefs. I find it fascinating that it’s the folks at YTB who are the ones who mislead and hype everything up. We’re the ones labeled as uncooperative and unwilling to see the light.

Looking back and reading memory lane documented here – and the fact the another Convention is less than 30 days away – me thinks it’s the other way around. ;-P

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Do You ZamZuu?

Sorry I didn’t post anything the latter part of the week. I had to go out of town and had limited access to the internet. I did have a layover in Charlotte each way and wish I could have spent more time there only because my CLEAR wireless card was burning up internet speeds at over 10 mbps.

I did pick up the 2009 Annual report late Wednesday night after I got settled in, which as financial reports often do, put me to sleep. I was able to get the basic outline of the previous year. After reading the outcome of the annual reports from companies like Orbtiz who lost $337 million in 2009, and another report from the ASTA that only one-third of all their agencies produced a profit in 2009, I was opening YTB’s Annual Report with a little apprehension.

The one thing I was looking for but couldn’t seem to find anywhere in the 2009 Annual Report was the “Going Concern” that was slapped on the company during the 2008 Annual Report. I documented last year at that time all the changes that the company had made in an effort to tighten its belt and reduce expenses in an effort to survive the lean year ahead. If you remember, YTB wasn’t just dealing with the doom and gloom of a depressed economy, but at that time California was poised to end the companies existence as some gigantic pyramid scheme and another Class Action suit was thrown on the company.

A year later, the economy is turning around, the California suit is behind us, and the Class Action was thrown out as redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.

However, according to critics at the time, if you combine the lawsuits, the economy, and slap a “Going Concern” on top of that, there was just no way on earth that YTB would survive to produce another Annual Report for 2009.

At least that’s what we were told by the dwindling number of zealots who persist in spewing their opinions and perceptions all over the internet.

Speaking of that small group both in number and in mind – I did open the door a crack, and lifted the ban I have on reading anything they have to say for a brief moment on Saturday morning. It didn’t take long to slam the door shut again after reading just a few comments. It became abundantly clear that the anger and resentment towards YTB is still around – basically due to the fact that despite all their predictions to the contrary, YTB is still around. It’s got to be really frustrating and extremely uncomfortable at this point to be in their position. I mean – there was no way YTB would be able to make it – there was just too much to overcome with that long lists of negative obstacles the company had to hurdle over in order to survive.

For them, YTB is that small pebble that’s stuck in their shoe. The more they trample, the closer they think they are to removing it. And after all these miles, all this time, all the effort and energy, YTB just won’t go away.

Sucks to be them. Especially when they could just stop what they’re doing for like – a nanosecond, remove the shoe with the pebble, and dump it out – never to have it bother them again.

While I wasn’t willing to dive into everything that’s being spun on the internet right now, it’s apparent that they’re pretty upset. True, they have a $9.9 million loss and a reduction in IBC’s who are active in the company as of December 31st. That’s only going to last however for about another 30 days, and after all the years of doom and gloom, that’s a very short amount of time.

Thing is, they haven’t been willing to look at what our Auditors saw when looking at YTB’s business which prompted them to remove the “Going Concern” letter they slapped on the company one year ago.

“After the independent auditor’s report for the year ended December 31, 2008 raised doubt about YTB’s ability to continue as a going concern, the Company received positive news this week that the independent auditor’s report for fiscal year 2009 will not include the “Going Concern” uncertainty paragraph.

Robert Van Patten, YTB Chief Executive Officer commented on the 2009 results, stating, “We are absolutely thrilled with the audit firm removing the going concern. It justifies the significant sacrifices the home office and our Independent Marketing Representatives have made this past year. 2009 continued to be a challenging year for our entire industry as well as the general economy as a whole. Despite the challenges the economy faces, we remain focused on increasing our capital reserves, reducing corporate overhead and other administrative expenses in 2010. We are determined to solidify our business and grow the Company back to the level our management team and sales force believe is achievable.”

Are we surprise? Not really. While we’ve seen and heard our fair share of negativity and doom and gloom about our company over the years – fact is, we’re still in business. While that may upset others who can only justify with words and their own opinions, we have more tools than ever before, been given more income opportunities, attracting more suppliers and vendors, and we’re still getting paid to do what we love to do.

I didn’t spend a vast amount of time reading the opinions and findings of others this weekend for a couple of reasons. Not only does their increased anger and resentment speak volumes over how frustrated they are that we’re still around, but very little has changed in opinions and speculation that falls woefully short in coming to fruition.

Talk is cheap.

Fact is, I still have a business that I’m not only proud to own, but still get paid for the work that I do.

What a difference a year makes. From YTB being a “Going Concern” to YTB just “Keeps Going”.

Don’t you just love it?

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Do You ZamZuu?

YTB’s Annual Report (YTBLA.OB) came out last week with a 15% increase in total revenue for the year of $162.5 million, and an increase of more than $7 million travel commissions. This during a very difficult year not only for the company, but the entire economy. If you keep up with financial data and the Annual Reports of late, you would be hard pressed to find a company that is thriving in the current economic climate. Taking the time to look around the industry right now, (and this is just the Travel Industry) you find a net loss of $121 million for Avis/Budget, even worse for Hertz who lost $1.2 billion in Q4, the MGM Mirage lost $1.15 billion, Expedia, the third largest Agency in the country took a hit for $2.76 billion, and Joystar who is now bankrupt showed up with $535 dollars in cash.

About the only good news out there for Agencies right now is the life vest thrown their way by the new Administration with $15 billion in stimulus money in the hope that this will be enough to keep those still around alive. Unfortunately it was to little too late for Joystar, and Cruise Value Centers, while a report late last weekend documented that Liberty Travel closed 4 of it’s 7 Maryland locations, (closing 31 Liberty locations in all) Safe Harbors Travel Agency was also hit with layoffs, and AAA of the Mid-Atlantic is reducing its staff’s hours.

So with all this doom and gloom surrounding how tough things are right now, anybody want to take a stab at the reason for YTB’s $4.5 million loss?

Because it’s MLM.

I kid you not, and apparently there are people who are very serious that it’s the “flawed business model” that has placed YTB in a very vast and growing list of companies that are attempting to survive these very troubling economic times. (And some wonder why I don’t get wrapped up in all the fuss any longer.) When you’ve been reading the garbage on the internet about YTB for as long as I have, you develop an immunity to the venom thrown your way. The negative speculation never ends up the way critics predict, and I don’t see any reason why I should start now with the type of track record they have. Before YTB’s 2007 banner financial year, YTB endured criticism quarter after quarter that they wouldn’t make it into the next year…then the next year…and the next.

And apparently all eyes are on YTB as we’re at it again via the direction of a “going concern” letter that was issued by YTB’s Auditors in it’s Annual Report. Would it surprise you that “going concern” letters are becoming more commonplace with companies like DayStar Technologies, and General Motors, with others to follow according to Greg Milmoe, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom? That’s not to say that a company that gets a “going concern” letter is doomed to bankruptcy. Sanyo turned things around late last year, along with Eddie Bauer who worked through the doubts and stigma associated with such an opinion.

A letter such as this is part of an Auditors job, to provide it’s professional opinion on the health and viability of company, and it’s up to the company to follow that direction if they want to remain solvent and in business. We’ve seen a number of changes in the way YTB has done business with drastic cuts in spending with the illumination of CRTA Trainings and opting for First Class On-line Training. Another notable absence this year was Coach’s Birthday Bash in which expenses usually sore into the millions. The company has also shored up capital reserves, evidenced by major cutbacks in the second half of the year, such as a halt to the building project at the Home Office.

Other changes involved the elimination of non-current inventory, which resulted in one time losses of $3.0 million due to the legal issues the company is facing at this time. But the word “pyramid scheme” keeps popping up even with a company statement that has been in front of everyone viewing YTB for the last couple of years that you pay for a Travel Agency (the product) not the opportunity to recruit as a Rep. There are those who either aren’t intelligent enough or simply want to ignore this fact of two separate companies. Personally, it’s hard to ignore the separation when you’ve received two separate 1099′s since the very beginning to hand over to your CPA come tax time. One 1099 is for the travel you sold, and one for the team building you’ve done.

Yet the spin is to mesh the two together, and that everyone is paying money to recruit, recruit, recruit, because there’s a phobia about building a team of people to work with that’s reserved only for the Direct Sales model.

Direct Sales is a model the founders of the company know very well, and have been successful in for close to 30 years. It’s amazing how failures that are more than 3 decades old come to the surface in an attempt to prove some point that Coach isn’t all that smart or can’t be trusted as a business man. It’s as if the mentoring by A.L. Williams in the early 80′s never existed as a lesson on how to build a successful business that produced a team of agents with annual sales of $2.5 billion during a 20 year career with what is now known as Primerica. It’s hard to fathom how anyone can skip over two decades of success, but we are talking about MLM here, and for critics you never focus on the successes, only the failures in order to keep everyone in line with their own perception of reality.

Over the last week I’ve seen a number of comments that “the writing is on the wall”. Oddly enough, none of the writing documents the 20 years with A.L. Williams, the Travel Weekly Power List, the membership with the DSA, the investments into both SAP and Convergentware, cruise sales with both Carnival and now Princess later this week, (be on the lookout here about Princess here later this week) and a the new print on demand site with Mailpound that was announced at Red Carpet Day last week, in front of 1500 passionate TSO’s.

Maybe because what they call “writing” is nothing more than graffiti designed to cover up what I’m actually experiencing with the company right now. That’s what graffiti is designed to do, to show evidence of decline.

We certainly have our work cut out for us in cleaning up the graffiti all over the internet right now. It’s time consuming, it’s uncomfortable, and one always needs a shower after dealing with such toxins. That’s why I don’t like to get wrapped up in it any longer. Like everything else that the company has had to deal with, time and natural progression will wash much of it away when you take the right steps and make the right choices.

In these tough economic times, only the strong will survive. With so many eyes and focus right now ONLY on YTB, it’s hard for some to take the blinders off and see the entire picture. Challenges come in many different forms and YTB has certainly had it’s share of challenges. It’s what you learn and how you adapt to the challenges that can make a person and a company stronger. When you take the proper steps to answer the chanllenges, there is very little anyone can do to when you reach the other side.

I know it’s hard for some to see that other side because the end is near according to some. Stuck in a forest of trees that keep falling all around them.

Me, I just keep my eye on the light I see off in the distance because that’s what I’ve been taught by every mentor I’ve ever come accross in my years of this experiance we call life.

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Do You ZamZuu?

Be very careful. You could blow me over with a feather right now.

I heard rumor that the words “I apologize” actually appeared on a blog, by the blogger himself. I’m very glad that the person who forwarded me this information told me to sit down, because I think I might have hurt myself if I wasn’t sitting.

Don’t get too excited about this miracle however. The author is still waiting on some sort of company press release concerning YTB acquiring American Destinations, Inc. in order to make all this believable. I don’t know if a Press Release will be released but once the DVD that was shown at the Regional Travel Training in Richmond and the 16 page catalogs are available from our back office, I’ll post John’s PO Box for any of you who care to send him a copies.

I don’t know how much time it will take for any type of press release or documentation to materialize to settle this acquisition for him, but I wouldn’t worry about it. If I were him, I’d talk to YTB or ADI Executives directly, but apparently that is not an option he chooses to accept. It could resolve the issue, and what fun would it be not being able say, “here’s mud in your eye” in attempts to slow us down and keep people from finding out the truth?

The truth always materializes, always. So I wouldn’t get too worked up about the naysayers not coming to grips with YTB is doing or not doing.

From what I understand, John is busy trying to verify my post about Candi May on Tuesday. I wanted to call Candi yesterday, but she was spending time with her Grandkids, and didn’t want to bother her. I’ll catch up with her later today.

By the way, I’ve decided to delete the comments attached with Candi’s post. The purpose of the post was to show that there are traditionalist’s in the industry who find YTB not only viable, but attractive. Instead, the comments turned into a shouting match from one side of the fence to the other.

My bad, and I apologize if it offended anyone. I’ve been growing tired of all the justification, accusations and speculation being thrown around all over the internet. With the Annual Report, investor interest, the upgrade to the OTC, and our new Board of Directors being named, the rhetoric and mud slinging seems to have just gotten worse, not better.

Not surprising. All the news last month moves YTB in a positive direction, and it’s showing our critics signs that YTB is planning on sticking around.

Just keep the main thing the main thing and don’t worry about helping those who don’t appreciate what YTB is doing. The numbers are very few and with all the documentation from last month alone is enough to focus on.

Make it a great day!

Thanks for the post John.

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Do You ZamZuu?

I received a comment on Tuesday from someone who was looking into YTB. While doing their due diligence and research on the internet they came up with an interesting question.

There is a ton of information out there concerning our company. Unfortunately, depending on who you find, you’re going to get differing opinions concerning just what YTB is, and what YTB does. It use to be that the problem was with our own rank and file, but there seems to be a new player in the mix, and it appears that this new player can’t keep their story straight.

Here’s our problem found in the comments section of Tuesday’s post:

“I’ve been doing some research on the internet and there seems to be a difference of opinion that I hope you can straighten out.

I’ve seen numbers from the Annual Report that the majority of the money made in YTB comes from recruiting.

I’ve also seen numbers from another report that claim that nobody makes any money recruiting.

Which is right?”

Anon,

I think I have a very special understanding of where you’re coming from. When I first joined YTB in January of 2005 all I wanted to do was sell cruises. While I was aware of the recruiting aspect of YTB, I avoided recruiting like the plague. I was always told by others that MLM was not a “respectable” way to make a living. Many people have a real phobia about recruiting based on what they hear from others who think they know what recruiting is.

So, I can appreciate your concern about being forced to recruit in MLM. It wasn’t until I actually got involved with MLM that I found out that this notion about “recruit recruit recruit” was nothing more than another one of many myths surrounding the industry. I actually commented on my first year anniversary about what I first thought about the recruiting aspect of YourTravelBiz.com.

“…I didn’t see the whole picture, now that I look back. Oh sure, there was a business and money to be made, but that kind of luck and opportunities go to other people, not someone like me.”

I continued a littler further down the post.

“…I heard about the money that could be made and the bonuses, I heard about the tax benefits, I heard about the leadership, but I listened to the “sell a cruise and get paid” part more than anything else.”

Like you, what caught my eye was YTB Travel Network not the recruiting aspect of the business. If selling cruises was a good enough reason for me, then certainly selling all-inclusive packages should be a good enough reason for you. Besides, both products offer the most lucrative commissions available in our industry.

Now on to which is right. Either all the money is made from recruiting or nobodies making money recruiting.

I happen to love this. I’ve been bombarded with comments here and elsewhere that our critics have YTB all figured out claiming “numbers don’t lie” but depending on which numbers our critics are using, both set of numbers seem to pitch different vantage points and tell a different story. It’s clear to me that while critics yammer on about how much they know, many are only confusing smart people like you who are truly looking at this company in an objective way.

If you look at both sets of numbers you will find that while there is a considerable amount of money generated from recruiting people into our business. These huge numbers are generated from a very small percentage of people who actually recruit. All this fuss about all this recruiting everyone is doing is being generated by only 20% of the people in our company. That’s not even close to the “majority” but somehow, they claim that all any of us do. “Recruit – Recruit – Recruit”! Both the company numbers and my own experience with my team can confirm that recruiting is not the focus of the most of our members.

So you happen to be in very good company.

The only reason it appears to be such a big issue is because of the fears and phobias surrounding “recruiting”. Because they fear it so much, it’s all they really talk about. But FEAR is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real based on what the numbers actually tell us.

YTB has two separate business entities and I receive two 1099’s from the Home Office. One from YourTravelBiz.com for recruiting, and one from YTB Travel Network for selling travel. You are free to work one, the other, or like myself both.

I also see and hear that while nobody is making any of this money recruiting, we are also loosing money to boot. Somehow we need to recruit in order to get our investment back.

You are not paying a dime for joining YTB to recruit anyone. The Rep position in our company is a FREE position. It’s on all our Marketing Materials and on all company approved web sites to Market the YTB opportunity.

“The YTB companies offer two unique and powerful opportunities, that of referring travel agent or “RTA” and that of independent marketing representative or “REP”. The travel agent opportunity has an initial fee under $500 and a monthly license fee of $49.95. There is no fee or travel agency purchase required to be a REP. You may choose to participate in one or both opportunities.”

Not one dime of your “one time” investment or monthly fee is tied to recruiting. Your investment in the company is tied to the Travel side, and because no one invests into YTB to simply participate in the recruiting aspect, no one looses anything for not being able recruit. Kind of hard for people at the bottom of this so called pyramid to loose anything if no ones investing in it in the first place, and that’s why we’ve been untouched by any Government entity, State or Federal, for our entire existence.

Everyone is on the same level playing field with their investment into YTB Travel Network and that money tracks your Travel commissions, sends out weekly Steals and Deals to clients, and provides the proper documentation for the trips that you book for your clients.

I will further confirm for you that none of your “clients” need to know a single thing about the recruiting aspect of our company if you choose not too. My business cards only have the YTB Travel Network logo on them and the only web site on the business cards are for BandBVactions.com. If you look at this web site you will not find any mention of recruiting or joining anything. It’s a travel web site just like any other and its purpose is to sell travel, nothing more.

Don’t be surprised however if a client asks you “how did you get started”? If they ask, feel free to tell them, and while it may shock you, like it did me the first time it happened, they will want to join your team. They see how passionate you are, and they also see how much fun you are having doing what you do. It’s not recruiting when they WANT to be a part of what you are doing.

Lastly, I would like to close with this. This is YOUR business. Please don’t get caught up in what others want you to make it. This includes your Sponsor and Power Team Leader, and especially any critics who want to tell you that you’re going about this all wrong. Critics have never been involved with MLM in most cases, and I’ve learned from experience what they actually know. (I even wrote a book about it, which you can download for free!)

I’ve been told far too many times that I need to join a Host Agency to gain respect or to become successful. I’m not walking in anyone else’s shoes but my own, and unless I choose to let anyone else decide for me what makes me happy, successful or respectable, it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. I’ve had some of the best success of my entire life with this company, and I also have far better friendships than ever before.

That being said, I can’t tell you that the answer to that question can be found in YTB for you. All I can tell you is that it is for me. I love this company, I love the leadership, and while I don’t like the critics, I’m glad to see you’ve caught on to the spin a lot quicker than I did. I count on people just like you who are smart enough to ask someone who can set the record straight.

When and if you do join YTB, please be sure to come back and sign up for our free newsletter and 7 Day Quick Start Guide. It is a very valuable resource to help you get off on the right foot and I do focus on a lot of Travel related topics and issues.

I sincerely hope I’ve been able to help you weed through all the garbage out there. I know there’s a ton of it, and most of it as you can see is pure bunk. Any negativity is purely based on fear and lack of understanding about just who YTB is and what YTB does. Stick with listening to those of us who at least have the experience and documentation to back up what they say.

Warm Regards,

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

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RTA #24635

They finally got me.

I have just been duped – hoodwinked – had the wool pulled over my eyes – what ever you want to call it, busted for not following a “Golden Rule” that I have been preaching here for years. I can’t say that I don’t know how this happened, because I do, and I’ll explain how this scam worked, but quite honestly I’m more than a little embarrassed over what just transpired a few days ago.

First, what’s this “Golden Rule” that I tell you to follow but I somehow forgot?

“Don’t believe a word you hear, unless you can verify it on your own to be true.”

Mistakes happen, and while I’m not sure that either Neal Boortz or Harv Ecker, two mentors of mine who have attempted and obviously failed to pound this into my head, would ever forgive me for such a simple oversight, I’m just going to try to let this one slide under the table, and chalk it up to experience.

I feel obligated however to help you learn from my mistake.

So, just how was I played? How could someone like ME miss something like this? The “sting” stems from the newly released 2007 Annual Report when a couple of days ago, one of the Traditionalists posted a comment on my blog that there were only 366 shareholders of company stock.

I simply dismissed it and told this Traditionalist they might have heard something to that effect, but I could assure them, there were more than 366 stockholders of YTBLA. (Myself being one of them.) Another Traditionalist chimed in that this number could in fact be found in the Annual Report on the bottom of page 9.

Now remember my Golden Rule; “Don’t believe a word you hear, unless you can verify it on your own to be true.” So like a good boy, I opened up the Annual Report and sure enough, there it is.

“As of December 31, 2007, we had 366 shareholders of record of our Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock.”

I was dumbfounded to be honest. I know a ton of people in YTB and when the stock was down in the dumps, I got calls, e-mails, and private messages asking me what I knew what was going on with the company stock. I couldn’t honestly tell them anything I knew because, I really didn’t know why. My gut told me that it would rebound, and I’ve learned to always trust my gut.

By the way, I have very limited experience in this type of stuff. Yes, I own stock, and I also have some mutual funds that I have invested in, but for the most part, investments of this type are of a very limited basis. When I tried to purchase this stock a couple of years ago, I went to a Broker who simply wouldn’t in good conscience let me invest the type of money I was talking about into YTB. While I thought this Analyst was very nice and polite, I wasn’t asking him for advice, I just needed a Broker and it would either be him or someone else. (As it turned out, it ended up being E-Trade.)

When I realized that I was only one of 366 stockholders according to what I was told and I thought I was able to confirm, I had a choice to position this as either be a very risky and lucky investor, or brilliant.

Which position do you think I decided to pick? ;-P

But something just didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t imagine with all the employees at the home office, all the Directors who were vested in stock due to bonuses and many of them had invested early themselves like I did, and all the people calling and e-mailing me in a panic a month or so ago that there were only 366 stock holders at the end of 2007.

It just didn’t add up! (Sorry, had to steal that line.)

With documentation like an Annual Report that’s filed with the SEC, I had to take this as fact. It’s right there in black and white and can’t really argue the point very well now could I? I had seen some of the “Critics” posting on various boards that with only 366 stockholders, manipulation of the stock up or down is very easy to do. Speculation that a couple of Directors had gotten together to drive the price up and then dump it were running amok all over the place. Critics will continue to spread this “Pump and Dump” theory for years to come, trust me.

With all the headlines and focus on the Annual Report about YTB being a Darling, and Stock to watch, I knew that it was Day Traders manipulating the stock price, not Directors, so that spin was extremely easy to dismiss and let go of.

You should too, because it’s complete bunk.

Then yesterday afternoon I got a call from someone cross line to me who I speak with on a regular basis and we exchange what we hear, and most of the time have a good laugh at all the fuss over little ol’ YTB these days.

Then the bombshell came. “Doug” he said, “You know that 366 number that everyone’s been talking about?”

“Yes” I replied.

“That number represents employees at the Home Office not total shareholders.”

WHAT?

Sure enough, I confirmed with an Investment Broker and according to the SEC, the company has to report how many “employees” own stock.

How could I have been so blind to trust a bunch of Critics, Naysayers, Cynics, who’s only mission in life is to “spin”? I actually thought they knew what they were talking about!

So there you have it. How Doug got snookered by the TTA’s and Critics. A cryin’ shame, but I guess it could happen to the best of us.

So the next time you see some “Critic” spout off something as “fact”, please save yourself the embarrassment.

“Don’t believe a word you hear, unless you can verify it on your own to be true.”

Well, I’ve finally pulled it off. I’ve just written and released my first book entitled “What the Critics Know about YTB“. This is a “tell all” book on how to handle the Critics, Skeptics, Cynics, and Naysayers out there who have nothing better to do with their time than throw a bunch of mud up on the wall to see what sticks.

I came up with the concept and “how to guide” very early on Sunday morning while reading, and when the inspiration struck, I knew I had to share this with everyone I could in YTB. You’ll find it in today’s monthly newsletter, along with some other news from the last month, travel training information, and other key events coming up. If you’re in YTB, and want to be kept up to date, please feel free to subscribe, I’d love to have you on the list.

I asked Tim & Georgia Dominey, two close friends and mentors who also happen to be Level 2 Directors with the company to write the “Foreword” for my new book and I’m making a copy available to you for today for FREE! I encourage you to take the time to read this book concerning what to do and what to say to those who are slinging mud. Many have found my message direct, to the point, and dead on concerning many of the issues and negativity being thrown YTB’s way with this step by step guide on how to handle the critics.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect today, as YTB filed its 2007 Annual Report with the SEC yesterday with a hefty $3.2 Million PROFIT for the year. Revenues increased a total of 177% over 2006 numbers. Other notable increases were Marketing Commission of $80.5 Million up 169% and Travel Commission paid to our RTA’s reached $13.4 Million, an increase of 174%.

It should be noted that while only commissions are paid to our RTAs’ booking of travel services are reflected as a component of our revenues in our financial statements, YTB also keep track of the aggregate “retail value of all travel services” that are booked by our RTAs (which directly impacts our commission revenues). The value of such travel services increased 83.7% in 2007 to over $414,000,000, from approximately $225,000,000 in 2006. (Placing bets currently on how long this $414 Million will be spun into “fees”. Hummmmmmm)

This also marks three straight profitable quarterly reports and 2007 marks the first full year of profitability! Whoo Hooo!

In anticipation of our positive Annual Report our stock is also up considerably yesterday afternoon with 1.19 Million shares being traded after critics, cynics and naysayers had left us for dead.

I put this quote just below my dedication in my new book which I just love.

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”
~ Samuel Langhorn Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, May, 1897 in a note to the New York Journal.

Speaking of the stock we are now current with our periodic reports under the Exchange Act; so we intend to have our common stock quoted on the OTC-BB once again and to thereafter apply for listing on a national securities exchange. AMEX would require a price of no less than $5 per share from my understanding.

And if all this STILL wasn’t enough for ya’ll, it appears that Mr. Kim Sorenson is firing back a couple shots at IATA through YTB’s legal department.

In a Travel Weekly report YTB has asked the commissioner for the U.S., James Johnstone, for clear permission to continue using its numeric code number, which was assigned by ARC, with the understanding that YTB agrees not to represent itself as an IATA agency. Kim Sorensen was also quoted that making the code available to contractors was “the same as what any host agency has done.” By implication, he raised the question: Why was YTB terminated when others were not?

In documents filed with the commissioner, YTB offered its answer. It accused IATA of enforcing its standards belatedly “as a pretense to quash competitive activity.” Please note the article next to YTB fight against IATA as the travel agency commissioner in Canada declined to uphold BNW’s termination there, while IATA said it “respectfully disagrees” with parts of the commissioner’s decision. However, IATA said the decision “makes crystal-clear that no person or entity has the right to display the IATA numeric code or IATA’s trademarks and service marks on in-house ID-cards or other credentials.”

Sound familiar?

You Bet!

Do you think you might be able to either sell some Travel or maybe put someone in the business based on all this good news?

Me too! Let’s “Get ‘er done!”

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

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