If you keep up with YTB News, you’ve probably seen the plethora of posts highlighting a press release concerning YTB Travel Network and their new alliance with Sixth Scott. Those who were at Convention this summer heard about what was coming down the pike from YTB Travel Network. As it turns out, the key players for Sixth Scott were also at the Convention to check out the company structure, the numbers, the Founders and the culture they’ve created with thousands of RTA’s and Representatives all in one place.

As with any true business mind who takes the opportunity to really look closely at what YTB has – they liked what they saw. A distribution channel that only pays when that channel produces. With YTB’s incredible size and enthusiasm about travel, they didn’t just like what they saw – they loved it. For Sixth Scott, it was a very smart and strategic business move that will help expand their influence and objectives in the travel industry.

For long time Travel Agents in YTB like me, it puts me right back where I was prior to 2007, but with one major difference. I have years of experience under my belt not only selling travel, but in marketing that will benefit me and my travel business greatly.

You’ll always find a group of clowns in any industry who don’t have the proper tools and skill set to handle change or a new competitor. Because they can’t handle this change or increased competition, they end up making a lot of noise and do cause a disturbance with all sorts of shenanigans and stunts to distract the average onlooker. The problem with that type of hype and slandering is that it’s based on pure emotion instead of fact and logic. People can and do say all sorts of crazy things and make outrageous claims and predictions that you’ll find on the Internet.

I can assure you, these type of arrogant pin heads will not be happy with this new partnership enabling a Travel Agent such as myself access to all the product, benefits, and accreditation they have in the industry.

What they want is nothing short of pure annihilation.

On the other side of the coin, we have smart, savvy business minds in the travel industry that understand the power of a large sales force. Companies like Carnival Corporation, Pleasant Holidays, and Sandals resorts. Industry publication like Travel Weekly who has listed YTB Travel Network as a Top 50 travel company the last five years. Leading industry trainers like Marc Mancini who created our e-campus program for us several years ago and the late Phil Davidoff, a former ASTA President who offered support and training to our organization before his passing. Business owners like Debbie Maier and Mailpound who created a fantastic opportunity in marketing travel to our clients after visiting a Red Carpet several years ago. Debbie was completely blown away by our enthusiasm and our passion for travel. And of course we can’t forget Vicki Freed while she was with Carnival who participated in CLIA’s largest on sight training that industry accreditation had ever seen.

Both Vicki and CLIA were once again blown away by YTB’s enthusiasm and passion for travel.

It’s a shame that in every instance above, those who took a stance to support and help YTB Travel Network, were promptly slandered and attempts to shame them into submission was the order of the day by a bunch of overzealous Anti-MLM zealots who couldn’t handle an opposing view or perspective.

Makes me wonder if this new entity Sixth Scott who will now handle our travel bookings and travel support knows this and that’s why I can’t find any information about them?

I have to admit here that I’ve not had time to properly research this Sixth Scott company. An initial search on the Internet and a couple of phone calls turned up virtually nothing about this LLC. Maybe – just maybe, this could be done on purpose? An LLC is easy to form. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that these guys want to focus on expanding business, and not get mixed up with a bunch of crazed lunatics who I can assure you will have the spare time and most certainly spend the energy and resources to get to the bottom of who these folks are.

I however have a number of businesses I need to run – and frankly don’t have the time.

I’m willing to bet however – the overzealous crowd will make it a top priority because it produces a fear that YTB Travel Network and guys like me will continue to sell travel to the general public.

I’m also looking at the fact that this move is like all the slandering and brain washing that’s been done for the last four years has been completely washed away. We’re right back to where we were prior to the fall of 2007 when YTB Travel was taking the industry by storm with all the perks and vendors they’ve always had.

For those of us in YTB, this new partnership will have plenty. It will completely separate the marketing program we have from the travel program – enabling our marketing arm to focus on marketing (what it does best), and leaving the travel aspect of the business to industry veterans and experts.

Along with a sleek new look to the web site, with all the bells and whistles including group access, we’ll gain access to even more travel vendors including all the major cruise lines, tour operators, hotels, airlines and charter organizations, and best in class package deals at higher commission percentages.

We’ll also have a new specialized, in-depth training, that can show you exactly how to be successful – even if your new or have limited experience in the travel industry. The new entity will also help market your business, when to sell what, how to use CRM and client data, as well as sales techniques to create a more profitable business.

Industry perks will also be back in full force with IATAN accreditation just like before. (As always, reserved for those who actually earn it.) Access to FAM trips, inaugural cruises, and ship positioning cruises where available are all a possibility. A new A-list program will also be introduced in the near future for those Travel Agents who produce the travel required.

Yep, there’s no question this is great news for someone like me who loves travel and loves to promote travel and gets paid for doing just that. All the handcuffs and limitations the industry attempted to saddle me with because they can’t comprehend or get past the word “recruit” has now been washed away. As with any position or opinion, there will always be a different side. Thing is, I adapted and survived because like Sixth Scott – I understand good, basic business concepts.

That my friends is something that you can’t shame into submission, can’t slander with false claims and outrageous predictions, and can’t destroy simply because you’re too stubborn or too stupid to realize a legitimate, long term business model.

Consider this a reset – a way to go back to the future and show the entire industry how good and dominant a travel company can be.

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I’ve discovered that being offline has its advantages.

Who knew?

It’s not that I miss being online, but the online world is so much different than the real world. There’s something about people hiding behind a keyboard that turns them into these egoistical maniacs and know it all’s. They can check in and check out on a moment’s notice covering a vast amount of cyber space without having to back up or support anything they say or do. There’s little to no responsibility or consequences to contend with in this vast expansion of bits and bytes.

Life – or the real world – has a completely different set of rules and consequences attached to it. There’s a level of accountability that you just can’t hide from offline. Online, it’s nothin’ to “talk the talk” – but if you don’t know how to “walk the walk” offline I would imagine you’ll find yourself in very compromising and uncomfortable positions in what I can only categorize as bizarre and irrational perceptions.

Offline, you also have the opportunity to kick the tires so to speak. A chance to look someone directly in the eye and ask the pointed questions. Instead of just the written word as a response, you can collect and record someone’s vocal tone, body language, and whether or not they can look you in the eye when they respond to questions you ask.

One of the things I’ve never been able to grasp are these folks who get all riled up over people they’ve never met, or even talked to. They form these opinions and illusions based on a perception that’s disconnected and incomplete. It’s a major reason why I’ve never given credibility to people who have some dysfunctional disdain about me. They simply can’t form a complete picture or accurate opinion about who I am and what I stand for without actually meeting me face to face.

Those that have actually met me have a completely different attitude and perception from what I’ve read here in cyberspace. Remarkably, it would completely contradict the crap I’ve read about who I am and what I do from the cowards who have never personally come in contact with yours truly.

Likewise, the cowards who spend hours yammering on the Internet attempting to shame and slander the YTB Founders, Coach, Scott, and Kim have never had an opportunity to come face to face with their nemesis either. About the closest anyone has gotten, was going to an opportunity meeting incognito. While they happened to be in the same room, there was never any real dialog because one was standing in front of the room in plain sight, while the other was hiding in the back of the room among a large crowd of faces. The result was about as effective as watching a presentation via streaming video.

Several years ago, another clown was in Florida to check out Funshine. Instead of spending time with the people there, he took pictures of cars in the parking lot. Then while the owners of the cars were in training classes, he sneaked in to take pictures of the empty hallways. If I remember correctly, the pictures of empty hallways were to prove that nobody was there. (Apparently, the owners of the cars left without their preferred form of transportation.)

But alas, it did give the cowards an opportunity to say “I was there” in an attempt to add credibility and confirm their already twisted views and perceptions.

I had an opportunity myself to check out another well known “industry scammer” on the Internet about a year and a half ago. Part of the reason I went to this meeting was to see if the speculation and perceptions online matched what I saw with my own eyes. As it turned out, I had an opportunity to shake hands and introduce myself to this so called “scammer” and actually brought up the fact that they were so well known in the cyber world.

This one very pointed question opened up a rather lengthy dialog over several conversations. The contrast over what I had read and what I had gathered on my own was astounding. I had also gathered information on the cowards who were so head strong at pointing the finger at this guy. What I found out made me realize the cowards themselves had three more fingers pointing at them. In other words, these so called critics who were trying to save everybody from being scammed actually had more problems and blemished of their own that I could only conclude that the ranting and raving they were doing was nothing more than a deflection technique to make themselves feel better about their own miserable existence.

Look – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

Don’t believe a word I say – unless you can verify on your own to be true.

You don’t have to agree with me – but you do have to do a little more than read and post on message boards and blogs to form a legitimate and accurate perception of what’s going on. These clowns who only lift a finger to do a Google search on the internet to find opinions and perceptions that match their own illusions are a complete joke.

Instead, find somebody who has some real world experience and is capable (or at least willing) to show up in person for a face to face.

Online is a great place for introductions and connections. It’s capable of doing a lot and expanding your influence. However, if you’re not willing to unplug and venture out into the real world – you’re simply not going to get very far. You’ll quickly find yourself without any real knowledge, experience, or credibility.

While online can be great and it has its advantages – don’t mistake the online world as the real world or life experience. In order to grasp what’s really going on the only place to do that is offline.

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1. Make Money.

2. Be Happy.

That’s really all there is to it.

I’m bringing this up because I’ve caught wind of news that should be announced in the next 7 to 14 days. Exactly what it is – I can’t say just yet. It was however hinted at during this years convention, and from what I’ve been told – it’s been signed off on by all parties.

Know this. It’s going to tick off the already emotionally unbalanced and irrational Travel Agent community. Likewise, it should illustrate how they react and plan via how they feel and percieve – rather than thinking logically or by basic business sense.

There will be more to come in the next week or two.

Stay tuned! ;-P

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A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that ignorance and injustice has never been something I’ve tolerated very well. It’s not that I expect everyone to know everything – people make mistakes (including me) all the time. But – I do expect people to be capable of learning. These “mistakes” are the lessons learned that helped people like Edison invent the incandescent light bulb. I’ve heard that he “failed” anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 times before he figured it out. The actual number of times isn’t important – but the concept that you adjust and correct with each mistake made to end up with success is.

It’s that type of thinking and determination that has helped YTB return to the original name – better, stronger, and with more conviction I’ve seen in a long time.

I’ve had more subscription signups to our newsletter in the last few weeks than I think I’ve had all year. I also had to create a separate category in my Outlook for the private YTB Facebook pages and the notifications that are coming in. My inbox became flooded with YTB posts. (There’s some really useful information there, and it’s always needed a special folder.)

Not everyone appears to be on the same page in sharing the excitement and passion for success that we do. Make no mistake, they certainly see it – and they know exactly what it all means. Our passion and excitement unfortunately gives them a nervous twitch.

From the day it appeared on my blog, (which I can still recall) one guy has produced an entire comedy of errors, missteps, and mishaps. This self-proclaimed “expert” decided to make it his personal mission to pick a fight with me, you, or anyone else associated with YTB. John Frenaye got more than he bargained for when he came trolling onto this blog to pick on what he assumed was just another “lowly MLMer”.

Instead of cowering or avoiding, I responded to both him and his illusions. His perceptions of MLM and YTB simply don’t match my reality or experience. I did see John’s charade as a valuable lesson in exactly what not to do, and how not to think. His so called “problems” with MLM, gave insight into what to avoid. Although by doing this you couldn’t avoid his pessimistic rants, which helps tremendously.

Although John never mustered up enough courage or strength to sit down with YTB face to face to discuss his “issues” with the company and our model, his Internet persona and constant bullying in every nook and cranny associated with YTB did provide insight for not only myself, but YTB to look at the perceptions and adjust accordingly.

I have no idea how this whole thing has worked out for John, but I don’t think it’s been all that pleasant. Nobody likes to be made the fool like I’ve highlighted and documented here. Not that it’s been a bed of roses for me either. Personally, and for others who have gone through this battle with me in YTB however, it’s been a great experience and lessons learned because unlike John, and others like him, we actually know how to learn and adjust from the mistakes we all make.

It makes us stronger, more resilient, and better than ever before.

John on the other hand, just doesn’t make them. “Mistakes” I mean. He’s still just as stubborn and bull headed as ever. Sticking to his illusions that MLM and its people are inferior to him or anyone outside of the “cult” that hasn’t been drinking the Kool-Aid.

And that my friend is exactly why this personal crusade of his and this battle that’s waged inside his head has been going on for at least the last four years. He hasn’t learned a blessed thing.

You might be thinking to yourself, “If an old dog like TravelPro can learn a few new tricks, certainly someone like John can – couldn’t he?

Not exactly.

I’ve heard it said from more critics than just John, that cynics think we MLM’ers are so caught up in the cult and drunk on the Kool-aid that our identity becomes attached to it. Without a YTB or another MLM to hang on to, we’re lost without any meaning. Truthfully, I think that concept speaks more about themselves than it does about any of us.

See, the whole idea of MLM is to teach the average person how to change from an employee mentality to a business owner mentality. The heart of MLM, what makes it tick and beat, is ground floor access to a business that will teach anyone who is willing how to become a real true entrepreneur and business owner. The problem as I see it, isn’t actually the MLM business itself, but the actual person running the business.

I look at the traditional business I came under contract with a couple weeks ago. The territory was run into the ground, and the old manager is filing for bankruptcy. If it were MLM, critics would be yammering about how the model failed. Now that I’ve been working this new business a few weeks and have done a couple P & L’s – I can’t for that life of me figure out how he couldn’t make this work – other than the fact that he didn’t know how to control expenses, and honestly was just plain lazy.

In other words, the model and the territory are just fine – it’s the business owner who didn’t put the proper time and effort into it that landed him in bankruptcy.

Network Marketing is not different. There’s a reason why the word “work” is in there – it takes “work”. This idea that you pay money and just sit back and collect checks is the most absurd notion there is in the MLM industry. You’re paid based on activity and results. No activity equals no money. To put it another way, you get out of it what you actually put into it. How it’s perceived by some as any different than any other business is a big red flag that they actually don’t know anything about business or what it takes to succeed.

For critics and cowards like John or the folks in the Class Action who have an average of 6 months of business experience among them, it’s just easier – or rather more comfortable to point the finger at MLM. They never notice the three fingers pointing right back at them.

I know commissioned sales can be a real drag – even overwhelming. It used to create its own nervous twitch inside me way back when. You have no idea how lucky you are to have a company like YTB, a product like travel to sell, and a mentor like Coach, Scott and Kim to learn the ropes and overcome that fear. And, yes, you’re even lucky to have someone like John to show you exactly what not to do and how not to think as an added bonus.

Considering where I’ve been and where I am today, I wouldn’t trade any of it in. I feel nothing but confidence and success because I knew who was right and who was dead wrong.

You too can rid yourself from that nervous twitching when you know who and what to join up with.

Ain’t no doubt about it for me.

It was Y-T-B.

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Remember the group of ambulance chasers that filled a Class Action suit just a day or two after California did?

Well, they’re at it again. (sigh….)

Apparently, being told “no” more times than I can count over the last 3 years isn’t enough and the group has been able to “vacate the judgment” and have it sent back to the Honorable Judge Murphy to re-hash this mess all over again.

For those that don’t know legalese “vacating the judgment” basically means the panel of three Judges put a “void” stamp on Judge Murphy’s dismissal and it’s being tossed back yet again.

Over the years we’ve had some very stern comments towards the Plaintiff’s in this case from the District Court.

Here are some of the quotes we’ve seen towards the Plaintiff’s in their motions (yes, plural) to dismiss:

“ungainly monster of 39 pages containing 133 paragraphs“

“In fact, pursuing discovery in the hopes of turning up something that may lead to a lawsuit seems to the Court to be the very definition of a fishing expedition.”

“As a general rule the Court is not fond of “ill-founded requests for reconsideration of matters previously decided,” given that such requests “needlessly take the court’s attention from current matters and visit inequity upon opponents who, prevailing in an earlier proceeding, must nevertheless defend their position again and again.”

“the Court does not intend to spend a great deal more judicial time than it already has spent in hashing over with Plaintiffs“

“So long as they are in this Court, however, litigants and their counsel do well not to treat the Court’s rulings “as mere first drafts, subject to revision and reconsideration at a litigant’s pleasure“

And my personal favorite:

“authorizing a court sua sponte to strike “redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter” contained in a pleading“

I have to admit, after being raked over the coals so many times by the Court like this, mustering up the nerve to go back takes balls. (Excuse the metaphor.)

But such is the life of an Anti-MLM Zealot. Remember, they’re right, we’re wrong and there’s simply nothing one can do to calm the fears and outrageous perceptions they have surrounding a business model that’s been around for well over a century now.

You may be asking yourself at this point why these “victims” don’t just recoup their investment from the Illinois Settlement that set aside $150K for those who want to grab it. I can’t say for sure, but I’d speculate that the Attorney’s in this Class Action have spent way to much time and money on this over the last three years, and they’re desperate to get something out of this witch hunt. The Attorney’s after all will get a far better “pay day” than the entire Class combined. Just like California who pocketed $875K in the California settlement, leaving a mere $125K for the victims the suit was designed to protect.

To add insult to injury concerning this pleading, it was revealed two years ago that the Plaintiffs in this case have an average of 8 months of dabbling in the business.

Here’s a list of the who’s – who and their time spent “selling travel”.

• Courtney Speed – 4 months
• Kwame Thompson – 4 months
• Grace Perry – 5 months
• John Stull – 6 months
• Faye Morrison – 11 months
• Jeff and Polly Hartman – 18 months

On Saturday, when I wrote about the companies renewed focus on Travel, I revealed that I personally didn’t make money my first year in the business. (2005) Going back, my total commissions for travel was less than $26.00 that year. That said, I did however have bookings that produced travel commissions in year two and beyond.

For example: A client books a cruise with BandBVacations.com today for July, 2012. A deposit is made of around $100 per person for that cruise at the time of booking. Obviously, a cruise line can’t pay commissions to the agent based on a deposit that’s a fraction of the total sale. But somehow, YTB is expected to produce that commission, otherwise it’s labeled as “unprofitable”.

Second, while the suit claims that all the plaintiffs in the suit were both RTA’s and Reps with the company, it’s my understanding that at least one of the names listed was only a Rep, and never paid a dime to YTB to become an RTA enabling said plaintiff to even sell travel. Kind of hard to make money selling travel when you don’t even have a booking engine. In addition, a Rep position is, as it always has been – free. If it wasn’t free, then people would be required to actually “pay for the opportunity to recruit others”.

Payments to YTB Travel is as they’ve always been are to enable someone to sell travel with our Host Agency. Just like Nexion, Uniglobe, Expedia Cruise Ship Centers, or Coral Sands Travel. It’s a business like any other. What you do to produce income from it is up to you. But I’d highly recommend spending more than four or five months at anything you try before you up and quit. That my friends are the individual’s shortcomings – not the business.

I have no clue how long this go around will take to muddle through. I do however, hope that this go around will separate truth from the glorified hype and outlandish claims made by a group who has used words like “failed”, “corrected”, “deficiency”, “amending”, “incorrectly”, and “realized after 100 hours of arguing” in their pleadings over the last three years.

Such is the case of this suit and these Plaintiff’s that have more lives than a cat.

Idiots.

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They simply find the people who are ready for them.

As I sit here on the eve of another YTB / ZamZuu National Convention in St. Louis, I’m astounded how this company has changed my life to look for opportunity. How it’s prepared and molded my mind for business success. I’ve now overcome the fear of the word “no”, and in that same vein – it’s helped me help others who were willing and open to opportunity themselves.

Not everyone has taken advantage of the opportunities presented to them. I think it was Edison who said “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” There’s a reason why the word “work” is placed in this industry we call Net”work” Marketing.

If you really study the MLM model, and become a student of the industry you’ll find that this model instills a work ethic and business savvy that you won’t find in any school. It lays a foundation of real – practical business principles and practices that you just can’t find anywhere else.

That being said – I realize that there are so called “experts” out there who will attempt to argue the points I’ve laid claim to above. You (and they) know the ones that I’m talking about. The obnoxious loud mouths who believe they know better than we do – who have it all figured out. Keep in mind that these are the same jerks who warned everyone three years ago that YTB was going to be shut down by the California Attorney General on the eve of the 2008 National Convention. Their experience has taught them that a company that finds themselves in the midst of a $25 million lawsuit will fold like a wet noodle.

I’ve seen instances of companies actually crumbling for far less money and vicious accusations or monetary compensation – but then again, the examples I can recall are traditional business models – not Network Marketing companies.

Companies like Amway, Herbalife, PrePaid Legal, USANA, NuSkin, and YTB have all been victimized by lawsuits claiming they’re some sort of scam and survived because these so called “experts” who get their little panties in a wad aren’t the business minds, or protectors of industry and justice they claim to be. At most, they’re opportunists themselves who take advantage of people’s fears and insecurity instead of instilling rational and logical thinking. It’s simply a chance for them to grab the spotlight and make themselves feel important.

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb I saw just the other day. “Those people who judge a books by their covers…..have difficulty reading!” When it comes to my experience with YTB and critics, that’s about as close to reality as it comes. With some of the outlandish, bizarre and irrational statements I’ve seen over the years surrounding not only MLM but YTB specifically by these people, that proverb pretty much nails it.

Something else I’ve learned over the years about these “experts”. When it comes to owning up to mistakes, inaccurate speculation, or just plain lies – they’re cowards. Actually, their mind, (more accurately “ego”) won’t allow them to admit they might be wrong. This perception they have is the only thing they have to hang on too.

Let me give you an example.

Last week, I was talking with one of our Directors about the once infamous John Frenaye. If there’s anyone who’s fallen prey to speculation and rumors it’s John. The guy would fall for just about anything posted on the internet as “truth” or “fact” if it has a negative ring to it. Even when there nothing there, he’ll manage to create it just to grab some attention. You can only imagine how “excited” John must have been when word of the California lawsuit was announced the night before the 2008 Convention. You’d think the simple filling of this suit meant it was a done deal the way he sensationalized the cover of this suit.

But those of us who went beyond the simple cover, and actually read the verbiage and actually comprehend our business had a completely different take. So much so, that this Director made a bet with Mr. Frenaye.

Sometime after the suit was filed, the two made this gentlemen’s bet. If the suit was indeed accurate, John would get what he wanted. The total and complete illumination of a so called pariah in an industry he actually doesn’t own but merely works in.

If however the suit wasn’t successful in shutting down YTB like Jerry Brown boldly proclaimed he could do – there would be a public apology by John at the next National Convention in St. Louis.

While there was an attempt to make some sort of assurances that John would keep his word on this – according to the account of the Director who made this bet – John’s enormous ego wouldn’t permit him to even speculate any possibility that YTB could survive the cover of the claim.

The National Convention in St. Louis this week will be the third since the suit was first announced in 2008. Along the way there was a $100 Million Class Action filed which has been thrown out of court more times than a cat has lives, and another suit filed by the Illinois Attorney General that honestly just sat there collecting dust for two years before it quietly went away.

John being the gullible and clueless soul that he is obviously took the bet. In his mind – the cover matched his perception, and there was just no way on God’s green earth that he’d ever have to muster up any type of apology with these kind of stakes stacked up against a bunch of lowly MLM Yahoos.

Now I can understand the absence of a full-fledged apology in 2009. While John had certainly speculated that bankruptcy or the YTB Founders riding off into the sunset with everyone’s money was an absolute certainty by the time we all got together in St. Louis at the time, none of the facts about our model had really come to light a year later. Nor were any of the suits either settled or thrown out of court outright.

I’ll even let 2010 slide. He was after all holding on to a thread of hope that the laws as they’re currently written in Illinois would magically change or be re-written in his favor.

However, it’s now 2011 and all three suits have either been settled both legally and monetarily or been pummeled to death by the court system as being “redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter”.

So that begs a very serious question. Could this be the year that YTB gets the apology from this once infamous critic who now finds himself on the wrong end of this bet?

Honestly, I doubt it. Cowards like John and the other critics who have quietly removed themselves from the soap boxes they once stood on just don’t have it in them. The opportunity to correct the years of slander, malicious abuse and misleading information posted on No Travel MLMs will never go away.

Unfortunately, I don’t see John being ready. A far better alternative is to just quietly fade away like he has. However, because YTB will continue to hold National Conventions like the one this week in St. Louis – the opportunity for him to man up and do so will never go away. ;-P

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By now, just about everyone has caught wind of the current Administrations “faux pas” surrounding the a once thought of guarantee of Social Security checks and the possible delay for current benefactors in August.

While the White House is doing some major damage control right now due to the way the media reported it and how the American public perceived the “warning” – it should be noted that the days of Social Security checks are numbered regardless of what Congress can accomplish with the budget and our debt ceiling.

To this day, it’s still odd to me how we find an abundance of pin heads out there that proclaim that Network Marketing is an unsustainable model. Yet, when push comes to shove, nobody has ever been able to provide a single solitary example of one MLM or Network Marketing company that has ever exhausted the world’s population. Heck, you can combine all Direct Sales and MLM companies in the industry and still couldn’t find that last person who didn’t have at least someone to talk to or sell product to.

Idiots who throw this “pyramid scheme” lingo around simply to place the fear of God into others aren’t smart enough to realize that this theory is just that – a theory. The reality of MLM and it’s real world applications are vastly different from their false and very limiting beliefs.

On the contrary, the model has proven its stability and longevity for over a century now. You have the Direct Selling Association (DSA) that was founded in 1910 to protect and serve this industry over the last 100 years. You also have companies like AVON who has been doing business since 1889 still selling and still recruiting women all around the world. Tupperware, Amway, Mary Kay all founded before I was born and just blasting this “fear” about sustainability right out of the water by selling billions of dollars a year.

To add insult to injury, these same pin heads will tell you to go out and get yourself a “real job” – exchanging 40 hours a week of your time for a fixed amount of income.

I don’t know how or why so many in this country became so complacent, lazy and stupid.

The debt ceiling appears to be covering up the real issue of our Social Security system. Nobody seems to be asking the real question of why the money isn’t there for these benefactors. I mean, you hand over 12.4% of your income to be placed in reserve for when you retire – so where is it? Very few understand that this system we’ve all taken for face value (because the Government is supposed to “protect” us) is doing nothing more than paying for the benefactors who retire before you.

In other words: If you want to take a look at a real – practical – and legitimate “pyramid scheme” you need to look no further than our Social Security system.

Back when I first got involved with YTB, Social Security reform had been place at center stage. The Bush administration saw there was a problem and was searching for ideas to address it. We all have short memories, and there are those who want to forget the Bush years. This USA Today piece however pretty much sums up what was going on in that day and age – just six short years ago.

The idea at the time was personal accounts as a way to fix the cash crunch. Money invest in would be reserved for those individuals only. The USA editorial explained perfectly why the current Social Security system is your classic pyramid scheme.

“Given low birth rates and rising life expectancies, in time, Social Security won’t be able to sustain our elderly population without punitively taxing workers.”

It goes on to state:

“For Gen X, though, this program sounds awful. No matter how poor you are, you pay 12.4% of your income, every year, to maintain Mossman’s cash flow.

Sure, Mossman paid in, funding other retirees. Their taxes funded original recipients who didn’t pay a dime. This is the classic definition of a pyramid scheme, which eventually has too many folks to pay off with too few suckers paying in. Thanks to the 1946-64 baby boom, Gen X is firmly in the “too few suckers” bin.”

And we’re right at the cusp of this dreadful reality. For the next 20 years there will be more than 10,000 baby boomers per day looking to retire for the next 20 years. Some 78 million people all “worthy of” a Social Security check because they’ve been “buying in” all these years.

Knowing what you know now – including the current economic climate – what do you think your chances are of seeing even a penny of your “buy in” when you’re ready to retire?

Are you beginning to understand just how silly and irrational this idea of pointing the finger at MLM’s and Network Marketing when a real – practical example like our Social Security system looms over every tax payers head?

That being said – I’m not going to tell you that MLM or Network Marketing is the only answer in solving your issue of Social Security not being there for you when you retire. There are plenty of options to protect you and actually provide a very comfortable retirement. But if you think you can count on Social Security being there for you – dammit – you need to wake up and see the writing on the wall.

A very real and legitimate example of a “Pyramid Scheme” is staring you right in the face – courtesy of the Government that many believe is there to protect them from such evils.

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