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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Are you as tired as I am over all the trash talk about YTB’s stock? Honestly, I’m sick of it. It’s as if YTBLA.OB is the only stock out there that’s down in the dumps. You’ve got to be hiding out in a cave somewhere not to realize that the markets overall are…well, in the toilet.

While the market has many running in fear, others are banking on the fact that the market will eventually turn in an upward trend. Most people would think someone would be crazy to actually be buying stock these days. Yet, that’s exactly what many of the super wealthy would have done in order to make their fortune. It’s times like these that would explain why Warren Buffett bought a considerable amount of stock at the end of the third quarter. (And if you’re thinking he sold a bunch, think again.)

The “Average Joe” simply can’t stomach what’s going on right now. That’s why we’re seeing the selling frenzy that we are, and also why critics appear to be focused on YTB’s stock specifically. It helps give the perception that the company is in dire straights and won’t last. Our third quarter numbers did a significant job is dispelling those rumors after their release. While there is a considerable amount of excuses following YTB’s profitable quarter, it did cause some of the most hardened critics to actually state that the numbers actually turned out better than they expected.

I would assume that’s why the focus has been shifted so quickly to the stock. It’s the one thing critics can point to that doesn’t look all that rosy, nor is bouncing back. The picture they’re painting is as if all other sectors are doing just fine, and it’s only YTB that’s having the difficulty holding on to its price. (Even with a profitable quarter.)

This attempt to spin the stock got me thinking how YTB compares to other stocks, more specifically, the travel sector since YTB of course knows nothing about travel. (Even after our 8 year run in this sector and being named in Travel Weekly’s Power List the last two years.)

By no means do I claim to be some type of stock expert. Far from it. But anyone with a pulse should realize that the markets, even after the election, continue to tank.

After pulling up various stocks to compare with YTB’s I started noticing that the broad brushed picture being painted isn’t what our critics claim it to be. (Big surprise, I’m sure.) Nor did any one sector in our industry lead in the categories I checked. About the only sector I was not able to check thoroughly at this time were other Brick and Mortars. (Most according to the Travel Weekly Power List are privately held.) I also tried to pick stocks that most everyone would know, even if you’re not “in” the industry. (Hogg Robinson Group, being probably the one exception.) Since there were so few public Brick and Mortar Agencies, I did use both American Express and Boeing who do own “Agencies” but obviously have diversification which neither look to either help or hinder their performance over the last year.

Here is an overview of the industry representing Airline, Cruise, Brick and Mortar, and On-line Agencies.

YTB (as noted by the blue dot) ends up pretty much “average” compared to the other stocks in the industry. Since there are so many in this sample, I’ve taken each industry and broken it down into segments for ease of reading.

Our first sector is how YTB compares to the Airline Industry. Companies are color coded and YTB will remain blue. Companies sampled with YTB are Continental, Delta, US Airways, and Northwest Airlines.

Next is a one year snap shot of Brick and Mortar Travel Agengies, which include American Express, Boeing, and Hogg Robinson Group.

Would a one year snap shot of on-line agencies look any better? Take a look at how YTB compares with Expedia, Priceline, and Orbitz.

And our last sector is the cruise industry as we take a look at both Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

After looking at this again, maybe Royal Caribbean should be the one in red…

So what gives? Why all the focus and fuss over YTB’s stock when obviously YTB appears to be on par with all the other companies in the market?

Because that’s what critics do. It’s something for them to talk about to give the perception that the Network Marketing business model is flawed or inferior to what they consider a tradition business plan. It’s all about perception to add fear and doubt about your choice in the industry.

They want you to go back to something more “legitimate” or “secure”.

So let me ask you. When it comes to the stock market, which one of these stocks above look to be more secure to you?

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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.”