This week we morn the loss – and celebrate the life of J. Kim Sorensen.

Mere words are difficult to express how stunned we all are over Kim’s sudden passing on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. He was 62 years old.

By all accounts, Kim was well on his way to a full recovery after having a double lung transplant less than a year ago. During last years Convention in St. Louis, Kim let us all know about his condition and how grateful he was to have been given a second chance. While still very weak at Convention time and considered critical in regard to fending off infections – we all admired his strength, his gratitude, and his faith.

Within time, Kim was well enough to return to the Home Office as his familiar “Buddy Boy” rang throughout the office. He was at work as late as this past Monday. A routine Doctors visit was scheduled for Wednesday morning for a checkup and breathing treatment.

It was during this breathing treatment that Kim passed on.

It’s difficult to understand at this point just why someone like Kim had been chosen to leave us so soon. For so many of us, Kim was more than just a Founder and figure head. He was a mentor, a friend, and brother in Christ.

It was Kim who found a bankrupt travel agent call center over a decade ago and the one who born the idea of YTB. (He also found Beryl Martin out of bankruptcy, the company that prints our marketing material and built our staging like the Statue of Liberty.) A very bright and savvy business mind who knew how to diversify and create true financial freedom.

Kim leaves a remarkable legacy in YTB. Personally, I can’t help but think about our new partnership with First Travel Alliance (more news about that later this week) and what Kim set up for all of us late last year. While Kim’s passing is a tragic loss to all of us – YTB Travel Network is stronger than ever.

If we could have only known back then how fortunate we all are today because of this merger. (Don’t think for a second that “Someone” didn’t already know.)

The YTB Home Office will close at 12:00 pm Central Time on Monday, February 6, 2012 in honor of our Founder Kim Sorensen and to allow the YTB Home Team to attend the afternoon Memorial Celebration. Regular office hours will resume Tuesday, February 7.

A public celebration of Kim’s life will be held on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 3:00 pm Central at Enjoy Church in Alton, Illinois. Many of you may know Pastor Daren Carstens from past years Conventions and his Enjoy Church. One HUGE benefit of his church is their Audio/Video ministry which I realized can provide all of us a fitting remembrance and memorial for Kim.

At our suggestion and request – this service will be available to view online live from this link. This will provide all of us an opportunity to participate in this memorial – even if we can’t be there in person.

The Home Office has also created loving a tribute and fond memories of our dear friend available here.

In lieu of flowers a memorial fund has been set up at:

Mid America Transplant Services
1110 Highland Plaza Drive East, Suite 100
St. Louis MO 63110

Or donations may be made to:

Enjoy Church
3303 Homer Adams Parkway
Alton, IL 62002

In closing, and a fitting tribute for us – Kim’s favorite quote that we’re sure you’ve heard if you spent any time with him is “I need everyone to get in the game.”

What better way to honor the life and memory of Kim than that? What better way to appreciate this wonderful opportunity and sell even just one travel booking or vacation in Kim’s honor?! It’s up to us to keep his dream alive and personally, I can’t think of a better product or industry to do it with.

Thank you Kim. For your love, your inspiration, your leadership and your faith in us to make all that we have possible in the world of travel.

You may be gone for now, but never forgotten.

With love and our deepest respect,

Your YTB Family

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

You know what I love about YTB? They’re always one step ahead and cutting edge. Masters at spotting hot markets and finding a reliable product to sell that makes us money. They’ve been doing it for 30 years which started back in the A.L. Williams days. And just like YTB turned travel on its ear – A.L. Williams did the same thing with insurance way back when.

Today, if you’re not doing e-commerce and reaching out electronically – well, you’re just plain sunk without much hope of succeeding in this modern age.

I’ve heard rumblings about this new shift in marketing for about a year now. A vast number of “Marketing Guru’s” that I subscribe to have been telling me that mobile is the next big “boom”, and we better get our feet wet. When it gets the attention of the likes of Jay Conrad Levinson – you better make note.

Speaking of Mr. Levinson, if you’ve never heard of that name, find a way to read some of his books. The guy is absolutely brilliant. And when I say “Marketing Guru” – I don’t mean just “Network Marketing”.

Mr. Levinson has been contracted to work with the likes of Wells-Fargo, Citicorp, Visa, Viacom, BF Goodrich, Honda, Club Med, Rolling Stone, Montgomery Ward, Nissan, Mercedes, Volvo, and Holiday Inn. His book “Guerrilla Marketing” is a must read for anyone who needs to promote a business or product.

Any-who – back to mobile, and why I like Z Mobile.

Take this new business I just came under contract with this past week. I just got a Sales Report for the Fall of 2010 and Spring of 2011. During that time, the territory did a whopping 1450 of what they call “events” in the territory. Now these “events” are actually set up in more of a “B2B” fashion because they’re held inside a business – but it services more like a “B2C” which sells to the clientele inside that business.

I mentioned that my knowledge and experience with YTB would serve me well in the new business model. Over the last two weeks I’ve had another run on subscribers to our YTB Newsletter because of Convention and the word of mouth from current subscribers talking about how good it is. (Thank you, by the way.) My thinking was that I could do another newsletter with this new business venture when promoting all these events we’ll be scheduling and doing.

I’ll still do e-mail, but I’ve run into a bit of a wall – or more accurately, a “firewall”.

See, if these new subscribers enroll via their work e-mail address the company firewall may block my communication letting customers know when and where we’ll be. Sure, the subscription is a double opt in, just like the one I have for the fine folks of YTB – but the company may only allow what they would consider “work related” communications as acceptable and block communication like mine.

Problem is, these customers actually look forward to seeing us walk in the door. One of my sales guys has been with the company for 10 years and knows these people by name. While out in the field yesterday, I told customers that the company was under new management and the first thing they asked was “Where did Michael go?” After clarifying that management was new and not their representative, that’s when communication opened up and I discovered that this “firewall” might be an issue.

Have you ever had one of those problems that you’re trying to figure out a solution for and you just can’t come up with an answer? Then, all of the sudden, like the clouds separate, the heaven’s open up, and a ray of light from God himself beams down the answer.

That was me yesterday.

I was talking with Michael, my representative, about this “firewall” issue. While he agreed is was a problem, neither one of us could figure out how else we could reach this customer base to market and promote our product and schedule during the conversation. It was only about an hour home, but it was killing me so bad, that it felt like days.

Then, just as soon as I walk in the door, I checked e-mail and there’s a flood of Facebook notifications from the YTB groups I participate in all talking about Z Mobile being launched ahead of schedule. I also flashed back to earlier in the day when I first met our contacts for my new business and realized that they had smart phones sitting on their desks. I even pulled mine out to show them that the new site I launched was mobile ready.

At that point – I kind of felt like God was whacking me back upside the head for not seeing the answer all along. Thing is, Z-Mobile was something that was presented as a product I could sell, not really a product I would use for my own business.

I know. “Duh!!” right?

Truth is – it’s a perfect solution that will solve a real problem I have with this new business. It will also put me light years ahead of my competitors in the same market. Why buy from them, when they know I’m going to be showing up with better product and service via the communications I’ll be sending out?

That, my friends is how you become a product of the product. While I certainly won’t be tipping my competitors off to my new found mobile wepon, it will be a useful tool for some of the businesses I currently service – providing more value and making everyone more money in return.

Boyah!

~~~

UPDATE: Speaking of my new business. It took me a bit to wrap my head around this idea that YTB might sue me for getting involved in this new business. I know it sounds bizarre, but the self-proclaimed “expert” in all things YTB, John Frenaye, is apparently warning that this could happen in his latest round of nervous twitching. Knowing how brainwashed and unenlightening John actually is, it’s my guess that John is under the impression that my new business venture is another MLM or Network Marketing company.

Therefore, I’ll be recruiting everyone to come aboard.

Fear not however. The spiked Kool-Aid John has been drinking for years leads to this belief that once involved with MLM or Network Marketing, you become what’s known as a “lifer”. Meaning it’s the only option guys like me would even consider or get involved with. According to the Zealot creed, it ruins anyone who gets involved, making us unworthy and unclean for the “real business” world.

From my experience, MLM and Network Marketing is a perfect proving ground to discover practical real world experience in business. Truth be told, there are more similarities than there are differences. While most everything I mentioned in Thursdays article could be applied to MLM, the business I was actually writing about isn’t MLM or anything of the kind.

While I’m impressed that John considers me this huge “recruiter” – that’s not part of the current business model I’ve ventured into. It’s a simple sales and management opportunity that presented itself that I decided to invest my time and money in. There’s no need to be “diplomatic” or have a care in the world over any speculation of being sued. Like the Class Action that’s being thrown out of court more times than I can count – any lawsuit aimed at such a claim doesn’t have a prayer.

In other words: Sorry John, I know how desperate you are to remain relevant and riveting in this charade you’re hanging on to. However, you’ve just shown everyone yet again that you’re nothing more than an ignorant, nervous twit who doesn’t have a clue.

The time to step away from the Kool-Aid is long overdue.

Idiot.

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

The rumble you heard or felt at 10:05 am Eastern yesterday morning wasn’t an earthquake.

Rather what you might have heard or felt were thousands of faithful Convention goers who were told that the product and name they know and love is now back, front and center.

YTB Travel Network.

Seriously, the place went absolutely nuts! As if a long lost member of the family had just returned from the war.

The announcement was made very first thing Friday morning by YTB Travel Network President, Kim Sorensen. A man who just weeks prior had a double lung transplant. (Seriously!) He first told his story about the process and how grateful he was that a donor was not only found for his rare blood type, but he could have the surgery so quickly. It was important for Kim that he be the one to tell the Convention floor first hand that the ZamZuu Convention everyone thought they were attending – would actually be a YTB Convention because YTB and Travel is back.

It’s not that ZamZuu and online shopping will be ditched altogether. There are some great products and stores associated with that side of the company. Nor do I dislike the idea of ZamZuu and online shopping. I’ve been hooked up with stores and been doing affiliate marketing and direct sales like this long before ZamZuu ever came along.

That being said, I signed up with YTB Travel Network to get paid for doing what I was already doing. Telling anyone I could that “a cruise was the best vacation money could buy”. I tried to get paid for doing just that before I joined, but YTB was the first Host Agency that didn’t snub their nose at me because I didn’t have the education or the experience they told me was required.

So I went via the route of “on the job training”. Learning as I went along, accessing the vast amount of opportunities and training available through the company and the industry as a whole to create my own work experience and my own client base.

Funny thing is – YTB became such a dominant force in the industry by attracting folks just like me that before everyone knew it the company was growing at such a rapid pace it scared the snot out of same noses that once snubbed at me. What they said couldn’t be done was in fact being done by a bunch of so called MLM Yahoo’s.

As a result the company, it’s people and the model was viciously attacked by these same snobs. A few resorted to daily rants on blogs and message boards in an attempt to shame the company into submission. Others tried to turn vendors against the company as a pariah that cost them money and hurt their bottom line and reputation. While others who have no idea what a pyramid scheme actually is convinced a couple gullible Attorney Generals that they could actually shut the company down with this illusion that we were paying for the opportunity to recruit others.

I can’t say that none of that worked – at least to some degree. But for those of us who are capable of making up our own mind, following our own values, morals and ethics, and can actually comprehend how and why MLM works, we find we’ve come full circle as a company that’s now 10 years old. YTB is no longer just a bunch of “greenies” who you can kick around and mock to have us cower in some corner.

Ignorance, intolerance, and injustice has never been something I’ve tolerated very well. Fact is, nobody in YTB’s 10 year existence ever “paid for the opportunity to recruit others”. What everyone paid for was a Host Agency, a vehicle to sell travel services with. With the exception of my first year in business back in 2005, I’ve never lost money from travel commissions earned. (Although I did have enough bookings in the hopper my first year to cover those costs.)

Today, I have the best compensation package in the industry, and have had it for years. It’s the only company that will pay anyone who actually produces bookings what they are worth. I’m proud to be a member of YTB Travel Network because we’ve succeeded where no one else has. And while that may rub some in the industry the wrong way, and we may see a resurgence of the shaming, the spin and the lies – at this point it speaks more about their own intolerance and insecurity than it ever will about anyone in YTB.

We’ve seen it all the last couple of years. Claims of bankruptcy, or the entire industry pulling out, outrageous lawsuits, speculation that our Founders would run off with our money, and this fantasy that the company would be ditching travel altogether. None of it came true or at least worked out the way these snobs and critics claimed it would. And this “TravelPro” couldn’t be happier to inform them of that fact.

With the Hall of Fame inductions coming up next weekend – I’m reminded of a 2007 speech given by Michael Irvin. He talked about his trails, his failures, his adversity in being a man and a player worthy of being a member of the Hall of Fame. I can still see the tears in his eyes as he recited the words he heard at one of his lowest points of his life.

It said “Look up. Get up. And don’t ever give up.”

If you want to be a part of history – If you want to be truly successful in life – If you want to matter in this world and leave a legacy – that’s exactly what you need to do.

My thanks to Coach, Scott, and especially Kim Sorensen for “Looking up. Getting up. And never giving up” on this company, this model, and our people.

YTB is back!

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

If an employer told you that you’d be working from 8:00am in the morning until 9:30pm at night – most would baulk at the thought of and 13 hour plus day. Yet, when you own your own business there’s a completely different take on such a long day. Instead of being long and dragged out, it’s exhilarating.

That’s been the general consensus surrounding yesterday’s vendor workshops. Vendor workshops in the morning, Coach’s Way mentoring in the afternoon, and a very special KidZafe training at night. A day jam packed with learning, expanding and growing.

A couple years ago, I wrote a review on Chris Andersen’s book called “The Long Tail”. In a nutshell, and you can review via the link, the book describes how companies like Amazon, once known for selling just books, have expanded their product offering into smaller niche markets to increase sales for their bottom line. Amazon is still best known for their books, especially with Kindle sales now exceeding paper books, but the vast assortment of ancillary items that are sold continue to grow.

The model has proven to be so successful you have companies like Wal-Mart who now offer just about everything under the sun via WalMart.com for shipping either to homes or site to store.

ZamZuu appears to be following this model as well with specialty niche markets. With the companies vast diversity that includes men, women, African American, Latino, White, and Asian the company continues to find products each demographic can sell too. Best example I can see at this year’s convention is the new Suklaa line of cosmetics.

I often tease that when Ronda got involved with Mary Kay before we found YTB that I really liked the model, but there was one big problem. I don’t do makeup. Apparently, I still don’t know anything about makeup – because I had no clue that the current Chae Organics line available through ZamZuu isn’t designed for “women of color”. The new Suklaa line however is – and it’s been a very welcome addition for the “women of color” at this year’s Convention.

The highlight of the day however, was the Coach’s Way Mentoring Program offered up yesterday afternoon. I was amazed at how I pulled up my Facebook page late last night and how many people posted the quotes and life lessons that came from that session. Being a student of life and business, many of the quotes were familiar, but what impressed me most was how intently everyone was listening and soaking up the information heard. They were also students of life and business.

In closing – and speaking of Coach’s Way. We just got word that if you couldn’t make it to this year’s Convention, and in Coach’s Way – there’s a special link for a live video feed in your back office to watch the General Session today. I know it’s nothing like actually being there, but you can get the news and announcements as it happens.

Very cool feature and a welcome asset for those that want to be mentored by a Millionaire.

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Temperatures are expected to hit 100 degrees in St. Louis as a long list of vendors showcase their products to YTB and ZamZuu Convention goers in the America’s Center today. A small handful will be conducting seminars this morning for both shopping and travel. Most of the seminars on the shopping side will be new products. Others on the travel side will be old favorites who have been with YTB Travel Network for years.

I really like how the company gets the newer guys up in front of our people with these vendor workshops. Obviously, not all the vendors present could do a workshop, but some key vendors with a definite niche market will be introducing themselves this morning in St. Louis.

This year’s theme is Calling all Heroes.

See, truth be told – Network Marketing is about helping people. The more people you help mentor and achieve success, the more successful you become as a result. These people who lay claim to MLM’ers who pick people’s pockets and bottom feeders for the top echelon of the organization don’t have a clue about the true value or purpose of this industry.

That’s not to say that I haven’t seen an example of these so called “sponsors” leaving people high and dry after they sign up for one MLM or another. It does happen. But what I really like about this company, this year’s theme and the direction Coach appears to be taking with his mentoring program is how to do it right. How to become successful by helping others be successful. That’s how he made his millions in this industry.

The real work started after they signed up. Do it the other way – and you’ll be doomed to struggle and most likely leave the industry frustrated.

It’s a real life lesson. Think about it – have you ever met a selfish hero? Those that are selfish and only looking out for their own best interests are looked upon as arrogant jerks.

On the contrary, the most successful people in the world give of their time, their talent, and their knowledge. And we’re not just talking about MLM here. Look at the Bill Gates of the world, who donates billions. The Oprah Winfrey’s who do the same. It’s a universal trait for the most successful, financially independent people on earth.

Think about that as the awards are passed out Friday and Saturday during the general sessions. Ask yourself what they’ve given of their time, their talent, their knowledge. You’ll see plenty of it in a Juliet St. John on the recruiting side, and a Jeanie Sharpless on the travel side. It’s a major contributor to why I personally give of my time each week in the Newsletter.

That my friend is how you become a true hero not just to one or two – but to thousands of people who not only know you, but respect and admire what you do.

If there’s one thing I could impress upon you this week in St. Louis it’s that. It’s a great theme, and one I wish more people would not only understand but catch this great theme.

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

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

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

It’s been almost two months since the kids got out of school for the summer. Riding bikes, swimming at the pool, the water park, and hanging out with friends playing Xbox has turned into a very dull routine by this point of the summer. Our last week away as a family is upon us.

Then the kids will spend a week at the Grandparents (and a week for just Ronda and I) and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

By the time we all get together again as a family unit it will be the beginning of August. The start of a new school year will be only one week away. I’ve been living here in the Atlanta area for almost 20 years and I’m still not use to these schools starting so early. Call me old fashioned, but school runs from Labor Day to Memorial Day – that’s how it was growing up, and overall, I turned out okay.

I really don’t have any plans to post anything leading up to the Convention this summer, now just 9 days away. Afterward, there will certainly be plenty to write about – and from what I’m hearing of what we can expect to see and hear in St. Louis – I’m looking forward to a bunch of articles in a very familiar format.

You can be assured that the newsletters will be in your inbox each of the next two Sundays for pre and post-convention updates and announcements. But this blog for at least the next week and a half will be fairly quiet.

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.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

Book Your Travel & Vacations With