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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Back in 2008 I wrote my first e-Book and boy was it a huge hit! At the time it was released to the public, there was a massive backlash going on in the travel industry concerning YTB’s rapid growth and clear signs of success. Travel Agents, already beaten and downtrodden by the Airline industry and online booking engines saw a virtually unknown Network Marketing company explode and take hold in the industry. And it scared the living daylights out of them.

The book entitled “What The Critics Know About YTB” was in reality an April Fools joke with a very distinct message. What made it both a joke and message to anyone who obtained a copy, was the book had nothing written in it. Yep, 100 blank pages. Even more comical – those who didn’t get it at first responded with – “There’s nothing past the first chapter?”

I still have this book and story of how it came about in my auto responder series to help new members of YTB and ZamZuu understand just who these people are and how their own fear and anger prompts the attacks of our fine company and our people.

Tomorrow marks the three year anniversary of this blockbuster e-book. (I’d like to call it a “Best Seller” but it was never actually for sale.) While we are three years removed from the vast majority of the drama that was conjured up by critics and detractors, to this day there remains one lone fool who still fits the mold of my brand of “critic”.

Probably the most difficult aspect when dealing with critics that I’ve had to overcome is they never really learn anything new. Heck, I’ve seen cases were they never even admit to making mistakes. It’s a level of arrogance I still don’t understand, but have come to accept. While I still find them irrational and incredibly dysfunctional, after three years of fighting tooth and nail to justify themselves and their position – they’ve become extremely silly in the way they think and act. Which made the April Fools date perfect for an e-book like mine.

When I saw the news about the sale of the Home Office and the money that was proposed – the very first thing that came to mind was “This is really going to tick someone off.” Even fools realize that several million dollars would be beneficial to anyone receiving it. You need to understand however that a clock has been ticking since late 2007 to 2008 with dreams of our company going belly up. While I barely see most of these Zealots around any longer, several were adamant that the company wouldn’t survive past 2009. (They don’t want to be reminded, so it was much easier to just fade away I guess.)

Not my boy John however, he’s fighting to the death. (Preferably ours in his case.)

The Class Action filed against YTB has been a perfect example of how people just won’t learn. It possess a brand of arrogance that they’re views are the only ones that are right no matter who or what you represent.

The Courts have not only dismissed this case a half dozen times, it’s referred to as nothing more than a “glorified fishing expedition” by the Courts. Other descriptions from the Courts include “redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter“. Yet these fools have been pummeled by the very system they beg too more times than I want to remember – returning for more punishment. They’re currently appealing one of the six rulings against them. Oh, and they tried to file in State Court with essentially the same line of bull they’ve always used – and SURPRISE! The state court rejected the complaint and removed it to Federal Court where motions to dismiss the suit are currently on the docket for these Zealots yet again.

I mean good Lord – when might you call a dog a dog instead of a cat with nine lives? This is exactly the kind of stupidity that makes me think these people are insane. They keep regurgitating the same line over and over and over again – hoping, dreaming, wishing, praying that they’ll get a different result the next go around.

For the record, and I know this to be true in California – and suspect all courts in Illinois carry the same tune – the Courts really didn’t care to waste their time with the Attorney Generals complaints either. I’ve actually seen the head critic spin this as YTB wanting to settle the one remaining case in Illinois with Lisa Madigan. Truth is, it was Madigan’s Office who offered not the other way around. However, unlike arrogant critics, YTB is working with the office to help resolve wording so everyone (well, maybe not everyone) has an understanding of what they are purchasing and what’s actually free.

Not sure, but I suspect the Z-Kit was a result of these negotiations since some people didn’t perceive the “booking engine” as an actual product. (Booking engines are products you buy for a traditional business like Nexion, or Cruise Ship Centers, but not for MLM I guess.) The Z-Kit is the kind of product that’s more in line with traditional Network Marketing because you have something you can actually touch.

But just because you have something simple and straight forward- there’s always going to be that lone fool who’s going to make it look like MLM has is doing something wrong.

Case in point – a blurb I found while reading about the YTB 2010 Annual Report:

YTB/ZamZuu makes a ton of money off of the people that attend the convention. The revenue for the 2010 convention was $322,000. (Page 16) and the expenses were $457,000 (Page 17). So if you do the math that means that the gross income from the convention was $779,000. At $199 to attend, that puts attendance in the area of 3,900. A number YTB did not disclose. But, it is clear that for every person who attended the convention, more than $80 went directly to YTB’s bottom line. That is a 41% commission YTB earned on this event! Most companies tend to make their events affordable. Yes, most make money, but most don’t gouge.

See how that works? Only in MLM can you add revenue and expenses together so the company gouges it’s members. Last I heard (from my 9 year old daughter no less) you add revenue and subtract expenses. And because he’s the only one who can be right – he uses this new “fact” he’s dreamed up (sorry make that “uncovered’) to fuel even more anger and resentment towards the company. And you better believe he’ll warn the YTB faithful this summer that YTB will make a sweet 41% profit margin on the gullible who attend this year.

Makes you wonder just who the gullible one is now doesn’t it?

There were several other numbers in this report that mysteriously couldn’t be found in the actual SEC Filing. I have no clue where they came from honestly – he was (in his own words) “taking a good guess”, and “extrapolating a bit more” than anyone really needed to. But that’s just John being John. Playing the “expert” and words like “extrapolating” make you sound a lot smarter than you really are.

By the way – I think “extrapolating” means “make it up”. He’s never considered the hundreds of millions in travel the company has sold as the focus. The $25 million sold on the “recruiting” side somehow equals more than the $252 million sold on the “travel” side. Again, “gross sales” has always been replaced with “net income” for travel so they can focus on what they fear most – recruiting.

Oh and one more thing before I go. What guy prices out purses and girdles? From what this fool says, both Gina Alexander and Ghiada are overpriced? Is there another fixation other than MLM that we don’t know about?

I just find it odd that he knows so much about women’s apparel and garments.

Or is it just another case of a train wreck pretending to be some sort of expert?

Ah well, the charade continues as “Life According to The Almighty John W. Frenaye”. I have to admit, his escapades and illusions have provided some great content for this site over the years. With the way he bumbles and stumbles with outlandish speculation and absurdly bizarre perceptions it’s actually been fun. (I do enjoy slamming the poor guy.)

With the anniversary of my e-book, and one of the better April Fools jokes I’ve played, I suppose I should thank him for the all the content and for still being the biggest fool I know.

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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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There are several special dates in my life. October 15th, 1989, the date of my last drink. April 26th, 1997, the date I married the woman of my dreams. October 27, 2001 the day I became a Dad. July 2, 2003 the second time I became a Dad.

January 16th, 2005, the date I decided to invest in myself with YTB Travel and Cruises. Thing is, I didn’t find YTB nor did YTB find me…it found my wife. The call came one afternoon from someone calling my wife to see if she would be interested in a Travel Business. Little did I know how that one call to my wife would change my outlook and hold so much promise for our future.

My wife is a very intelligent woman. She knew that this would be something that I would not only be good at, but also enjoy. 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. All I could think of while looking at this web site I was taking another cruise with my wife…for less!

Of course I had to do my due diligence about finding all the information I could about this company I had never heard of before. The idea of selling Travel as a form of Referral Marketing was new. I did my research on the internet. I also asked what I thought were tough questions to this guy who turned me on to this business. I was invited to meet the top money earner in the company and also the Founder of the Company at a hotel that week to take a look at the leadership and others who are working in this Travel Business. I asked my wife to come with me, just to keep me in check and get her take on how legit this really was. I was impressed with how genuine everyone was. These were real people who took a genuine interest in who we were.

I thought I invested in YTB, but what I really did was invest in myself.

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. Looking back a year later, it wasn’t the right or wrong reason for investing in YTB. The important thing is that I invested in myself and this company, period.

A year later, I look back and realize what has happened. I have an honest to God business. I’ve received actually checks at the end of the month over the last year that didn’t bounce, and they deposit money into my company Paycard on Friday’s just like clock work. I have a team of great people around me that I’ve been working with and am considered a Team Leader in the company and they pay me as such. I qualify for the same pay scale as the sponsor who introduced me to the business, his sponsor, and his sponsor, who happens to be the top money earner in the company. We all qualify to get paid the same way with no one getting an added advantage or bonus.

O Yee of Little Faith and Knowledge…

I’ve heard and read some negative comments over the last year, that this type of thing called Network Marketing is a scam or some sort of pyramid scheme. It’s not a respectable way to make a living. Message boards related to the Travel Industry and Travel Agents can get really ugly. Some of the traditional Travel Agents are extremely nasty and bitter when it comes to what I do. I’m considered the lowest life form there is. I must admit, it’s not all unprovoked. There are members of YTB and other Independent Agents with other companies, who are only in this for a quick buck and that’s all they see and promote. Part of the black eye the industry has as a whole is its own fault.

A mind is like a parachute…

It doesn’t work if it’s not open. I can’t control and am not responsible for how someone feels about Network Marketing. Dismissing what I do as a pyramid scheme is a dead ringer for not knowing anything about this business model. Nor do they understand what a traditional business really is. Barry Dillar spent $5.3 Billion to start Expedia. Doug Bauknight spent $400 to start BandBvacations.com. I offer the same travel specials and packages he does. Who do YOU think is smarter?

While owning my own business hasn’t been easy, I’ve learned it’s really very simple. I work this business just like any other business, and I think that’s what separates me from some of the others who get into Network Marketing. It’s not about hype and gobs of money. It’s about looking for people who are looking for me. I’m looking for someone willing to take a chance. Not in a business or an opportunity, but in themselves.

What I offer people is a way to create a better life for themselves and their family. I’ll support and guide and even let them make their own mistakes, just like my sponsor did. (Oh, and did I make some mistakes!) I’m still a baby when it comes to this business. I still fall back on doing some things Doug’s way. But with every passing day, I get more and more confident in what I am doing and how to do it. The toughest part is over and I find myself relying less and less on the support above me, and offering support to the customers and team members below me.

YourTravelBiz.com is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and is certainly worthy of not only being mindful and celebrating this special day. Oh…and that cruise I wanted to take cheap? Yeah, I took a short one thanks to my sponsor. This year we’ll not only take the whole family, but a bunch of friends with us on Royal Caribbean Freedom of The Seas. We don’t take vacations any more…we take Paycations.

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