Not many companies make it past their first year in business. Even fewer make it past year 3. If a company manages to make it through year 5, most business experts will tell you that the company has passed their litmus test concerning “risk”.
Some will tell you MLM has even a slimmer chance of making it past year one. Even if it does make it past the first year, there’s this myth that MLM is nothing more than a house of cards that will eventually topple. These aren’t “experts” mind you, (not by any stretch of the imagination) they’re just people who regurgitate what they were told or what they’ve read somewhere else.
Truth be told, when you look at Amway, Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, NuSkin, PrePaid Legal, and Primerica, these examples dispel the myth with documented cases that MLM can be built to last for decades. In Avon’s case, more than a century.
Before YTB, not a single MLM Travel Program made the cut in the travel industry. I can’t tell you all the reasons why these MLM’s failed, mostly because they were here and gone long before I came into the picture in January 2005. I’ve read about dozens of them over the years and can only guess at this point what sealed their ultimate demise. When YTB Travel Network entered the picture however, there was an enormous shift in the way people actually booked travel – moving from “brick and mortar” to “click and order”. There was also a simple shift in mindset and the companies focus.
In 2001, it was the first really big wave of retail sales moving to the internet. Companies like Priceline, Travelocity, and Expedia were making massive jumps in sales as people found it much more convenient to book their own travel on line. Today, Expedia tops the list of Travel Agencies – doing more business than any other “brick and mortar” out there.
Me? I just wanted a small slice of the pie. So I signed up, bought a domain, and BandBVacations.com was born in January 2005. Other than my first full year in business, I’ve made money selling travel every year since. The only reason why my first year didn’t produce a profit was because all the travel “booked” in 2005 were for trips to be “consumed” in 2006. (You don’t get paid in this industry until after the travel has been consumed.) Once a stream of bookings were created after the first year, it’s been profitable every year since – selling “travel”.
From what I’ve read and heard elsewhere, the problem with Travel MLM’s was they were nothing but “card mills”. Pitching that the average “Joe” had an opportunity to travel on the cheap using travel agent credentials. That wasn’t YTB’s focus however. (Although some in the company did abuse that privilege.)
YTB’s goal was much bigger and far more threatening to the industry – to become the largest supplier of travel in the world.
Pretty big goal to be sure. Some would say it was outrageous – even outlandish. Regardless of either opinion, it’s the one key difference that cemented YTB’s success in the industry, making YTB Travel Network the first Travel MLM – and to this day, the only Travel MLM that really matters in the industry.
So, how did YTB Travel Network do in accomplishing its goal of being the largest supplier of travel in 10 years? Depends on how you look at it. While it’s true the company fell woefully short by billions in taking over the number one spot – by projecting and reaching for such a massive goal, the company has solidified itself smack dab in the middle of some of the biggest, most respected agencies in the country.
Not bad for a bunch of MLM Yahoo’s. ;-P
That doesn’t mean however, that YTB Travel Network totally escapes what I’ve come to recognize as nothing more than “guilt by association”. The Network Marketing industry is riddled with a plethora of myths and misconceptions. Combine that with the negative impact other Travel MLM’s had when they entered and then abused the travel industry. What you stir up are intense emotions in traditional sectors of the industry – and quite frankly rightfully so.
You can’t slap a standard – one size fits all label on YTB however. The company broke that mold when it was founded 10 years ago. If the company and its model was indeed the same as all the others, it would have suffered the same fate. I might add that that the company has withstood what most would assume would be insurmountable odds over the last few years. In reality, losing a single cruise line couldn’t possibly have the impact the industry was hoping for. True, it might have worked if everyone would have piled on like traditionalists had hoped for. But when you’re dealing with true business minds and logic instead of pure emotion and anger, that ship never sailed. Vendors weren’t that dumb. Didn’t matter what the “perception” was – YTB as a whole sold a boat load of travel.
Then there’s IATAN. Again, if the perception was correct as stated by IATA that the company was in the business of “selling” credentials to third parties, the company would have folded long ago. Others may have done it, but in YTB – the only way to obtain that credential was to earn it like everyone else – by selling travel. When the company tried to correct the error and appeal – they snubbed their nose at us. Since credentials, and free rides was merely a perception or label, we moved on and continued with our core model and product – producing even more sales and more bookings without the almighty IATAN at our side.
After the attempt to cut off suppliers and IATA failed, California filed a $25 million law suit with claims the company was illegal pyramid just one day before the 2008 Convention. Problem with that was Jerry Brown, the Attorney General at the time who filed the suit, figured out that nobody has ever paid for the “opportunity to recruit others”. (A very common myth in the industry.) Regardless, California still collected $875 thousand in the deal for themselves, leaving the last tenth of the million dollar settlement to the victims Jerry Brown boldly claimed he was trying to protect.
The Government will always get theirs – and since we did nothing illegal we kept our business.
Biggest problem I see with critics who enjoy slamming and shaming the company and its people – is they can’t correlate “BandBVacations.com” with an actual “product”. Never understood that – really. Nexion sells several hosting plans, TravelQuest does as well, even Expedia sells “booking engines” to those looking to get into the travel business.
But try to do that with an MLM – and suddenly the “value” is nonexistent simply because these minions fear the word recruiting. A phobia some never really overcome or grasp. Reality is, all those Hosting Agencies above are attempting to “recruit” you. They need new blood – new recruits in order to maintain and build their brand.
Regardless of what appears to be an obvious oversight regarding the word “product” or even “value” the company has learned how to “dumb it down” so that anyone, (including staunch critics) can understand what we are selling and being paid on moving into its next 10 years of business. (Truthfully, nobody’s really that dumb, they just like to play dumb on the Internet.)
As the parent company YTB International moves into the next 10 years of business, it’s expanded it’s product offering to another huge boom on the Internet.
Online shopping.
Like Travel, YTB or ZamZuu isn’t the first to market this type of product in the industry. Nor will the company be the first to successfully market an online shopping experience in the industry. But there will be a key difference in how commissions are paid to the Representative who sells it.
What hasn’t changed is the “fee” to become a Representative of the company. It’s free – nor are there any requirements to purchase any of the products associated with the company. But the company has finally come up with a way to ease the fears and phobias surrounding paying commissions in Network Marketing with what’s called a Z-Kit.
It’s silly really – not the actual product mind you, but the idea that people actually need a physical product they can feel – touch – and grasp in our industry in order to calm the nerves. Government and society has a lot to do with that. People like me (or others in the company) who can think on their own in logical, rational terms are in the minority. We have to appear to be like everyone else in order to be accepted – or in this case – to be able to keep jerks like Jerry Brown and Lisa Madigan from filing outlandish lawsuits with claims that it’s some sort of pyramid.
What ever happened to logic, and independent thinking?
The problem isn’t the industry – it’s outsiders who perceive the industry through a fixed lens that create the problems. While Royal Caribbean, IATA, Jerry Brown and Lisa Madigan all made bold claims about who we are and what we do. None of them hit the nail on the head.
How can I make such a bold claim? I don’t – but my website does. See, it’s still here – regardless of all the overzealous and wild claims to the contrary.
While I didn’t join the company when it first evolved 10 years ago – my bet is that it will still be here during the next 10 years. That excites some, and terrifies others. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you fall in – BandBVacations.com isn’t you’re choice to make.
It’s mine – and will be for decades to come. And for that I am grateful that there is somebody out there that still relishes and promotes independence, logic, and value in this world.
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Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
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We’re ready to hit the ground running going into 2011. (First order of business is 
