I would start off with “I hate to say it” but that wouldn’t be accurate or true. Fact of the matter is – I’m rather pleased that “I told you so“.

In a press release announced yesterday, YTB has agreed to enter into a final judgment and consent decree by the court without trial or adjudication of any issue of fact or law concerning yet another slanderous and erroneous lawsuit against YTB – this one filed by the Attorney General in Illinois.

Total damages of this lawsuit – basically restitution for approximately 300 people. I’m being generous with this number, simply taking the $500 start-up fee in the purchase of an online booking engine and not accounting for any monthly fees. We’ve learned from the Class Action that has been thrown out of court a half dozen times (and counting) that most who look for this type of refund or restitution don’t give the business much time or effort before they throw up their arms and quit.

Total cost of the restitution – $150,000 which represents 0.002% of everyone who’s ever signed up with YTB Travel as a Referring Travel Agent.

It’s important to note that all this money should go to former RTA’s of the company. There’s never been any fee for the right sell these websites to anyone (known as a “REP”) – although someone in the Class Action suit never paid a dime, but wanted restitution anyway.

Even when you combine the restitution to “victims” in the California suit settled two years ago, that still totals less than $300K. If you’re thinking – “wait a minute that was settled for $1 million?” you’re partially correct. Almost 90% or more exact – $875,000 went directly to the State of California, leaving a measly $125,000 for the “victims” that suit was designed to protect.

Look – I know how all these law suits put some people in a tizzy. Frankly, some who don’t know squat about Network Marketing (and never will the ignorant Zealots) became raving lunatics about the claims filed. Problem is – these suits were just that – claims. Most simply skipped ahead and proclaimed YTB was guilty of what was said simply because it matches their limited knowledge about the industry as a whole.

Now those who claim to be experts but have no real – practical experience will certainly have egg on their face. Truth is and always has been that nobody ever paid for the opportunity to recruit others. In addition and like it or not, other Host Agencies do charge a startup fee and monthly maintenance to partner with them.

And let me tell you – there was just no way any court would allow anyone to bypass those facts. Not even an Attorney General.

So here I sit today, with the same company, pretty much the same booking engine, and an even better opportunity I had three years ago. My commissions have actually increased from 60% to 75% on travel, and I’ve got an online store that gives me additional commission and provides cash back to my customers.

Instead of going out of business like some had speculated – I ended up with a better business. And I didn’t have to move an inch.

That’s what YTB has always been for me. Nor was there ever any doubt that it would survive. The clowns with the circus act with tails about a “house of cards” this and “endless chain” that don’t have a clue what their talking about. I know the industry from experience, I also know that Founders from personal contact. It was very clear to me that people totally underestimated both. That’s why I stuck around.

Sure there will be those that will continue to harp on the failed attempts to put the company under. They need someone like Jerry Brown or Lisa Madigan to justify their meaningless existence and limiting beliefs. There will also be those that want to focus on the recruiting aspect of the company. If they do more power to them – it’s their problem and misinformation, not mine. Network Marketing has been available and sustainable for the last 125 years. So get over it.

To me – honestly – some acted like such crazed dogs they need to be shot and put out of their self-inflicted misery. It never ceases to amaze me how some will just prowl every nook and cranny to find something they can get upset about. Or even worse, just make it up as they go along. And when challenged with an opposing view, they pretend to talk to someone else who agrees with them. Like that’s healthy or even normal.

I have to admit – it’s hard to believe that all this started three years ago. It sure has flown by. Probably because I always knew the bark was far worse than the bite. While some can’t seem to distinguish the obvious difference between a legitimate Direct Sales company or MLM and some long winded and very broad terminology that scream “pyramid scheme” it’s good to see that right still wins over wrong.

Happy to have all this behind us and I’m certainly ready to move on with a stronger, more lucrative, and diversified company. In that regard, I’m certainly not sorry any of this happened. Times like these always separate the weak from the strong – and the strong always get stronger.

Maybe now with this last suit out of the way we can get back to what we initially set out to do three years ago – Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Travel.

It’s been long overdue.

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My newsletter subscribers got a heads up this weekend about an 8K filed late last week to announce the possibility of selling the YTB International Home Office. As expected, YTB continues to be a “hot topic” and we’ve seen various Google Alerts from news publications and two alerts from a blog surrounding the deal.

As we’ve come to expect, when YTB sneezes, some loones still end up catching a cold. I was asked if I actually read any of the Google Alerts, and I did read one from an area paper, and another from a travel publication. Fairly standard stuff, much like the 8K that was filed to the SEC by YTB International.

I don’t want to overstate the obvious here. This is pretty good news for the company and the growing field of Agents for several reasons. The deal will provide YTB International with immediate cash in hand of $2.8 million. Second, YTB will be staying right where they are, and lease 40,000 square feet they currently use. Third, the entire deal could infuse between $6 million and $7.1 million overall when it’s all said and done.

While terms of the sale are now just coming to light, a filing back in January informed investors that YTB International this was a possibility. An agreement with FH Partners who held the mortgage at the time had been re-worked by the lender in November 2010, but deemed unacceptable by YTB. At that time YTB filed a statement that they considered the terms unacceptable, and decided to go into default with FH Partners. In addtion, the company announced they had another deal in the works, and were confident an optional deal would be in place within 60 days.

Again – pretty standard stuff – but some of the conspiracy theories I heard about were quite dramatic. All some could focus on was “default” because that signaled the end was near. Not sure if they didn’t realize or simply hid the fact another deal was in the works to further their cause. Either way, they not only jumped the gun, but were wrong yet again.

With the proposed deal now out in the open – it has driven any remaining critics into a frenzy. Don’t have to read their words per se – mere actions in this case speak far louder than any meaningless yack squeeze. The increase in activity shows how nervous and distracted they are over everyone finding out YTB will have cash in hand. Any loone would realize that the hopes or dreams of YTB’s demise has been dashed once again.

You’d think they’d figure out that the conspiracy theories and drama they come with are actual fantasy and not fact. Of course if they did that – it would mean admitting they have an actual problem.

We can always hope.

On top of the news about the pending sale last week, YTB International released it’s Annual Report early this morning. With the kids getting ready for school, and 86 pages to read – honestly, I’ve only had enough time to glance at the filing. We cut losses in half to $1.6 million compared to 2009, and as expected from Q3 monthly subscribers have stabilized.

Since the sale of the home office isn’t final, the infusion of cash to YTB is not reported in this filing. (That would be illegal.)

Still not out of the woods just yet – but things are looking better after a constant barrage of attacks the past three years. You can kick, you punch, you can poke, but you can’t break this company. It’s just not in the cards.

I’ll take a closer look at the Annual Report and most likely have something for everyone on Thursday if interested. I have a new car to purchase in the next couple days since yours truly plowed into a deer in the middle of I-85 and totaled the car. (I’m okay, but our 300M and Bambi are most certainly not.)

Until then…

Update: Doing a little reading before I head out this morning.

Not sure if the deal for the Home Office closed or not, but according to the Annual Report, the loan to FH Partners is paid in full as of yesterday. ($1.5 million)

Also, no new word as yet on the Illinois suit filed back in 2009. We find the standard statement announced third quarter on the bottom of page 10 of the Annual Report.

On May 14, 2009, a civil action was filed against the Company, three of its subsidiaries and certain executive officers of the Company in the Superior Court of Illinois, Champaign County, by the Illinois Attorney General. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated Illinois’ unfair competition and advertising laws. The Company believes it has meritorious defenses to the claims. The Illinois Attorney General has proposed resolving the suit short of litigation. The Company is in the process of exchanging information with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General and exploring possible resolution alternatives.

Since that dog won’t hunt, look for some type of announcement this year that the company has the last remaining attack against it behind them.

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I’ve always loved this game critics play when they put partial information out there that supports their beliefs and ask:

“What do they know that you don’t?“

It’s a “what if” game that’s designed to get you questioning and doubting your own beliefs. Can’t blame them really, our minds are well adapted for concocting all sorts of scenarios and outcomes. The mind is doing its job in trying to protect us when it comes up with the worst possible scenario.

They know that there’s a ton of mileage to be had by simply placing any tidbit of doubt out there for the average person to find. The hope of course is that the average person is just as lazy and gullible as they are. (Well…truth be told – their ego is far too large to allow themselves to be categorized as gullible or lazy.)

Since inception, there has always been a lot of speculation going on surrounding YTBLA – because it’s MLM. For the record, I do own both Class A and Class B shares of this stock, and have for years. Before the stock split, I did sell a percentage to recover my initial investment, but for the most part, both classes of stock have been sitting in my portfolio for the last five years.

Therefore, I keep up with the financial data from the company. Maybe not on a daily basis, but I do keep an eye out for transactions and quarterly reports.

In the middle of last year, I heard rumblings about our Founders dumping stock. Now mind you, this comes from a long standing belief from critics who buy into this idea that Coach Tomer, his son Scott Tomer, and partner Kim Sorensen would be riding off into the sunset – leaving everyone high and dry without compensation or a company to speak of. It’s a ploy that’s been around for years. Not exactly sure how this last circus round was spun by these clowns, or what was written – but true to form, “dumping” really wasn’t the proper word to use in these instances.

Scott Tomer for example, gifted over 1 million shares to each of his four children in one transaction. In another transaction, Kim Sorensen basically did the same, gifting 3 million shares to his six members of his family in another transaction. All public record in the Form 4′s that were filed, complete with comments regarding what happened to the stock.

In a classic “smoke and mirrors” style, critics never relieved this information – just an overall number of what was owned by our founders then – and a number they own now. Of course the question they want everyone to think about was also asked – “Why did they dump millions of shares?” and “What do they know that you don’t know?“

These are rhetorical questions when asked by the way. Nobody on these boards or blogs ever wants a real answer. All it’s designed to do is apply doubt and perception disguised as “factoids”. Actual fact in both these instances doesn’t conform to their fears that the Founders are cashing in – simply to get out.

But alas, this question of “What do they know that you don’t” does work both ways.

While researching a question poised in my last article, and found two new Form 4′s filed in the Company’s SEC filings. If you don’t know what a Form 4 is, (and I suppose there are some who don’t.) it’s a required filing for any insider transactions. Insiders are defined as Executives, Founders, Board of Directors, or anyone else who’s privy to insider information not available to the public. It’s a transparency thing – and it’s not uncommon for CEO’s and Executives to acquire company stock. (I found 9 stocks with CEO buys of over $100,000 in the past week.) The reports were possible after finding the required Form 4 that was filed with each company financial filings.

So what does it say about YTB International when CEO and President Robert Van Patten acquires 500,000 shares of stock, and CFO Jeremy Hemann acquires another 100,000 shares of stock?

Or to borrow our line from critics – “What do they know that we don’t know?“

About all I can say for sure is that sales are up. In February alone the company produced $450K in sales from affiliate and featured stores – a 58% increase year over year. Prior month’s sales have also been at record levels. Our free agent opportunity is now up over 100k, and they’re getting their legs. I see groups being booked at new levels as well from our Travel Agents with YTB Travel Network and our BDM at Carnival is extremely pleased as sales for the current year so far are extremely strong.

I see people in the field being energized and happy.

But I’m wondering if there’s more to this that just gross sales? I’m wondering if the bottom line that we’ll all get a good look at when the Annual Report coming out in mid-April and our first Quarterly report due in mid-May is released. I also know from the financial data that the third and final suit surrounding bogus claims surrounding a pyramid scheme is also on the mend. The Illinois Attorney General has recently proposed resolving the suit short of litigation. Since the state can’t win, resolution alternatives are being worked out at this time. Both situations could reveal more news about the company’s health and well-being.

Mind you, I don’t have that answer right now – I’m just throwing ideas out there to chew on. If anyone does have an answer right now however, it would be our Company’s CEO and CFO.

After seeing those Form 4′s filed day before yesterday, I just had to ask – “What do they know that we don’t?”

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Three years ago, YTB’s most famous cynic came bursting onto this blog with the mission to tell me – you, and anyone else who could stomach it – that MLM and Travel was a bad mix. When John Frenaye landed here, it took a nanosecond to figure out how this guy ticked. It’s a very standard and predictable M.O. that works by categorizing, separating, hiding, judging, condemning, attacking and rejecting.

Today, the name John Frenaye is synonymous with Anti-YTB after three years of rants and obsessive – compulsive behavior. Daily life consists of prowling the Internet for any tid-bit or morsel of food that can be reworked or rearranged and thrown back out in an attempt to justify his radical cause. His obsession has also compelled him to join every Facebook Fan page YTB or ZamZuu has – opting in under various aliases on several YTB newsletters (including ours), and even joining YTB a few years ago as a free “Rep” just to gain access to company information and communication to rework and refine with his own twist in an effort to satisfy his immense appetite over YTB.

Proper etiquette, rules or boundaries have little place for someone who needs to feed a powerful addiction. Nor is there any room for reasoning or solution based alternatives. All “pro” statements that don’t conform to the “Frenaye Creed” are quickly met with a direct rebuttal or even better – an abrupt and public reprimand. Many have described his uncompromising behavior cult like.

John is personally responsible for spreading his “creed” to every available board, forum, and blog, promoting his radical thinking and perceptions. Always watching – always monitoring the vast amount of communication and sites about YTB, just as soon as there’s a comment to support YTB – you can bet that John will be there to distract everyone from the topic at hand to trash the model, company, Founders and members.

After years of incessant rants – about the only option anyone has these days is the “ignore feature” found on these forms and boards to protect your computer (or your mind) from being infected. I have very little knowledge or care about what he’s writing these days, but there’s only one person I can think of that fits this description:

“Obviously, from your blog you will spin anything to the negative against this company. Some of it may be for good reason…some of it seems like an old crazy girlfriend I dated in high school.”

What’s also obvious is that John’s reputation precedes him.

While I’m years removed from the confines of alcoholism, I remember what it’s like to be consumed by addiction. How the compulsion controls every aspect of your life. True, to outsiders who see the daily rants, it looks to be bizarre and dysfunctional. For John however, life feels quite normal – even “right” because it’s so routine.

His own blog throughout the years, has been the home port to spew all that’s wrong with YTB. He’s prided himself on an open blog forum that allows all views and positions. A few months back however, his open blog forum policy was drastically changed and comments have since been shut down – completely.

The only views expressed or allowed are those of the owner now. Mind you, it’s no big loss. In fact – I applaud the disposal of daily rants and trash talking designed to keep emotions, rumors and fear at a frenzy level.

However, when I heard about the excuse in this thread (sorry, no direct link because Ainsworth is also on “ignore”) – I couldn’t help but think how John has deceived his own flock. Has John told his followers that someone was attacking his kids on Facebook?

Mind you, I would agree that would certainly be enough to scare any parent. (This one included.) If that were truly the case, I’d even feel applauded over John’s situation. It’s just not right – and if I find documented proof this is the case – beware.

Truth is however, from what I know about the comments made on his blog – they weren’t about his children at all – but about John and his personal failures as a young adult and travel professional. After all the years of poking and prying into everyone else’s lives and publicly posting them on his blog, someone has finally had enough and exposed the real John Frenaye and his less the perfect behavior and past on this site.

Several members of YTB have known about John’s troubles for some time, including me – but nobody has stooped to this level before. I’ve been asked on several occasions to post these findings in the hope it would turn the tables against John. Some have even speculated that it would shut him up.

About all it would do for sure would provoke more anger and resentment. John’s clearly not able to look at himself or his views as anything less than admirable and above reproach. With John’s bizarre behavior and ridiculous spin over the years, I’ve really never seen the need to add this information into the mix. In my opinion, the documentation provided here related to YTB would conclude this guy isn’t playing a full deck.

Some may consider this new blog unfair or underhanded.

If that’s the case, would it be underhanded for John to purchase “thefactsaboutytb.NET” to link to his blog? Would it be considered unfair that John also created a “Zam (space) Zuu” fan page to mock and poke fun at the name, our members and our Founders? Would it be considered a personal attack that John posted a link to a news story similar to the one about him surrounding one of our Directors? How ’bout posting personal bankruptcy findings?

John’s been guilty of all these offensive and abusive actions over the years. Frankly, I’m somewhat surprised it took this long for it to show up in cyberspace. When you play with this kind of fire, you’re bound to get burned sooner or later.

With that said – I have no idea if John’s going to wise up or straighten up. It’s not my place – and I’m completely powerless in helping him at this point. The only person that can help John is John – that much I do know.

My hope however, is this information will help you let go and move on like I have. John’s perception of YTB is similar to telling me the sky is purple. Rant all you want about it – it’s not going to change the color from blue to purple simply because you yell louder than I do – or make believe you know any more than I do.

That charade ended the second he barged in here and he opened up his mouth.

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You had to have known this day was coming. Actually, in my opinion – it’s been long overdue. Sooner or later, people were going to figure out who’s right – and who’s been blowin’ a bunch of smoke up everyone’s skirt. (“Skirt” isn’t my first descriptive choice – but you get the idea.)

The longer this charade of ridiculous Internet bantering and meritless lawsuits about YTB being some sort of “pyramid scheme” or “scam” went on while YTB continued its operations – it was inevitable that things would start to turn around.

Zealots can only cry wolf for so long.

In a press release sent out late yesterday afternoon (that flooded my in-box with no less than a dozen “Google Alerts” from various sources) YTB International reported a 15% increase in the number of active Business/Store Owners in the month of August.

YTB is back on the upswing.

The increase follows the Company’s National Convention held in St. Louis, in late August, which provided a number of announcements and new initiatives.

This year’s Convention marked the two year anniversary of a what I’ve always considered a lame stunt by California’s Attorney General – who filed a $25 million lawsuit the day before the 2008 Convention proclaiming he would end the companies “gigantic pyramid scheme”.

I really can’t blame people for falling for the A.G. or the unfounded claims. After all, simple perception would indicate that an Attorney General would have some understanding of the law. After reading the suit however, it became evident that Jerry Brown wasn’t any smarter than the common critic hiding behind a keyboard and screen name who banters away on forums or blogs bashing MLM proclaiming everybody is “paying for the opportunity to recruit others.”

To add insult to injury over how ridiculous this whole thing went down – the $25 million was settled out of court for a mere $1 million. Even more amazing – the A.G. who claimed the suit was filed to “protect consumers” – a measly $125,000 ended up going to consumers with the remaining $875,000 going to the State for the trouble.

Things that make you go “hmmmmm”.

We also can’t forget the “Class Clowns” who simply can’t take no for an answer. You know – the Class Action with nine lives? That redundant joke has been beaten and bloodied to death by the Court system so many times, I’ve lost count. Typical of the anti-MLM crowd who can never actually learn from others who are much smarter (or even more powerful than they) – just keep doing and saying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

These people don’t need a Lawyer – what they need is straitjacket. (They truly are insane.)

Such is the life of “stoo-pid” critics who can never seem to read properly or learn anything new to ease their suffering and phobias. If you could ever catch one of them hiding out behind a screen name and keyboard they’d have the letters F.E.A.R. lambasted on their forehead.

And if you don’t know what FEAR means – it stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. These dumb clucks will fall for just about anything as long as it sounds negative.

I haven’t bothered to check into any of the bantering since Convention. While I’m not sure how anyone could argue with “Free” I’m sure there have been some pretty good stabs at creating drama – simply because they need that kind of fix to make themselves feel normal. Separate the word “dis – ease” and you’ve got a pretty good understanding of how these people tick.

The last time I checked in with the “chicken coop” they were in some tizzy about Coach, Scott, and Kim pumping up the stock before Convention. Oddly enough, no Form 4 was ever produced showing any of the three purchasing or selling a single share. The only documentation filed with the SEC pointing to any of the three also happened yesterday when Kim Sorensen transferred 4 million shares to a Limited Family Partnership for estate planning purposes.

Just another example in the mile long list of myths and rumors that have once again been sqashed with actual documentation – exposing how desperate and dumb zealots can be.

Can’t say that YTB is out of the woods just yet, even with this increase in Business Owners. It’s only one month – and we’ll need to string together a number of months before the heat really gets uncomfortable for the “chickens” peaking over the other side of the fence.

If you happen to spot them, just smile and wave. Then go out and find somebody who’s brighter and smarter than they are and willing to learn.

Not that hard to do considering. Just keep moving forward.

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Before I begin with the Convention update, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all the e-mail, Facebook messages, and phone calls I received in the last 24 hours. If I haven’t gotten back to you yet, I will, but please keep in mind my inbox is flooded right now with gratitude and appreciation from others who feel the same way. I’ve also had another huge rush on subscribers because of yesterday’s update. If you’re looking to get on the newsletter yourself, (and are already a member of YTB and ZamZuu) you can fill out your information here and get on our mailing list.

It hasn’t been until the last few years that I’ve really understood the word “Giving”. Sure I’ve been brought up to tithe 10% of my income and I’ve always heard that it’s better to give than it is to receive. This blog and newsletter has been a labor of love for those who want a firsthand perspective on what it’s like to be in YTB and ZamZuu. I’ve given of my time, my experience, and my talents and the appreciation, rewards and opportunities that have come back to me have been simply amazing.

I am humbled – I am grateful – I am constantly amazed how I’ve been able to reach so many people and touch so many lives.

Thank you!

Now on to convention!!

Question for you…How do you like FREE?

Truth is you’ve got to have something wrong with you if you don’t like to receive something for free.

Now, add the ability to earn extra income by getting something for free.

How does THAT sound?

Well, welcome to the new ZamZuu!

The ZamZuu e-commerce site, which previously sold for a $249.95 set-up fee and a monthly hosting fee of $49.95, can now be given away for free. Those who accept this generous gift from you will earn 30% of the commission made from products and services sold on their very own FREE e-commerce website.

But it gets better. That e-commerce site is linked to you as a “broker” (more on that in a bit) and YOU also earn 30% of the commissions earned off the site you just gave away! (Talk about a win – win!)

Some of the best things in life are free! Take Google for example. How much does it cost you to search on Google? (Uh – Hello?! It’s FREE!) Yet, Google generated $23.6 BILLION in revenue last year and their stock is trading at over $462.00 per share – and it’s FREE! Google accomplished this with no advertising (all done by word of mouth) with a very clean, easy to use website that’s free for anyone to use and enjoy.

Remember how AOL got their start and became the most dominant ISP in the land when the internet first started its massive growth? AOL gave away free setup CD’s didn’t they? They flooded the market and quickly surpassed GEnie, Prodigy and CompuServe in the mid 1990′s when dial-up was king. At AOL’s height, they had over 30 million members. (And that’s before everyone even had a computer!!)

It wasn’t until broadband came into the picture that AOL fell behind the curve and lost it’s appeal. (AOL and dial-up then became known as “Always Off Line”.)

We can come up with dozens of other examples – but you get the idea – free is not only very popular but is so attractive people can’t resist giving it a try.

Right now MILLIONS of people are flocking to affiliate sites like Commission Junction, LinkShare, Google Affiliate Network, ClickBank, and even eBay in an attempt to capture slice of the boom that is going on right now in e-commerce. (All free as well by the way.)

Wake up folks – online shopping has DOUBLED in just one year – from 6% to 12% – and it’s expected to exceed 20% over the Christmas shopping season.

But have you ever tried to manage all those sites and links on your own? And how do you know what people are going to buy? We can tell you from experience; it’s not as easy it sounds. It’s time consuming; it’s also hit and miss trying to promote all those products. (And unless you have a very targeted niche and demographic – very few hit the nail on the head.)

With a free ZamZuu e-commerce web site – just hand out sites and let the consumer decide what they want to buy. Everything’s managed for them – hundreds of stores with thousands of products, tracking, and commissions from one very easy to use (and manage) site.

And did we mention it’s free? (Just in case you missed that…)

But wait! There’s more!

How do you give away free sites enabling the average person to earn 30% of the commission earned on their sites? You become a “Broker” – something you’re now qualified for as a ZamZuu Business Owner. Because you own the license off the sites you give away – you as a “Broker” earn an additional 30% of the commission earned off all the free sites you give away.

Free “Agents” earn 30% – while the “Broker” who holds the license also earns 30%.

Simple right?

So how does someone become a “Broker” rather than a free “Agent”? (Because we know the wheels are turning with possibilities at this point.) A license to hand out as many free sites as you want costs (oddly enough) $49.95! Yep, the same price it costs as a ZamZuu Business owner.

The choice is yours. You can give away 1 or 1000 sites – it makes no difference to us. But the more you hand out the more likely you’ll be generating significant income from sales off those free sites as a Broker. For example :

• 30% of $10 per month from 1 free site is $3 (per month).
• 30% of $10 per month from 100 free sites is $300 (per month).
• 30% of $10 per month from 1000 free sites is $3000 (per month).

So – how many sites do you want to GIVE away for FREE?

It’s your chance to give someone a free e-commerce website to generate income of themselves – OR – “teach them to fish” as a “Broker” to leverage THEIR efforts and make a whole lot more.

If they’re not sure – no worries – they can upgrade from “Agent” to “Broker” at any time!

Over the next few weeks as the company rolls out other products and services that were announced this past weekend in St. Louis, we’ll update you both here and on the newsletter. Some you may have already heard about what’s coming. For the purpose of time however (and an opportunity to write other articles about this fine company and the people involved with it) we’ll save that for another day.

Besides – I’ve got a ton of e-mail I need to respond to right now!

Right now – I want you to focus on what I do and that’s “giving”. (You have something of value to give now right?) Give it a go – and see what happens. My bet is the rewards are greater than you could even possibly imagine!

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.

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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.

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!

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