This has been one of the most interesting weeks I’ve seen in about 6 months. For some, it may have seemed like a week long April Fools joke that lasted an entire week instead of just a day.

We are seeing things in a whole new light this week. YTB releases it’s Annual Report on Monday, complete with Total Revenue of $141 Million and $3.2 Million Net Income for 2007, and the value of travel services booked on YTB’s booking engines was $414.5 Million, an increased 84% in 2007. On Wednesday, John Gilliam asks if YTB could be the next On-line Travel Darling and the combination of the two sent the stock upward from a low of $0.65 a share on March 19th, to $3.15 a share on the close of trading on Thursday April 3rd.

Now in a very strange twist, almost as if the stars have aligned in just the right order, we find the Cruise Line that started it all just 6 months ago has its credit rating lowered to “junk status” by Standard & Poor’s. According to Forbes, Royal Caribbean’s sinks to junk due to a heavy fleet investment, financed in part by borrowing, and rising fuel costs as adding pressure to the company’s rating being lowered.

Just weeks ago, Royal Caribbean agreed to work with the Florida Attorney General and will be refunding $21 Million that it slapped on customers back in November of 2007 for fuel surcharges. Maybe they should have kept the $24 Million they had in bookings with YTB and Joystar back in October instead?

After 6 months of trading since the Royal Flush, RCL stock is down 10.77% while the late attention and surge of YTBLA stock has increased 61.53%. It’s a very dramatic turn of events to say the least.

I was over on John’s blog yesterday doing a little reading, and I saw a very interesting comment from a YTB RTA that I want to bring to light. Of course, John’s not talking about the “good news”, and frankly I wouldn’t want to either concerning what’s going on, it doesn’t support his choice in trashing YTB every single day for that last few months. (Correction – he did give us a thumbs up for the stock rebound on Monday, but me thinks he was quite certain that our financials wouldn’t turn out the way they did.)

John’s currently busy avoiding the issue of YTB’s financials and attempting to ask all of us about ATA and what we are doing about all the bookings we have with them now that they’ve ceased doing business. (If anyone knows, please fill him in. He’s dying to know, but I don’t have anyone one on that airline, never have.)

Anyway, when I saw this comment, it put a smile on my face, and it’s one of the first true signs I’ve seen in some time that YTB is beginning to “get it” when it comes to this small group, and if you look, it’s a very small group, of people.

“…if all you TAs really believe that YTB is such crap…then just let the chips fall where they may.If you are so confident that YTBs business model is subpar to yours, then let it go and eventually you will be fine.”

I realize that’s hard to do, even for me. Yes, I’m just as guilty as everyone else. I’ve gradually come to this same realization, and now that I’ve removed myself from the negativity and limited thinking I couldn’t agree more with this statement. The chips are starting to fall, and frankly, it’s looking pretty good for YTB at this point.

What happened 6 months ago was a real shock and both common sense and business sense told me that you don’t throw a company overboard who’s booking $414 Million in travel no matter how small the individual pieces of pie are. Do you think Coke and Pepsi worry about what each individual vending machine does in terms of revenue? Not particularly.

By having millions of these vending machines all over the world is a big reason why Coke and Pepsi battle back and fourth between #1 and #2 year after year. That’s how they sell 1.4 billion servings A DAY.

We’re not out of the woods just yet. We still have IATA to battle with, and we know have a clear sign that is being worked on. I just want to remind everyone in YTB of what Tim and Georgia Dominey wrote in the foreword of my new book released this week, “Keep the main thing the main thing”.

We’ve come a long way in just 6 months.

This model works folks. It works for us and it especially works for the suppliers who have tapped into the pool of vending machines that are out there. There are certainly cases when a purchase from a “Brick & Mortar” would be better suited for the needs of the consumer. No one can deny however, how technology, combined with relationships works as a very effective and stable formula for success.

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Finally!

I have been waiting for someone to make this move, and it finally happened. It’s not surprising that our star is Carnival Corporation, AGAIN. I feel it’s important to review just a bit, and set this up for all those concerned. If you recall, Royal Caribbean in a “bold move” (?) terminated its relationship with YTB back on November 9th. No notice, no warning, not even a phone call. Just a simple letter from then Sr. Vice President of Sales, Lisa Bauer, who effectively played the roll of airline stewardess as she said “Bah-Bye” to 4 Agencies sinking more than $23 Million in revenue for the company in 2007.

I’ve never really understood this move, and for the life of me still can’t grasp why any company would toss any business overboard. However, I also agree that it’s their company and they are free to do business with whomever they choose too. More importantly, for me at least, this move in no way effectively addressed the real issue at hand.

So what was it about Carnival that was so different? How did they respond to the issues and controversy swirling around concerning “card mills” and Travel MLM’s who abuse the FAM privileges that ARE designed for those that actually support the industry?

They now require a minimum of 5 bookings with them in a 12 month period in order to be eligible for a FAM. Imagine that? Everyone involved in this industry needs to support and sell their product BEFORE being able to take advantage of a reduced rate with them.

How do you like them apples?

What this so effectively does is eliminate the abuse yet save the account for future growth and obvious profits. Is it any wonder why they are called “The Most Popular Cruise Line in the World”? Because they’ve so effectively and succinctly addressed the real issue, they are able to keep all business avenues open.

Now comes the real question…

Will other suppliers and vendors see this in the same light as I do? Will they see this as an effective alternative to closing the door on impressive numbers from a bunch of part time Referring Travel Agents? Can they have their cake and eat it too?

My bet is that the Traditional Agents will not see this as an effective move. Like most, it’s either black or white, it’s either /or. And we can’t forget those that are so closed minded and just want Travel MLM’s gone, shut down for good. I do know of some however, who do believe we may be able to co-exist and may agree that this is a step in the right direction.

While I do not believe this closes all the issues, and there is still more work to be done. This IS a good move for all concerned, and most certainly a step in the right direction to as we like to say “legitimize” the industry.

Way to go Carnival!

Are the other suppliers listening?

PS – While looking for a picture to post with this post, I found this, and came very close to using it. I decided not too, but thought is was hysterical and wanted to share it with all of you anyway. Too funny!

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Well, the one day sale is over, and while I have a number in my head, your going to have to wait until Tuesday for the official announcement from both YTB and Carnival to find out just how well we did.

Sorry.

I will tell you that it was a fun week and very exciting talking with team members and other RTA’s about how many cruises they booked. If you don’t know, cruising is why I got into this business. I absolutely LOVE to talk about cruising. (Okay, I enjoy taking them too!) I was in my element all week long talking about a product I not only know extremely well but love. It’s the best vacation money can buy.

Late last night while I was watching a live feed from the home office on the computer I saw how the numbers were growing with calls into the home office, however we still have no idea how many cruises were booked directly on line, or with RTA’s who called into Carnival directly. These number are what we will add to our totals that came directly into our Home Office.

YTB and Carnival will be working together over the weekend to compile the numbers, make sure the are accurate, and it is my belief both Carnival and YTB will make a joint announcement. It is also my understanding that our 3rd Quarter earnings will be released at the same day.

While it looked like a quiet week here and all my focus was on the November 8th Sale, our Travel Professionals were in full swing this week. I don’t know exactly how you want to define all this, be it Rumor, Spin Machine, or just flat out Propaganda, but what ever it was, they certainly weren’t busy servicing customers.

It’s been a very long week. I need a little R & R and also need to get this nasty cold I have knocked out. I’ll be putting some things together over the weekend and may post before Tuesday. Have a great weekend everyone!

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Over the last few days, I’ve had some very productive dialog with John Frenaye (at least for me) and I have a much better understanding of the complaints and concerns our group of Retail Travel Agents are having. I have to hand it to John, he’s at least looking closer at our model. Part of problem I see with skeptics and cynics is that there are a lot of pre-conceived notions about what Network Marketing is. While John has certainly not changed his position towards Network Marketing, he has verified that maybe terminating vendor relationships may not be the best alternative.

We shall see.

You like me may have noticed that no other supplier has come up to bat for these Retail Agents. From all the talk and news a few weeks ago you would have thought the sky was falling with what was circling around the internet. It’s been three weeks now and next Saturday will be a month since “The Letter” was sent out to just 3 Agencies terminating their vendor agreement without cause or reason. What’s even more intriguing to me at this point in time is that we only know the location of two of the three letters. The third to this date is still shrouded in secrecy. Seems to be a very smart move on the part of our third recipient at this point.

About the only news of interest to anyone this week concerning any news about Royal Caribbean’s decision is a Travel Weekly article naming PATH and Peter Stilphen as partners in this attempt to separate themselves from Travel MLM’s. For those of use who have been following this story with me, that’s old news however.

While we keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop, we just keep waiting. Why?

A while ago I found an excellent article from Arnie Weissmann who not only understands our business model, but brought up a number of key points. I’ve been meaning to compliment Arnie for his work, and actually did personally, but have not really given his piece the credit it deserves here.

The timing of the Royal Caribbean termination announcement was directly after YTB’s Funshine Trade Show in Orlando, Florida. I’ve personally attended these Trade Shows and find them to be an excellent source to not only meet our suppliers personally, but become better educated in who they are, what they offer, and how to promote their particular product or service. Like me, Arnie picked up on how hungry everyone is for knowledge of our industry and how receptive our suppliers are in working with us. The fact of the matter is, YTB and other models like us do a considerable amount of business with them. A little here, and a little there certainly adds up.

Just this morning I found this gem from Vicki Freed, and in this published article “Freed said she attended YTB’s conference in early October and saw more than 1,000 attendees in each educational forum. “The desire to learn about the travel business was evident even after I spoke to the general session (over 6,000 attendees) when the CLIA instructor followed me on stage and taught niche marketing,” Freed wrote. “No one left the room, and in fact, the overflow ballroom with big screens set up was packed as well. These folks paid for the conference, and there were no free meals or give-aways.”

It is “rumored” that this CLIA training in Orlando with YTB was the largest single group ever to be trained at one time by this Association.

And while CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) was quoted in Modern Agent this morning, that its Oct. 17 World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) is expected to generate 17,852 bookings, which translate into an estimated $22.3 million in sales and more than $3 million in travel agency commissions it makes one wonder what a single company like YTB could do in one day.

The entire industry generated 17,852 bookings in one day.

Why only 17,852 for the entire industry? Because these Retail Agents are too busy slamming Vicki on her Blog instead of focusing on making money. I called out our own agents here in my last post for being unprofessional. I feel it’s only fair after reading the threats and the down right harassment towards Vicki that someone needs to tell these Retailers.

“KNOCK IT OFF!”

As an entrepreneur, I’ve always been one who looks at solutions, not problems. Vicki clearly gave these agents an opportunity to make money with her, but chose instead to focus on the Travel MLM problem.

Good Grief.

While the tide certainly hasn’t turned by any stretch at this point, it certainly looks like it’s lost any momentum it had a few weeks ago.

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I’m a man of my word and while I never thought that John Frenaye would accept my challenge…he did.

My purpose of this Blog is to speak the truth and sometimes in getting the truth out, we need to hear the other side of the story. And since this story has captivated so many people here, I feel it’s not only fair, but my responsibility to let the other side speak.

While I am not going to “publish” Johns comments in the comments section, I am going to copy and paste word for word what he expressed (unedited) to let him get his side of the story out. I hope that John will find my response to his comments both helpful and without offense to him.

Not sure if you will post this or not, but I figured I could respond to you. First, when I comment on your blog, I will identify myself. I don;t do the anonymous thing like many do. Thanks for all the credit as to what I said on a prior comment, but most of it was not me. THe line about the Koolaid–nope.

I’m sorry John, but your first comment on my Blog was “anonymous”. Being that both comments were posted one after the other in time frame and similar in content. I conveniently included you into some sort of “stereotype”. Being accused of things you never do is something we in the Network Marketing Industry have gotten accustomed to. It was wrong for me to fall into that same trap.

A. The suppliers have allowed the discounts and FAMS. It is NOT your fault for taking advantage. I blame the suppliers and we are encouraging suppliers to take a similar stand as RCI or to re-evaluate how they dole out the benefits. If you make the cut–fine!

I have no problem with any supplier cutting FAM’s to those who do not give back to the industry the way our Professional obviously have. It is a privilege, not a right. It is courtesy, not an expectation. It is a tool, not a perk. If Royal Caribbean simply took away “FAM” privileges to YTB or other Card Mills, while we certainly wouldn’t like it, it could have benefited RCCL in both sales and respectability. What RCCL did in Terminating MLM’s to even do business with YTB and Joystar did nothing more than cut their own throat.

I realize this is of little consequence to you, but Royal Caribbean will never do business with YTB again.

Never.

B. When I talk about top tier commissions. I am not talking about your fluctuating numbers. I am talking about commissions. As a “travelpro”, you ought to know that the very companies you cite (Amex, CWT, etc) negotiate commissions on behalf of their agencies. These commissions are tiered any typically begin around 12% and rise to 17% or 18%. It is up to the INDIVIDUAL agent (or agency) to support a supplier to earn a top tier commission. IE: I sell a lot of Carnival and earn 16%. I sell one HAL and I earn 12%. With your program, I earn top tier from day one. This is not fair, costly to the supplier, and deceitful when you get an RTA that has sold nothing, yet “buys” a cruise only to have the commission rebated to him.

YTB does the same thing as anyone else in the industry. We are given quotas and we’ve exceeded those quotas with every single cruise line we carry. I’m sorry you don’t like or you don’t think it’s “fair” that we benefit from the shear numbers we have, but as an “Agency” we certainly earn top commissions. I have seen those commissions rise in some cases over the years as we get bigger and “sell” more cruises.

I know you’ve been told that all we do is “buy” our own cruises to get the “rebate”. If you look at our Groups Booking page, you will find that clearly as an “Agency”, we do far more than that.

C. I talked about the lack of any customer service. Most of the RTA websites do NOT have any contact information. No phone, address, or even an email address. It is the cookie cutter site out of the $500 box. When a consumer clicks on HELP, there is a list of supplier toll free numbers. If a client calls and is asked for an IATA number, they likely will not know and the client is left stranded. But on the bottom it does say to contact the RTA. But again, with no means to do so, it is a non-offer.

My friends, family, former co-workers already have my number. My business cards and promotional flyers also have my phone number along with my web address. I’ve also found a way to embed my phone number into my booking engine right above the URL in Internet Explorer. Most of them call me in the first place and while I do book directly with suppliers, most often, I book directly off my own web site just like they can.

I was unaware that the 800 numbers on the booking engine are “Agent Only Numbers”. I honestly have not checked to verify. One of the beautiful things about our new web site is that I can write a support ticket and have the home office change this more to your liking. (And I do find that your non-offer valid.) We have made many changes to our booking engine since it’s new upgrade at the National Convention. It will continue to be a “work in progress” and is now one of the best “cookie cutter sites for $500″ I’ve ever seen.

Let’s see if I can make this happen. Deal?

D. You are soliciting clients and new members and it is a bit deceitful. I have heard (not confirmed, so please treat it as rumor and hearsay at this point) that the DSA is investigating your business practices and the adherence to their Code of Ethics.

John, please read the Press Release from the DSA.

“Each of these companies completed the one-year pending period required for full membership in the association. During this time, the marketing and business plans of applicant companies are reviewed to ensure compliance with all provisions of DSA’s Code of Ethics.”

Our application was approved on 9/18/07. Trust me…what you’ve heard is nothing more than “rumor and hearsay”.

E. Soliciting existing agents to your downlines. We dust don’t want to be a part of it. We did not get into this industry on a $500 Visa charge.

While YOU certainly don’t want any part of it, please don’t lump everyone in the Retail Travel Industry into this. You don’t know everyone in the industry, specifically the former B&M Agents on my team. While Ruth Z is not part of my team I invite you to read her comments on my Blog.

F. Your pitch to people for booking and for people to join the ranks is why let aunt Mary book someplace else when she can book with me–her favorite nephew. Well, if she does, she is NOT booking with you. You are just giving her access to Expedia (or is it Travelocity). Aunt Mary thinks that you will be handling her travels and that could not be further from the truth. When Aunt Mary runs into a problem and seeks out some help…she is SOL. See point C above.

Aunt Mary has my number and she knows that her favorite nephew will take very good care of her. While Aunt Mary does book here flights and some hotels with World Choice, she does book her River Boat Cruises with me, who I in tern contact Majestic America, or Uniworld directly to book for her. (Neither company is available from our web site.)

G. Have you ever watched any of your videos? Looked at one of your sites? How can you say there is not an emphasis on free and discounted travel? While I realize that for “YTB Sanctioned” material, there is some numeric code, how do you explain the thousands of YouTube Videos out there by YTB RTAs screaming about the discounts and free travel. Did they just make it up? Or perhaps it was told to them. It is there. Look at the sites?

Those of you in YTB or any other MLM I want you to read that quote again.

I’m sorry gang, but I have to agree with John 1000% on this issue. I can defend a lot of issues, but this right here has absolutely no defense. (Not even for me.) I not only agree with this statement but so does the home office and that’s why we came out with Approval Codes. I know exactly what he’s talking about and I am just as embarrassed as he is about some of these videos. (I kid you not, I honestly am!) I see videos, message board postings, e-mails, and absolutely hideous web sites that are not only unprofessional but down right wrong.

We have 127,000 “Independent” RTA’s out there, it’s impossible to control everyone, and people do some really stupid, unprofessional things don’t they? I know the e-mail referred to in my last post was only “originated” by John, but sent by someone else. I can assure you he can appreciate how frustrating and embarrassing it is to see this “garbage”.

Can we please make a concerted effort that as we mature and grow we will have better control over this. When I see something like this, I either report it and let the company deal with it or there are times when I have personally called out individuals on message boards and forums to tell them to “knock it off”.

Our President Kim Sorensen has even stated in his Travel Weekly Interview…”Guilty as charged”. Please accept our apologies and understand that we are trying to correct this very blatant eye sore.

I also want to rehash the sales numbers a bit. Per YTB in the TW article, the $226M was derived from several sources and sort of put together for the issue. It was NOT verified by TW as they took you at your word. And to your credit, YTB did state in that reporting to TW that $176M of the sales numbers was from the sale of third party websites. THIS number is born out in the SEC filings for 2006.

I’m sorry, but both Travel Weekly and YTB have documented several times that the numbers were verified.

I agree, that the income is not realized until the commission is received (and travel typically complete), but this is most certainly accounted for in the SEC filings. Under the Income there is travel commission income. Under expenses, there is travel commission expenses. The expenses are very close to 60% of the income which is consistent with the compensation plan of YTB. YTB tried to say that the income side was THEIR share of the commissions, but then why would you pay an additional 60% out of your net income? Makes no sense.

While I know what you are saying, and I know what your missing. I’m at a loss right now in exactly how to explain this without being very long, very drawn out, and potentially misleading you even more. It may be beneficial for you to contact our CFO, John D. Clagg about this issue.

And finally, I want to be clear that this is not a YTB issue like you and so many of the other RTAs feel it is. This is about the concept of MLM and travel and how it does not work. The petition had ZERO to do with any decision by RCI. Do you really think that they made that decision in the two days between the time I put it up and gained 100 signatures and the deliverance of the letter? I am flattered that you feel it yielded that much power. But, it did not. Certainly I applauded the move and I chalked it up to an incredible sense of timing.

I would respectfully disagree that Travel MLM does not work. It’s one of the finest business models I have ever seen and affords me some of the best leverage, training, freedom, and experiences of my entire life.

I do agree that YTB is not the issue, I understand that YTB needs to be mentioned only because we are the biggest dogs on the block. Get YTB the rest will follow. I have also corrected the issue here before that your petition had nothing to do with the RCCL issue. Your petition is merely a symptom, not the cause.

I’ve been with this company since January 16th, 2005 John. I’ve seen this company grow from 8000 to 127,000 RTA’s. I’ve seen three booking engine upgrades, two marketing web site upgrades, three home office upgrades, dozens of CRTA certification classes, National Conventions, Travel Seminars both on Land and by Sea, vendors and suppliers come and go, team members come and go, my income both on the Travel and Marketing side increase each and every month, new training programs, memberships to organizations which add credibility, rankings in Travel Publications, medical benefits for our RTA’s, and have personal spent time with Founders who I will stack up against anyone in the Business arena MLM or otherwise.

You do not find anyone finer in the Industry than Coach, Scott and Kim.

I love the Travel Industry just as much as you do and I have no less respect for it than you do.

While I am a professional, you mess with my company, you mess with me, and as you have seen, I can and do bite back, and I’m far from over. So are the rest of the 127,000 RTA’s with YTB. Coach has called a play and we now have a game plan in place to prove once and for all, our model DOES work and so do our PEOPLE.

Thank you for coming at least this far into our world and at least showing an effort in gaining a better understanding of who YTB is and what YTB does. Because I feel you have been not only sincere but fair, you have been given your opportunity to share “The Other Side of the Coin”.

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While nothing has been officially announced by YTB at this point, it is my understanding that our relationship with Royal Caribbean International has been flushed.

Buh-Bye.

Currently, it simply doesn’t matter what Royal Caribbean does, and based on what we know they have and have not done, YTB feels it’s best to simply remove ourselves from a company who selectively chooses to single out a few Agencies, while making exceptions for other companies who also offer a Home Based Business opportunity. While the Retail Travel Professionals are gleaming with the apparent support over Royal Caribbean’s decision, it’s quite evident both from documentation found, and from what I’ve been reading on from other members of card mills that this “card mill” issue is neither sweeping or consistent.

While all the doom and gloom over what Royal Caribbean has chosen to do is still swirling, we must not loose site that the truth about our business model and our company has also begun to surface. Earlier this week, Travel Weekly gave YTB a chance to defend our model, and it’s quite clear based on what’s been happening, “there are many misconceptions about who we are and what we do”.

If you recall, I lambasted the organizer of the petition being signed by various Retail Travel Professionals for his lack of basic knowledge and understanding about our business model. This supposed “authority” in the travel industry stated on this very Blog “If you read the TW report, it says that $176M of that was from website sales and from monthly website maintenance fees. These are NOT travel sales. These are website sales.”

While I can’t be certain, I find it hard to believe that anything being said about my Blog or our company behind closed doors gives any acknowledgement that several sources, including Travel Weekly, confirming that the $176 Million is both “verified” and also “Travel Sales”, not Network Marketing or Recruiting sales. Unfortunately, such clarification about facts has little bearing for those who are so adamantly opposed to seeing yet another threat in even more business being taken away from a struggling and dieing market segment.

It’s been documented here before that over $40 Billion in travel services are now being done on-line with just 4 of the Top 10 Agencies currently taking away business from these Retail Travel Agents. The days of “Personal Service”, “Travel Agent Expertise” and “Credibility” is clearly a dying market with over 75% of these Agencies closing their doors. And while some have chosen to attack with misleading the public, comparing our business models to other models that haven’t even launched, (E-Trips Network) the more attention YTB gets, the more individuals will begin to question the validity of the arrogant and uninformed who are touting such propaganda.

Much has been joked about all the news and what YTB’s Travel Numbers currently are, and critics point fingers at one YTB spokesman stating sales of $1 Billion for 2007 while another states only $550 Million, they fail to realize that even at $550 Million, that still puts YTB Travel Network in the Top 20 in next years Power List. Ask any College Football fan, and they’ll tell you, you’re nobody until you make the Top 25 Poll. They clearly point to net losses of millions of dollars without an credence to $169 Million in Market Capitalization, nor do they realize how rapidly YTB is expanding and growing it’s infrastructure to support a growing RTA field by nearly 400 to 500 new RTA’s per day.

YTB simply “offers” fully paid medical benefits for those of us who produce $25,000 per year in Travel Commissions. Surely no one is even earning IATAN credentials with YTB and RTA’s like Vivian Clark, Daphene Jackson, Ronnie Williams, and Carl Dennis are just “lucky”. While Royal Caribbean claims they have strict rules against discounting to “card mills” they certainly don’t have a problem with “conductors rates” for those of us who organize and book groups of 30 cabins or more.

Those making claims against our model think training is kept to a minimum across the country to help the thousands of new RTA’s who have recently joined our ranks, and we certainly
wouldn’t want them to know anything about our continuing education which was designed and written by Dr. Marc Mancini and TheAcademy.com. What these “Professionals” don’t understand is that I’ve been able to find ample support and greater encouragement from YTB than any other system I’ve ever looked at previously. When I first looked at getting into this industry years ago, I was stuck without the required experience, and now that I have it, it’s not good enough because it’s “Network Marketing”.

Nice.

Sorry guys…you had you’re chance many years ago. Now that I’ve created my own business with my own clients and my own team of Agents, thanks to the support of YTB, I’m here for the long haul. The leadership of this company both at the home office, and in the field won’t be going anywhere. It takes a special tolerance to deal with all the myths and misconceptions surrounding the Network Marketing industry and you have seriously underestimated the resolve of the entrepreneurial spirit.

YTB is already 127,000 strong, and we all have Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Sons, and Daughters who will continue to do business with us over anyone else. The more knowledgeable and mature we become, the more business we will dictate goes where and with whom.

Currently the only supplier who has chosen to be on the outside looking in is Royal Caribbean. While rumors continue to swirl at the time of this writing, no other supplier has made the choice to do the same some two weeks later. That’s not to say it won’t happen, but the longer this takes, the lower the probability that any other supplier will be foolish enough to alienate themselves from an obvious growing market shift.

As my good friend Charlie Howe stated “The Fat lady hasn’t even inhaled at this point!” and our Retailer’s are cheering about major, sweeping changes. Trust me…they’ve done little to change our growth or resolve. If anything, they’ve strengthened our desire to be the largest Travel Agency in the world.

Those associated with YTB, please check your back office for some BIG plans with the #1 Cruise Line in the world. While I’m not going to tip our Retail Agents just what has been laid before us, they will find out soon enough what 127,000 untrained, unprofessional, and unqualified RTA’s in YTB can do. It’s my hope and my mission to help our opposition understand what “Shock and Awe” is meant to look like.

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Imagine my surprise today when one of our RTA’s sent me this e-mail:

Subject: Job Listing: Franchise Development Manager at Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD.

I saw this cool job today and thought you might want to check it out:

Franchise Development Manager at Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD.

I found it on http://www.simplyhired.com/, the world’s largest search engine for jobs.

Am I to gather from this correspondence that while Royal Caribbean is terminating relationships with a select few Agencies they’ve labeled “Card Mills” they have a vested interest in other home based business networks?

“Royal Caribbean MAGICJohnson Travel Group L.P. Magic Johnson Travel Group is the first home-based travel agent franchise network specifically targeting multicultural franchisees and customers. We strive to cultivate organic growth in the minority travel segment and empower entrepreneurs and new travelers across America.”

I guess that includes us in YTB and Joystar? (Although they are focused on reaching out to the African American, Hispanic American and Asian American communities as new sellers and buyers of home-based travel, everyone is more than welcome to become a part of this unique business opportunity.) You will also have an opportunity to “speak to individuals and groups on behalf of customers to stimulate interest in franchise ownership.”

Since it’s focus is minorities, that makes it okay?

I’ve known about the Magic Johnson Travel Group since May of 2006, when it was launched. I was until this morning, unaware that Royal Caribbean still has a vested interest in this opportunity.

At the time, President of Royal Caribbean International Adam Goldstein stated, “Royal Caribbean International believes this venture will cultivate new sellers and buyers of travel in Urban America and fill a large void in the agency community. We share Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson’s vision and enjoy a strong partnership with the multicultural communities we serve.”

With this “Job Listing” being posted on October 20th, well after the Terminations letters have been sent out, I would have to assume this statement is still true.

Isn’t THAT “special”?

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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