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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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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If you’re not part of our newsletter, you need to stick close this week. I know it’s been kind of slow – but things are starting to heat up a bit up in the Home Office and you need to be aware of the upgrades, advancements, and promotions that are going on – particularly this week. Those that plug in will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. (Take a look at Friday’s post and the new Group Cruise Page to get a taste of what I’m talking about.)

Also released late Friday was YTB’s 10Q for the 3rd Quarter. What most investors want to see is how a company responds to it’s current conditions. I’m happy to report that YTB has responded with a small but important profit for the 3rd Quarter and an increase in net income by 26%. I want to advise you that what we saw from Friday’s upgrade and the Group Cruise page, and the the announcements coming up later this week are a direct result of available cash on hand that YTB invested back into the company in previous quarters. While critics were predicting bankruptcy, the Founders and Executives of YTB have been laying the foundation of what we will be seeing in the weeks and months to come.

What most people don’t realize (or refuse to acknowledge) is that YTB operates off of working capital. With the one exception of the Home Office building, YTB is completely debt free. What I’m also seeing more and more of in the Quarterly reports is more self reliance – meaning that what the company use to sub-contract out for is now being brought in house. This self reliance in turn controls expenses.

As a result the pieces are starting to come together. The years of making hard choices and investing millions back into the company is paying off. YTB posted a 3rd Quarter profit of $362K which is coming out of a very turbulent point in it’s history and very difficult economic times.

If you recall the previous quarter, YTB reported a $1.2 Million profit before they bit off $2.6 million in contract termination costs for the disposal of REZconnect, which resulted in one time loss for “discontinued operations”. Also gone is $1 million in legal expenses for California’s attempt to shut the company down with claims of being a gigantic pyramid scheme. $250K still remain of the $1 million settlement made in May which squashed the Attorney General’s attempt to end YTB’s existence.

While some have speculated that items such as these were insurmountable, the company continues to show that it’s able to answer the speculation in the black.

I can’t knock those that have left. It appeared that everyone and their mother was telling us that YTB’s days were numbered. It’s human nature to buy into the doom and gloom – especially when you’re bombarded with bias media and overly obsessed and obnoxious critics. Even “experts” like our auditors, didn’t have confidence that YTB could pull this out.

Yet, here we are three quarters through 2009. Yes there’s been a decrease in Travel and Travel Stores out there due to the harsh external conditions over the last two years. What has also decreased general and administrative expenses of $9.5 million to answer that and keep the the company solvent. That’s called corporate responsibility and when you show profits of any kind, it provides a very resounding answer to all the negative speculation.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after all this time it’s this. You can’t talk your way in or out of anything – you have to do it. Talk is cheap, and while walking the walk may take longer to show results, it produces a much better result.

What we saw on Friday and will continue to see throughout this week are some very solid tools and answers on what the company intends to do to keep the company solvent and viable. YTB didn’t react – it responded. (And there’s a huge difference in that.) There have been some very significant and important changes at the top of the company that puts key people in roles in which they excel. Scott and Coach are recruiters – and are now out in the field doing more with the field. Bob Van Patten has taken over the day to day operations, and manages the income and expenses. (He also appears to be in complete control of that aspect based on YTB’s bottom line.)

Like last weeks Group Cruise page – now comes the value these changes produce for those of us in the field. We’ve seen plenty of it with RPM Trainings, the Sail-a-Thons, shopYTB, and site upgrades like YTB Golf.

Like I told you at the top of this post – stick close this week – there is more to come!

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YTB’s Quarterly financial report came out on Friday. During this years Convention, Scott Tomer announced a Q2 profit on earnings before income taxes. He was correct, as YTB did post a $1.2 million net income from continuing operations. What he may or may not have known until after the Convention however was a $2.6 million in contract termination costs for the disposal of REZconnect, which resulted in a “discontinued operations” line item resulting in a loss of $2.8 million total dropping the $1.2 million profit into a $1.5 million loss overall for the quarter. The current portion of the $2.6 million liability balance is $608,000 and is required to be shown in our SEC filing based on future commitments.

REZconnect has been somewhat of a sore spot in years past. Micheal Brent had been selling off shares like it was candy. Rumors surrounding the subsidiary also pointed to a net loss in revenue for the entire company for years. This was the first time the subsidiary had been broken out to show it’s contribution. REZconnect operations reported net revenues of $869,000 and a loss from operations of $463,000. The Board of Directors made a strategic decision about the REZconnect business model, which they stated was serving primarily brick and mortar travel agencies, and felt it was not compatible with YTB’s current and future plans.

“As a result, the Company expects to realize cash savings of $2.4 million over the next 5.5 years based upon the cash payments to be made under the employment severance agreement versus the cash payments that would have been required under the original employment contracts.  Thus, while the Company has recognized significant expenses in the current period, the cash savings in the coming 5.5 years will serve to contribute a significant savings in terms of liquidity, helping to strengthen the Company’s position.”

In this current economic climate companies need to cut dead wood. While I have not seen, nor do I really care to see what others will be saying about YTB’s financial condition, I’m willing to bet you that they’ll be pointing to the huge loss in revenue over the last year do to the pyramid crumbling. While they will most certainly be pointing YTB’s “business model” as the cause of the loss in revenue, you should take a look at other company revenues to compare what they’re doing in this current economic climate. Royal Caribbean’s revenue (and profit margins) have declined significantly, resulting from large profits plummeting to significant losses over the last four quarters.

People are not spending in this current economic climate. Period.

It should be noted that the hemorrhaging of our RTA’s has slowed significantly in part due to the California settlement. While there was an enormous amount of speculation over California winning it’s argument of a gigantic pyramid scheme and successfully shutting the company down, the truth (as always) finally came to light. In addition, the “ungainly monster of 39 pages and 133 paragraphs” that was submitted as a class action law suit was also thrown out by the courts. Current RTA’s are just now starting to realize what I’ve known all along.

If you’d like to read my analysis of what our critics actually know about MLM and YTB in general, I invite you to read my e-book entitled “What the Critics Know About YTB“.

To further illustrate my point, I did take note of a couple of things in the notes section that critics were speculating (as they always do) about YTB’s financial condition and what the company would and would not be able to do.

Once Scott mentioned “profits from continued operations” our second payment for the California settlement was brought up. Some wondered if we happened to skip that payment in order to show profits. It should be pointed out that it was in fact paid and half of the settlement money is behind the company. Payment of $250,000 was paid as scheduled before the June 30 quarter ending.

In March, YTB’s credit card processor increased it’s reserve requirements, resulting in a $2.7 million balance to be held in reserve. While it was speculated that YTB would not be able to acquire the funds necessary to obtain the balance, that request was also achieved during this quarter. This too is now behind the company.

One of the funniest twists found in the financial statement that I doubt you will find anywhere but here is the saga of the proposed Conference Center that was envisioned by YTB to be built on land the company currently owns. Back in November, YTB sold a 9.9 acre out parcel of the 59 acres it owns to an undisclosed buyer. In late July, we found out through the media and the blogs that the buyer plans to build a Holiday Inn Express and a Country Kitchen gas station on the land that has been purchased. When news came out that the Wood River City Council voted to approve a funding agreement with Aventurs Development LLC. nobody bothered to check if the land in question had in fact been paid for.

“In addition to other consideration, the Company received a $500,000 promissory note dated November 24, 2008 as proceeds for the sale of land situated in Madison County, Illinois, which was non-interest bearing so long as there was no event of default thereunder.  Principal and other amounts under the note, collateralized by the related land sold, was due and payable on March 24, 2009.  On April 22, 2009, the Company sent a notice of default under the promissory note and mortgage to the purchaser because the purchaser failed to satisfy all obligations under the note within 120 days.  The notice required the purchaser to cure such non-payment within five business days of receipt of the notice, as required by the mortgage.  On May 6, 2009, the Company filed a complaint for foreclosure in Madison County, Illinois Circuit Court under the terms of the promissory note and mortgage because the purchaser failed to cure the non-payment within the required five business days.  On June 2, 2009, a notice of foreclosure was recorded against the land.”

Of course, like everything else that backfires on our critics for drawing conclusions based on what he reads and hears on the internet without checking actual facts, mums going to be the word on this. Instead, they’ll continue to focus on yours truly and the gross error I made when I didn’t check my source. As I’ve learned over the weekend, thanks to many comments, e-mails, and phone calls, it’s much better to surrender defeat in cases such as this in order to move on and get back on track.

Lastly, it should be noted that the company has made significant advances in curbing it’s spending and keeping an eye on the bottom line. Those of us who were at this years Convention saw evidence of that. With the current details listed in the notes section of the quarterly report just filed, we see more documentation of YTB doing what it needs to do in order to survive. Many of the hard choices made in prior months have proven to be significant, and while time will tell if the elimination of REZconnect will help YTB’s bottom line, the future looks to be significantly better than a single number found at the bottom our financial report.

A major key in YTB’s survival and prominence in the industry is educating those who may be looking for opportunities as the country starts to come out of the current economic condition. With YTB’s new tools and upgrades just announced at Convention, it may prove to be significant in showing the company’s strength instead of weakness.

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We’ve been getting a bunch of financial data over the last few weeks. When you look at the first quarter results you find alarming losses from many companies. Just in the travel industry alone, you find a loss of $9 million in Q1 for Dollar Thrifty, Wynn Resorts reports a Q1 loss of $33.8 million, Marriott loses $23 million in Q1, Royal Caribbean loses $36 million in Q1, Delta loses $794 million in Q1 along with United losing $382 million, and Orbitz realizes a $336 million loss.

Revenue has also dropped significantly in the industry. Hawaii’s Q1 hotel occupancy sinks to 69%, Starwood’s Q1 profit plummets 81%, and Disney’s Q1 operating income down 24% for parks and resorts. Let’s not forget about Mexico and what it’s gone through the last few weeks. Anyone want to take a stab at what the swine flu has done to the economy there thus far?

And what do you imagine critics will be talking about? YTB of course!

YTB’s Q1 Financials (YTBLA.OB) were posted last evening with a sharp decline in revenue, along with a $1.9 million loss. Not great by any means. When you look at the majority of companies in our market posting huge losses, it doesn’t come as a big surprise. Couple that with Q1 losses each of the last 3 years and you’re looking at a quarter that is certainly difficult for YTB in regards to it’s bottom line.

With revenue down considerably due to a number of factors, the filing focuses on the economy for this reason. It doesn’t accurately credit the less than favorable suits that have been levied against the company. While the California AG nor any of YTB’s critics will look at the legal letter of the law concerning pyramid schemes, the tentative settlement being finalized at this time will shed plenty of light on that subject. (More on that a little later in this article, and considerably more when the settlement is made public.) Combine that with very heavy recruiting and pillaging of our sales force from other companies feeding on the fears of the litigation the company is defending, and former members of our company who have changed companies. As a result, YTB’s active members have been cut just short of half of what it was a year ago.

Yeah…yeah…”What do they know that I don’t”.

If you want to look at the numbers and let that be the be all and end all for you, you are welcome to it. It makes little difference to me these days what a few obsessed zealots want to pitch to the public right now. While they choose to ignore how far out of bounds they are, the truth will surface in due time. The rumors, lies, and myths about this pyramid idea will be brought to light for everyone else to see. Talk is cheap, and I like to look at how the company is walking in response the the challenges it’s facing.

What many of you are here for are the facts and findings that you won’t find anywhere else. The statements in the filing that everyone wants to hide because if found, could change the momentum of the mud slide the company is currently experiencing. These are very difficult times for any company in business right now. Only those who respond correctly to the current financial climate are going to make it through these difficult economic times. We’ve already seen a number of agencies such as Joystar and Cruise Value Center bite the dust. Suppliers like Happy Vacations have closed their doors as well.

Clearly, the problem here is a flawed business model right?

I think not.

YTB is a vastly different company than it was a year ago. If it refused to respond to the challenges brought up against them (as some would have you believe) we might be looking at a deficit twice as large instead cutting our quarterly loss in half over what it was a year ago. ($3.5 million Q1 2008) Combine the deficit with considerably less revenue and the company has cut it’s spending considerably in a number of areas. The company clearly gets the fact that it can’t spend the way it has in the past. A huge expense that has been a part of Q1 for years was Coach’s Birthday Bash. Typically this Leadership Event is announced during the National Convention each year, costing the company millions for these trips. For the 18,000 plus who made it to Convention in 2008, the absence of any January trip hosted by the company was certainly missed. Red Carpet Days at the companies expense have slowed to once per month. We have also not seen any news about a grand presentation like we did last year at this time for Convention.

Because YTB is watching it’s spending, cash reserves have tripled over the last 3 quarters from $600K ending Q3 to $1.8 million Q1. Part of this was pinned to the sale of the Corporate Jet and some land that was sold. We’ve come to find that the the 9.9 acres that was sold is now being foreclosed on due to payment not being received by the buyer. Since the land (an out parcel of the 56 total acres YTB currently owns) never produced any revenue for the company, the additional funds realized between December 31 and March 31 came from controlling expenses not selling of assets.

In another myth gone south, how does a company spend $8 million on a foam statue when the financial data provided documents less than half that paid to Beryl Martin for all of 2008? Remember they did most of the printing for YTB as well. I guess we need to put the word ‘estimated’ back into the news report that made the quote over a year ago.

Critics like to call the company “Coach and Scotties personal piggy bank”. Based on what “Coach and Scottie” have done in recent months, I wonder why that myth persists. A number of measures have been put in place to look at cost structure to improve the overall profitability of the Company. Bob Van Patten was brought in early April to do just that. Bob’s job is to cut spending, while Coach and Scott’s job is to produce revenue. YTB also put in place an Audit Committee as a measure of checks and balances for any expense in excess of $50K to require Board approval. Critics will probably point out that the Board is considerably smaller with the departure of both Clay Winfield and Tim Kaiser, but will likely ignore Bob Van Pattens role in leveling the playing field when it comes to any piggy bank that Coach and Scott may be dipping into.

We’ve also gained little better picture of the pending litigation that has been brought against the company.

On August 4, 2008, a day before YTB’s National Convention, a civil action was filed against against YTB and it’s Executives by the California Attorney General. Among the 17 complaints it claims that YTB is a gigantic pyramid scheme. The complaint was filed after 18 months of dialogue, initiated by the Company with the Attorney General to discuss the implementation of a new California travel laws that went into effect in January of 2007. (Anybody remember why YTB now has minimum booking requirements to apply for CLIA?) The penalties consist of at least $15.0 million, and restitution of at least $10.0 million totaling $25 million dollars. The largest claim filed in California history. On April 6, 2009, the Company reached a tentative settlement agreement with the State of California and papers stating this were filed by James Toma with the courts on April 8th in Los Angeles. The tentative settlement agreement is currently awaiting execution by both parties in addition to final court approval.

There have been rumors that a deal is final, but we will await final word from either YTB, the California AG, or both before any further word is mentioned here.

I’m simply glad that someone was finally able to educate the California AG that no one pays a single dime to YTB for the opportunity to recruit others into the business. Nor does anyone earn a single dime without a product being attached to it. (AKA: a booking engine.) I know all about the myths and the perceptions surrounding YTB and pyramid schemes. Here, we deal in facts. I’ve been with YTB for 4 years, and it’s never cost me a red cent for the opportunity to recruit others. Hard for anyone to lose money when no money is required. Thus we have a tentative settlement instead of dragging this into the courts in September to find out what I already know to be true.

In addition, on February 9, 2009, the Company filed motions to dismiss the consolidated complaint (formerly two that were filed) and these motions are now pending before the Court. The motions to dismiss were fully briefed and the Court has set a hearing for June 1, 2009.  YTB believes the Company has meritorious defenses and intends to vigorously defend these cases. With the settlement pending in California, and from what I know to be true about pyramid laws and the proper structure of YTB, I like the odds of this being dismissed.

That’s not to say that it will be dismissed…I just like the odds.

I realize it’s difficult to read the crap out there on the internet with all the doom and gloom. The predictions of YTB filing for bankruptcy, or even better, Coach, Scott and Kim preparing to fly off with all your hard earned money. I’ve been reading it for years, and still holding my breath for that shoe to drop. Because none of it has ever come to fruition I take it with a grain of salt and chalk it up to wishful thinking.

Once the California situation is behind us, and YTB pays the fine due the state, the legal costs due them for filing the complaint, and what ever restitution they come up with for the “victims” they claim their trying to protect, we can get back to building our business. At this point it’s clear that the California Attorney Generals plan of shutting YTB down completely isn’t going to happen. If you never figured it out on your own, or if nobody told you, California never had that type of authority to begin with. (Small detail or fact that critics never considered.) While Illinois is still a little more uncertain in which way that will go, we will have some finalization to that ordeal in less than a month.

For those that have hung around to see what will actually come of this fiasco, we are about to find out.

Challenges like we’ve seen can either make or break a company. YTB’s been skating along for a number of years without facing much adversity. If you actually look at what it’s been able to do, instead of ignoring it, it looks to me like YTB is planning on sticking around for some time to come.

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This has been one of the wackiest weeks I’ve seen in some time. I have been rather quiet about spending time with family this week during Spring Break, and have no idea why all this news needs to hit during my vacation.

Late Monday afternoon, I along with hundreds of Directors and Coach’s Corner Members received word that a “tentative settlement” had been reached concerning the California Litigation. News spread very quickly over the internet and the boards that a settlement was pending and the litigation would soon be over.

Critics of this news have been extremely busy trying to distract everyone with rumors of Directors leaving, (2 confirmed) and just this morning I found out that the SEC will most likely get a number of complaints that someone named “Travel Pro” was busy buying up shares of YTBLA.OB based on insider information. (I knew there was something I should have been doing instead of writing!)

The big stink currently is that the Attorney Generals office laid claim there is was no settlement, and would never allow YTB to continue in what it claims is a “gigantic pyramid scheme”.

While critics are holding out hope that YTB will now be punished by leaking news about the “tentative settlement” they had no idea that papers were filed in Superior Court on April 8th at 8:30AM, that California and YTB International have reached a tentative agreement to settle pending litigation by none other than James M. Toma, Deputy Attorney General. The Attorney General’s office asked the court to postpone the trial date to allow more time for the parties to work out final details of an agreement. The state has scheduled a number of depositions for April which would be costly to the state and would prove unnecessary if a final agreement is made.

My hat’s off to Nadine Goodwin of Travel Weekly who decided to go to the source to get credible information via the courts, the AG’s office and YTB Attorney’s instead of just regurgitating what she has read by those who do nothing more that write in order to get attention and spew slanted and unconfirmed stories.

As much as I’d love to slam Jerry Brown right now, I’ll bite my tongue. (As much as possible anyway.) How anyone could say one thing and his office do another really burns me. To now find out that a tentative settlement statement has actually been filed with the courts, by the AG’s office no less, is a point of concern that I’ll save for a later date.

Regardless, the papers have been filed with the courts via Mr. James Toma, and the tentative settlement is still in the works. (Although a little longer than originally anticipated.)

A very important lesson for our everyone involved right now. (Including me by the way.)

Don’t count your chickens until they’ve been hatched.

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A few weeks ago Brittany had her annual doctor check-up. During the exam, I was reading an analysis of what to expect from your typical 7 year old. I remember a specific quote in this document that stated that Brittany would show an increased desire for acceptance from both her peers and her parents. The only reason why that stood out for me was because I had already noticed this behavior and felt comforted that this was deemed to be “normal”.

I’ve come to the realization that some people don’t grow out of this need of acceptance or desire to qualify themselves as “normal”. Last Saturday I posted about our Quarterly Report that arrived with a $288K profit, much to the chagrin of our critics.

In that post I commented how the excuses would start to emerge and our critics would look at this Quarterly Report in a much darker light. I’ve spent the last week debating back and forth with a few of the better known critics, and one mystery woman, who desperately needed for me to see things their way.

I’m an optimist, and I typically find ways to look for the positive in anything I look at. I’ll give everyone and everything I come across a chance to show their good side of things. (Even our critics if you recall.) Some are not as not as open minded and frankly unwilling to see other points of view. So yesterday, the head critic decides to post a blurb about how others outside the industry agree with his position. As if to say, “See, all these experts agree with me.”

I’m not going to belabor the fact that people are certainly entitled to view our financials however they choose. I’ve left it up to individuals to look at our company and collect a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for years. But I do have to wonder why it’s so important for some individuals to proven right all the time like this.

I also have to wonder why this use of headlines from non financial analysts means a bloomin’ thing.

It’s not that some of these articles weren’t written by some very intelligent people, one might have actually been a lawyer. But this supposed lawyer didn’t even know that there needs to be brackets at that bottom of a financial statement to show (losses). No joke, the headline read “Online travel company targeted by AGs posts 3Q loss”.

I also noticed that the first article out in the press provided the following statement:

“The filings said Friday that it plans to raise cash by selling an office building in Edwardsville, Ill., as well as its Learjet aircraft.”

The Q3 didn’t mention the sale of the One Country Club Drive location. To be fair they were possibly referring to the 8-K filed earlier in the week, and the filing did state that a decision was made to sell the LearJet, and that they were “evaluating” the sale of certain non-core assets and raising new capital for future operations. I would assume that everyone knows in this day and age that when an asset is sold, cash in hand is a nice benefit of the transaction. Somehow, the transaction for cash for an asset like a building or jet is determined to be abnormal for the likes of YTB. I found it very odd concerning what the “filing said” being regurgitated word for word in every single news article out there. It leads me to believe that very few authors who posted their findings actually read the financial report, but instead read what others said and assumed what someone else found to be correct. (Another example of that below.)

I realize that critics want to make this out to be a “fire sale” to raise much needed cash. I suspect that our new Independent Directors have suggested that it’s time to tighten belts as other companies have. (Well, responsible companies have anyway.) With YTB moving everyone under one roof at the 1901 Wood River location, a 130,000 sq foot, state of the art, facility that has 59 acres to expand on, why keep the One Country Club location to boot?

Because the commercial market is currently as soft as it is, it was thought that the Edwardsville property would be on the market up to two years. In just a few months a contract had been received on the Edwardsville building One, with a closing set for December. With plans to relocate the staff to Wood River under one roof in January 2009 YTB accepted the offer. I honestly don’t know how anyone would turn down any offer on commercial real estate, especially right now, but apparently along with all the other hats and feathers of expertise, we can now add “Real Estate Agents” to the many, MANY, credentials of our critics who obviously know better than anyone else.

I’m also wondering why some are upset about decision to sell the LearJet? It was an overly flamboyant decision to begin with according to critics, and now that the company is leaning towards fiscal responsibility, a non core asset, the decision is again ridiculed. A couple of possibilities come to mind over just why some critics would be this bent out of shape.

One, this LearJet was Coach, Scott, and Kim’s ticket to paradise when they made off with all the millions they made off RTA’s backs, leaving all of us high and dry. Unfortunately for critics, it now looks like the YTB founders will either be flying commercial for a quick exit, or there is the slight possibly that a choice was made to stick around.

Two, I find such poetic irony, especially this week, that there was such animosity over the big three Auto Execs beat our Founders to the punch as they flew into town in luxury Jets looking for a multibillion-dollar bailout. Possibly the speculation was that it would have been YTB who would be first to pull a stunt like this, but now that the Auto Execs have taken away their thunder, there is no way to pin this type of blunder for the likes of YTB.

I’m happy for John and the others that they have found these well respected financial analysts that agree with them so they can feel normal. It’s obviously important to them, and their desire to ride with the status quo has been not only noted but accepted by this YTB’er.

Me, I’ll call it what I choose, and that’s financial responsibility to ensure the viability of the company I’ve grown to know and love. No more, no less.

I’d like to close with this comical find. I was back for a short visit yesterday morning to comment on John’s blog. I was reminded when I returned last evening how far the threads there can be derailed and while amused at not only the direction of the comments, I honestly stopped to ask why people actually spend time posting there.

It’s not unusual for threads there to wonder off in totally different directions and tangents. There was yet another “outing” of an RTA to show how stupid YTB’ers are, which escalated to a couple of RTA’s who are planning a group trip to the Inauguration of Barak Obama in Washington, DC on January 20th.

Honestly, travel happens to be this small groups first love and obvious level of expertise. This group of Professionals began to discuss how much better they would have been able to organize and schedule a trip like this.

Both questions and details of the trip were discussed among the group and many pointed to the scheduling, location, and supplier. Obviously finding all sorts of problems with how the group was formed, and the potential pitfalls of a group like this at that time of year. Links of the promotion were provided to both a WHAM forum and from there Regina Osei’s post highlighting the details of the trip they were attempting to discredit and derail.

Not all that odd or uncommon for our Traditionalists to offer their knowledge or expertise on how much better they can plan trips for clients. Just take a closer look and compare the comments with the actual promotion found in Regina Osei’s post. John in his usual excitement over finding a possible trip for his vultures to rip apart he incorrectly told the group that the trip to the Inauguration departed from Frostburg, Maryland.

Typical of the group, and much like authors of all those articles John eluded to earlier, the group blindly followed John’s statement of departure from Frostburg. They spent an exorbitant amount of time discussing this and began pull up MapQuest directions of the 150 mile, 3 hour trip, and also discussed just who the trip was scheduled with. One did in fact ask if American Destinations was involved, but nobody bothered to check, and nary a soul figured out that the trip left from Fredrick, Maryland (not Frostburg) through American Destinations who schedules HUNDREDS of tours throughout the Washington DC area on a yearly basis.

I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t bring myself to ruining their fun. So I just let it be and we’ll just let it be our little secret.

How odd that these are the same people who are telling everyone that WE don’t know a thing about travel and that WE are the embarrassment to the travel industry.

Go figure.

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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