Last Friday I highlighted how the travel industry is still in rapid change, with Host Agencies gobbling up one another, along with Brick and Mortar Agencies vying for market share as they restructure their offices. As I’ve been studying the new reports I now have with WordPress I’ve noticed how both of these issues have a number of people researching both topics on the internet.

I’ve always been a firm believer of knowing as much as you can about the industry your in. This blog has been a real blessing, because the research I’ve done while posting has provided both insight and knowledge that I don’t think I would have otherwise. It’s kept me up to date with who the players are and how they operate. I’ve learned a lot over the years and have taken a number of ideas and applications that I like and now use in my own business, and the rest…I just leave it where it is.

While it’s speculated that nobody in YTB cares one iota about this industry, good friend Charlie Howe sent me an interesting .JPG image yesterday along with a question.

Why all the fuss was over Network Marketing when franchises like this (and many others) operate in much the same way?

Based on the diagram found on the Uniglobe web site, it sure looks like a pyramid type structure. I won’t get into all the differences, but the two most critical, in my view anyway, are:

• A franchise model is not limited to their startup fees being less than $500 as Network Marketing is.
• A franchise does limit the number of franchisees in each territory.

While I realize that limiting each territory is important to some due to the myth of “oversaturation”, not one person has been able to come up with one Network Marketing company that’s run out of people to prospect or sell. With companies like Avon, Mary Kay, Amway, NuSkin, HerbaLife, and PrePaid Legal still recruiting and selling product each and every day, you would think proponents of this myth would begin to question the validity of what they’re attempting to pitch.

Charlie and I (among other colleagues) tend to laugh at these critics who get all worked up over “all the people at the top making all the money”. They never seem to realize that this structure is inherent of ALL business models, with one major difference in Network Marketing. It’s entirely possible, and I can sight several instances in YTB specifically, where someone makes more than the person or persons above them. (Sometimes, several levels.)

To speculate that anyone under Bill Gates makes more than him wouldn’t compute. Likewise, if you dare make more than Donald Trump, “You’re fired”.

According the 2007 Income Disclosure Statement, YTB has several people who made more than the Top Executives at the home office. What do we hear from the critics time and time again? We’re paying Coach all these millions while he leaves us scraps. If you want a scrap, that’s entirely up to you, but by no means does it mean that you’re doomed to scraps when you have examples like those found on this Disclosure Statement.

This myth is nothing more than pure ignorance. Not because critics are stupid, but because they won’t admit the facts. How people ignore this type of structure is mute at this point, and I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to enlighten the most adamant of the Anti-MLM crowd. (It’s my personal belief that they do in fact understand, but admitting so runs contrary to the larger belief that they are right, and you are wrong.)

I also found this thread in one of the forums concerning one of the individuals who got caught up in the Liberty Travel layoffs last week. What I find so sad is that neither J.D. nor his friends even entertained the idea of going out on his own. Not that I would expect a bunch of baseball fanatics to know anything about “host agencies” or “independent agents”, but not even a sniff at going out on his own. No, this circle of friends teaches each other that you need to work for someone else.

By the way, while YTB is certainly a viable option for J.D., it’s not the only one available to him. Uniglobe has a “home based option” as well and I did send him an e-mail with the hope he wouldn’t just give up his love of this industry.

Oddly enough however, even after the company structure J.D and his friends appear to be so dependent on just laid someone off, they still believe that going back to work for another someone else equals “security”.

It reminds me of a story Tim Sales told in his Brilliant Compensation CD that explains why Network Marketing is the best most viable compensation structure available to date.

During the CD, and I’m paraphrasing here, one of Tim’s friends had been laid off and looking for employment for 6 months. While unemployment benefits were about to run out, the man was wrought with worry because he was unable to find anyone who would hire him.

Tim offered up the Network Marketing program he was involved in and his friend responded by saying, “No, I need something that’s guaranteed.”

And if you don’t get the irony that the only thing that Tim’s friend was guaranteed of was his unemployment going “buh-bye” you are in dire need of some brain washing. Meaning of course, cleansing all the limiting beliefs that you have taught your entire life. (A great place to start by the way would be here.)

Part of the reason this country is in the sad economic shape it’s in is because so many are waiting just like J.D., and Tim’s friend for the silver bullet or company that will solve their problems. If you choose to wait, that’s entirely up to you. I and others I know of on the other hand, like to create our own opportunities and economic stability.

It’s your choice.

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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Doug & Ronda Bauknight AKA: TravelPro Travel Agent / Networker Phone: 678.458.5812

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The Travel Industry has been in turmoil for some time and the constant changes due to factors both inside and outside of the industry have forced many in the industry to scramble for market share and positioning. You may remember Candi May’s carousel with Travel Professionals, Bye Bye Now, and Carlson Wagonlit before she finally found a home with YTB.

Just this week I found two articles of more musical chairs.

I’ve mentioned Liberty Travel a time or two before and do recall earlier in the year when an Australian company (Flight Center) had purchased the Agency. This week they announced that they will be closing 15% of their retail locations, or 30 of its 197 stores across the country. The closings will occur in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New England and Upstate New York. While an exact number of jobs lost in this move was not disclosed, since the Australian buyout by Flight Center there has already been a loss of some 180 jobs.

This move has been positioned as a “consolidation” of sorts and employees will be moved around to other stores. That is if they’re actually performing. Other “dead wood” will be let go entirely. Shannon O’Brien, the company’s acting CEO, said outlets in undesirable locations will be closed for “a stronger shop network as our platform for future growth.”

It also looks like this move is necessary since Liberty will be costing Flight Center some $10.2 Million just in the second half of 2008.

Liberty Travel is currently ranked #10 on the 2008 Power List.

In another move this week, Uniglobe Travel Center, the host agency division of Uniglobe Travel USA, has agreed to purchase Magellan360. The sale will bring annual sales to $85 million with some of 400 independent contractors and home-based agents. Sales of $100 million are required to make Travel Weekly’s Power List, thus Magellan360 was unranked in the Travel Weekly Power List.

Magellan 360 has already been thrown around a few time in years past as stated in the Travel Weekly article.

Scott Ahlsmith, the Travel Institute chairman and Virtuoso vice president of global technological solutions, previously owned the 21-year-old business but sold it in January 2007 to Red Branch Technologies, which in turn is selling to Uniglobe. The transaction is expected to close on Nov. 30.

Uniglobe Travel Partners may pick up the spots it lost in 2008, (currently ranked 43 after falling from 40 in the 2007 Power List) and move is certainly a plus for Magellan360 affiliates. They will gain access to Uniglobe programs, including assistance with business planning, marketing toolkits and the opportunity to network with more than 750 franchised Uniglobe agencies around the world.

It’s never ending when it comes to these types of closures, purchases, and takeovers. The flux of this industry, while not entirely isolated to this particular industry, it does appear to me at least to be far more than any industry I’ve ever been involved with in years past.

Change is never easy, especially when it comes to a work environment. Nor does it matter if the change is positive or negative; it upsets the status quo. We’ll have to wait and see how all this shakes out for the companies involved. It will also be interesting to see how long this move lasts. From what I’ve seen, there may be even more before it all shakes out and settles down.

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!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight AKA: TravelPro Travel Agent / Networker Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Do You ZamZuu?

TSO #588629