Just Picture It Now

January 16th, 2005, the date I decided to invest in myself with YTB Travel and Cruises. Thing is, I didn't find YTB nor did YTB find me...it found my wife. The call came one afternoon from someone calling my wife to see if she would be interested in a Travel Business. Little did I know how that one call to my wife would change my outlook and hold so much promise for our future.

My wife is a very intelligent woman. She knew that this would be something that I would not only be good at, but also enjoy. I didn’t see the whole picture, now that I look back. Oh sure, there was a business and money to be made, but that kind of luck and opportunities go to other people, not someone like me. All I could think of while looking at this web site I was taking another cruise with my wife...for less!

Of course I had to do my due diligence about finding all the information I could about this company I had never heard of before. The idea of selling Travel as a form of Referral Marketing was new. I did my research on the internet. I also asked what I thought were tough questions to this guy who turned me on to this business. I was invited to meet the top money earner in the company and also the Founder of the Company at a hotel that week to take a look at the leadership and others who are working in this Travel Business. I asked my wife to come with me, just to keep me in check and get her take on how legit this really was. I was impressed with how genuine everyone was. These were real people who took a genuine interest in who we were.

I thought I invested in YTB, but what I really did was invest in myself.

I heard about the money that could be made and the bonuses, I heard about the tax benefits, I heard about the leadership, but I listened to the "sell a cruise and get paid" part more than anything else. Looking back a year later, it wasn't the right or wrong reason for investing in YTB. The important thing is that I invested in myself and this company, period.

A year later, I look back and realize what has happened. I have an honest to God business. I’ve received actually checks at the end of the month over the last year that didn’t bounce, and they deposit money into my company Paycard on Friday’s just like clock work. I have a team of great people around me that I’ve been working with and am considered a Team Leader in the company and they pay me as such. I qualify for the same pay scale as the sponsor who introduced me to the business, his sponsor, and his sponsor, who happens to be the top money earner in the company. We all qualify to get paid the same way with no one getting an added advantage or bonus.

A year ago, I became a part of YTB. Over the last year YTB has become a part of me. It hasn’t been without its trials and tribulations.

O Yee of Little Faith and Knowledge…

I've heard and read some negative comments over the last year, that this type of thing called Network Marketing is a scam or some sort of pyramid scheme. It’s not a respectable way to make a living. Message boards related to the Travel Industry and Travel Agents can get really ugly. Some of the traditional Travel Agents are extremely nasty and bitter when it comes to what I do. I'm considered the lowest life form there is. I must admit, it’s not all unprovoked. There are members of YTB and other Independent Agents with other companies, who are only in this for a quick buck and that’s all they see and promote. Part of the black eye the industry has as a whole is its own fault.

A mind is like a parachute…

It doesn’t work if it’s not open. I can’t control and am not responsible for how someone feels about Network Marketing. Dismissing what I do as a pyramid scheme is a dead ringer for not knowing anything about this business model. Nor do they understand what a traditional business really is. Barry Dillar spent $5.3 Billion to start Expedia. Doug Bauknight spent $400 to start BandBvacations.com. I offer the same travel specials and packages he does. Who do YOU think is smarter?

While owning my own business hasn’t been easy, I’ve learned it’s really very simple. I work this business just like any other business, and I think that’s what separates me from some of the others who get into Network Marketing. It’s not about hype and gobs of money. It’s about looking for people who are looking for me. I’m looking for someone willing to take a chance. Not in a business or an opportunity, but in themselves.

What I offer people is a way to create a better life for themselves and their family. I’ll support and guide and even let them make their own mistakes, just like my sponsor did. (Oh, and did I make some mistakes!) I’m still a baby when it comes to this business. I still fall back on doing some things Doug’s way. But with every passing day, I get more and more confident in what I am doing and how to do it. The toughest part is over and I find myself relying less and less on the support above me, and offering support to the customers and team members below me.

YourTravelBiz.com is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and is certainly worthy of not only being mindful and celebrating this special day. Oh…and that cruise I wanted to take cheap? Yeah, I took a short one thanks to my sponsor. This year we’ll not only take the whole family, but a bunch of friends with us on Royal Caribbean Freedom of The Seas. We don’t take vacations any more…we take Paycations.