Is Travel A "Non-Core" Product Or Service For YTB?

The Alton Telegraph is reporting that YTB plans to shed on-core products and services in the next year.  Since the recruiting heydays of 2007 and 2008, it has been very difficult to determine exactly what was a core and a non-core business for YTB. The one consistent has been the ulti level marketing recruitment of people into their programs.

The company also will begin taking a more strategic approach to its business model, it said, by eliminating non-core products and services that are not producing a satisfactory return and exploring "new growth opportunities for leveraging its competitive advantages and large sales organization.

The company has been a travel agency, a mall, a coffee shop, an insurance broker, electricity provider, online identity protector, girdle store, cosmetics firm, picture frame distributor, and probably many more. 

Travel has never been a big margin industry and it was obvious that the money YTB earned was produced primarily from the recruitment of others into the various programs.  Even today, there is the Leadership Summit that costs $500 to join and $149 a month simply to learn how to make money in YTB.

One thing is for sure, YTB seems to have lost any focus they may have had and this year will be an interesting one. With laying off 1/3 of their employees (last reported figures to the SEC in 2010 stated 120), that drops it to 80. However, it is suspected that there may have been even less. Will that be enough to support the recruitment efforts?


MLM junkies are known to hop from one program to the next regardless of the product or service. Will this recent shakeup scare their heavy hitters off and send them fleeing to ViSalus, World Ventures, or the next get rich quick scheme? 


Stay tuned.
Read more: http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/ytb-70286-international-third.html#ixzz1v8B7uZPS

YTB CEO Resigns As Acquisition Deal Begins To Fall Through

CORRECTION/UPDATE: The YTB agent quoted below emailed and said that upon a second glance that KidZafe is indeed still on the website; however it is no longer being promoted as aggressively as it once was. He also brought up another question regarding the resignation of CEO Bob VanPatten. His wife, Cynthia, was heading up a the Suklaa product line which was a replacement for Chae Organics. Suklaa was geared toward the African American beauty market. There is no word if Cynthia has resigned, but the YTB agent did say that he had not heard mention of her for several months.

Travel Pulse is reporting that a proposed merger involving YTB and LTS Neutraceuticals  has been put on the back burner and that their CEO has resigned.  In addition, they have cut their headquarters staff by a full third in hopes of saving $2.7 million dollars.

Over the years, YTB has gone through several CEOs and other senior level executives in an attempt to turn around the company to earn a profit. YTB's operating losses have been the norm for many years.

YTB has yet to file it's 2011 8K (annual report) with the Securities Exchange Commission and has filed for two extensions claiming executive level departures as the reason. While the report (as of latest extension) is due on June 15th, it remains to be seen if YTB can produce it. According to Travel Pulse, they also indicated that their 10Q (quarterly report) will not be filed in a timely fashion and are addressing this. I suspect that the company will soon be delisted and revert to a private company where legitimate financials will no longer be required to be shared.

There was no mention of the merger with Sixth Scott, LLC or First Travel Alliance. Other than an announcement that Royal Caribbean was again salable, there has been little public indication that this merger is going forward.

A current YTB member reflected that it seems all of the products they were bringing to market are no longer the focus of the company despite significant investment from the YTB members.

ZamZuu is not selling the KidZafe Online Predator Safety product anymore.  All the months of training and hype that this was the best product on the planet and it lasted 6 months.  Same thing with electricity.  Same thing with a group of services that once were available are not available anymore. They brought on a bunch of products and services that lasted 6 months or less.  How do they expect me to trust them now with bringing them customers when the product or service will be gone within 6 months.  This has happened to well over a dozen products and services.

And that is a good question?

The current push is for The Leadership Summit (which appears to be a higher dollar reiteration of a past program) where YTB Directors pressure the lower level members to attend these "training sessions" at a cost of $495 (one time fee) an $125 per month.  The Directors have been giving marching orders to have 250 enrollments in their area for the summit to happen.  The program also requires you to attend (read: pay) a minimum of 12 sessions over a year at an area location (usually involving travel expenses--currently the only areas that have achieved the 250 registrants are Baltimore and Toronto) and you must bring one new prospect with you each month. Once three prospects are enrolled in the program, for $149 monthly fee is waived.  Sound familiar?

If the enrollment is  successful, this will be a huge cash influx to YTB. To sweeten the pot, YTB has now followed the lead of other MLM companies and is offering a lease reimbursement program for a luxury car--but only if you enroll in the program.  Ironically enough, before YTB began to crash and burn, their recruiters were mocking the other MLMs for their car promotions. Now it has come full circle.

While the program alludes to be somehow connected with Franklin Covey, Franklin Covey would not confirm their involvement.

THE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT COURSE COMBINES THE GENIUS OF FRANKLIN-COVEY TRAINING WITH REAL-LIFE ENTREPRENEURS AND LEADERS THAT WILL SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE – AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY AT AN INCREDIBLY LOW PRICE FOR TRAINING THIS POWERFUL!

This is very similar to the tactic YTB employed years ago when they claimed that Roger Staubach, Serena Williams, and yes, even Hillary Clinton were RTAs selling travel through YTB. At one point an independent Director also claimed that Joel O'Steen and his ministries were associated with them--a claim that O'Steen vehemently denied.

As it has been with YTB for many years, there is always another program that will bring the promised successes to the masses--but it always comes with a price. Way back when, it was $500 and $50 a month for a travel site. But then when that did not work out it was because the RTAs did not buy the Success From Home paid sponsorship magazine at a cost. And then the training was holding them back from riches, and then it was because they were not selling the stuff in the mall, it morphed into girdles, coffee, electricity, and so on, and so on.

Each new program infuses just enough cash into the company to launch the next one, kicking the company down the lane just a little. Will YTB ever get to it's destination? Or will the rock that is YTB be kicked off the road. Time will tell.