Let's Get Started - YTB

The importance of team work in all aspects of life cannot be understated. I have heard time and time again from people considering YTB travel, “my last job, I had no support”. Haven’t we all felt like that at one point or another? The idea that we are not alone in this world is such a reassuring notion. Someone else shares our beliefs, someone else shares our vision, the connection between souls can be electric. I just finished another fantastic conference call with my team. The director spoke for almost 30 minutes about new things we could do to strengthen our own business but all the while, reassured each of us that if ever we had a question or needed help, we could call. In fact, yet another new member was on the call and had just joined tonight! His enthusiasm was endless, and he recounted how other ventures he had been in had not brought support with their system. Time and time again people are amazed at the level of support available from our team. And why do we have such a tight bond? Because we all share the same core beliefs, if we help each other, we can all achieve our dreams. My team has demonstrated this from the first moment I entered the business until now, and I am confident we will be strong for a long long time. If you’re ready for a life altering move and willing to learn from the best team around….welcome. Your journey begins at www.ytbinterest.com

Give it a chance; you deserve the success you’ll receive.

See you soon.

Is it worth having a home business in Canada for Tax reasons?

First the backgroud:I got $2500 more back in taxes this year than I would have without my online travel business. www.babyducktravel.com and you could too, see how at www.ytbinterest.com

I undoubtedly think every Canadian should have some sort of a small business from home. They say that 98% of home businesses fail but I believe that statistic is skewed based on people that really had no intention of making money but had it for tax deductions. What do you think? An easy to start, low cost, online business and then you can deduct a portion of your mortgage interest, electricity, heat, internet access, gas, etc... Running this on the side from home as a second source of income has huge tax benefits. What could you do with an extra $2000 of tax refund each year?

Recognize we are all salespeople

As Tycoon mentioned in the previous blog entry, “selling” is a huge key to a successful life. Not selling in the used car salesman mentality but selling as in exposure, presentation, confirmation, and closure. You do the same thing automatically day to day, it’s just not prevelant in your thinking. In applying for a new job, do you just apply? Or do you sell yourself? The application is only the exposure portion to your new employer, your interview is your presentation and that is critical, the references you provide are the validation and the final hiring is the close. You can apply this formula to all aspects of your life. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are currently a salesman…perhaps not a very good one…but just acknowledging it will improve your skill.
In selling anything in life be it yourself, an idea, or a product, you need to have a method or process. This allows you to know where your audience is and what the next step is for them.
This can be accomplished in 5 easy steps: Expose, Present, Validate, Close and Train.
Expose - This is the step that you use to tell others about X. You want to get their attention so they will take a closer look at X. The medium you use for this is not as important as the fact that it reaches your target audience. It might be a speech, a meeting, a presentation, an online ad offline ad, flyer, magnetic sign, etc., that directs them to this system.
Present - It is now time to give your prospect more information about X. You might use a resume, a portfolio, a company DVD, your mentors, conference call, etc. to help tell the the story about X.
Validate - Your audience will have questions or want to get additional information about X. You can answer them yourself, direct them to a web site, 3 way them to your mentors, references, former bosses, etc. to get their questions answered.
Close - You have answered their questions and now it is time for a decision. If they want X, go over the way forward and what they need to do now to have X.
Train - Your new audience/client needs to know how to start use X. You should be there to assist along the way, present yourself accordingly and allow your actions to serve as an example of how they should proceed.
Where have you been selling yourself lately? Have you done a good job or have you fallen off after step 2 ?

Contributing Author - Tycoon 247

What is it that you want to do in life? Are you destined to be rich? Does anyone else know that? What do you have to do to get a new job, a new partner, a raise, a promotion? The common answer to all these questions is that you'll have to "Sell" and that is a skill we all need in all areas of our life. Some may call it leadership, some may call it motivating, coaching, mentoring, teaching, whatever you'd like to call it, the bottom line is that it is selling something, an idea, yourself, a direction, a product. It is in this spirit, that Rich Dad Poor Dad has looked at MLM and decided that it is something everyone should do on their way to developing their financial intelligence. The ability to motivate someone can not be understated. To truly sell something, you must have someone willing to buy. You must be a people person in life. In all aspects in order to leverage the support of others. To be a boss, to be a manager, to be a LEADER.
This is the sort of opportunity that MLM can teach you at a really low price. AND…you may even make some money. However, it is not simply a matter of signing up for an MLM product and waiting for money to come, you must make a commitment to one cause. Give yourself one year of honest effort. Try new things. Stretch your comfort zone, talk to people, begin to truly enjoy what others have to offer. After one year of giving yourself to your MLM business, whatever that may be, you’ll be emotionally stronger, financially smarter and ready for the world.

- Tycoon247

http://www.squidoo.com/richdadmlm

Coaches Corner

Well, I just got off the phone from the conference call mentioned in the post below and I am more convinced than ever that this is the right path for me. Is it right for you? Here's an anonymous way to find out more information about YTB.

First of course is to visit my site at www.ytbinterest.com , second I recommend you listen in on a YTB conference call by dialing (641)-793-7505 and entering # 601340

MONDAY (Every Week)
10:30 PM EST, 9:30PM CST, 8:30 MST, 7:30PM PST, 3:30AM GMP-Tues.
This conference call allows guests to hear more information about this great Business Opportunity calls presented directly by YTB Directors

You'll find more than enough information is passed on to help you make an informed decision. When you're ready to start making money and getting comissions even when you travel, visit my site at www.ytbinterest.com

Or call me personnally to discuss YTB further.

Ask your Questions tomorrow 7 April - Live Answers

Do you have questions about YTB? Listen in on our nationwide conference call which will take place tomorrow morning (Sat 7 Apr at 12:00 pm (noon) EST) It's an informative call where others interested in the online travel business will be able to ask all the questions they'd like. I'm sure you have some great questions that everyone could benefit from.

The phone number you should dial to participate in the conference call is (641) 793-7505 and simply enter the PIN# 601340

After the call feel free to contact me through my website at www.ytbinterest.com

I hope you're having Happy Easter Weekend, I look forward to working with you.

- Babyduck

Writing good ads

You know, writing ads is an art form. Not every add is a winner, not every contact becomes a partner and not every clic = a client. What do YOU do ? I am subscribed to US Freeads and so far it has ensured I get a lot of traffic to my site. It has an auto renew feature so that my 40+ ads and growing can remain active indefinitely. I think this will be a great time saver down the road. Also, it allows me to keep track of how many times each variation of an ad is viewed which tells me which one's are out performing others. Here is my latest add below which some may see is a blended cut and past from my YTB Travel Pro Power site. www.ytbinterest.com ; www.ytbcanada.ca ; www.travelpropower.com/ytbbabyduck ;

YTB Canada, YTB, YTB Travel a great Passive Income Opportunity from the comfort of your own home. Join YTB now and feel comfortable knowing you have a full network of support.

You will be with the right team when you join us. We are here to help you not only make the right decision but to support you in building your own team of YTB Travel Pros.

We have a proven system that will blow the doors off anything else that is out there and we will teach you to use it to take your business to amazing heights.
We feel that it is just as important to join the right group of people as it is the right business so give us a call or email us. We will personally get your questions answered to your satisfaction without the hype and non-sense you typically get from others.

And remember, even if you are not interested in becoming a YTB Travel Pro, you can save money next time you travel by booking your travel through us at www.babyducktravel.com

I think the last line is very important. While we all pursue expanding our franchises and growing our corporate lines, we should remember that the product "YTB Travel" is the most important thing and key to our travel agent credibility. If you're not selling travel, are you really an agent? No. So get out and market your travel site. www.babyducktravel.com : )

Feedback Requested

Hello guests! I see that I am getting more and more hits from various places. Please feel free to leave comments on the site. Positive or negative, your constructive criticism is welcome. Your feedback will serve to improve the content of my site and hopefully focus on what people are interested in the most.

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Tax Deductions Benefit # 23

Have you looked into the benefits of owning a home business? The benefits quite often outweigh the costs…literally. For example YTB Travel is a legitimate business when you register with your local state/province. The startup costs related with this business are tax deductible, the costs of maintaining a website – tax deductible, take the ration of the square footage used for your business office within your home compared to the entire footage of your house and that percentage of your heat, electric, water, gas – tax deductible. Office supplies – tax deductible. Since you’re a travel agent, you’ll be required to travel to familiarize yourself with trips you’ll be recommending to your customers – tax deductible (to an extent, be sure to consult the local/federal regulations). Many ask “but what if I don’t make money?” True, tax deductions don’t help unless you have some income to start with however, you shouldn’t be quitting your current job until your home business gets on its feet to start generating income. BUT…if you don’t have a regular job yet, the motivation to succeed can be a powerful influence. Regardless, in the short strokes you should be a proprietorship. This allows you to take your deductions of your net income and take full advantage of your deductions.

I will always have some sort of small business throughout the rest of my life now that I have felt the pleasure of submitting these tax deductions. Considering starting a home business for yourself? I highly recommend YTB Travel. What better tax deduction than a trip to another country or even a cruise? I plan to head out to New York City this year on a “Familiarization” trip. I will visit a few hotels, a couple of travel agencies and take in some tourist attractions. At every opportunity I will collect and exchange business cards, promotional items and tourist pamplets to ensure I can accurately reflect my trip should the “tax man cometh” but believe me, I will be deducting my flight, hotel, rental car, meals, entry fees to tourist attractions and all completely legal. Go on a trip, enjoy yourself, pay less taxes…What a great way to do business. www.ytbinterest.com ytbtravel, ytb travel, ytb Canada, ytb usa, ytb business, www.ytbcanadaonline.com,

Look for the babyduck to book your travel: www.babyducktravel.com

Target Market

Do you think it’s a good idea to buy promotional products to get my site name out in public and seen? That depends. What is your target market? You’ll need to ask yourself “ would the type of people I am interested in be inclined to book travel with me if I gave them a ......pen, Frisbee, keychain, T Shirt, football? What ever the promotional product, it should be something that causes them to see it regularly. Ask yourself, “Have I ever bought something from a company because I saw their name on a pen ?” What methods of advertisement have worked for you ? Chances are, that will work. For me, most often, I have begun using a company because I was referred there by a friend. So for me, I think word of mouth will be a big asset and to reinforce their memory and facilitate the passage of that information, I think I will get business cards to pass on to anyone I have discussed my site with. www.407print.com has a good selection of eye catching cards. And at the current price of $79.99 for 5000, the per promotional item cost is excellent at 1.5 cents per card.

One to One Ratio = No leverage

It can never be done one for one I replied. What do you mean? He asked. I mean that there are a commonly accepted 40 hours in a work week, 2080 hours in a working year. In a one for one relationship you are getting paid X for working 1 hour of work. I don’t care what X equals for you, if you multiply it by 2080 that is the maximum you will earn in a year. One hour in equals one hour of pay. You’ll never make it to "rich" that way. You need leverage. Leverage is simple, you use something else to increase your efforts. A long stick multiplies the force applied to the object. “Leverage”. You put some money in an investment and it multiplies “Leverage” You hire someone to do work for you “Leverage” it is a simple concept but missed so often. The goal is to “leverage” whatever you do to increase the out come of your efforts to more than a one for one ratio. That’s how you build wealth. In a one for one ratio, if you stay at home to play with your kids, that is time that is not earning money. If you take a vacation, that is time that is not making money. So…the plan is to leverage your time. While I am on vacation, I want my investments to be working for me, my online site to be generating income, my employees working for me etc…so that when I do take time for the important things in life, my finances are leveraged to generate income. What is your goal? Mine is to leverage my YTB travel company into something that generates YTB income which generates YTB commissions for me. Simple.

Meta Tags and How they apply

Want to get a top ranking in search engines? No problem! All you need to do is add a few magical "meta tags" to your web pages, and you'll skyrocket to the top of the listings.
If only it were so easy. Let's make it clear:
Meta tags are not a magic solution.
Meta tags are not a magic solution.
Meta tags are not a magic solution.
Meta tags have never been a guaranteed way to gain a top ranking on crawler-based search engines. Today, the most valuable feature they offer the web site owner is the ability to control to some degree how their web pages are described by some search engines. They also offer the ability to prevent pages from being indexed at all.

Here’s an example of an old school meta tag key word paragraph:.

“YTB, YTB, JOIN YTB, YTB TRAVEL, YTB FLOWERS, YTB GOLF, YTBCOM, YTBCOM.COM, YTB MLM, YTB, YTB, JOIN YTB, YTB TRAVEL, YTB FLOWERS, YTB GOLF, YTBCOM, YTBCOM.COM, YTB MLM, YTB, YTB, JOIN YTB, YTB TRAVEL, YTB FLOWERS, YTB GOLF, YTBCOM, YTBCOM.COM, YTB MLM, YTB, YTB, JOIN YTB, YTB TRAVEL, YTB FLOWERS, YTB GOLF, YTBCOM, YTBCOM.COM, YTB MLM”

A simple paragraph of Meta Keywords which would hopefully draw attention to your site and then redirect it to a sight like www.ytb.com/ytbbabyduck an old technique which people have told me no longer works. So, I move on. I will try to learn more about online marketing and find other ways to attract my target market.

The page below explores these and other meta tag-related features in more depth.

Please visit: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931 for more information.

Great Ideas

So today I was thinking..."Why do people get discouraged so easily when they join a MLM company?" Well, I think for me it's when you join with the wrong focus. Did you join to sell a product or did you join to sell other people the company?" If you joined to convince other people they need to do what you're doing, you're probably in the wrong business. Look at the real world models. Sears, Walmart, Home Depot...do they try to sell everyone a store ? No. And why not? Because not everyone wants to sell stuff and that's a fact. So in celebration of this fact. I published a classified add in my local newspaper which also get's displayed on line. After all, I sell travel. Want to book your next vacation ? Support our Troops and do it at www.BABYDUCKTRAVEL.com 10 % of all commissions are donated to Support our Troops. Focus breeds success. Check out my advertisement

Book your next vacation or travel through www.babyducktravel.com 10% of commissions are donated to Support our Troops. Easy to navigate site, competitive prices. Book cruises, flights, hotels, rental cars, condos, golf vacations and even send beautiful flower arrangements. For all your travel needs www.Babyducktravel.com

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Market, market, market your product

Marketing

YTB Travel – In my quest to understand online marketing for www.ytbinterest.com I have read many articles on tapping into the wide spread nature of the internet. You’ll learn about spiders, meta, masks, indirect and direct pointers etc…all which will help you develop your YTB or other type of home business. One of the best articles I found for a newbie to get an understanding of the power of leveraging the internet is the article linked above. The author does a fantastic job of relating the old adage of “you tell two friends, they tell two friends, etc, etc…” but transitioning that to current day online marketing leveraging power. I think you’ll enjoy the article as I have.

Great People

What great people you meet from around the world. It was a pleasure talking to you "I", someday I hope we can get together and enjoy a Jamaican dinner.

YTB, MLM, Network Marketing, What's the difference???

Today I was asked in the context of YTB Travel (www.ytbinterest.com), “What’s the difference?” “What do I get for my five hundred ish dollars?” Great questions. For many of us saying MLM immediately raises an eyebrow as we figure we are getting sold a crappy bill of goods. To best explain the difference I think it’s best to let you in on a little secret. I have done MLM twice before both in the early 90’s. IT’S TRUE! And you know what? Even though I paid my start-up fee, no one came to my house to buy anything. I say that with self-deprecating humor. I mean what the heck did I expect? Pretty much the stuff of dreams like everyone, I wanted to get a lot of money for little to no effort. There is no business today that you can sign up for where you pay a start-up fee and then sit back and collect money with no effort.
The first business I signed up for didn’t even have a product. I still shake my head at my own naiveté when I look back. “We are just about ready to have a product, what we are doing right now is training our agents” the salesman said, “And you have the opportunity to be one of the first when we have our product” Whoohoooo. “All you need to do is pay $1000 for the first set of manuals and another $1000 for the second set if you choose to continue, OR you can pay $1500 for the whole set” WOW, I saved $500 dollars by buying the entire set today. Needless to say, I found myself 1 month later with a set of manuals on how to sell something and no product to sell except convincing more naïve people like me that they should buy the manuals as well.
Next came your typical supply of household goods company. Fill in the name for yourself, there are many out there. Once again, start-up fee and then I had to spend $100 per month buying their product. Then you go out and convince other people they should be ordering the product from you and distributing it themselves all the while buying their $100 of household products. Now, I ask you this question “How long does it take the average 25 year old male to go through $100 worth of cleaning supplies, or even a family for that matter?” I can tell you from experience that it certainly isn’t less than a month. Furthermore, do you think you could honestly convince anyone that when they surprisingly run out of shampoo or laundry detergent that they should order it from you – wait 3 days- all to save 50 cents and earn you a commission? AND…if you don’t buy your committed $100 per month of products you are no longer eligible for commission in your network ? Come on, what kind of crap business am I trying to sell here? Finally, I am not the type of guy that goes door to door invading people’s privacy trying to sell them something they don’t want, they don’t need, and I don’t believe in. Try this test. “Would you stand in front of your grandmother and feel comfortable asking her to buy your product?”
Now onto the subject of MLM itself. What is MLM besides multi level marketing? This term should not strike fear into the hearts of common people. But it does so because it is often associated with the scams mentioned above. In reality, it is simply a collection of points along the sales line. This is no different than pretty much any business model. Where the problem lies in most MLM scams is that people focus on selling franchises rather than the product itself. Picture if all Walmart did was to open stores, which were looking to sell you a Walmart store. Would that work? No. The fact is there are people in the world who want to own a business, and those that want to simply buy products. Not everyone can be an owner or their would be no consumers. Take another familiar example of McDonalds. They run their business primarily on franchises. But what do these franchises do? They sell their product. Hopefully, there are people that like the product so much that they invest their time in understanding McDonalds business side and buy their own franchise. There is a startup cost of buying the franchise, and then an ongoing cost of purchasing materials, labor etc. From their revenues, a certain percentage goes back to the main company as part of the franchising contract. HOWEVER, let’s say your personally selected employee becomes your manager and then buys his own franchise. You no longer get any benefit out of that employee. His franchise fee goes directly back to the company. This is a two level marketing layout. Let’s assume that franchising fees are 40% of revenue, which means that each franchise kept 60% of their revenue. What if McDonalds allowed you to retain a portion of that franchising fee that your star manager pays. He still keeps his 60% but now the main company gets only say 39% of the franchising fee and you get 1%. Now you have received some thanks from the headquarters for your effort in developing that new owner. Seems civilized doesn’t it ? Now, the headquarters wants to make it’s money too so let’s say they will only accept diluting their franchising fee to 30% at the lowest and allow 5 levels under each of owner, the 10% difference would be apportioned accordingly to allow everyone to benefit in the upline from developed employees. Everybody wins. Where people start to think this is a scam is where they picture themselves at the end of the chain. BUT remember our focus is on selling our product not franchises. The bottom line McDonalds would still be selling their product and still getting 60% of their revenues and still paying 40% up the chain. 30% arrives at the headquarters and the missing 10% is proportioned amongst those who did the work to develop franchises.
Incidently, this is one of the huge differences of a good MLM versus an illegal one or “pyramid” scheme. The last guy needs to still be able to have a product to sell to make money without recruiting new franchises.
Now, after all that, how is my particular MLM Business good? Well, it’s good for me. And let me tell you how I came to that decision. First, I was looking for something I could do outside of my normal working hours. Something that would still produce income with or without me constantly being there (passive income). This is the same objective of getting a property manager for an apartment complex. Someone else manages it, you outsource things like marketing, advertising, accounting etc…or do these things yourself. It all depends what you’re willing to pay or do for yourself. These desires led me to trying to find an online start-up business. I researched current top 100 online businesses and found a site on MLMs. YTB Travel was ranked 5th at the time and the others all had physical products to sell (we discussed that earlier ). I though “Travel? Hmmm, I know a lot about travelling” and checked out the website to find out more. The first thing you should check out is the product! Remember without a product you’re willing to promote you are finished before you start. So I looked at the travel site I would potentially be buying into. www.babyducktravel.com is mine please feel free to look and book your travel here : )
I found the site very user friendly, professional, and checked the rates….they were competitive if not cheaper than competitors (Ex. Travelocity, Orbitz). Then I asked myself “Would I be comfortable recommending this to my family and friends?” Remember you are recommending the product NOT the business to them not everyone wants to own a business. My answer was yes. I would be very comfortable. In fact I very honestly tell them to check it out and if they find that it’s the same or better price, I would appreciate their business through me. But it’s not cheaper and not competitive, I wouldn’t book there myself so why would I ask them too? Then I looked at the business side. (check out www.ytbinterest.com ) to see my site. Sure, typical MLM marketing approach hype it up, get people excited about thousands and thousands of dollars but in the end what are you getting for your start up fee. Essentially – a franchise. You get an established online travel search engine comparable to Travelocity with your own business name on it. For under $500 (because this includes 1st months website management fees) that is a steal of a deal. To put it in perspective, take your own knowledge of how to program a web search engine, host a website, take payment, reservations, canvass all airlines etc…and then figure out how much it would cost you to bring that concept to reality. Trust me $500 is a steal to have that already done for you. So what is the monthly catch? You have to pay $50 a month to have that website managed for you. Next step, promote your product (www.babyducktravel.com ) How you do that is up to you and I remind you that the old thinking of paying a start-up cost, doing nothing and expecting the money to come never did work but at least these days, you don’t have to go door to door harassing people. The Internet is full of online marketing potential. Thousands and thousands of sites to promote your product some are free, some have a flat fee, some charge monthly. Marketing is the act of promoting and/or selling your product. Back in the 90’s, most MLM reps were relying on door-to-door marketing which is often an undesirable path. Telemarketing has its own bad reputation. HOWEVER, the flaw to both of these marketing strategies is not in how they are done but to whom they are targeted or not. Let’s say you are in the market for a new boat and I come and offer you an opportunity to buy a boat. Is that upsetting to you? No because you were in the market. How about a real world example that you are experiencing right now? If I was to start talking to a random person on a bus like I am now about online marketing do you think they would be upset? Probably because they may not be interested. BUT…you’re here reading this because of targeted marketing. You are here because you showed some sort of an interest in my product either the travel side or business side has spurred a little flame of interest inside you. This is what the Internet has afforded the average joe. We now, all of us, have an easily accessible medium through which we can market our product to millions and millions of targeted and INTERESTED customers. There are many, many ways to capitalize on the internet marketing campaign. For example, my emails that I send out have a simple signature line at the bottom that reads: Book your next vacation at www.babyducktravel.com . Now wherever that email goes, wherever it gets forwarded to, it is advertising for me. I am not the first one to do this remember “get your free email account at yahoo.com”? BRILLIANT.
Finally, I would like to address a statement I saw floating around on a forum, which was essentially “Why would you want to have a travel site when Travelocity and Expedia are already so successful?” That is a completely ridiculous statement. Should “LOWES” and “MENARDS” not have even tried to compete with “Home Depot”? This is the essence of capitalism, a free market economy whereby businesses compete. Should the world just agree that Ebay is the best and that’s it? No one starts an auction site because Ebay is successful. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t compete. There are hundreds of fast food restaurants, hotel chains, car rental companies, and airlines, all of which compete for market share. Why not give a shot at getting a small portion of the Billions of dollars travel industry yourself?

So to recap why did I decide that this was different?
1. No requirement to buy your own product to receive commissions (though I will certainly book my own travel through my own site if the price is right)
2. Professional travel website in your own name which looks sharp and is competitive with other well known travel sites
3. Online product that people use every day and can be accessed 24/7 worldwide
4. Something you can feel comfortable referring to friends and family.

Plus, who knows, someone like you may want to have their own franchise after seeing your site like mine at www.ytbinterest.com : )

YTB Travel for Passive Income Business Opportunity

YTB Travel (www.ytb.com/ytbbabyduck) - What is YTB? Your Travel Biz. What is YTB Travel? YTB Travel is an online travel agency, which uses referral agents to generate business. Many use YTB as a passive income generator. YTB Travel has many available areas and future areas such as YTB Canada, YTB USA, YTB Austrailia, YTB UK, YTB China. An online travel agency, YTB operates much like Travelocity and /or Orbitz however, YTB offers commissions to referral agents. Why join YTB ? Join YTB and see that your normal online travel experience becomes more fulfilling. Refer YTB Canada, YTB USA, YTB UK for example and see that your customers are quite pleased with their experience. Competitive prices, competitive search engine layout, and easy YTB Check Out. Personally, I joined because unlike previous MLM businesses I have experienced, I do not have to buy $50 of products monthly nor do I have to convince anyone else to rely on ordering common household products in advance. Good luck with that. YTB on the other hand uses YTB Travel. You simply refer people to your YTB Travel site and if they are interested in the YTB Travel Business you can refer them to your YTB MLM site to make their own informed decision. I was looking for passive income so the Internet marketing world was a great start in my opinion. YTB hosts the website and manages everything. To start a turnkey business for only $450 is unheard of, and this site is great. From then on expenses are $50 monthly for YTB website management and YTB hosting plus whatever marketing expenses you decide for yourself to try and market the your own business YTB travel site like I did at http://www.babyducktravel.com/ . Really, the expenses are minimal when you consider startup costs. ATTENTION DREAMERS! There is no such program where you give someone $50 per month and they pay you back thousands in return for nothing. It just doesn’t exist and YTB Travel is not going to do it either. Any business requires effort. What YTB Travel does offer you is a product, a good product at that. Now you have to market it. How? That is up to you and your level of knowledge of online marketing. What I can tell you is that I started with very basic knowledge like how to surf websites, that Google has an advertising program and that there are literally millions and millions of people (read potential customers) just now realizing what the internet is all about. Further YTB Travel has not yet spread to many countries; therefore entry now is during the infancy of the company. Not that it matters though. In the past you had to act quickly to get into MLM companies to ensure you had a wide pool of prospects. After all, there are only so many people in your home town and the number of reps is increasing quickly. Not so anymore. Could you have pictured yourself 10 years ago being able to advertise to over 10,000 people in 24 hours (during which 16 hours you were at your other job)? Well, I did it. Not a spectacular accomplishment in reality, but to those new to Internet marketing HOLY COW! And it was easy. I researched adwords by Google, placed an ad for http://www.babyducktravel.com/ and set a budget of $30/month. Google did the reset. My ad showed to 10,876 people in the first 24 hours of which 7 people visited my YTB site. I didn’t have leave my house, I was working my full time job but I still had the opportunity to present my YTB business to 7 people. That is called leveraging your time. And that is what will increase your business size in little time. Therefore, if you’re looking for a second or third income stream I encourage you to consider an online business and if you’re inspired by YTB travel consider www.ytb.com/ytbbabyduck. I would love to teach you what I have learned. Let’s build a business together. Cheers – Babyduck.

P.S. – YTB Travel is in Pre Launch in Canada which means look for YTB Canada soon, you can be prepared and ready to go for the launch, www.ytbcanadaonline.com for more info.

Leverage

So here I am, 35 yrs old, in the military and still sitting with dreams. You may or may not be in the same position but the dreams are similar I am sure. I want things. Not necessarily obnoxious things but things none-the-less. I call these the "someday dreams" like someday I want to go heli-skiing without gettign sick at the thought of paying $500 for 3 runs down a mountain, someday I'd like to buy a Rolex because I want one but can't bring myself to give up $10,000 for fear that I would be in debt for the next 3 years. Everyone has these "someday dreams". Well, I came to the realization the other day that these "someday dreams" were never going to come true on my current path. The fact is you will never have enough disposible income to feel like you can do that while working by the hour for pay. That's what I do now, even though I earn a salary. My salary is capped at a certain amount and in order to make more I would have to leave my job. If I did leave, I would start again with less time off for my family. That is not a good trade. So the question becomes how does a person get more money with the same amount of hours available ? The answer: Leverage. And Passive Income, my friends, falls within this category.

YTB Travel

WOW! The internet has come a long way since the mid 90's. HAHAHahaha...I know that sounds funny but I mean in terms of complexity. I have spent the evening searching around the internet for ways to make my website more available on search engines. There are search engine optimizer's of course, pay per click adds, registration on search sites, spiders, etc... and I am sure I haven't even scratched the surface. How does a person ensure their website is seen everywhere ? The quest continues. I have managed to register my own domain of www.babyducktravel.com with an automatic forwarding to www.ytbtravel.com/ytbbabyduck interesting stuff. I look forward to learning more about online marketing as I go. YTB Travel, so far....interesting project.

Passive Income

I read a book called "Why we want you to be rich" written by the guy who did Rick dad, Poor Dad and Donald Trump. Great book definitely recommended. It talked alot about passive income and leveraging other peoples time. Long story short, I was inspired. I also came to the realization that I would be "salary capped" while in the military if that was all I did and that would mean that all these "someday dreams" that I have wouldn't come true. I really would like to go heliskiing for a week, I would like to buy a new truck without paying for it over 72 months, I'd like to buy a rolex without depriving my children of clothing.....you get the idea. SOOOoooooo....I went out and bought another house. 6 Days after I took possession, I had renovated it for renting and rented it out. My water bill during the gap was $1.37 to give you an idea of how fast it went. Now someone else is paying the mortgage, utilities, insurance and property taxes, plus I get about $75 on top of that. This means that around $4800 goes towards equity and $75 towards cashflow. I realize there will be upkeep over the years but I don't think it will exceed the net revenue + appreciation of the house. Enough about that.
Second, I am developing a board game which Maria and I have played several times to work out the bugs. Who knows where that will go but it's fun to develop and may eventually lead to income.
Third, I am now the proud owner of an online travel booking site similar to Travelocity. Please have a look and let me know what you think. http://www.ytbtravel.com/ytbbabyduck I think you'll find the prices to be the same if not better than you'll find on orbitz or travelocity and I plan to give 10% of my commissions to Support our Troops. I am also tapping in to "online marketing" through self study. Beeps and squeeks but the long and short of it is that I pay google a monthly advertising fee and they put my advertisment all around the internet specifically tailored to people looking for travel. That should result in interested parties getting to my site. Anyway, we'll see. It was a minimal investment and it will be a great learning experience for me in the internet age of technology.