A Former RTA Speaks

I received this email from a former RTA yesterday. He requested that I not include his name, but his story, I imagine, is very typical.

The reason I'm writing is to tell you that you are 100% about this company. I was once a YTB RTA and I can tell you that from my experience and my perspective, the guys running this company are a bunch of people that are interested in whatever enterprise they can engage in to make a buck...never mind the legality or morality of it. (See YTB Cars, etc.) Ultimately, I guage YTB to be the lastest in a long line of MLM's that actually got off the ground enough to make waves and a little money, nearly all of which is cocentrated at top.

The real shame of this company is that, like all MLM's (I had not been involved in one before, but imagine they are all like this) is that they coach unsuspecting saps on how to rip off friends and family. They put fast talkers in front of a room full of poor dopes that are just looking for something, anything to get them out of their rut. People that have never been in business for themselves, people that have never sold or recruited people. Basically, the complete opposite of people that should be attracted to YTB were it a legitimate enterprise. These unsuspecting people are told just enough to be dangerous and given a bunch of unsubstantiated statistics and "real life" examples and told to get after it. The sky is the limit!

The thing that really makes me dismiss the entire thing is that fact that their model could actually be a real business. They just choose not to run it that way, because it would be too much like real work requiring real business acumen and real results...something I imagine the leadship can only produce in the vacuum that is MLM. The concept is legit and their websites are nice and functional. They could have set this up to frachise the system to people "in the business" or aspiring Travel Agents...that would run it like a business, not like a part time job. However, I imagine a conscious decision was made at some point that it would be easier to con non-business people by the thousand than "sell" business minded individual by the dozen. It's unfortunate and dishonest. YTB is succesful because it prays on all of the personality traits that "get rich quick" types have. Vanity, Income potential, percieved importance, no need to extensive knowledge or training.... the list goes on. These are the same traits exhibited by the principles. In fact I once remarked, "well, if those guys can do it, then anyone can"