Just Picture It Now

If At First You Don’t Succeed…Punt?!

TravelPro — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:00:41 +0000

Remember the group of ambulance chasers who followed California’s play with a class action law suit of their own just days after Jerry Brown made his bold attempt to topple what he called a “gigantic pyramid scheme”? We all know by now how successful California was in shutting YTB down. In June, the court ruled [...]

Bang Head Here…

TravelPro — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:00:55 +0000

One of the most powerful skills you can learn in this day and age is DISCERNMENT. Knowing when you’re hearing truth or lies is a necessity, not a luxury. One of the things I pride myself on is providing third party documentation to validate what’s being written. Back when California agreed to settle it’s lawsuit [...]

A New Fan of Facebook

TravelPro — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:16 +0000

If I asked you who Mark Zuckerberg is would you be able to tell me? I wouldn’t have been able before this weekend. (So don’t feel too bad if you don’t.) Rather than keep you in suspense, I’ll just come right out and tell you Mark is a former-Harvard student who created Facebook. When it launched [...]

REZConnect Makes Exit…

TravelPro — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:40 +0000

When YTB first started back in February of 2001 all the Founders had was a goal of being the largest seller of travel in the industry. They didn’t have their first RTA, they didn’t have a travel partner, they didn’t even have a booking engine, nor did they have their first travel sale. A bold [...]

Any Clown With a Bow Tie

TravelPro — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:00:36 +0000

The 1999 Texas Electric Choice Act, which went into full effect in January 2002, changed the electricity and power industry. In 2005 Rob Snyder committed $1.5 million of his own equity and after clearing a few hurdles with the Texas Public Utilities Commission, Stream Energy had a REP license and company to sell energy to [...]

The Rockets Red Glare…

TravelPro — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:00:17 +0000

Last month I wrote about a cool site called EarthTV.com and found a special page for the most popular firework shows around the country. Celebrate Independence Day with live clips from EarthTV cameras located in the USA (Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York City, Niagara Falls and Honolulu). You can also check out their [...]

Clothe Yourself in Confidence

TravelPro — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:00:34 +0000

I like to read other blogs, particularly other blogs that promote self improvement, responsibility, and discipline. If I’m going to spend my time reading, I would prefer to read something that enriches me rather than tears me down. Nick Pagano is a Level 2 Director up in Detroit, Michigan who I’ve gotten to know a [...]

One Step Closer…

TravelPro — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:09 +0000

Welcome to the next phase of YTB 2.0. A year ago YTB announced the “contemplation of a franchise” in a press release issued just before last years convention. Today that “contemplation” moves one step closer to “reality”. We touched on this with Sunday’s newsletter and wanted impress on you how this phase of YTB 2.0 [...]

Online Retail Doesn’t Look…Too Bad

TravelPro — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:22 +0000

I’ve written about a company called PhoCusWright here before which measures online travel sales. I’ve also written about BurstMedia as recently as a few weeks ago, which looked at consumer research for travel related spending. Another company that measures on-line spending is a company called eMarketer who came out with a report last week which [...]

Ordinary and Necessary

TravelPro — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:00:39 +0000

Before we venture into today’s topic, I need to make something perfectly clear. When owning any business and using portions of that business for tax deductions, you need to consult a CPA on what can and can not be used as a deduction with the IRS. I’ve written several articles over the years on the [...]