| A friend of mine recently emailed me to ask if I would | | | | In this case, the distributors and the company get paid |
| look at a Telecommunications business opportunity. | | | | paid by advertisers, by the minutes or seconds that |
| So, being the open person that I try to be, I went and | | | | their ad displays on your computer. They likely also |
| checked it out for him. | | | | charge the advertisers by clicks (meaning) you have |
| At first glance, I could tell right away that it was a | | | | the ad on your screen while you're on your call, and |
| network marketing company. | | | | you decide to click to see what the ad is about. The |
| I have no problem with network marketing as an | | | | company then pays that click (let's say through 5-10 |
| industry. In fact, there are some very good companies | | | | levels) to people who recruited people who recruited |
| within the networking industry, and ultimately, it's how | | | | people, etc. |
| we all buy products and services anyway. | | | | If the call quality is good, it might be worth it. It just |
| (Last time I went to Sam's Club, I got a jar of pickles | | | | depends on the end user. |
| that was so big that...) | | | | I just signed up for Skype though, which only cost me |
| So basically, with the idea that this company is a | | | | $30/year to have unlimited (and ad-free) calling from |
| network marketing model, you could hypothetically get | | | | my computer to anywhere in the US. |
| paid on the calls you make, as well as on the calls | | | | But, for the people who don't mind ads, this particular |
| made by the people you refer. Those people can get | | | | program appears to be free, and free is generally |
| paid on the calls their referrals make, and on and on, | | | | worth it. |
| etc. | | | | But then, on further investigation of the site, it appeared |
| But, because it's a computer based dialer, it's not like | | | | that you could buy in at higher levels in the |
| you're making money from the airtime usage (which is | | | | compensation plan. When it comes to network |
| one of the ways the now defunct Excel | | | | marketing, this usually means that they're taking some |
| communications made their money, and paid their | | | | of what you pay to buy in at those levels, and using it |
| distributors). | | | | to pay the person who convinced you to sign up at a |
| But here's how this works. | | | | higher level. This is something I'm never really |
| You, as an end user, download the dialer to your | | | | comfortable with, because people should get paid |
| computer, and it lets you make free calls to anyone | | | | when products and services are marketed, not when |
| via VOIP from your computer (to a Land Line or to | | | | someone pays money to join the business. |
| another computer which has the software on it). | | | | "You mean I pay $500 to buy in, and $250 of that |
| The company (which will remain nameless for | | | | goes to the person who convinced me to buy in?" |
| purposes of this article), generates their revenue by | | | | Oh yeah. |
| running ads in their player while you're on your call. | | | | The moral of the story, be careful, and really think, |
| There was a program on the Internet that used to be | | | | before deciding that the next presentation you attend |
| very similar to this called AllAdvantage, which (some | | | | is going to turn into "the next big thing." Telcom is great, |
| people will remember) paid you according to how | | | | and there are a lot of people making a lot of money |
| much time you surfed the web, and how many ads | | | | by marketing Telecommunications products, but really |
| you saw while surfing. | | | | make sure you know what you're looking at. |