Recent FDI message change

I've been watching what FDI has been promoting for their telecom customers over they last couple of days and there has been an interesting development.

All of a sudden, FDI is proclaiming the benefits of using MyFi (portable WiFi units available from Sprint and Verizon) to connect to their network.

Personally, I'm confused by this. One of the reasons I would be interested in doing mobile VOIP is to provide internet service to my laptop from my mobile phone and this was one of the promises made by FDI when I first joined. Now they are encouraging people to buy another device (MyFi) so that you can make WiFi calls using their phones from anywhere. In essence, I am being encouraged to spend another $60 per month on a MyFi device so that I can use my mobile VOIP phone.

I have to wonder if this has anything to do with FDI having difficulty getting their phones to work with TMobile or AT&T data cards.

I don't see how this saves any money. One of the bills I was hoping to eliminate for my customers was that of an air card. Now FDI is encouraging the purchase of an air card (in the form of a MyFi device). So, if I use their VOIP service ($22.95/mo) and have an AT&T data card for my phone ($40/mo) and then have to buy a MyFi device ($60/mo), I end up spending $122.95/mo. I also wonder, if I'm depending on the MyFi device to provide internet access for my phone, how do I receive calls when the MyFi device is turned off.

I have to say, I'm not sold on this strategy and it seems like FDI is adding even more complexity to an already very complex offering.

I guess if I had already purchased a MyFi device this might be a useful capability, but why do I want another $60/mo bill when I was supposed to be able to use my phone to do what this device is providing?

FDI Telecom

I thought it might be useful to share my experiences regarding FDI's telecom offering from GI Connect.

Let me start by posting a link to their telecom presentation.

http://www.scribd.com/full/19895388?access_key=key-1jes51b6iqdhex0nakfi

FDI offers a number of products which give access to their VOIP network.

They have a normal VOIP adapters which permit a home user with internet access to connect phones to their network directly through their internet connection.

Their premium home VOIP product, the Tri-Net is kind of a PBX system in a box. Like a normal VOIP adapter, you connect the box to a home internet connection and the box gives phones access to FDI/GI Connect's network. The Tri-Net has many features and capabilities to permit the user to set up extensions, block numbers and a whole range of PBX like features. It is geared towards small business users and can be very effective in that role. The Tri-Net also accepts a SIM card (not required) which permits the device to act as a mobile device as well. The benefit behind this is that for cell phone users who want to keep their existing phones and carriers but want to benefit from VOIP pricing, the mobile number for the Tri-Net's SIM card can be added to your "Friends and Family" or "Inner Circle" block of numbers, making the call free from your cell phone. Then, once connected to the Tri-Net and therefore the GI Connect network, you may dial any number and take advantage of VOIP rates. It adds one more step to the process but is a means of providing VOIP service to mobile users without forcing them to change their equipment. They could, of course, lower their plans minutes to reduce their mobile expense.

FDI/GI Connect also offers a device called a Widget which can plug into the line of any phone and automatically connect that phone into the GI Connect network accessing VOIP rates and incurring only a local call on the phone.

Another device offered is a USB phone which works in conjunction with a soft-phone installed on a laptop.

On the mobile side, FDI/GI Connect offers two phones currently.

One phone is called the GI Cell ( I haven't been able to determine the manufacturer but it is obviously made in China). This phone is a Tri-mode phone meaning it can make calls via GSM (normal cell), GPRS (cell provider data network) or WiFi network. I can't say I'm thrilled with the format of the phone. Let's just say it won't induce anyone to give up their smartphone. I received the phone about a month ago and have had no difficulty in making calls on the phone via GSM or WiFi. However, to date, I have not been able to connect to a GPRS network. That's probably the biggest catch with the phone, in order to use the phone in anything other than a WiFi hotspot, you must get a SIM card from a carrier (AT&T and TMobile are the two GSM carriers supported). I am told that TMobile is easier to configure and I believe that (I borrowed a TMobile Sim card at one point and got closer to connecting to their GPRS network than I ever have with AT&T). After a full month of trying, I still have never succeeded in connecting the phone to AT&T's GPRS network. This exposes what I think is the biggest hole in FDI/GI Connects strategy with this phone. The fact that I must get a SIM card from a third party introduces unneeded complexity and opens the door for finger pointing between the SIM provider and FDI/GI Connect. I have to say that AT&T has been very good about trying to help me connect this phone to their network. However, the phone is obscure enough that its identifying IMEI number is not even known on their system. I have received attempts at assistance from a number of FDI reps and they have done their best but are not qualified to diagnose technical issues. I find it disappointing that my calls to the support lines for GI Connect go unanswered and unreturned. This makes me very worried about selling this phone to customers. If there is no tech support, that means by default they would come to me and I obviously haven't been trained well enough to troubleshoot problems with these phones. An interesting side note about this phone is that the charger that it ships with is fitted with a plug for European power outlets. Not a positive. All in all a very frustrating experience.

The second mobile option provided is essentially just a smartphone from HTC. This phone does have videophone capabilities, however you must still get your SIM card and service from AT&T, TMobile, etc. So, the only way to make use of VOIP with this phone is to use it in conjunction with the Tri-Net as described earlier or to use one of FDI/GI Connect's access numbers to dial into their system and then dial the number you would like to call.

In short, I think FDI/GI Connect has put together some interesting technologies for telecom but I fear that it may be too complicated for many customers to deal with.

FDI Telco presentation

The following link is for the FDI/GI Connect Telco presentation.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19895388/FDI-Telecom-Presentation

This presentation introduces the Telco industry and the products and services offered by FDI/Gi Connect.

Building a Business on a Budget

Here is a presentation that will be delivered in Chicago on 9/19/09 to introduce mechanisms for building a business without spending a ton of money.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19895360/Building-a-Business-on-a-Budget

This presentation is based on Mike Dillards "Building on a Budget" Course. To get more information on this course go to the following link.

http://vur.me/RightSide/Budget

Key to business presentations

I was listening to one of my mentors this morning and he made a key point that I see overlooked in most business presentations for network marketing opportunities.

In every business opportunity presentation, the speaker spends a great deal of time detailing how much money can be made, but they never give any information as to what has to be done in order to achieve those results.

Our business presentation should be designed to get the prospect imagining themselves in the business, but if they don't see what they have to do to get to the desired result, they may view the result as "pie in the sky".

So everyone can see that they want the fancy car, nice house and lot of vacations, but if they have no idea what they must do to realize any of those results, the prospect will likely never take action.

Robert Kiyosaki summed this up in three words: Be; Do; and Have. Everyone can think of things they want to Have, but what actions to they have to Do to get those things and who do they have to Be to Do the required actions.

Our job is to create a system that we can present to our prospects that addresses all of the common concerns faced by new prospects and provides easy to follow steps that they can follow. In this way, our prospects can see their plan of action, and see that it is not insurmountable.

Let's figure out a way to get this into our presentations so that we can turn prospects into business partners!

Mobile VOIP wireless instructions

Ok, so there are some configuration tasks to be done with the mobile VOIP phone.

Perhaps the most important thing is to get the APN (Access Point Name) for the network on which you have a data plan. The 2 providers that we will see most commonly in the US are Tmobile and AT&T.

I personally had an account with AT&T and it was no problem getting a SIM for the phone with a data plan. I had a phone line that I wasn't using so I had them give a SIM for that number with an unlimited data plan.

Anyway, listed below are the APN's.

For AT&T: wap.cingular

For Tmobile: wap.voicestream.com



A few points about using the phone via wireless network.

1) You may have as many wireless networks defined in your phone as you like (at least I haven't seen a limit yet. However, you must know if the network is secure or not. If it is secure then you must provide the SSID for that network.

2) Once you have detected and connected to a wireless network you must then log into the SIP network in order to connect to the GI Connect network. Login is an option on the VOIP menu of the phone.

3) To initiate a call, you must start a new call from the VOIP menu of the phone. At this point, all of my calls are being sent as "Unknown", but I'm going to try to find out how to get my number shown to the people I am calling. I'm also trying to find out how to receive calls on the mobile VOIP device when connected to a wireless network.

I'm sure I'll have more later.

Finally a mobile VOIP phone in my hands!!

Well, it seems like it took forever to get here but I finally received my dual mode mobile VOIP phone today. It will be interesting to see what it takes to configure it and get everything running.

I guess the first order of business will be to get the $22..95 plan from GI-Connect. Then I will have to get a SIM card with GPRS access. I hear that AT&T has one for $23/mo. That will put the total monthly charge at around $50. Much better than AT&T's current all inclusive plan which runs at $140/mo.

I've got to find a wireless hotspot so I can test making a call without GSM or GPRS.

More later.

Do you want to start a business but have a limited budget

I hear this excuse from people all the time. I want to start a business but I don't have a lot of money.

The flaw with this excuse is that it doesn't take a lot of money to start a business. It doesn't take a lot of money. Do you have to learn some new techniques? Yes! Will you have to do some work? Yes!

SO, are you going to use money as an excuse?

I have a friend that is homeless, living in his car who is generating a ton of leads using completely free methods.

Are you willing to invest a little time and effort and a tiny amount of money to get your business off the ground?

If you are then check out the link below for a detailed plan of how to build your business on a budget.

http://vur.me/RightSide/Budget

Please add your comments on this post!

The dilemna of attraction marketing

Ok, so if you've ready anything else on my blog, you know by now that I am an advocate of attraction marketing and specifically of Mike Dillards Magnetic Sponsoring system.

Here's one of the problems you will face.

The first rule of attraction marketing is that you do not tell the prospect about your primary opportunity. There is good reason for this. If you go in telling them how great the opportunity is, they will tend to respond with suspicion and pull away.

The question is, if you don't tell them about your business, how can you get them to join your business.

The answer comes in viewing the opportunity from the eyes of the prospect. People purchase items, services, etc. based on the expected benefits that they will receive. But, any purchase has two sides to it. Expected benefits and accompanying negative consequences.

Most of us are pretty good at pointing out the expected benefits, but not very good at dealing with negative consequences.

That's why we get objections. So we need to spend time constructing answers to the objections (if you think about it, the common objections are pretty easy to document) and show our answers to our prospects.

I'm going to write a lot more about this. We need to have a method of talking to people that gets them on our side and lets them make the decision to join our business.

Marketing

I've been working on tools to get my marketing kicked off. I now have the ability to generate free leads from a number of sources and the tools necessary to contact the leads and quickly discover who might be a good addition to my team.

I am now communicating with people all over the US about network marketing and am teaching them how they can improve their businesses.

Project Management

I've been studying the writings of Eliyahu Goldratt for some time and am very impressed with his work.

As a project manager for many years it frustrated me that despite endless planning and monitoring that most projects came in late and over budget. Mr. Goldratt helped me understand why that happens and what I can do about it.

With his methods, project times can be reduced significantly (up to 60%) and project managers can actually start to focus on what's important instead of spending their lives putting out fires.

I'll write a whole series on Mr. Goldratt's work, but just this one thought here, when you ask someone how long it will take to complete a given task, they usually formulate an answer that they have an 80-90% confidence in. However the time difference between a 50% chance of meeting the estimate and a 90% chance of meeting the estimate generally triples the time estimate. Getting that extra 30% certainty means that we are building in around 200% slack time. The sick thing is that we usually end up wasting the time we padded the estimate with. When we learn to get a good portion of that slack time back, our projects take a major step towards on time/on budget completion.

Leadership

A leader does not do the work of the people in his organization. Instead he gives them the tools necessary to succeed and trains them to know how to use them.

The success of the people in our organization is not our responsibility. It is our responsibility to see that they are trained and have access to all of the tools they need.

A construction foreman does not run out and buy all of the tools his crew needs. He expects that his crew will invest in the basic tools and learn how to use them.

Unfortunately many people in business are like a construction worker who fails in an attempt to build the house and goes back to the store for a new hammer, because it couldn't be their fault, it must be the hammer.

Lead by example and expect your team to carry their own weight.

Internet Marketing

The Chicago Leadership of Buzzirk Mobile has decided to explore marketing our business opportunity on the internet. The following presentation was developed to introduce people to the concepts of internet marketing.

http://www.scribd.com/full/17531635?access_key=key-13vpu2iqbqmgiwb1azwl

Magnetic Sponsoring

Magnetic Sponsoring is a course provided by Mike Dillard. It is an excellent introduction to the principles of Attraction Marketing. A link to the course is available on my website http://www.rsijustdoit.com/

Here is a link to a presentation given to explain the concepts of Magnetic Sponsoring.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17531635/Internet-Marketing

How a 3X9 Matrix Works

I liked this video explaining how the 3x9 matrix as used in Buzzirk mobile works. I hope you do too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBrYYMD3Ij0

Would you join you?

Take a look in the mirror. I mean really look deep into your eyes. If you were presenting your business to yourself, would you join? Do you display confidence? Is it obvious that you will assist your prospects in achieving success?

If you can't convince yourself, then you need to start by changing you.

Get involved in personal development. Offer to help with meetings. Learn to become a public speaker. You need to become an effective trainer so that you can help develop your team.

No one will ever have all the required skills, but continue to develop yourself and find out who on your team has the skills you are weakest in.

Recommendations for new marketers

First and foremost, don't run out and try to sell all of your friends and family on the business. This is the fastest route to the NFL (no friends left) society.

Instead, tell them that you have found some great resources for growing your network of associates and improving your personal and professional skills. Use your organizations marketing websites, blogs etc. to show value and then, when they recognize that you are doing something worthwhile, invite them into your business.

Attraction Marketing

People do not join businesses. They join leaders. So our mission is to become leaders in the eyes of our prospects. There are two things we can offer our prospects to increase our value to them (and become leaders in the process). We can offer them knowledge and experience. Experience is gained by going out and getting it. Try new things, don't be afraid to fail. Knowledge is gained by personal development. Help your prospects gain the knowledge they need to succeed and you will become their leader.

Global Warming?

I find it kind of odd that an effect of global warming is that our summers have been cooler in the past and our winters have been warmer. Are we really seeing that temperatures are averaging out? Gotta tell ya, from a selfish perspective, cooler summers and warmer winters are not making me feel too bad.

Types of income

The IRS defines three types of income that are typically seen.

The first and most familiar for most of us is earned income. Unfortunately, this is also the most highly taxed type of income, usually being taxed at or above 50%.

The second type of income is portfolio income. This income is produced by paper assets such as stocks, bonds or more rarely by patents held. This income is typically taxed between 15 and 20%.

The third type of income is passive income. This is the income produced by real estate assets. This is where the real tax deductions exist. This type of income may be taxed as low as 0%. That's right, you can make money in this way and pay absololutely no taxes. Now it doesn't always work out to 0% taxes, but this is without question the least taxed type of income you can earn.

So which type of income are you getting? Remember, its not how much you make, its how much you keep that matters.

401k now a 201k

It makes me sad that people are getting killed in their 401ks and they think there is nothing they can do about it. More millionaires are going to be made in this recession than previously existed. A simple lack of knowledge is what's killing people. If you know how to play the game correctly you can turn your 401k around and get some amazing returns.

If you want to find out more, check out www.rsigreatreturns.com