Broadband Times

By Debbi Ballard

There will be a convergence of two worlds, MLM and affiliate marketing. If you’re only in one world, you need to understand the other so you can get beyond the misconceptions and better compete.

Know that there are legitimate MLM (“network marketing”) companies. These differ from pyramids which are illegal.

When a firm pays new independent reps (or “networkers”) for sponsoring others into the program or mandates that new reps must each purchase a certain amount of product to receive the right to sponsor others into the opportunity, then the company can be vulnerable to pyramid challenges.

Most mainstream MLM companies do require the purchase of a start-up kit containing sales materials to become an approved independent rep.

To stay within legal parameters, MLM companies have extensive policies and procedures for their reps. In addition, they have compensation plans that, because of their tiered structures, have some complexities that have to be accurately explained.

Also, disclaimers and disclosures regarding the income opportunity and the products are needed.

That’s why mainstream MLM firms will have start-up kits whereby the reps are given information needed to help them operate their businesses within ethical and legal parameters. A manual is included along with brochures, business cards and other sales materials.

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home

Many Americans are coping with the worst job market in a generation by doubling up. They’re scrambling to pick up the slack as they, or their partners, lose jobs, endure pay cuts or watch their retirement savings shrivel. Job jugglers often earn a fraction of what their families cleared before the slump, but the double duty at least lets them scrape by.

“There’s been a definite pickup (in holders of multiple jobs),” says Roy Krause, CEO of Spherion, one of the USA’s largest staffing firms. “More and more, we’re seeing it as a necessity.”

Moonlighting takes a toll on workers, adding stress and leaving little time for friends, family or leisure. Yet in some cases it offers a creative outlet and even a springboard to a new career.

Second jobs more popular

About 10% of Americans surveyed by CareerBuilder.com in March said they’d taken a second job in the last year; 18% said they planned to do so in 2009. Middle-aged workers are even more likely to double up. An AARP Bulletin survey last month found 19% of Americans 45 to 54 worked a second job the past year. “They’re responsible for elderly parents, as well as their kids,” says Steve Williams, research director for the Society for Human Resource Management.

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home
FREE e-Book and
Robert Kiyosaki Video

Through Tweets, e-mail and Web sites, job hunters are being told that they can make lots of money from the comfort of home using Twitter; and Better Business Bureau warns that the large print for such offers may promise big returns but the fine print can cost them every month.

Currently 14.5 million Americans are out of work and looking for a way to bring home a paycheck according to the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Work-at-home schemes have often preyed on unsuspecting job hunters and now Twitter is being used as a way to convince cash-strapped individuals that they can make quick and easy money.

“Twitter is the newest bright shiny object online and a perfect hook for yet another work-at-home scheme,” “The pitch used to be about making money by sending e-mails or by placing ads on Google but now cash-strapped job hunters need to be wary of shelling out money for a dubious scheme that revolves around Twitter.”

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home
Says Robert Kiyosaki

The National Association of Home-Based Business Moms (NAHBM), a recently formed organization to support women who already have a home-based business or want to start one, has announced a new Free Starter Membership is now available at www.nahbm.com.

“We know due to the current economy that money is tight for many families. We also know that now is a great time to start a business. In an effort to help those moms who have recently been laid off or who are looking for an alternative to working outside the home, we are now offering free membership so they can get the support they need,” announced Debbie LaChusa, NAHBM founder and president

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home
Network Marketing Solutions

Several stay at home mothers in the Huntsville-Madison area have chosen to start home based businesses. The benefits of having a home based business are appealing. These benefits range from earning income, flexible hours, to the opportunity for adult interaction. However, making the decision to start a home based business can be difficult. Lisa Burnham and Shannon Windsor offer some guidance to the stay at home mother who is considering starting a home based business.

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home
Start A Home-Based Business

When a Stanley Cup broadcast suddenly went black in late April, many Comcast subscribers simply scooted to Twitter to find out why.

It was there — not on a phone system with multiple options — they discovered that a lightning storm in Atlanta had caused a power outage during the Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins hockey playoff game, and that the transmission would be restored soon.

“I did a search on Twitter as soon as the game went off the air,” says Dave Decker, 31, a Web developer in Pittsburgh who regularly tweets while watching sporting events. “The mystery was resolved in minutes. Before Twitter, it would have been a nightmare trying to find out what happened on the phone.”

Comcast’s deft use of Twitter underscores what is becoming a staple in modern-day customer service. Increasingly, corporate giants such as Comcast, PepsiCo, JetBlue Airways, Whole Foods Market and others are beefing up direct communications with customers through social-media tools such as Twitter, Facebook andYouTube.

The popular communications technology has helped companies quickly and inexpensively respond to customer complaints, answer questions and tailor products and services. It has supplemented current customer services, easing the load on call centers and expensive mailers that most consumers abhor. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and online software services such as LiveOps, Salesforce.com and RightNow Technologies are all are being used to improve customer service, retain users and gain a competitive advantage

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Steven Wilson
Work From Home
Start A Home-Based Business

Corporate Responsibility-Is it possible?

I was recently introduced to and invited to join an organization which I feel embodies a different kind of mentality than the other mega-giant corporations and I think others should take note. Ambit Energy in Dallas, Texas is a young but vibrant electricity provider currently doing business in just a few states. They direct-sell electricity by way of the recent deregulation that has occurred in Texas, New York, Illinois and some others.

Here’s the impressive part…the guys at the top such as the CEO, COO, CFO, Senior IT guy, and Chief Marketing Officer, all office out in the open near each other and with no walls, doors or partitions. They went basic on the furniture by choice and maintain a philosophy of frugality that has spread throughout the company. They pay their office support staff a fair wage and their salespeople well, too. The thought of needing to call a board meeting to express ideas, concerns or solutions is merely a waste of time since they can just roll their chairs over to one another and hammer it out.

I was so thoroughly impressed with the company and how responsible they are being with their customer’s money, I thought I would share this model with my readers. It turns out that when you run a business that is not top heavy and based on greed, you tend to not topple over. Ambit is one of the fastest growing companies in US history and only just beginning to walk according to their top brass.

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“Energize Your Income!”
Ambit Energy
Steven Wilson
Marketing Consultant
Call 661.645.1071
Ambit Energy Overview

Ambit Energy, a provider of retail electricity and natural gas services in deregulated markets across the U.S., has announced the expansion of its Susan G. Komen Foundation partnership to include the Komen North Texas, Dallas, Tyler and Tarrant County affiliates to boost efforts to finding a cure for breast cancer.

In April, Ambit Energy announced its initial partnership with Komen Tarrant County and launched a new affiliate partner program online at PowerUpForTheCure.com. The partnership now includes the North Texas, Dallas and Tyler affiliates and the Web site is live for breast cancer research supporters to sign up for competitive electricity rates through Ambit Energy. A portion of each customer’s monthly bill – up to $15 per month – will be donated directly by Ambit Energy to the Susan G. Komen Foundation via the local affiliates.

“Energize Your Income!”
Ambit Energy
Steven Wilson
Marketing Consultant
Call 661.645.1071

Ambit Energy Overview

Innovative, recession-proof and profitable in just two years. That describes electric and natural gas service provider Ambit. Its executives give much of the credit to an unusually robust, custom-developed information-technology system.

Entrepreneur Jere Thompson Jr. had successfully navigated telecommunications regulation, building the fastest-growing private company in Dallas a few years before. As that market matured, he wanted to take advantage of the deregulation of electric energy in Texas. He quickly realized that his company already had many of the fundamentals that would let it manage the process of switching and billing a new electric company’s customers. His big, unanswered question: How do you find customers at attractive costs to loyally pay their bills?

Free Energy

Ambit’s powerful software does such tasks as provide replicated, task-specific Internet sites for each customer. Yes, not only consultants, but customers, too. The sites allow existing customers to refer their friends to Ambit. When the customer refers a minimum of 15 customers who pay their bills, the original customer receives a credit on his Ambit Energy bill equal to the average amount of their payments. If the average is equal to or more than the referring customer’s bill for the month, he pays nothing. What’s more, the credit applies every month as long as the customer maintains a minimum of 15 customers who pay their bills. Quick translation: Ambit customers can get free energy.

The same software that makes the free energy possible also enables the Ambit independent consultant who enrolled that first customer to be paid on all the customers. That creates a deep layer of recurring monthly income.

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“Energize Your Income!”
Ambit Energy
Steven Wilson
Marketing Consultant
Call 661.645.1071

Ambit Energy Overview

Texas Rates Are Going DOWN!

Just in time for the heat wave to come, Ambit Energy lowers rates all over Texas. Rates under 10¢/kWh in some TDSPs!

Lone Star Select Month-to-Month – 9.5¢/kWh to 10.6¢/kWh

Lone Star Select 3-Month Term – 10.3¢/kWh to 11.34¢/kWh

Lone Star Select 6-Month Term – 9.9¢/kWh to 11.14¢/kWh

Lone Star Select One-Year Term – 10.1¢/kWh to 11.44¢/kWh

Heart of Texas Month-to-Month – 10.0¢/kWh to 11.1¢/kWh

Ambit Certified Green Month-to-Month – 11.5¢/kWh to 12.6¢/kWh

Ambit Certified Green One-Year Term – 11.2¢/kWh to 12.3¢/kWh

Month-to-month plans list introductory rates for new customers only.

“Energize Your Income!”

Ambit Energy
Steven Wilson
Marketing Consultant
Call 661.645.1071

Ambit Energy Overview