Conference calls become indispensable when you need to collaborate or share information with more than one person—particularly when all of you are in different locations. Whether you need to exchange ideas with your small business partners around the country (or world), or share some key information and stories with your network marketing business associates, conference calling is an absolute must have. Thankfully, technology has made such conference calling extremely affordable, and many times even free. There are dozens of affordable conference call services out there so you have plenty of choices. What we’ll focus on here, though, is free, reliable, and flexible. Here are 5 of the top conference calling services that fit that bill.

  • Landline/Mobile Phone Conference Calling

One: FreeConferenceCall.com

This company has received some great recognition from other companies like Fortune and Entrepreneur.com. With FreeConferenceCall.com you get a line that is “available to you 24/7 and there is no need to schedule or make reservations. Each conference call account accommodates 96 callers on an unlimited number of 6 hour free conference calls.” Check out many more details and features here.

Two: Rondee.com

Rondee.com has some really great additional features you might like. According to their website, Rondee “includes convenient web-based scheduling and on-call features while remaining very easy to use. Only Rondee gives you a convenient way to schedule calls on the web, a universal access number 619-2-RONDEE (619-276-6333) you can put in your speed-dial, and your very own virtual meeting space where registered users don’t need to remember random codes.” You can also record the call for later playback and track attendance as well. Click here for more details.

Three: FreeConferenceCalling.com

This company has a great user-friendly website and some sweet features to boot. You get free conference call recording, online conference management, and you can have up to 500 callers anytime! Click here for more details about features and services.

  • Web/Video Chat Conferencing

Four: Skype.com

In addition to being a great phone service for business (See Skype For Mobile Business), Skype also does great conference calling. While not as robust as some of the more traditional conference calling services described above, it still works great in the 3-10 people range (any more people and the call quality often suffers). Where Skype also really shines is video chat conferencing. Being able to see people in real time and share links, video and docs can be incredibly helpful and fun. Click here to get more details about Skype’s conference call features.

Five: TokBox.com

TokBox is a powerful service that is “Group video conferencing made simple. Connect face to face with 2 to 200 people. No fuss. No download.” Their free video chat plan is really simple to use and has great features like being able to hear and see up to 20 participants at once, text chat in the call, and being able to share YouTube videos within the call so everyone can see them. For more details on what they offer click here.

More Posts by Nathan

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In a prior article (Unemployed? Underemployed? Start Your Own Business-101!) our intention was getting the reader to consider starting their own business as an alternative to unemployment and/or underemployment. This article will help to determine the viability of a small business concept.

Viability, in regards to a small business, is the commercial application of a small business concept. For example, if you are considering starting a lawn care business, you need to be in an area which has this need. This business would not work well in the Montana winters, but would do well in the Florida climate. On the other hand, if you offer lawn care in the summer months and snow removal in the winter, you now have a viable concept in States like Montana. This may be simplistic, but viability and practicality are interchangeable in regards to this topic.

The reason to consider the viability concept is very simple. You are trying to set yourself up for small business success. Therefore, the objective is to get the statistics on your side. Lawn care services in a temperate climate are in higher demand than in a colder environment. This provides a longer season and ability to generate more revenue verses a colder climate thus ultimately enhancing your chances of success.

Lastly, the point to this article is to get the reader to assess, in detail, the small business concept under consideration. Every geographic area has a unique business dynamic. It is advisable to identify and consider this dynamic. Ignoring your local business environment stacks the deck against the entrepreneur from the start and can be compared simply, to swimming up stream rather than going with the flow. This consideration can easily be the difference between success and failure.

More Posts by Bill

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Hate Phone Menus? Then You’ll Love This Tool

October 5, 2010

Dealing with obnoxious phone menu labyrinths can be an incredible drain on anyone’s time and patience. A simple question about an upcoming flight, phone service issue, or question about your internet service can turn into an all-afternoon ordeal as you blindly jump through hoop after hoop of choices that often don’t even make sense. (Perhaps [...]

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Unemployed? Underemployed? Start Your Own Business-101!

October 4, 2010

With the unemployment rate in excess of 10%, many of us are experiencing, directly or indirectly, the impacts of this historic job market.
One option to consider is starting your own small business.  We all have some definable skill, or set of skills which could be developed into a viable small business enterprise. For example, a [...]

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Password Management & Security: Absolute Must See Tools

September 28, 2010

If you do a lot of work on the web (whether for business or personal) then you probably know how complicated it can be to not only remember all your passwords but also enter them into each account every time you log in. Of course, if you’re like most people, you probably just use the [...]

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Finally, A SIMPLE Bookkeeping and Accounting Program

September 27, 2010

Recently I was on Twitter and someone mentioned to me that they use IAC-EZ for their accounting and bookkeeping software, so I decided to check it out.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Not only is the website casual, easy to understand, but fun as well.  Without being corny, they have a cute wizard looking character called [...]

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How To Turn Your Computer Into A Sleep Aid

September 21, 2010

I recently came across a very innovative free software program called F.lux. What it basically does is automatically adjust the brightness of your computer screen to match the time of day. So if it’s morning, it will be much brighter than when it’s evening. It’s kind of like having your computer wake up and go [...]

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O (Free) Wi-Fi Where Art Thou?

September 20, 2010

How To Hunt Down Those Elusive Hotspots

Have you ever walked around with your laptop on, desperately looking for a free Wi-Fi connection? It can be like looking for a light switch in a dark room you’ve never been in before—disorientation, impatience, frustration. If connection is not soon made, symptoms can escalate to glazed, glaring eyes, [...]

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Capital: Let The World Fund Your Ideas For Free

September 15, 2010

Building a business on a shoe-string often goes only so far. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an artist, inventor, or entrepreneur (or even a unique combination of all three)–without the leverage that money can give, your dreams and goals will often be slowed or tripped up. It certainly doesn’t help that this need for capital [...]

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Free 411 Directory Assistance: Are You Still Paying For It?

September 14, 2010

When I first experienced 411 local directory assistance I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I was at a conference and one of my friends was trying to figure out where her nearby hotel was. She called 411 and they gave her directions straight away. Totally awesome. When I found out later, [...]

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