• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

TOOL: Ether.com: Get paid for consulting calls

By Becky McCray

Here’s a review by Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends:

One of the most exciting of the new Web 2.0 businesses is Ether.com. Ether’s website says, “We make it easy to sell what you say.”

Consultants, business coaches, and other small biz folk who sell their time by giving advice, can use Ether to charge for telephone consultations.

Ether provides the infrastructure, including a scheduling system, phone number and credit card billing mechanism. You place a button on your website and invite website visitors to call you and pay for a telephone consultation.

Ether.com extracts a 15% fee. However, I suspect most consultants will not balk at that, because Ether.com gives them a way to get paid for business they might not otherwise ever get. So, in essence, it can be found money.

There are other options for consultants to set up payment via the Web for telephone consultations, but they are cumbersome. For instance, I know one consultant who sets up the engagement via email, and then sends a PayPal link for a half hour’s time. But it involves several steps and several emails, and is hardly seamless and quick.

Pete Cashmore, a consultant who authors the Mashable blog, just wrote a review of Ether.com. He has been using Ether.com successfully to sell his Web 2.0 consulting services.

Currently the service is in beta testing and is by invitation only. Campbell registered at http://www.ether.com/Registration/Registration.aspx, and she was added as a beta user.

small biz rural entrepreneurship tools

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
  • Economic self defense for small towns  - June 7, 2020

May 14, 2006 Filed Under: tools Tagged With: review

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    May 26, 2006 at 4:09 am

    wonder if there is a service similar to ether, not for consultancy. i need to talk to blind dates..
    zora

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2021 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in