From these spotlights, we hope you can learn something useful that can be applied to your own business, as well as connect with another entrepreneur.

Rabbi Andrea, tell us about you.

Rabbi Andrea: Well, I’ve always loved weddings! As a teenager, I found myself having visions of becoming a rabbi. It truly is a calling to become a rabbi.

It wasn’t until later on in my life that it dawned on me I was to follow this path. The office setting wasn’t for me. I was always turning to Judaism, temples, the spiritual focus that contributed to this knowing that my great, great grandfather was a rabbi. Learning this was what validated me to move forward in the proper training to become one.

Blending the two, Judaism and weddings, was a perfect fit – my niche! Being ordained offered to make both passions become a reality for me. That is how Rabbi Andrea, The Jewish Wedding Rabbi came about, and I have not looked back since.

What are your hobbies?

Rabbi Andrea: Crafts, cooking, baking, traveling, and enjoying being the traveling Rabbi!

Tell us about Jewish-Wedding-Rabbi.com.

Rabbi Andrea: It started with finding out that there was more than one way to practice as an ordained Rabbi. The traditional route is to have a pulpit and with a congregation. However, those demands offer no balance between congregational responsibilities and personal life. Being unaffiliated and or independent, I knew it would offer challenges in making a living, but my beliefs and faith was stronger in assisting those seeking a Rabbi for their life cycle ceremonies for I knew the need was there with over 70% with no connection to a congregation.

Being a Rabbi is about helping others, so I knew I could not go wrong. The Internet is the search tool of today, and having a website and the right marketing is what is used worldwide. The definition of a rabbi is teacher, so the website was the best medium to teach all about the Jewish wedding. The Internet is not filled with 100% misinformation. I strongly believed that those couples and families reading the content on my website would have security of some sorts knowing they were reading proper information.

When I started with my website and saw the domain Jewish-Wedding-Rabbi.com was available, I knew it was meant to be. This is the most common search engine keyword relevant to my business! When the website started becoming more visible, that’s when I knew I could add more pages to include all the other things that rabbis do.

Now, after six years, I reached that point where I get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals for weddings, naming ceremonies, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and all life cycle ceremonies – including funerals, even pet funerals!

Tell us more about pet funerals.

Rabbi Andrea: Pets become a part of the family and those that are very much pet lovers will fulfill all needs in the care of their pet including end of life issues.

Looking at creation, God created the animals and then created people. For we are to take care of the animals. There are pet cemeteries in place, and since it is now illegal to bury the family pet in the back yard, pet cemeteries provide a proper resting place. A special ceremony is created to provide comfort to family when a beloved pet is laid to rest.

There is a very well-known pet cemetery in New York called Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. When you walk the grounds of the cemetery and you see all the graves, it is touching. There is even a war dog from World War 2 – an amazing monument for he served our country for us. The cemetery and I connected, and those requesting a rabbi will be referred.

What are your goals?

Rabbi Andrea: My goals are being met. I am able to continue reaching out and assisting as many people as I can.

I provide a warm and personal ceremony that becomes a blessed memory and a lifetime of memories. I want to stay connected so people always have a rabbi to turn to. Believe it or not, Facebook became another great tool to stay connected with the wedding couples and the families I have officiated life cycle ceremonies for.

I’ve had wonderful opportunities. I’ve been flown to France, Mexico, Germany, soon to California, all over the Tri-State area of course – never forgetting my local area. In fact, even though I grew up in New York and spent my whole life here, I still feel like a tourist! I am constantly being exposed to unique and special venues. It’s a constant discovery. I get to be part of a couple’s first moment when I pronounce them husband and wife. Such joy!

As it is said, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. I would add to it and say, “enhance it”. I am going to continue what I have been doing and work towards more exposure to inform the unaffiliated community that they can call upon a rabbi. Focusing on what is important with Jewish life, as those seeking a rabbi knowing it is important to them as well.

How did you find out about FreedomVoice?

Rabbi Andrea: I found FreedomVoice online. I knew I needed a toll free number. When you go through the regular channels with the regular telephone company, the costs are astronomical. You are still dealing with normal jack and copper lines to create their toll free system, and that makes it a big expense. So I did a search and found FreedomVoice!

I had a previous provider and the customer service was unprofessional. I never received calls back from customer service. I needed a new provider and the FreedomVoice website came up. I could not believe as soon as I had a question as a new customer, I received a return call immediately. WebLink, the online control panel, is just awesome! I am mediocre with technology, and I’m impressed that it’s so easy to use.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Rabbi Andrea: With the economy being what it is, the first thing to go is religious memberships. Temples and synagogues can be the first thing out the door when finances are tight as there are dues. But the need for a rabbi for life cycle ceremonies still exists, so people reach out on the Internet. Technology will always stay in the household budget. We are a technological society. Being unaffiliated and accessible on the web helps me to help others anywhere, especially now. People are so happy to find me online, and to learn that I can travel to fulfill their needs for their important life cycles.

Would you recommend us?

Rabbi Andrea: In a heartbeat, absolutely!

Make sure you visit Rabbi Andrea on her website at www.jewish-wedding-rabbi.com and introducing www.www.jewish-wedding-judaica.com.com, an easy to navigate online shop for ceremonial ritual items. Mazel Tov!

It might seem unlikely to you now, but we’re professionals, we know what we’re talking about. 800 numbers and toll free numbers will end up being this year’s Tickle Me Elmo. Think about it, a vanity toll free number makes a great gift for any occassion.

At the time of writing this, there were countless toll free phone numbers available that ended in “funk”. Who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, a toll free 867-5309 was not available (I would have taken it).

Birthdays:

What does a loved one get the entrepreneur who seems to have it all figured out? The answer isn’t new slippers. Don’t be disappointed with your birthday present. Make sure when you blow out the candles, you’re getting ready to blow away your customers with a toll free number and professional auto attendant greeting.

Weddings and Anniversaries:

Time to party? An evermore popular way to accept RSVPs for your big day is to set up a lovely greeting on a toll free number (especially good if inviting guests from out of town) with two designated extensions for attending and not attending. You could get really fancy and set up extensions for dinner choices, but you probably don’t want to show off. Add voicemail transcription and you don’t even need to listen to the messages; have them sent to you as text on your mobile phone. Update your guest list without ever listening to a message!

Babies:

9 months have passed since the wedding (what a wedding!), and it’s time to welcome the newest member of the family. To go along with your baby book, create a virtual phone system for friends and family to call and leave messages welcoming your newborn to the world. All of your recordings are saved as audio files that can easily be saved to your computer and put on audio CDs to cherish forever.

Upgrade Your Business:

Does your home phone line double as your business line? Many small businesses and entrepreneurs work from home and don’t feel the need to invest a lot of money in another hard line just for their business, and why should they? A FreedomVoice virtual phone system will forward your new business line calls to any phone you desire, give you the option to take the call or send directly to voicemail, and even let you know what “department” the caller is looking for (e.g. sales, technical support, billing). All this while ensuring that you keep your professional and personal calls separate.

Sweepstakes Fanaticism:

Do you have a second email address just for entering contests online? Many people do, and they expect to get nothing but spam and junk mail and maybe an occasional prize. They don’t want their personal or business email assaulted with spam. A virtual phone system could serve the same purpose for contests that require a phone number. The problem with this is you can get just as much spam in the form of  telemarketing calls. Unfortunately, spam filters haven’t made it to voicemail yet, but a virtual phone system can effectively screen calls and keep your sweepstake obsession from overwhelming your personal and business lives.

(Legal) Pranks:

If you haven’t dialed 719-266-2837 yet, do it. Now. If you pull off something similar, please let us know!

Grab an 800 number while they’re hot, and check out our available toll free numbers, vanity numbers and local numbers while you’re there.

What are some other creative (family friendly) ways to use toll free numbers?

What?

You’re still doing that?!

Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Billions of calls to 411 are logged each year. At an average cost of over a dollar per call, we are talking a multi-billion-dollar industry just for consumers to get phone numbers of local businesses when they don’t have the Internet handy (or even a phone book – remember those?). And frankly, there’s just no reason for it.

Toll Free Number Directory Assistance

Within the past few years, private companies have come along to break up the 411 racket by providing toll free number directory assistance. The main benefit of calling a toll free number for directory assistance is that it’s, well, free – no long distance, no per-call fees. The trade-off is usually listening to a brief advertisement before getting your info / getting connected. Here’s a list of the toll free number directory assistance services I’ve used, along with some of their pros and cons:

FREE-411

1-800-FREE-411 from Jingle Networks was the first free 411 service I’d heard of, a pioneer in toll free number directory assistance. And it looks like they’re doing well, too – announcing last year that they’d reached per-call profitability. That says a lot about the sustainability of free 411 service and the benefits it brings consumers.

The best feature of FREE-411 used to be that they utilized a combination of voice recognition and human assistance, just like standard 411 service. Unfortunately, they’ve since discontinued that and gone fully-automated. I haven’t had any problems with the new system, though, and FREE-411 is still my toll free number directory assistance of choice for being quick and easy.

GOOG-411

It should be no surprise that Google has one of the more prominent toll free number directory assistance lines, 1-800-GOOG-411. Google has become the empire we know and love today by using paid advertising to give away things other people are charging for.

GOOG-411 also lets you get a text with information about a business, or driving directions if your phone has Internet access. The best thing I’ve found with GOOG-411 is that it automatically connects you when you find the business you want. The quality of their fully-automated voice recognition, though, is definitely their weakest link. I was annoyed by how frequently I had to go back and enunciate more clearly.

BING-411

The new kid on the block is tied to another search engine, Microsoft’s new Bing, at 1-800-BING-411. BING-411 is turning into a whole different animal than other toll free number directory assistance, leveraging voice recognition technology they got in acquiring TellMe, to provide additional information over the phone such as turn-by-turn driving directions, traffic conditions, movie times, and weather reports.

Like the others, BING-411 is fully-automated, but they’ve got a strong voice recognition platform in TellMe to make up for it. The best feature of BING-411 is the additional info at your disposal. The only thing I didn’t like about using it at first was that it automatically opts you in to receiving a text message with info about your listing. If you don’t want to get those texts, you have to call another number (1-800-449-0057) and disable it.

So there you have it – three excuses to stop dialing 411 and getting charged an arm and a leg to connect with local businesses. Have you used one of these services, or any other toll free number directory assistance? Share your thoughts and experiences!

The number is 1-888-407-4747.

Be advised that due to high call volume, you will hear an automated recording. From this recording, you can press 1 if you’re calling about information on family members or press 6 if you’re calling to offer assistance or make a donation toward the relief effort.

Texting Donations for Haiti Releif

To facilitate contributions to the relief effort, the Red Cross has set up a special text message campaign, whereby you can text “HAITI” to 90999 to make a $10 donation that will simply be billed on your regular cell phone bill. Singer Wyclef Jean’s foundation Yele Haiti has also set up a similar service to donate $5 by texting “YELE” to 501501.

Watch the video to see how it works! And no, we did not create this video or have any affiliation with the star

Learn more about the auto attendant feature and virtual phone systems!

Check out the video below.

Learn more how a toll free number and virtual phone system can benefit your business.

While this may be true, this video does an excellent job of presenting the benefits of a FreedomVoice toll free number and virtual phone system. If you’re still trying to decide whether FreedomVOICE, a toll free number or virtual office service is right for you watch this video. Even though it’s an older profile, the benefits of the service still shine through.

Our core products is the FreedomVoice virtual phone system. Basically, it’s a virtual emulation of all the features of a traditional PBX, without the expense and equipment. But do you really know what that is? If not, let me explain. I think you’ll be excited to hear about it, especially if you’re a business owner.

For those of you who are just starting your own business you know that it can be expensive. Purchasing a cool new hosted VoIP phone system is probably not a top priority. That is where a toll free number and virtual phone system come in.

The toll free number provides you with a business number for your customers to call you on. Once the customer calls you on the toll free number that is when auto attendant kicks in. The customer will hear the auto attendant greeting and the call will be forwarded to the number you specify. But as a company that always provides more than what it is paid for, FreedomVoice gives you much more than this for your hard earned dollars.

Along with a toll free number and auto attendant, you’ll also get voicemail service and Internet faxing. You’ll be able to manage all of these tools from WebLink, an intuitive Internet control panel engineered by FreedomVoice. Oh, and I forgot one thing. You’ll also get one more amazing perk. FreedomVoice has developed a technology which emails you your voicemails, so that all you have to do is click a button and the voicemail will pop up and play. It goes along with that we give you more than what you pay for concept.

So if you’re looking for a virtual phone system and toll free number, look no further! FreedomVoice would love to help you get your business telecommunications off to the right start. Because at FreedomVoice that is what we are all about: helping business owners succeed through productivity increasing tools.

Learn more about toll free numbers and virtual phone systems.

When someone calls into your cell phone you hear the ringing, the caller hears the ringing, and then you either pick up or the call goes to voicemail. This is all well and good. I mean, it is not completely unheard of for a business owner to use a cell phone for work related calls. But in a competitive business world where image is everything, it does make you seem small, and unprofessional. Why put yourself at this disadvantage when, for an incredibly low price, you have the option of getting a toll free number service which offers a toll free number, auto attendant, and a wide array of other virtual phone system features.

Think about it from your own perspective. Say you are shopping for someone to remodel your kitchen. You do a Google search and find a construction company called New Hammer Construction. You call the company and an individual immediately picks up.

“Hello,” says the voice on the line.

“Hello,” you say.

Awkward pause…

“I was interested in speaking to someone about remolding my kitchen,” you say.

“Oh, oh… You’re looking for Charlie. He just got that new hammer and nails. Let me grab him,” comments the voice on the other end.

If you are presented with a situation such as this you are very likely just to hang up the phone, opposed to waiting for Charlie. Too bad for Charlie, he just lost a customer because he didn’t have a virtual phone system.

Let’s take a look at this same situation again, except this time Charlie has a toll free number and auto attendant.

When researching you immediately recognize that the business has a toll free number and you are impressed. After dialing the toll free number this is what you will hear.

“Thank you for calling New Hammer Construction, a leading provider of custom bathroom remodels. If you know the extension of the party you would like to reach you may dial it at anytime. For Charlie New Hammer press 1. For Todd Screwdriver press 2. For Andrew Jackhammer Press 3. To speak with an operator press 0, or simply remain on the line.”

Obviously we had some fun with the names…

You decide you want to speak with Charlie New Hammer and press 1. Immediately, your call is transferred to Charlie. Charlie knows that the call came into his toll free number and through his auto attendant because he is alerted by the automated system when he picks up the line.

With auto attendant and a toll free number you’ll be able to significantly increase your professional appearance. Having auto attendant and a toll free number tells a caller that you have invested the time and energy needed to make your telecommunications business ready.

So if you are running a small business like Charlie New Hammer. Make sure you give yourself the advantage of toll free number service. You’ll appreciate all the benefits it has to offer.

Learn more about toll free numbers or an auto attendant.

Quality Toll Free Numbers are Going Fast
Many valuable 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers are available at the moment. People are recognizing that 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers present a new opportunity for the taking.

Quality vanity and memorable 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers are still available, but they are going quick. Now is the time for the smart business owners to purchase the toll free number that will best represent their business and marketing efforts.

Increase Marketing Efforts & Brand Strength with an 866, 877, or 888 Toll Free Number
Buy the right 866, 877, or 888 toll free number and you can improve your marketing. For instance, if you own a hotel in San Diego, you may want to considering purchasing 1-877-SD-Hotel, still available last time I checked. As a number that is easy to remember and relevant, utilizing it in marketing materials can strengthen your brand, help your marketing efforts, and boost your call volume. You also have the option of working your company name into your number. For example, the people at 1-800-Dentist own 1-800-Dentist. Here are more examples of companies doing a good job with their toll free number marketing.

Election Protection
The Election Protection coalition works to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process, and the company has done a great job with their toll free number marketing. Election Protection is utilizing the toll free number 1-866-687-8683 or 1-866-OUR-VOTE. They have also worked this into the name of their website, which is www.866ourvote.org.

1-877-Charity
This organization is marketing their 877 toll free number, 1-877-Charity, very effectively. Established in 1996, Original Charity Cars, the company which owns 1-877-Charity, operates the largest free non-profit car-donation/distribution program in the nation. Looks like these nonprofit marketers know what they are doing.

Enjoy Whistler
As a website dedicated to helping tourist with everything they may need when visiting Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort in Canada, Enjoy Whistler has done well to purchase and utilize an 888 toll free number. The number they are marketing is 1-888-882-8858. While this number does not necessarily spell anything on the keypad, the fact that they are using a quality toll free number gives their business a professional image.

Bottom Line: 866, 877, and 888 Toll Free Numbers are Growing in Popularity
Experts agree that 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers are growing in popularity. People now view these toll free number prefixes as being strong rivals to the 800 number prefix.  866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers now carry excellent brand strength and recognition. More companies realize the value of these toll free number prefixes every day, and in accordance, we are seeing the numbers being adopted by organizations at an increasing rate.

Now is a better time than ever to get the 866, 877, or 888 toll free number of your dreams. Perform a search now to see if your perfect number is still available.