Use Skype and Get Paid

Bitwine has partnered up with Skype (free VoIP service through the end of this year – $14.95 per year thereafter) to offer the BitWine Taskbar Skype Edition. It is fully functional with the new Skype 3.0.

The basic idea behind this is to allow experts to dispense their advice for a small fee, everything from cooking to acting, automotive to business to sports. Up until now, these experts have offered advice and help for free on blogs or forums (and spend much of their time just helping out).

So here is a scenario: Let’s say I need to write a business letter and have no idea how best to proceed. I visit Bitwine’s site, search for an expert in that area (business letters) and view the profiles that are returned, complete with reviews and samples of past work, portfolio and cost for consultation (some are free and the average that I saw was about $0.70 per minute).

When I settle on one that I would like to contact, I choose whether I want video or just VoIp. I then call them right through the Bitwine’s toolbar. If my selection is offline, I can setup an appointment. Very nice.

It looks like it has some definite promise and will make it easier to tap into the vast knowledge available on the Internet.