The prepaid services industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. and the world. In 2009, the industry was over $330 billion. Prepaid 101: Lessons in the Basics, is a compilation of the very popular "Prepaid 101" series of articles by editor Retske, aka Professor Retske, offering readers lessons in a wide array of technical, business, and marketing topics, all focused on the prepaid industry. This highly acclaimed series of articles ran for seven years in The Prepaid Press, the leading prepaid industry publication. Prepaid 101: Lessons in the Basics covers prepaid calling cards, gift cards, prepaid cellular, debit cards, loyalty programs and more. The articles cover: * What is prepaid and how can you make money in it? * What are the hottest prepaid products? * How do prepaid services work? * What are consumers looking for, and avoiding? * Prepaid calling cards * Prepaid cellular/wireless services * Point of Sale technologies * Selling prepaid * Making money and increasing profits * Gift cards * Debit cards And much, much more! A special 23 page white paper spelling out the details of the prepaid calling card industry is included in a bonus section of Prepaid 101. The secrets of the experts are revealed about this multi-billion dollar industry. Whatever your interest in prepaid - entrepreneur, consumer, analyst, financier, journalist - you will find these basic lessons in prepaid informative and valuable. The topics are selected to give the reader a broad understanding of prepaid with essential details covering every part of the industr
About the Author: Gene Retske is a highly respected telecommunications expert with more than 30 years of experience in the industry, beginning with AT&T's Southern Bell subsidiary. Following the divestiture of the Bell System, he opened AT&T's first field office, and in 1985, Gene was promoted to AT&T headquarters in New Jersey. There he was responsible for all aspects of bringing AT&T products and services to market. Most notably, Gene led the public relations effort during the divestiture, involving speeches, television appearances, and newspaper interviews. He was awarded a Vice Presidential commendation for his outstanding accomplishments. In 1991, Gene started his own company that designed and built interactive voice response systems (IVR), and designed the first International Callback system using the AT&T Conversant(r) System. These experiences from "both sides of the desk" led to the writing of the best selling book, The International CallBack Book, An Insider's View, published by Harry Newton's Telecom Library. Retske's book has been credited with assisting "more telecom startups than Tariff 12", a reference to the FCC tariff that first permitted telecom resale. On an international level, Gene has been involved in opening telecom markets in Europe, and established the first authorized reseller platform there. His second book, A Guide to Competitive International Telecommunication, tells the story. Drawing upon his journalistic skills, he founded the International Insider(tm), a publishing and trade show company that produced the first independent telecom trade shows in Europe. The International Insider became a model for published reports on the industry, its technologies and foremost companies. In 1998, Gene launched TeleCompete(tm), an international trade magazine devoted to international telecom resale. Today, Gene is a frequent speaker and moderator at industry conferences around the world. He writes for numerous trade publications and business magazines, including Newsweek, Teleconnect, Computer Telephony, and The Prepaid Press, among others. He is frequently quoted as an expert source and was featured in the Wall Street Journal Asia Edition. In addition to the popular "Retske Report," a regular column in the International Insider, he writes commentaries for Communications Week Latinoamerica, a Spanish language magazine. Retske is currently the Editor-in-Chief of The Prepaid Press, an industry trade publication focused on the prepaid services industry.