30 Fold Bookstore Christian Home Business Opportunity

Spread the Word / 30 Fold Bookstores (Name has been changed)

30 Fold Bookstore is the new name for the formerly-named Spread the Word Christian bookstore "business opportunity."

December, 2007 Update: I still get complaints from disgruntled bookstore owners,two years later.

Note: As of January, 2006, I am no longer recommending this Christian home based business opportunity, due to some problems (server crash, extended down time, loss of data and customization features) they had in late 2005 and continuing well into 2006. It took them over six months to return the online bookstores to a level of service that was even close to the pre-crash state.

For much better bookstore opportunity, click here.

If you are an unhappy Spread the Word bookstore owner, please join the many bookstore owners who have already expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment by using the form at the bottom of this page.

Please note: DeeperCalling.com is NOT the same company as the former SpreadTheWord.com and current 30Fold.com. DeeperCalling.com is a separate company altogether with their own managment and should not be associated with the problems indentified here with SpreadTheWord.com and 30Fold.com. That being said, I still DO NOT RECOMMEND 30Fold.com as a business opportunity for the reasons listed below.

Click here for the Christian bookstore opportunity I DO recommend.

The issues are continuing: April 11, 2006 - Spread the Word announces a new compensation plan. I believe the new one is even more complicated and difficult to understand than before. May 12, 2006 - An email goes out announcing that "due to several problems" they have immediately terminated their phone service with their current telecommunications provider, and they will have "new" service within three business days. I have been in the telcom business for several years (one of my many ventures), and I don't understand why they didn't simply switch to a new provider without having to go without phone service for several days. May 20, 2006 - Spread The Word CEO, Steve Darrow, and CMO, John Godzich, announced on on the STW Nuts & Bolts Conference Call that STW is suspending the sale of bookstores and products indefinitely until the appropriate capital can be raised in order for the company to move forward. [This effectively shuts down bookstore owners, since most of their income comes from bookstore sales. By the way, John Godzich is well known for his involvement with Amway.] June 7, 2006 - John Godzich, Chief Marketing Officer, announces that they are broke and suspending all operations until they can raise capital. Here is an excerpt from the conference call: "Well, right now, we are in the following situation: We have essentially run out of money, spent all the money that Steve has put into it - Steve himself has put in about $2 million dollars into this - and since we've run out of money doesn't mean that we are shutting things down. We're just suspending them..." (Note that he doesn't mention the $2 to $3 million raised from the sale of bookstores. While some of that money was paid out in commissions, what did they do with $4 to $5 million dollars?) Shortly after this, all bookstores and the main Spread the Word website were taken down. Instead of seeing a message of some kind, you simply get "page not found." This is very unprofessional and inexcusable. June 28, 2006 - They announce that the bookstores will be up and running the first two weeks of July. At this point, who in their right mind would want to place any trust in these folks? July 4, 2006 - The new bookstores are launched. Turns out they turned them over to a different company entirely which, by the way, offers FREE bookstore websites. That means anyone who paid for a bookstore could have had a nice one for free. Will Spread the Word be refunding the fees paid for bookstores? Also, since this new company offers free bookstores, it doesn't appear that the opportunity to sell bookstores (and actually make money) will exist. It would be unethical to sell something that people could otherwise get for free. July 28, 2006 - In an email forwarded to me from another bookstore owner, Spread the Word has acknowledged that the new company does provide free bookstores, but with the new partnership those will be be going away. So, what used to be free will now cost money. It seems to me that greed and the desire to make money are driving their decision-making. It is misleading and inappropriate that they use the word "ministry," because it is not that at all. It is a for-profit business, and a very questionable one at that. It saddens me to see that all of this is being done in the name of our Lord who, by the way, was NOT rich, in fact, He didn't even have a place to lay his head. July 28, 2006 - It came to my attention that Spread the Word's "domain registration service" is an affiliate account with Go Daddy, the same company that does the incredibly trashy commercials on TV, and they also host pornographic websites. Thinking perhaps they were not aware of this, I notified Spread the Word of this several weeks ago, but they have continued to use the same company. Is the desire to make money so strong that they are willing to partner with pornographers? July 30, 2006 - In an email sent out today, they say that the new spreadtheword.com and 30fold.com websites will be ready on July 29th (the previous day), but they are not working at all. (You get the page not found error). Additionally, deepercalling.com and deepershopping.com (the two sites associated with the new bookstore company) are also not available. Are the Spread the Word guys running those sites now, too? That would really be a shame, because at least if another company (with different management) were in charge of the bookstores there would be a chance that they would work better than the Spread the Word bookstores did. November 20, 2006 - In spite of my informing them and exhorting them to stop working with pornographers (see the July 28 post), they continue to do so. I really have to question what this company is all about, and what their true motives are.

With over nine years of experience as a fulltime professional consultant in the website design, development and hosting business, I am well qualified to comment on this and, in my opinion, the folks at Spread the Word ministry have done a poor job handling this situation. In my opinion, there is no excuse for what happened, and for the time that has passed without full resolution of the problem. At this point, I have no confidence in their ability to operate the Spread the Word bookstore business at the proper level of service I believe is necessary.

In addition to the technical/logistical/managerial problems, I am convinced the only way most people (other than very large ministries who might sell a lot of books) can make money is by signing up other bookstore owners, which might be construed as a pyramid. (Click here for the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Information page.) I don't like multi-level marketing plans (MLM) because, in most cases, the only people making a lot of money are the ones at the top of the pyramid. Keep in mind that I make thousands of dollars every month with my online businesses, so I believe I am well qualified to evaluate the money-making potential of home based business opportunities. Make sure your read my article on Christian MLM (click here).

Sure, the "worst-case scenario" is that you simply buy books and other products for yourself at discounted prices, but you can get the same discounted prices elsewhere without spending money to buy a home based business.

My last comment is their refund policy. They now only give you 72 hours to request a refund (it used to be one year); that's only three days. Their policy states, "Establishing a Spread The Word storefront is a significant decision and
initiates several activities to establish your storefront. Due to the administrative and technical actions initiated by your decision to establish a storefront, Spread The Word supports a 72-hour refund policy." The biggest administrative action? Putting $470 into the compensation plan which gives money back to bookstore owners (the ones who sell bookstores and lots of books). Technically, they're using a turnkey site model that should take virtually no effort at all to create your website (it's should be almost completely automated). In my opinion, the 72 hour refund policy is insufficient, because is does not give you enough to time properly evaluate the company's performance, and it pretty much guarantees that you're stuck once you sign up, even if the company fails to provide good service.

Save your money and try one of my recommended home based business opportunities instead (see the links at the top left). They all cost much less and offer greater potential.

Attention Unhappy SpreadTheWord Bookstore Owners:

If you are (or were) a Spread The Word bookstore owner, and you're not satisfied with it, please click here to tell me about your experience. I will keep a list of SpreadTheWord.com bookstore owners for possible future use. You information will not be used in any way other than to contact you regarding this situation. I will not share your information with anyone else without your permission. A number of unhappy Spread the Word bookstore owners have already provided their infomation, so you are not alone.

Check out my recommended Christian Business Opportunities:

• #1 Pick: Christian Bookstore
• Local/Long Distance
• Cell Phone Service
• Calling Cards

Not recommended:

• 30 Fold Bookstore