The Pros and Cons of Team Surfing

Team Surfing is the new thing. Started by Royal Surf, and since then taken on by several other traffic exchanges. The author surfs at Traffic Era and is a member of a team there. Here are some thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of surfing as a team member.

There are two huge advantages to being a member of a good team. If the team habitually wins races, the increase in credits from that win can be substantial. Our team has at times won over 100,000 credits to be divided between the team members. That equals a few hours of surfing and is helpful when you need the credits to do your advertising.

The other main advantage is company. As any surfer can tell you, surfing on your own can get very boring at times, and it can be very interesting to meet people from different sides of the world in real time and carry on conversations with them whilst surfing. On Traffic Era are some very famous names in internet marketing, and you are able to converse with them and learn from them if you are fortunate enough to be on their team. But even those less famous and rich have information that can help other members of the team, and many downlines in other traffic exchanges are probably started within the team.

There are however disadvantages. The very same sociability that can make surfing in a team so pleasurable, can also at times be very irritating. Chat can be distracting when you are trying to surf fast or surf several exchanges at the same time. You may not like everyone who is on the team, and though it seems strange to say, you may take an immediate dislike to someone you have never met and probably never will meet, after just a couple of sentences of conversation.

The main disadvantage however, particularly in a competitive team, is that you always feel you are letting the team down when you want to go do something normal, like walk the dog or eat your dinner. As there are continual races, the thought of leaving the team to go to work or sleep, can be very daunting. This may seem strange and I would never have believed it, but I found myself with piles of dirty dishes, a dog that hardly knew me anymore and a family and friends that greeted me like a long-lost stranger. Luckily I now have reached a stage of being able to be less obsessed with letting my team down but it took a bit of time.

To anyone contemplating joining a team, I would say - check whether the team has a quota of number of hours or PV (personal point volume) that it wants you to achieve and that you feel that you can reach that requirement. If you can, fine - join that team. If not, there are teams that do not require you to reach certain targets and are more social in nature. These can be ideal just to alleviate the boredom of surfing and at the same time allow you to make new friends across the world.

I would certainly still join the team I am with now, even knowing what I know, but make sure you leave time for family, friends and normal social life at the same time.

By: Osiris
Published: 07/05/08