Barter, Trade, Exchange

When starting out as a self-employed service provider, especially in a difficult economy, you are often faced with clients who need your services, want to hire you, but are unable to pay you in cash. In your eagerness to start doing what you really love to do, the temptation to lower your price or give your service away is irresistible – and dangerous.

The danger of giving away your service is that it tends to devalue what you offer in the mind of the receiver. As an alternative, consider non-money transactions such as barter (exchange of goods and services in kind) or pro-bono (as a gift, freely offered).

The advantage of creating a barter or pro-bono arrangement is that you can gain experience right away. Creating momentum around your business is very important, so the more clients you have, the better. The biggest disadvantage is that a barter or pro-bono arrangement can be a trap, because it is very difficult to grow a successful livelihood based only on barter or pro-bono, because there is no positive cash flow. And isn’t that why you’re in business anyways, to make a living doing what you love?

It is possible to create barter arrangements that work for you and for your client, if you are prudent and clear about what you want. Successful solopreneurs know that they deserve to be well compensated for the results they create for their clients. Here are ten tips to create and maintain a successful barter or pro-bono arrangement that results in a win-win outcome for both you and your client.

1. Barter is a commercial transaction where you accept goods or services in lieu of money.

This is the Golden Rule of successful barter. Barter is a commercial transaction, with all of the privileges and responsibilities attached to it. You simply accept that the client provide you with goods and services instead of cash. You are the supplier, you set a price for your offerings, and the client proposes to compensate you with goods or services of equal value to the cash price you set. You have the final say as to whether what is offered in barter is agreeable to you. You do not have to accept barter or pro-bono.

2. Be choosy, reserve barter or pro-bono for special cases or as a last resort.

For many people, spending money for an intangible result is the hardest act they can do. Make sure that your clients are not offering barter simply because they are not really ready to commit to results, or because they are trying to take advantage of you. If a client is not able or willing to pay money, it is a strong signal that they are not ready to make a real commitment to you, even though they might really need your help. There should be a very compelling reason for you to work with them for barter or pro-bono: a unique situation where you can gain a lot of experience (far more than usual), because working with this client would give you prestige, or because you can build your business on the references that this particular barter work would give you.

3. The client should offer in barter something that you really need.

Does the barter offer replace something or some service that you already use, saving you time, effort and money? If you regularly pay for massage therapy, and a prospective client offers massage therapy in barter for your services, then it is real barter, since you can redirect your money and see real savings. But if you don’t ordinarily go to massage therapy, then basically you are giving away your services for nothing (is that how much you value your services?). The most effective barter arrangements provide you with the goods and services that you need, in a way that works for you, first, and the client, second. If what you need is not what the client offers in the normal course of the client’s business, then it is up to the client to go out of their way to provide you with something that you really need (see point #4).

4. What the client offers in barter must represent a substantial commitment on their part.

The client should offer something that requires additional time and effort to create specially for you – it must represent a substantial commitment on their part. If your client makes pies and offers you free pie for your services, this is not a substantial commitment on their part, because they will not be as invested in creating results as you are. The barter must represent for them a visible, conscious commitment, but not extreme hardship. When they are providing you with the goods or services, the barter client must be mindful of the real purpose of the barter. Use your judgment. After all, you are giving up time, money and effort, and you are doing them a favor by accepting barter.

5. Keep the barter/pro-bono relationship business-like.

A big pitfall of pro-bono or barter arrangements is that the commercial nature of the transaction tends to get blurred, and emotions become involved. Create a written, signed contract and issue an invoice for the full amount. Have your barter client do the same. The two invoices should cancel out. Then exchange signed, cashable checks made out to each other on the same date (the date of payment). Issue receipts for the transaction, then cash the checks at the same time. Declare the value of barter transaction as income (for what your barter partner paid you) and expense (for what you paid your barter partner). Pay all applicable fees and taxes, this will keep the taxman happy and encourage you to evolve the relationship to a cash basis as soon as possible. You will perceive yourself to have a real business, not a hobby, and your business will grow much faster. Your client will be reminded of the nature of the barter. It will also be easier for you to maintain the professional-client relationship.

6. Measure your effort in the relationship proportionately to the value of the exchange to the client.

What the client offers in barter has value to the client, but not necessarily to you. Your time and energy is limited and valuable to you, but not necessarily to your client. You have to measure the real value of the barter goods in the client’s mind, something that the client would not normally think of. Don’t make the error of counting the retail value of the barter goods. A fairer assessment would be to consider the wholesale or bulk value of the goods. Make sure you don’t give more effort to the client than what they pay for. This does not respect the value you place on yourself, and it cheapens what you have to offer. It then becomes a lose-lose situation that can end in resentment or hurt feelings.

7. At the beginning of the relationship, set a time limit or conditions to the barter or pro-bono.

You are in business to create a livelihood for yourself, so sooner or later you need to convert the barter relationship to cash. At the beginning of the relationship, in the written contract, specify a time limit to the barter relationship (guideline: no more than 60 days), and specific results that must be attained to maintain the barter relationship. Make sure that the conditions lock the client to the results and the time period, considering even a cash penalty payable to you if the client terminates the deal early (remember, you want to make sure the client is fully committed to working with you). Make timelines short and results tangible and measurable. The client has to see the real worth of what you can provide. Finally, the barter agreement should allow you (and only you) to terminate the relationship at anytime or to ask for cash instead of barter at any stage of the transaction.

8. Make it clear paying clients come first, and barter/pro-bono clients second.

You are offering your livelihood to create results for your client. Other clients who are ready to pay money deserve higher priority and attention. You are doing the client a favor by accepting barter, and this arrangement should not limit the growth of your business in any way. Barter clients get the privilege of your surplus time or resources that are not otherwise committed to your paying clients or to yourself. Don’t overextend yourself for your barter clients. Actually, this tip should read: yourself first, paying clients second, and barter/pro-bono clients get what’s left.

9. Keep control of the situation.

Barter clients are not regular clients. Barter is NOT a two way street: the client is offering goods or services in kind for your services, instead of paying by cash. You do not become a customer of the client because you accept barter. Failing to remember this cheapens the relationship and works against you. Make sure the barter does not get out of hand: you deserve to be well-paid for the results that you create. This is a favor you extend to the barter client. As soon as you see that the barter client is not as committed to the relationship as he/she was at the beginning, you should seriously consider ending the relationship.

10. Create low-cost opportunities for participation for clients who do not have enough cash to pay your full rate.

Create options that can help lots of people at once, in ways that don’t require as much investment of your time, money and energy. Options such as teleclasses, free introductory workshops, group coaching, newsletters, etc can still help people who don’t have, or are not ready to commit, money for your most valuable services. Clients who spend time in your group activities also become longer term and more valuable customers, since they will get to know you and understand how you operate and what you have to offer. Reserve your most valuable time and energy for clients who are willing to fully commit their time, money and effort to have you help them create powerful results in their lives. Creating a “tiered” structure of offerings will ensure that the right people will come to you at the right time, ready to pay you what you deserve for a successful livelihood. And if this does not satisfy the client, say no and look elsewhere. There are always people who value what you offer and who are ready to pay you the rate you deserve!

With the economy slumping for some, professional sales people to small business owners are always looking for some quick, simple sales coaching tips s to rev up those slumping sales.

Increase your energy: To sell means that you must meet and greet new people. When your energy levels are low, your body language projects those low levels of energy. Take some time to take an early morning walk or visit the gym. The other plus is you are probably reducing future health costs. Leverage your Home Office: Much in sales involves making telephone calls to now sending emails. After that early morning walk, take time to make those early morning calls or late evening calls especially if you have a national territory. Create Urgency: Just as vendors offer cash discounts for paying early, create some urgency by offering special pricing or bundling some of your best selling products or services. Look for Low-Hanging Fruit: As one colleague once said: We drive by more business than we will ever have. Local conferences to trade shows are great places to connect with potential customers. Now with your travel costs reduced, your bottom line will increase. Clean Out Old Business Cards: One survey by the National Sales Executives Association suggested that almost 50% of all leads are not followed up. How many business cards do you have stuffed in pockets, drawers or near your computer? Take time to call those potential leads. Cost reduction is that you need not pay for new leads or spend more time prospecting because you have gold in those piles of business cards. Barter: Years ago bartering was an acceptable established practice. Possibly by trading your goods or services with other businesses may increase the bottom line because you are reducing costs. Actively Listen: By actively listening to the needs of your clients, you can more accurately provide products and services that meet their needs. This action could effectively reduce inventory.

How to increase sales is a re-combination of some existing sales skills along with changing how you view your role as a sales professional. Remember, by changing your thoughts, you can change your sales results.

When you’re first beginning to trade forex, the very first thing to understand is how to read forex chart. You have to learn how to read the charts in order to understand the current, real-time foreign exchange market. In forex, you’re dealing with currency pairs which means EURUSD is a pair between euro and U.S. dollar. With EURUSD, EUR is the base and shows how many terms you can buy with a single base currency. For example, if the EURUSD is listed at 1.1184 it means the pair is bouncing around that rate and any investment you make would place you around 1.1184 U.S. dollars per euro.

It’s also equally important to watch the charts to be able to identify what time frame the chart is currently in. It is extremely important to know how to read forex chart. There are 4 hour, 30minute and even 1 minute charts and you do not want to get them confused. You do need to decide which particular chart is the right one for you. Once you choose a currency pair, you will be paying the ask rate. When you sell you will be using the bid rate. After that, you need to decide what your entry and exit will be. Your exit should be higher than the current bid rate only if you are shooting for the long position. If you want the short position, your exit should be lower than the bid rate.

First and foremost, pay attention to world economics. If the EURUSD is a pair you’re dealing with you’ll want to be aware of when Europe and the Eastern U.S. is open for business and economic information that can impact the value. It is worth the time to learn how to read forex chart.

First You need an attractive domain name. Many names are already taken, but there are still many available.

Second You need a website. You can find a web template for Your website. These are cheap. You need to have at least HTML coding experience to run this template as a website. You need to update it with the texts and images, prices, etc.

Third You need Metatrader Trade Copier Software. This is what Forex traders are looking for these days, a Forex Signal Service with autotrading. No one can sit in from of computer all day. So autotrading is a must to offer on Your website.

One team of programmers offer all solutions to start your signal service. This team of Metatrader MQL programmers have all the tools you need. They can help you start a website with your chosen web template. They can include PayPal payment buttons on your website and make the website run independently. Trade copier software is offered on their website. This means that when you will trade your account, your customers will get exact same trades as you run. You can even run some ea on your trading platform and trade copier will copy all these trades to your clients platforms. Trade copier software can be used on 100s even 1000s client platforms at the same time.

This is much better than to sell your profitable trading strategy or profitable expert advisor (EA) online. Imagine to have 100 clients with monthly payment of 100$ each, that is 100 x 100 = 10,000$ USD every month.

Remember the story about Kyle McDonald who traded a Red Paperclip for a House? It actually took him a year and 14 trades to trade up to a house, but he did it. He started with a Red Paperclip that he traded for an ink pen, ink pen for a doorknob, doorknob for a camping stove, camping stove for a generator, generator for a beer keg and Budweiser sign, beer keg and sign for a snowmobile, snowmobile for a trip to British Columbia, trip for a moving van, moving van for a recording contract, contract for a year of free rent in Phoenix, free rent for an afternoon with Alice Cooper, afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS snow globe, KISS snow globe for a role in a movie and the movie role for a house.

If you sell an item on an auction website for say ten dollars, it is hard to trade the ten dollars for something of much greater value because ten dollars is worth the same thing to everyone. You can gain more value for your item by just trading items with someone else. You just have to find that right person. Internet websites give you an online place to find that right person to trade with and make these kinds of trades.

We all have stuff that we no longer want or need. Why not use it to trade for something else you really want. Look around the house and in the garage. Turn your unwanted items into something great.