Using Barter to Grow

Barter exchanges can help you build your business without spending a lot of cash.

Jake Kaestner wanted his five-person landscaping company to grow, but he didn't have much money to invest in the business. In 2005, after hearing about ITEX, a national barter exchange, Kaestner, founder of Kaestner Lawn Care in St. Peters, Mo., gave it a try. On barter exchanges, members earn barter dollars by doing work for each other. So Kaestner's $500,000 company did about $4,000 worth of landscaping at the home of another exchange member, a massage therapist. Kaestner turned around and used those barter dollars--currency good only between members of the exchange--to buy advertising in a local paper. "I didn't do any advertising before because it gets expensive," he says. Kaestner has since used barter dollars to buy advertising in local magazines, newspapers, and coupon books.
Whether by working through an exchange or directly with another company, bartering can help you boost your business without spending a lot of cash. Barter can be great for startups as well as for seasonal businesses or those with excess capacity.

I thought of my uncle whose company went bankrupt a couple of years ago. He used to earn a lot of money, however, at the moment he is broke. He was so depressed at first and didn't try to do anything. Then after a while he started a small business that didn't go well. He used to be a chairperson of a huge company so he didn't want to have his sleeves up and work from the beginning. I think what my uncle needed was something like 'barter' to develop his company even if it would have been slow. I think every good marketer should always be ready to do hard work If put in that kind of situation.

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20700308 Chris Bang