Before money was invented people traded or bartered for everything.  In a bad economy, you can still use the barter concept to your advantage to do more business and save money.  Many people offer their service to another party for a trade of goods or services in return.  This is the most common method people use and it's still a good idea today.  If you need something and can't afford it, offer to do a trade to get it.  The other party might say yes and if they do, you just got what you needed without spending any money AND you got a new client at the same time.  The old adage; "nothing ventured, nothing gained" is still true.  Ask people to do trades with you and see what happens.  Be careful not to trade too much because barter is reportable revenue in the eyes of the IRS and your cash flow is more important than the amount of trades you do each year so watch your total annual volume and only do 10% or less of your annual volume in barter or trade.

Many business and professional people look for a barter exchange group to trade with and there can be some advantages to this.  If you have a large amount of available inventory of products or time, consider meeting with and interviewing a barter exchange company to do trades with.  ASk them specific questions about how long they've been in business, how many participating members they have and whats available to your company if you open a barter account with them.  Make no assumptions and ask for references of happy members.  IF you do join a barter exchange system, they can bring you new clients, help you increase your advertising and branding without spending money, network you in the business community for more contacts and more cash clients and more.  Tradiin on your own can work as long as both parties agree.  with a barter exchange system, trade dollars are used to buy and sell with so every time you trade something, there's a dollar value placed on the trade and trade dollars go from the buyers account to the sellers account just like a checking account works at your bank but among the barter members only.

Barter can work for you in a bad economy to get more clients and save your cash every time you trade for something that you want or need.  If you are an individual and not a business owner, what do you have to trade?  A used car, truck, boat, motorcycle, mountain bikes, tools, collectibles, real estate, timeshares, furniture, antiques, excercize equipment and a host of skills / services that you have talent for can be offered as a trade for something you want.  Depending on what you have to trade will help determine if a barter exchange makes sence for you to join.  www.tradia.net ® is one choice for a barter exchange system to consider.

Not often but occasionally I have a wishful thought; that every single business entrepreneur / small business could all get quiet for a moment to hear a message.  As a Tradia Member or a member of any barter exchange group that understands how to make charitable contributions using non-cash or barter/trade currency.  For 2009, you can join Tradia, trade some of your unsold inventory, bank the trade credits, pay them to a charity and take a charitable contribution dollar for dollar as if it was cash.

Additionally, why not open a trade account with a reputible barter exchange.  They send you new client immediately.  They start finding you the products and services you need so you can trade for them instead of using cash.  You can then trade for more advertising to drive more cash business in your doors.  Every time you use your barter exchange dollars to buy something, your money stays in your pocket.  These are some valid reasons that many people should have a Tradia or trade exchange account.

Aside from the obvious benefits of donating our time and money to a cause we believe in, there are tax benefits as well.  What most people don't realize is how to offer a larger contribution without using money at all.

Bartering your excess time or inventory and donating some of that credit is a great way to keep more of your money instead of giving it to Uncle Sam needlessly.  I'm not saying that taxes are all bad, I'm saying we get the chance to keep more of our money depending on how many expenses we have for that tax year.  We get the opportunity to write-off losses, list expenses and contributions and it's all legal.  This applies to all small business & entrepreneurs as well as large corporations.

Many Tradia® Members have taken advantage of this concept.  Some members donate large sums of Tradia® Dollars to various 501c3 corporations and the IRS allows a dollar-for-dollar contribution if you use barter dollars from a legitimate barter / trade exchange system.  This is one of the many advantages of maintaining a barter account with a trade exchange.

A small hotel chain could barter unsold rooms accumulating Tradia® Dollars into their Tradia® account.  As a separate transaction, that same hotel chain can make a charitable contribution and list the entire amount on their tax records.  The hotel fills several empty rooms, finds new clients and uses some of the barter currency to help a charity bringing more good media exposure to the hotel chain.  Everyone wins and it is all made possible due to the trade exchange and a hotel with more empty rooms than they would wish for.  Barter allows the hotel to fill empty rooms as they see fit.

There are 5 reasons that a small business or entrepreneur would open a Tradia® account.

1) Immediate New Barter Customers.

2) New Cash Referrals from the New Barter Customers.

3) Additional Advertising Budget using New Barter Dollars.

4) New Cash Customers from New Advertising Budget & Campaign

5) Every Time You Use Tradia® Dollars to buy something, Your Money Stays in Your Pocket.

We found it necessary to assume the operations of 3 Tradia® Franchises across the USA.  By taking them over and reorganizing the staff and operations, we anticipate a smooth transition and steady growth of both membership and monthly trade volumes.  Sometimes, you have to step back before you leap forward.  As a franchise system, Tradia® can not allow inconsistency or the value of each Tradia® Franchise suffers.

Tradia® Corporate saw the need to step-in on these franchises in an effort to better serve the Tradia® members, build our brand and produce profits on a consistent basis.  In the past we merged existing barter groups into Tradia® and inherited all kinds of pre-existing personalities and attitudes.  Tradia® no longer seeks to merge other barter groups without a franchise fee to reduce the turnaround of staff members and franchisees.  With a monetary investment, the quality of franchise candidates improves.

We realize it takes all kinds of people to populate a world.  Tradia® is looking for a specific model from a time-tested system.  We want the Tradia® experience to be fantastic regardless of what city, state or country you visit.  With these franchise acquisitions, Tradia® has taken a giant step in the right direction.  We would rather have less offices and a great experience than be a large company with mediocre customer satisfaction.  We have a long way to go to meet our own expectations.  Our pace just got faster.