We will announce this week the opening of 2 new Tradia ® operations in the USA based on the no upfront investment concept revealed on March 9, 2010.  This gives a qualified professional person the chance to develope a Tradia ® Franchise without an investment and buy it at a later date removing all risk to an entrepreneur.  The price is locked in for a 24 month period with the initial entity wanting to build and purchase later.  (Over time, depending on changing circumstances, the price for each Tradia ® franchise may vary.)  In the meantime, Tradia ® builds new offices increasing its membership of small business owners.  We encourage a home-based launch in most markets and especially in the smaller communities.

Tradia ® currently has 12 possible new office openings in progress due to this offering.  We are considering that all potential franchises in the future follow this format to increase training knowledge, customer service skills, profits and eliminate the risk to a potential franchise owner.  We get more time to grow together and guarantee the compatibility between us all.  In this difficult economic turn, we also see this as an appropriate offer considering so many talented people do not have the financial resources to purchase a franchise regardless of the opportunity at hand.   We believe this will be a record year for the growth of Tradia ®, our database and the Tradia ® Trade Exchange system.

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.

With the current financial challenges we all face and the uncertainty of where we are going, the one thing we can control is our growth for the future.  Tradia ® has plans to add 20 new franchises in North America for 2010.  We already know of 5 confirmed franchise sales that will open in 2010 so really, we only need to reach for an additional 15 to meet our goals.  We're prepared to handle a few more new operations than we anticipate, however, we do want to control the quality of the training and the success of each new franchise.  Their success is more important than adding twice the number of new franchises for the coming year.  Happy and successful franchisee's bring more potential franchisee's to our banquet table.

If you need help franchising or believe you would like to franchise your idea, we would be happy to introduce you to our franchise advisor and friend, Doug Smith of Franchise Smith, LLC.  Sometimes you have to toss ideas around with others who've paid the price already and can save you thousands of hours and dollars on your ideas.  The things we've learned in our efforts to franchise can and will save you much of the frustration we experienced when we made the decision to franchise Tradia ®.  Our advice is free and our introductions are as well.  If we can help you, we will.  If you like the idea of trading in the future, we hope you will use Tradia ® as your chosen Trade Exchange.

Remember that good ideas are abundant and great ideas are the ones that work best.  We can also introduce you to some of our marketing consultants that can help you determine if your idea is worth taking to another level.  One of the unique parts we can offer is that most of our associates are willing to trade with you for the advice you need.  Tradia ® is in the business of brokering trades so you can keep your money in your pocket for other things.  If this could be helpful, let us know or visit our website at www.tradia.net.

Why Pay Cash When you Can Tradia ? ®

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.