Dan Ventura :: Blog

A busy restaurant always appears “friendlier” than an empty one. I know that when I step into a restaurant and see no customers my immediate reaction is “what’s wrong here?” Whether it is occupied with relatives of the owner, or cash-paying customers or trade members, it’s GOT to look full of activity! One easy way to keep the tables occupied is to open your business to new clients. By opening your business up to a trade exchange you invite trade exchange members (other businesses much like you) to come eat at your restaurant! They spend their trade dollars with you, their cash tip dollars with you, and they keep your restaurant busy.

The Value of Trade Dollars versus cash.

In my first blog I talked about what a trade organization is and why it makes sense for a small business to use one. In this blog I’ll talk about how trade helps with my expenses.

Let’s say you are paying your bills at the end of the week. You’ve got a pile of invoices that total $1,000. You had to earn $1,000 to pay those bills, right?

How Small Businesses Use Trade to Start and Grow Their Business.

I am really excited to talk about a concept that all small business owners should know about but surprisingly few do. Barter.Some years ago I was approached by a representative of a reputable barter club to join their network and offer my product on a trade basis. I was stunned; this was the very first time EVER that I had been introduced to the concept of “barter”. I was the operator of a 90-room hotel in Beverly Hills for over 12 years and NEVER had the idea to try this business tool. Never had anyone approached me to do a “trade”. I was intrigued so I looked into it. Some years later when I started my own small business this little piece of knowledge helped me to get my business started using cash and trade dollars. Without the trade dollars I would not have been able to afford printing those nice new menus, or putting in new electrical and plumbing. HUGE!

So what is “trade” and how can it help me with my small business?

Everyone knows the concept of barter, I’ll trade you my P & J sandwhich for your Snickers candy bar. Simple. But in business it’s not so easy to trade my deli sandwhich for a plumbing job I need done. By joining a trade organization it becomes simple. The concept is; you sell your products or services to other members of the trade organization for ‘trade dollars’. These trade dollars go into your trade bank account. You can now spend those dollars on any goods and services you need. Where do I find the goods and services I need? In the trade organization membership. These are businesses just like you offering their goods and services on trade.

How does that help my business?

Most businesses operate on cash, and that will never change. Trade dollars work to give your small business another tool to make money and grow your business. By joining a trade organization I was able to market my restaurant through the membership and grow my customer base by offering to sell meals on trade to other members of the trading community. I earned trade dollars which I used to print new menus and put in new plumbing and electrical. The membership trading community I joined is a large and reputable one, ITEX. They have a large member base who love to eat out, so I saw immediate results. And I was able to easily find plumbers and electricians in their member community to do the work I needed. How simple is that!? And what a relief. I was able to get my new business going without having all the cash I really needed.

If you have a trade story you’d like to share or a question you’d like to ask just click on the “Comments” link and blog away!

Next week I’ll talk about how trade helped me with my expenses.