Bartering for Business

When you first begin your business chances are you have very little money to move your business forward. The exception is that you already have a ton of money already at your disposal or you have taken out a loan. If that's the case you can still benefit from what I'm about to share to help you to save the money you already have.

There's a cool thing called bartering your services for that of another. There's no money exchanged but make sure to get a written contract drawn up so that there are no misunderstandings about the bartering services.

If you view the chart above you will see an example of bartering among different industries. To further explain bartering let's say for example you have started a website design business and you need advertising to give your business some exposure. You could reach out to an advertising business and "exchange" services with them. You would design or offer to enhance their website and in turn they would provide you with some free advertising on their website or other form of media.

The important thing to know about bartering is that while it can be a successful relationship with another business, make sure that the services they are offering you are of equal value to you. Once you have come to a mutual agreement on the type of services bartered, length of time etc, with the other company, bartering can be very successful for you both.

Count the Cost

Before becoming an entrepreneur in action, there is one thing you must do if you are going to succeed. Before you go out and rent office space, before you go shopping for supplies and buying advertising, you MUST count the cost.

Any venture that is entered into should always begin with counting the cost. Now when I say counting the cost, I am not necessarily talking about the monetary cost. While ensuring that you have the proper financing in place is very important, BEFORE you even do that, you need to count the cost of how much time you are going to need to work on your business, how much time are you going to have to take away from your family and other things you need to and want to do. You also need to count the cost of how much sleep you may need to lose.

When starting your own business working from home or even outside of the home, you will need time to plan your business (create a business plan or have one done for you). What are your goals, short term and long term? You will need time to educate yourself and familiarize yourself with your market and your competitors.

The Bible says in Luke 14:28, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it" This is very wise advice that can be applied to anything you do in life but especially with respect to starting a business.

Until next time...