November 12, 2024 • 20 mins
What if improving your podcasting skills could double your marketing impact? Join me, Trader Stu, as I share my personal journey of navigating the ups and downs of podcast production. From battling audio glitches to realizing the balance between comfort and sound quality, my story is filled with lessons learned and practical tips to help you avoid the common pitfalls of budding podcasters like myself. Discover how embracing imperfection and focusing on simplicity can lead to a more authentic and effective podcasting experience.
But that's not all—our conversation takes a turn toward exploring the power of bartering, a potent strategy for businesses facing economic challenges. Uncover how joining trade associations can help you conserve cash, utilize your resources more effectively, and grow your network without a dime. By leveraging barter systems, businesses—whether in service industries or startups—can access essential goods and services, reduce debt collection woes, and even offset marketing costs. With real-life examples and actionable strategies, we explore how bartering can be your secret weapon to maintain operations and thrive when financial resources are tight. Tune in to elevate your entrepreneurial game by mastering both podcasting and bartering in these trying times.
“Whistles In The West” was written, recorded, and produced by Durracell, exclusively for use with Trader Stu’s platform, always rocking the cowboy hat. The track is protected under U.S. Copyright rights to use have been granted specifically to Trader Stu for content and promotional use related to his brand and media presence.
contact:
📧 durracellmusic@gmail.com
🌐 www.durracell.com
The thoughts and views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and do not reflect the official policy or position of Metro Trading Association. Although the host is an employee of Metro Trading, this podcast is intended to educate entrepreneurs on the benefits of professional trading, regardless of their location. Additionally, the host reviews various pieces of camping gear due to the association of trade, barter, and prepping.
Thanks for listening to The Trading Post Podcast!
Find all our important links—including our LinkedIn, MetroTrading.com, and Michigan Renaissance Festival info—at:
https://linktr.ee/traderstu
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© 2025 The Trading Post Podcast. All rights reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello entrepreneurs, and thanks for downloading the
third episode of the tradingpost.
I am Trader Stu, I think, atleast for the first few episodes
, or maybe this will be a thing.
I'm going to go over some ofthe issues I have while creating
these podcasts in the verybeginning.
That way, if you're looking atusing podcasts to market your
business as well, that's goingto be like the new thing they're
saying right now is usingpodcasts to promote and market
(00:21):
your business.
Then I'm going to go over someof the issues I have because
maybe it'll save you some time.
If you want to just skip thebeginning and you don't plan on
using podcast to promote yourbusiness, then skip to this
minute marker, six minute marker, and we'll be good to go.
And after I'm done recording,I'll come back and put the
minute and second here where youneed to go, all right.
(00:44):
So the issue I had the lastepisode if you're one of the few
who downloaded it before Icaught it it's about wondering
or it's about the audio.
That's what happened.
The audio was pretty bad.
I listened to a little bit onmy laptop when I was editing it
and speakers are not, of course,as great as what happened in my
car.
So I was a little unsure aboutthe audio.
(01:06):
But I'm trying to get over myperfectionist issues to where,
as probably most of you are,you'll get kind of locked up
because you want something to beperfect and then you just end
up never going forward with it.
And that's kind of where I am.
I would rather have the mostperfect audio and the most I had
when I was doing camera andYouTube.
(01:26):
I wanted the best you know,shots and video, and it just
never got published, never gotuploaded, and what good was that
, you know.
So I'm trying to get over thatand, uh, I'm kind of either I'm
all in or I'm all out kind of aguy.
So if I don't, um, if I can'tbe a perfectionist, then I just
kind of hit, screw it, and I'mlike, well, now I'll just upload
anything.
But then there's a point towhere I just can't.
(01:48):
I can't handle it.
So the speakers in my car whenI was listening to it, uh, it
sounded really tinny.
Um, when I was had it, when Ihad it edited with the audio,
and it kind of hurt my ears, uh,so I didn't like and I just
wasn't, I couldn't deal with it.
So I unpublished it and I had tochange the title.
(02:09):
And what happened was I'm usingCamtasia software and also
there's a Buzzsprout programthat I'm utilizing, called Magic
Mastering and that also filtersthe audio.
So I think what happened was Idouble filtered the audio and it
made it sound completelyterrible and unlistenable to me.
(02:29):
So I had to go back in toCamtasia, remove the filter and
then re-upload it intoBuzzsprout.
And because I couldn't removethe audio filtering out of
Buzzsprout, once you buy thatprogram, if you have any other
episodes that have utilized thatmagic mastering, you have to
(02:50):
get rid of it on those episodesas well, re-upload them or
whatever I don't even know howit works and then you can remove
that from there.
Otherwise you have to just dealwith it.
And so I just did it onCamtasia, since I already owned
Camtasia.
So lesson learned I'm going totry and not use filtering in
this episode and even though I'mrecording it not in my sauna,
(03:15):
which is the sauna studio that Ihave all the padding in there
to try and remove the noise, Ihave it in my office now at work
.
The reason why I did that withtrying to get out of the sauna
studio, it's really dim,uncomfortable and it makes it so
.
It's so quiet, it makes me noteven want to project my voice
because when I do then it kindof reverberates off the walls
(03:36):
because it's still not thatsoundproof.
So you know, now I have to dealwith the air blowing from the
vents in the ceiling in myoffice.
But I think that'll be betterbecause I have this new sound
foam thing that goes around themicrophone.
Hopefully that does remove thatnoise.
We'll find out, I guess, soonenough.
That being said, lesson learnedLuckily I caught it before too
(03:58):
many listened to it and theepisodes are too old.
Now's the time to learn.
If you're trying to get intopodcasting to market your
business, you know, just do it,hit record, try it, and I mean
you're only going to have adozen or so people listening to
it at the time anyway.
So don't worry about it, getover it and don't be a
perfectionist.
And the more you do it, thebetter you'll get.
And you'll get better equipmentand be able to maybe reinvest
(04:21):
into it, which I hope I get tobe at someday where I can start
getting some sponsors and adsand make a little side income
money off of this.
That'd be kind of cool.
Plus, I found out that thefailure rate for podcasting is I
looked it up 99% failure ratefor releasing less than three
episodes.
So, that being said, this is mythird episode.
I've already gotten past the99% failure rate for releasing
(04:45):
less than three.
So and I get it because you'rein your head, it sounds good.
You're like, oh yeah, I'm goingto be a podcaster.
And then you know, you buy yourmic and you get your computer
and all that stuff, and then youdo it and you realize how time
consuming it is.
That being said, I'd like toget to the point to where I can
have somebody edit these for meand maybe even use their sound
studio and then record maybefour episodes all at one time
(05:06):
and upload them throughout themonth.
So, as of right now, I'm in thetop 1% of podcasters, it seems,
because I am now past thatfailure rate.
All right, so let's get into it.
Last week, I mentioned that Iwanted to talk about businesses
and recessions and, depending onhow you talk to about
recessions, we're fine or we, Idon't know.
I got laid off of my job backin January, so I wouldn't say
(05:42):
that we're doing great as anation, but you know, I'm also
getting a lot of business ownerssaying that people won't show
up to work, so people aregetting money from somewhere.
I guess I don't know.
Either way, I'm not going toget into that.
So let's stay neutral and justtalk about why you should get
your business into a bartergroup before a recession hits.
(06:04):
So I say before, because oncethe recession's announced,
membership into barter groupsgoes up a lot.
Studies show about 20% increasein membership.
Applications go up into traders, trade groups or barter groups,
however you want to call them,once the recession is kind of
announced.
So why should you get in beforerecessions hit?
(06:26):
Businesses like yours mighthave already signed up.
So the thing with barter groupsis usually they have a rule
across the world from what I'veknown internationally, because
trade groups are everywhere,they only allow so many type of
a certain type of business perarea.
So let's just say a plumbershows up, signs up, and then you
(06:47):
know that area for that plumberis going to be reserved until
they get enough business.
It's kind of like joining a BNIgroup.
First and foremost, as usual,it preserves their cashflow.
Bartering allows you to tradeyour goods and services without
spending cash, which can becrucial during economic
downturns and when cash flowmight be tight.
Another cool thing is that youcan utilize your excess
inventory or time, and if it'stime, it's because you're in the
(07:12):
services industry Inventory, ofcourse, you have stock.
So if you have surplus stock orunderutilized services which is
your time bartering can helpyou convert those into valuable
resources without the need forliquidation at a loss.
So a lot of times you'll see,of course, end of year
liquidation sales and you kindof take a hit on that because
you're selling it at a prettysubstantial discount.
(07:33):
You get to expand your network,so joining a barter association
connects you with a network ofbusinesses.
Your network, so joining abarter association connects you
with a network of businesses,potentially leading you to new
partnerships and customer bases,and that's one of the reasons
why people love this.
You can be in a big city, butget the small town feel if you
join a barter association.
Maintain your operations duringa recession is important, so
(07:55):
maintaining business operationscan be challenging, though, and
bartering can help you acquirenecessary goods and services to
keep your business runningsmoothly.
And that's important, of course, too, because if you have your
employees, they got a family todeal with, of course, and
keeping your operations runninggives you some or gives them
confidence in you, I should say.
(08:16):
Another cool thing, a bulletpoint here I wrote down, is you
reduce your debt collectionissues.
Barter transactions involveimmediate exchanges, so that
reduces the need for debtcollection and improving your
overall financial health.
Another cool thing I wrote downwas buffers against economic
downturn.
So having established yourbarter relationships can provide
(08:36):
a buffer during your toughtimes.
It helps your business weatherthat storm more effectively.
Bartering can be beneficial fora wide range of businesses, but
some types of businesses do tendto gain more from it than
others.
The big one is, of course,anything that has time involved,
so plumbing, electricalhandyman.
(08:59):
Another no-brainer is really, Iguess you could say, for
joining a trade association isonce you're already open.
It costs you very little forproduct.
So that'd be like car washesRestaurants benefit heavily from
joining trade associations.
The big one that I'm trying toget involved with and I would
love to start going around andtalking to colleges and anyone
(09:23):
in the entrepreneurship or smallbusiness startup programs,
small businesses that arestarting up.
I don't know why it's so hardto talk to them about getting
into a trading association.
They usually have limited cashflow and using barter can save
them money while acquiring theirgoods and services.
So you know, the big thing Ihave when I talk to new
(09:47):
businesses is that I need cash.
I need cash.
I'm like, okay, I know, butlike here's what you got to
think about is what are youspending your money on to get
noticed right now?
Are you spending your money onto get noticed right now, and
can you do that by making moneyfirst?
Right, so they're like well, Igot to have cash to.
I need to put my business in acoupon book or the newspaper or
(10:10):
radio you know, insert marketingthing here.
Well, in your local trade group,your association Bayou probably
has either the company thatyou're looking at doing business
with or you know somebody elsewhich is just as effective,
probably.
Let's just say it costs you athousand bucks to run an ad for
a month.
Well, what's the likelihoodthat that's going to really pay
(10:33):
back?
I mean, how do you quantifythat, unless you have a coupon
code that lets you track, like Iknow I did ValPak once when I
had a gutter cleaning businessand they had a different phone
number that was on there, sothat way you could track how
much business or how many phonecalls you got from that and it
would auto-divert it to yourphone number.
Way you could track how muchbusiness or how many phone calls
(10:54):
you got from that and theywould auto-divert it to your
phone number.
So that's the only way I canthink of that.
You can track where that camefrom.
So, and that was cool and I didbenefit from that.
Valpak was very useful to me.
The only thing I didn't likeabout it was that they ended up
putting our ad in other areasthat I didn't want to service
(11:16):
because of the drive.
They were giving me guttercleaning jobs way up in the
Thumb of Michigan and I had toturn them down because it just
wasn't worth me driving whatever.
It was two, two and a halfhours round trip to go make a
few hundred bucks, a couplehundred bucks.
It just wasn't worth me tospend that on a Saturday to go
do that.
It was one of those things thatwas supposed to be just side
(11:39):
money, kind of like a beer moneyincome, not a primary objective
to try and pay rent.
But that's the only way you canquantify, that is with a
different phone number or acoupon code.
So why not join the tradingassociation to where you don't
really pay for that serviceuntil you get that money.
So if you are a cupcake shop andyou want to put an ad in it's a
thousand bucks join a tradingassociation.
(12:01):
They'll come in or go to atrade show, sell your services
or your cupcakes, I guess for athousand bucks, then turn around
and use that for your ad.
So not only did you get to payfor that ad with guaranteed
income, but now you got a wholebunch of people that are talking
about you to their friends andfamily who are not in trade.
So you also got quite a bitamount of marketing for that as
(12:25):
well.
You know, the hardest thing toget people to come into a new
shop is having people changetheir habits, and if you can do
that with other business ownersthat are in the trading
association because most people,except for sub accounts, are
all business owners then you'regoing to have that.
You know, new traffic frombusiness owners who are going to
(12:47):
tell other people about you,and that's the best kind of
advertising.
Obviously, service-basedbusinesses and companies that
offer services like marketingand graphic design, legal advice
, accounting can trade it forother needed services.
And that's the cool thing abouteven with this podcast is.
I'm reaching people I'mnoticing in California, kentucky
, north Carolina, texas, and notsaying that they're going to
(13:12):
sign up with Metro TradingAssociation.
But we do have people signed upin other areas outside of
Michigan and Ohio, which iswhere our main areas are,
because they can utilize theirdollars either way.
So we have one guy's a roofer,he's in Indiana, he'll drive up
to Michigan to do a big job onroofing for trade, up to
(13:36):
Michigan to do a big job onroofing for trade.
Then he uses his trade dollarsfor other things that are
outside of our organizationbecause we have a membership
into IRTA.
As I mentioned in one of myother podcasts or episodes, irta
is the International ReciprocalTrade Association, so he can
use his trade dollars for otherthings outside of our network
and it works really well for him.
If you're an accountant, cpa,whatever you can do.
All that's all online nowanymore.
(13:58):
You can get those digitallysent to you, all the paperwork
and then you just do it and thenyou're done.
We've had people come in fromColorado to do our trade show.
We're not just limited toSoutheast Michigan and Ohio,
toledo, ohio area, we havemembership everywhere.
Another bullet point I havewritten down here is to talk
about seasonal businesses.
(14:19):
Ah yes, here we are in theseason, the holiday season.
Those are the fluctuatingincome type businesses, of
course, pool, maintenance,holiday product sectors of
course, and you can use yourbartering to maintain your
operations during off-peak times.
So a lot of people in thetrading associations know that
(14:42):
they can.
Well, I guess they kind of havean insight in your business
because you can talk to them.
Like you know, I can't get toyou right now.
I wrote down this bullet pointtoo Hospitality travel.
So hotels, restaurants, travelagencies can trade
accommodations, meals and travelpackages for advertising,
maintenance or other services.
I don't know why every casino isnot looking to be in a trading
(15:05):
association.
They give away so much money totry and get you into the hotel
room, knowing that you're goingto spend all your money down in
the casino floor.
They're going to people aregoing to spend their money on
the casino floor.
So I'm trying to talk tocasinos in my area here in
Detroit.
We have a lot of the Indiancasinos up north, you know, and
(15:29):
I just don't really understandwhy it's so hard, because I
don't want to say it's ano-brainer, because that sounds
mean, but to put somebody inyour hotel room that's empty
with trade and then maybe justdon't kick them the $50 in
spending on the casino floorthat they usually do, like I
(15:49):
know I think it was Motor CityCasino, I was at.
You know you stay there at acertain day.
I think it was Motor CityCasino I was at.
You know you stay there acertain day, maybe, like not on
a weekend, and I think theywould kick you 20 bucks per
person to go spend on the casinofloor.
Well, instead of doing thatthat's 40 bucks per room for two
people Just take the $100 or120 bucks in trade dollars and
(16:09):
then, you know darn well, we'regoing to go downstairs and go on
the casino floor and spendmoney.
I don't know Either way.
What's the other one here?
Media companies and advertising.
So radio stations we have those.
We have tons of media companies, marketing firms, bartering and
advertising space for otherservices or products.
(16:29):
You have a magazine and youdon't have every area full.
Great opportunity to take sometrade dollars and find somebody
that can do that for you.
Now that's the other one withValPak.
It was hard to talk to somebodyover there about using, you
know, getting someone to dotrade with them for their
(16:50):
ValPaks, because I know, becauseI was a cash member before I
worked for the company or I wasactually between the times I
worked for the company when Ihad my gutter cleaning business
they're putting me for free inareas that I didn't ask for.
Well, you know why would you dothat?
I mean, I get why they did thatto make the ValPAC that you
need your ValPak filled with, orwhatever the case may be,
(17:12):
magazine, newspaper, etc.
Right.
Another one I have down here isconstruction and real estate.
(17:39):
These industries benefit frombartering materials, labor and
property management services.
Yeah, so, I just actuallysigned up.
A contractor yesterday who doesbathroom remodeling benefit
from bartering materials, labor,even property management
services, yeah so, uh, I justactually signed up a contractor
yesterday who does bathroomremodeling.
He does solar panels, uh, windgeneration.
I got one last one heree-commerce.
Well, yeah, I mean, um, I don'teven know why I wrote that
(18:00):
bullet point down, it's kind ofa redundant one.
But online businesses, ofcourse, you know, like I just
said, you can be anywhere,anywhere in America, and as long
as you can do something online,then you can check your trade
dollars.
We have members that aremembers of three different
trading associations.
Right, you can consider themour competitors because we do
the same thing.
But you know, it's kind of likegoing to McDonald's or Burger
(18:22):
King, if you want to compare itlike that, and they're usually
next to each other.
They both offer something foreverybody.
It's a little bit different,right?
I mean, in high school I wouldgo to Burger King and get the
Whopper and then go toMcDonald's and get a Coke and
fries.
It's a win-win, you know.
I mean I had time so I could dothat.
(18:42):
But you know, that's just anexample.
Not every trading associationhas all the different businesses
that everybody wants.
I guess I'm trying to say Allright.
So that's it for this week.
That's all I have to say aboutthat.
Oh yeah, and last week I triedout a rhymey, lame, cringy
(19:02):
sign-off, just to like I'm justplaying here, you guys.
You know I'm getting into thepodcast thing and trying to do
the marketing thing and just Idon't know, trying to catchy
stuff.
But anyway, it was enough tomake your eyes roll and that's
good enough for me.
It was funny at the time, butI'm not going to do it again
because it was rough.
So I'm not doing that again.
That's it for this week.
Make it a great day and I'llsee you next week.
Trade Tuesday Bye-.
Hello entrepreneurs, and thanks for downloading the
third episode of the tradingpost.
I am Trader Stu, I think, atleast for the first few episodes
, or maybe this will be a thing.
I'm going to go over some ofthe issues I have while creating
these podcasts in the verybeginning.
That way, if you're looking atusing podcasts to market your
business as well, that's goingto be like the new thing they're
saying right now is usingpodcasts to promote and market
(00:21):
your business.
Then I'm going to go over someof the issues I have because
maybe it'll save you some time.
If you want to just skip thebeginning and you don't plan on
using podcast to promote yourbusiness, then skip to this
minute marker, six minute marker, and we'll be good to go.
And after I'm done recording,I'll come back and put the
minute and second here where youneed to go, all right.
(00:44):
So the issue I had the lastepisode if you're one of the few
who downloaded it before Icaught it it's about wondering
or it's about the audio.
That's what happened.
The audio was pretty bad.
I listened to a little bit onmy laptop when I was editing it
and speakers are not, of course,as great as what happened in my
car.
So I was a little unsure aboutthe audio.
(01:06):
But I'm trying to get over myperfectionist issues to where,
as probably most of you are,you'll get kind of locked up
because you want something to beperfect and then you just end
up never going forward with it.
And that's kind of where I am.
I would rather have the mostperfect audio and the most I had
when I was doing camera andYouTube.
(01:26):
I wanted the best you know,shots and video, and it just
never got published, never gotuploaded, and what good was that
, you know.
So I'm trying to get over thatand, uh, I'm kind of either I'm
all in or I'm all out kind of aguy.
So if I don't, um, if I can'tbe a perfectionist, then I just
kind of hit, screw it, and I'mlike, well, now I'll just upload
anything.
But then there's a point towhere I just can't.
(01:48):
I can't handle it.
So the speakers in my car whenI was listening to it, uh, it
sounded really tinny.
Um, when I was had it, when Ihad it edited with the audio,
and it kind of hurt my ears, uh,so I didn't like and I just
wasn't, I couldn't deal with it.
So I unpublished it and I had tochange the title.
(02:09):
And what happened was I'm usingCamtasia software and also
there's a Buzzsprout programthat I'm utilizing, called Magic
Mastering and that also filtersthe audio.
So I think what happened was Idouble filtered the audio and it
made it sound completelyterrible and unlistenable to me.
(02:29):
So I had to go back in toCamtasia, remove the filter and
then re-upload it intoBuzzsprout.
And because I couldn't removethe audio filtering out of
Buzzsprout, once you buy thatprogram, if you have any other
episodes that have utilized thatmagic mastering, you have to
(02:50):
get rid of it on those episodesas well, re-upload them or
whatever I don't even know howit works and then you can remove
that from there.
Otherwise you have to just dealwith it.
And so I just did it onCamtasia, since I already owned
Camtasia.
So lesson learned I'm going totry and not use filtering in
this episode and even though I'mrecording it not in my sauna,
(03:15):
which is the sauna studio that Ihave all the padding in there
to try and remove the noise, Ihave it in my office now at work
.
The reason why I did that withtrying to get out of the sauna
studio, it's really dim,uncomfortable and it makes it so
.
It's so quiet, it makes me noteven want to project my voice
because when I do then it kindof reverberates off the walls
(03:36):
because it's still not thatsoundproof.
So you know, now I have to dealwith the air blowing from the
vents in the ceiling in myoffice.
But I think that'll be betterbecause I have this new sound
foam thing that goes around themicrophone.
Hopefully that does remove thatnoise.
We'll find out, I guess, soonenough.
That being said, lesson learnedLuckily I caught it before too
(03:58):
many listened to it and theepisodes are too old.
Now's the time to learn.
If you're trying to get intopodcasting to market your
business, you know, just do it,hit record, try it, and I mean
you're only going to have adozen or so people listening to
it at the time anyway.
So don't worry about it, getover it and don't be a
perfectionist.
And the more you do it, thebetter you'll get.
And you'll get better equipmentand be able to maybe reinvest
(04:21):
into it, which I hope I get tobe at someday where I can start
getting some sponsors and adsand make a little side income
money off of this.
That'd be kind of cool.
Plus, I found out that thefailure rate for podcasting is I
looked it up 99% failure ratefor releasing less than three
episodes.
So, that being said, this is mythird episode.
I've already gotten past the99% failure rate for releasing
(04:45):
less than three.
So and I get it because you'rein your head, it sounds good.
You're like, oh yeah, I'm goingto be a podcaster.
And then you know, you buy yourmic and you get your computer
and all that stuff, and then youdo it and you realize how time
consuming it is.
That being said, I'd like toget to the point to where I can
have somebody edit these for meand maybe even use their sound
studio and then record maybefour episodes all at one time
(05:06):
and upload them throughout themonth.
So, as of right now, I'm in thetop 1% of podcasters, it seems,
because I am now past thatfailure rate.
All right, so let's get into it.
Last week, I mentioned that Iwanted to talk about businesses
and recessions and, depending onhow you talk to about
recessions, we're fine or we, Idon't know.
I got laid off of my job backin January, so I wouldn't say
(05:42):
that we're doing great as anation, but you know, I'm also
getting a lot of business ownerssaying that people won't show
up to work, so people aregetting money from somewhere.
I guess I don't know.
Either way, I'm not going toget into that.
So let's stay neutral and justtalk about why you should get
your business into a bartergroup before a recession hits.
(06:04):
So I say before, because oncethe recession's announced,
membership into barter groupsgoes up a lot.
Studies show about 20% increasein membership.
Applications go up into traders, trade groups or barter groups,
however you want to call them,once the recession is kind of
announced.
So why should you get in beforerecessions hit?
(06:26):
Businesses like yours mighthave already signed up.
So the thing with barter groupsis usually they have a rule
across the world from what I'veknown internationally, because
trade groups are everywhere,they only allow so many type of
a certain type of business perarea.
So let's just say a plumbershows up, signs up, and then you
(06:47):
know that area for that plumberis going to be reserved until
they get enough business.
It's kind of like joining a BNIgroup.
First and foremost, as usual,it preserves their cashflow.
Bartering allows you to tradeyour goods and services without
spending cash, which can becrucial during economic
downturns and when cash flowmight be tight.
Another cool thing is that youcan utilize your excess
inventory or time, and if it'stime, it's because you're in the
(07:12):
services industry Inventory, ofcourse, you have stock.
So if you have surplus stock orunderutilized services which is
your time bartering can helpyou convert those into valuable
resources without the need forliquidation at a loss.
So a lot of times you'll see,of course, end of year
liquidation sales and you kindof take a hit on that because
you're selling it at a prettysubstantial discount.
(07:33):
You get to expand your network,so joining a barter association
connects you with a network ofbusinesses.
Your network, so joining abarter association connects you
with a network of businesses,potentially leading you to new
partnerships and customer bases,and that's one of the reasons
why people love this.
You can be in a big city, butget the small town feel if you
join a barter association.
Maintain your operations duringa recession is important, so
(07:55):
maintaining business operationscan be challenging, though, and
bartering can help you acquirenecessary goods and services to
keep your business runningsmoothly.
And that's important, of course, too, because if you have your
employees, they got a family todeal with, of course, and
keeping your operations runninggives you some or gives them
confidence in you, I should say.
(08:16):
Another cool thing, a bulletpoint here I wrote down, is you
reduce your debt collectionissues.
Barter transactions involveimmediate exchanges, so that
reduces the need for debtcollection and improving your
overall financial health.
Another cool thing I wrote downwas buffers against economic
downturn.
So having established yourbarter relationships can provide
(08:36):
a buffer during your toughtimes.
It helps your business weatherthat storm more effectively.
Bartering can be beneficial fora wide range of businesses, but
some types of businesses do tendto gain more from it than
others.
The big one is, of course,anything that has time involved,
so plumbing, electricalhandyman.
(08:59):
Another no-brainer is really, Iguess you could say, for
joining a trade association isonce you're already open.
It costs you very little forproduct.
So that'd be like car washesRestaurants benefit heavily from
joining trade associations.
The big one that I'm trying toget involved with and I would
love to start going around andtalking to colleges and anyone
(09:23):
in the entrepreneurship or smallbusiness startup programs,
small businesses that arestarting up.
I don't know why it's so hardto talk to them about getting
into a trading association.
They usually have limited cashflow and using barter can save
them money while acquiring theirgoods and services.
So you know, the big thing Ihave when I talk to new
(09:47):
businesses is that I need cash.
I need cash.
I'm like, okay, I know, butlike here's what you got to
think about is what are youspending your money on to get
noticed right now?
Are you spending your money onto get noticed right now, and
can you do that by making moneyfirst?
Right, so they're like well, Igot to have cash to.
I need to put my business in acoupon book or the newspaper or
(10:10):
radio you know, insert marketingthing here.
Well, in your local trade group,your association Bayou probably
has either the company thatyou're looking at doing business
with or you know somebody elsewhich is just as effective,
probably.
Let's just say it costs you athousand bucks to run an ad for
a month.
Well, what's the likelihoodthat that's going to really pay
(10:33):
back?
I mean, how do you quantifythat, unless you have a coupon
code that lets you track, like Iknow I did ValPak once when I
had a gutter cleaning businessand they had a different phone
number that was on there, sothat way you could track how
much business or how many phonecalls you got from that and it
would auto-divert it to yourphone number.
Way you could track how muchbusiness or how many phone calls
(10:54):
you got from that and theywould auto-divert it to your
phone number.
So that's the only way I canthink of that.
You can track where that camefrom.
So, and that was cool and I didbenefit from that.
Valpak was very useful to me.
The only thing I didn't likeabout it was that they ended up
putting our ad in other areasthat I didn't want to service
(11:16):
because of the drive.
They were giving me guttercleaning jobs way up in the
Thumb of Michigan and I had toturn them down because it just
wasn't worth me driving whatever.
It was two, two and a halfhours round trip to go make a
few hundred bucks, a couplehundred bucks.
It just wasn't worth me tospend that on a Saturday to go
do that.
It was one of those things thatwas supposed to be just side
(11:39):
money, kind of like a beer moneyincome, not a primary objective
to try and pay rent.
But that's the only way you canquantify, that is with a
different phone number or acoupon code.
So why not join the tradingassociation to where you don't
really pay for that serviceuntil you get that money.
So if you are a cupcake shop andyou want to put an ad in it's a
thousand bucks join a tradingassociation.
(12:01):
They'll come in or go to atrade show, sell your services
or your cupcakes, I guess for athousand bucks, then turn around
and use that for your ad.
So not only did you get to payfor that ad with guaranteed
income, but now you got a wholebunch of people that are talking
about you to their friends andfamily who are not in trade.
So you also got quite a bitamount of marketing for that as
(12:25):
well.
You know, the hardest thing toget people to come into a new
shop is having people changetheir habits, and if you can do
that with other business ownersthat are in the trading
association because most people,except for sub accounts, are
all business owners then you'regoing to have that.
You know, new traffic frombusiness owners who are going to
(12:47):
tell other people about you,and that's the best kind of
advertising.
Obviously, service-basedbusinesses and companies that
offer services like marketingand graphic design, legal advice
, accounting can trade it forother needed services.
And that's the cool thing abouteven with this podcast is.
I'm reaching people I'mnoticing in California, kentucky
, north Carolina, texas, and notsaying that they're going to
(13:12):
sign up with Metro TradingAssociation.
But we do have people signed upin other areas outside of
Michigan and Ohio, which iswhere our main areas are,
because they can utilize theirdollars either way.
So we have one guy's a roofer,he's in Indiana, he'll drive up
to Michigan to do a big job onroofing for trade, up to
(13:36):
Michigan to do a big job onroofing for trade.
Then he uses his trade dollarsfor other things that are
outside of our organizationbecause we have a membership
into IRTA.
As I mentioned in one of myother podcasts or episodes, irta
is the International ReciprocalTrade Association, so he can
use his trade dollars for otherthings outside of our network
and it works really well for him.
If you're an accountant, cpa,whatever you can do.
All that's all online nowanymore.
(13:58):
You can get those digitallysent to you, all the paperwork
and then you just do it and thenyou're done.
We've had people come in fromColorado to do our trade show.
We're not just limited toSoutheast Michigan and Ohio,
toledo, ohio area, we havemembership everywhere.
Another bullet point I havewritten down here is to talk
about seasonal businesses.
(14:19):
Ah yes, here we are in theseason, the holiday season.
Those are the fluctuatingincome type businesses, of
course, pool, maintenance,holiday product sectors of
course, and you can use yourbartering to maintain your
operations during off-peak times.
So a lot of people in thetrading associations know that
(14:42):
they can.
Well, I guess they kind of havean insight in your business
because you can talk to them.
Like you know, I can't get toyou right now.
I wrote down this bullet pointtoo Hospitality travel.
So hotels, restaurants, travelagencies can trade
accommodations, meals and travelpackages for advertising,
maintenance or other services.
I don't know why every casino isnot looking to be in a trading
(15:05):
association.
They give away so much money totry and get you into the hotel
room, knowing that you're goingto spend all your money down in
the casino floor.
They're going to people aregoing to spend their money on
the casino floor.
So I'm trying to talk tocasinos in my area here in
Detroit.
We have a lot of the Indiancasinos up north, you know, and
(15:29):
I just don't really understandwhy it's so hard, because I
don't want to say it's ano-brainer, because that sounds
mean, but to put somebody inyour hotel room that's empty
with trade and then maybe justdon't kick them the $50 in
spending on the casino floorthat they usually do, like I
(15:49):
know I think it was Motor CityCasino, I was at.
You know you stay there at acertain day.
I think it was Motor CityCasino I was at.
You know you stay there acertain day, maybe, like not on
a weekend, and I think theywould kick you 20 bucks per
person to go spend on the casinofloor.
Well, instead of doing thatthat's 40 bucks per room for two
people Just take the $100 or120 bucks in trade dollars and
(16:09):
then, you know darn well, we'regoing to go downstairs and go on
the casino floor and spendmoney.
I don't know Either way.
What's the other one here?
Media companies and advertising.
So radio stations we have those.
We have tons of media companies, marketing firms, bartering and
advertising space for otherservices or products.
(16:29):
You have a magazine and youdon't have every area full.
Great opportunity to take sometrade dollars and find somebody
that can do that for you.
Now that's the other one withValPak.
It was hard to talk to somebodyover there about using, you
know, getting someone to dotrade with them for their
(16:50):
ValPaks, because I know, becauseI was a cash member before I
worked for the company or I wasactually between the times I
worked for the company when Ihad my gutter cleaning business
they're putting me for free inareas that I didn't ask for.
Well, you know why would you dothat?
I mean, I get why they did thatto make the ValPAC that you
need your ValPak filled with, orwhatever the case may be,
(17:12):
magazine, newspaper, etc.
Right.
Another one I have down here isconstruction and real estate.
(17:39):
These industries benefit frombartering materials, labor and
property management services.
Yeah, so, I just actuallysigned up.
A contractor yesterday who doesbathroom remodeling benefit
from bartering materials, labor,even property management
services, yeah so, uh, I justactually signed up a contractor
yesterday who does bathroomremodeling.
He does solar panels, uh, windgeneration.
I got one last one heree-commerce.
Well, yeah, I mean, um, I don'teven know why I wrote that
(18:00):
bullet point down, it's kind ofa redundant one.
But online businesses, ofcourse, you know, like I just
said, you can be anywhere,anywhere in America, and as long
as you can do something online,then you can check your trade
dollars.
We have members that aremembers of three different
trading associations.
Right, you can consider themour competitors because we do
the same thing.
But you know, it's kind of likegoing to McDonald's or Burger
(18:22):
King, if you want to compare itlike that, and they're usually
next to each other.
They both offer something foreverybody.
It's a little bit different,right?
I mean, in high school I wouldgo to Burger King and get the
Whopper and then go toMcDonald's and get a Coke and
fries.
It's a win-win, you know.
I mean I had time so I could dothat.
(18:42):
But you know, that's just anexample.
Not every trading associationhas all the different businesses
that everybody wants.
I guess I'm trying to say Allright.
So that's it for this week.
That's all I have to say aboutthat.
Oh yeah, and last week I triedout a rhymey, lame, cringy
(19:02):
sign-off, just to like I'm justplaying here, you guys.
You know I'm getting into thepodcast thing and trying to do
the marketing thing and just Idon't know, trying to catchy
stuff.
But anyway, it was enough tomake your eyes roll and that's
good enough for me.
It was funny at the time, butI'm not going to do it again
because it was rough.
So I'm not doing that again.
That's it for this week.
Make it a great day and I'llsee you next week.
Trade Tuesday Bye-.
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