Bring Back Barter

When I was really poor I would swap my time or skills for stuff I needed. So I would baby sit for a friend in return for a meal and use of her washing machine. We were both winners and we can all create these win-win scenarios even if we don’t have ready cash at the moment.

I recently read on the BBC about Josh Bunce who is the CEO of inurface a specialist advertising company providing electronic posters. When they got started they wanted to rent a property in the centre of London so they were close to the action but couldn’t afford the rent, so they bartered with the landlord and got a 6 month rent free period in return for installing video screens for free throughout their office space. It was a deal that worked for both sides and inurface is now a multi million pound company.

So what have you got that might be of use to someone else? Can you provide a service or a product for ‘free’ in return for something you couldn’t otherwise afford? Most of us have something – even if it’s just baby sitting and it can help us all move forward in our personal lives or businesses. It helped me get started, it helped Josh Bunce get started and it can help you too, so dust off those bartering skills!

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