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The Art of Bartering

Every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act - is founded on compromise and barter. ~Edmund Burke

Once a year I barter for a quarter beef with a client (Sorry to my veggie/vegan friends; but do not worry it is hormone and AB free). So, this week I was driving to the locker to go pick up my yearly supply of meat for the deep freeze. It got me thinking about how I have used bartering in the past and how others are using bartering in their own business.

First, why is bartering great? Bartering is great because you do not need to put any cash up at the time. For some of you, bartering can even be a great way to attract new clients or keep existing clients in a down economy. Now for the ethics part of my blog - Wah wahhh. Bartering is taxable. The IRS offers no loophole for bartered transactions. You must report the fair market value for the products or services you bartered as income.

In the past I have bartered for quite a few things from wedding dress alterations to haircuts. I’ve heard of a lot of other ideas ( bartering for rent, lawn care, or piano lessons). I am curious to see how others of you have
used bartering in your business. Let’s hear some ideas!

Time to turn on the grill!

Ivy Hultquist, L.M.T.
www.advancedmassagetechniques.com – Continuing Education for massage professionals. 50% of all CE purchases go to charity!

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Comment by Ivy Hultquist on July 20, 2010 at 9:17am: Great ideas everyone! Thanks for the sites Nicole and Kris, those are great resources!

Comment by Nicole A. Deitrick on July 19, 2010 at 9:11pm: I love barter! I learned right from the start that as a massage therapist, I offered a service that most people wanted, and found it very easy to put my down time to work! When I started out on my own, I did not have a single client, and could not afford to pay rent somewhere. So I found a small hair salon that had a small room that could be used as a massage room. They could not afford a receptionist, and I could not afford to pay rent. So I offered to sit and answer phones in lieu of paying rent, all the while gaining valuable face time with the clients. As my clientele grew, I could then pay rent, and the salon could hire someone to cover phones part time. I have bartered for day care for both my kids, concrete work, carpets, accounting, hair cuts, photography ... I could go on and on ...

I have since created a barter network specifically for bodyworkers, allowing them the opportunity to use barter to pay for lotion, sugar scrubs, and CEU's! You could also use barter credits for body work for yourself, or hotel stays, ski lift tickets, dinner on the town, advertising ... you name it! You can even donate your unused barter credits to charity if you want to! My vision is for a huge nationwide network that includes massage tables, wholesale retail items, massage school tuition, treatment room supplies, Spa retreats, Spa Consulting and Coaching ... it really is something I am very passionate about!

If you are curious about what a barter network can do for your business, check out www.TradeJa.net
Feel free to email me with any suggestions or questions you might have! nicole@tradeja.net

Comment by Lynn Wang on July 14, 2010 at 1:18pm: Personal training :)

Comment by Maggie Fritzke on July 13, 2010 at 10:56pm: Puppy training!

Comment by Las Vegas Massage In Summerlin on July 8, 2010 at 3:07pm: ~

Bartering is good juju.

I've a slew of comments in regards to bartering from fellow massage therapists on Facebook here:

Bartering Professional Massage Therapy

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the links to read all the comments about how MT's barter. Lee Kalpin made some excellent points in regards to the risks of bartering as well.

Kris

Comment by Louise Burns on July 7, 2010 at 8:44pm: I LOVE Bartering. I've bartered with Hair stylists, a Veterinarian , a Chiropractor, A Optometrist for prescription glasses, house and carpet cleaners, and at the end of this week a Car detail person. And I don't use a barter service I do it on my own.
Louise - A Marvelous Massage Murrieta

Comment by Laura Allen on July 6, 2010 at 11:54am: I get my carpets cleaned every three months like clockwork (3 suites, 3600 sq feet) in exchange for 3 massages.

As far as the bartering being taxable, that is only so when the transactions come out unevenly. If you do $500 worth of massage, but you get $1000 worth of goods or services for that, then you report the $500 as taxable income. If you do an even swap, you haven't made any profit and thus have nothing to report.