I have been a member of Jim’s TradeNet for around 18 months now. It’s been great for me and I think that it can be great for others. I am happy to recommend Jim’s TradeNet as a Trade Exchange.

I was encouraged to join by a member of my network who is also a member of the network and he was doing some consulting work in growing their network. It really was a no-brainer for me. I didn’t require much convincing.

Before I go into detail about why I love Jim’s Tradenet I thought it might be worthwhile giving you a little definition of what a Trade Exchange is (Jim’s TradeNet is a Trade Exchange.) A Trade Exchange is a cashless network of businesses. When you join you get access to other members whom you can do business with. You pay each other in Trade Dollars (a trade dollar is worth the same as an Australian Dollar.) If you are paid then you will have Trade Dollars that you can spend with any other member of the network.

Here’s what I love:

An increased network – The immediate benefit I saw when presented witht he opportunity to join Jim’s TradeNet was the access to the network of members that I saw. Being a member of your network gives you access to the member directory. Being a member means you also have a reason to be calling upon other members – members may be more likely to take your call and these are businesses that may have never ended up your client in a cash economy.

Cash flow improvements – I would never want to suggest that you can run a business 100% on trade but you can run a certain percentage of your business. If you have extra capacity it’s possible to earn trade dollars from people who may never have become customers otherwise, and from there you can use some of these trade dollars to offset other expenses that you may previously have paid cash for. For example, I am able to offset some of my printing costs.

The possibility of “cash” work – I provide Business Consulting Services to Jim’s TradeNet members and other businesses. Here’s a quick example of something I was able to manage today. I have a client who requires business cards and other printing services. As a value add to him (and mutually beneficial transaction) I have offered to organise this printing. I know there are Printers who accept Trade Dollars. I have used them myself. So I have offered to manage his printing. I will pay via Trade Dollars and onsell these printing services to my Client for cash. Similar examples might be a cafe/restaurant buying wine, coffee cups, cleaning products or other supplies on trade and the rest of their business is a cash business.

Before you jump in though and become a member there are a couple of things yuou need to think about. They are interrelated. Here are the things you need to think about before joining:

Will you be able to spend your Trade Dollars – The biggest consideration I had before joining was “would I be able to spend any trade dollars I earned?” I needed to think about where I spent money in my business and whether there was an option where I could spend this money on trade. I analysed the directory nad realised that I would definitely be able to spend money

How much can you realistically accept on Trade – I also needed to think about my expenses and how quickly I would be able to spend trade dollars. You see, unlike cash in a bank, you don’t earn interest on Trade Dollars. If you earn a trade dollar you want to be able to spend it fairly quickly. You may have a number of other members where you can spend your money but if you aren’t going to spend the trade dollars in a reasonable time frame you might find that they become worth “less” than when you earned them in terms of purchasing power.

I’ve created a short guide on how to maximise your benefits from being in a trade exchange. If you would like a copy of this guide, please fill in your details below.