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Barter Fits the Bill for Strapped Firms

Monday, February 23,2009 08:50 PM

This is the coolest thing! I grew up in a time and place where barter happened frequently and can tell you that it not only works, but that it can create a great sense of community and a certain kind of "barn-raising" spirit that can pull a person (or a business) through when times are tough.

"It's really of value to small businesses because it helps them to survive through the recession," says Carmen Bianchi, director of the Entrepreneurial Management Center Business Forum and adjunct professor of family business management at San Diego State University.

Certainly there are things that we each know how to do so well that we can do them quickly, efficiently and effortlessly ... and there is someone else who finds those tasks oppressive, expensive or impossible.

Daniel Blank, creative director at Bureau Blank Inc., a New York graphic-design and brand-identity company, first used bartering when he started the company in 2004, because it was hard to get capital for a start-up. But he hadn't had to barter since then, until now. For the past couple of months, Mr. Blank has been getting advice on running his business from Joe Hunt, a former ad-agency owner who has started Workforce Enterprises LLC, a document-solutions company in New York. For about two hours each week, Mr. Hunt helps Bureau Blank with its accounting and finance operations, among other things. In return, Bureau Blank is helping Mr. Hunt shape his company's communications strategy, as well as designing the company's logo and Web site.

With a little help from bartering, a small business might be able to hold off on asking for more credit for their business in a time when over 64% of those businesses that apply are being turned down. In midst of this downturn, why wouldn't we want to revive the "barter economy'? Read the full article here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123482445928394833.html and let us know what you think!