Several of my networking friends have advised me to join a bartering broker service to grow my business. Another VA told me she is getting a lot of business but it is all barter dollars. She has been able to use the barter dollars for services/products she wants because the client base is large. Through the broker, she has stopped accepting barter clients. She has only been a VA for about six months but doesn't know if the barter clients may turn into cash clients.

Does anyone have experience with this type of "payment" through a broker?


Janet
www.eBusinessOnlineSuportcom

If you have to pay for it in any way, forget it.

Lynne

__________________
The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

I used to work for someone who was in a bartering network.

What I noticed was he would raise his price for the bartering networkers, and they fit in between and odd runs (either print product or the voice blasts).

Also people tried to barter even on top of the barter dollars, it just never really seemed to flow well or seem on the up and up. Before I joined anything like that, I'd make sure there were people that you actually wanted to barter with, and that you plan out that you will only have x amount of hours per week or per month that is available. (Otherwise you'll end up with more barter hours than dollar hours)

__________________
Cheryl O'Neil
Southern Orange County

I would think that the bartering services would be ok initially, but parameters should be established before any work is done. You should know in advance exactly what is expected from you, and most importantly, how much you will ultimately benefit from them. If it's not worth all the potential headaches in the end, it'll be easier for you to just eat the costs of what you're bartering

__________________
Shaheda J

I have to agree with Shaheda. It is probably good at first but it seems that it can easily get out of hand and you will end up getting the short end of the stick. Good luck.

__________________
Kasey P. Lian, Owner, KL Virtual Office Solutions
http://www.facebook.com/KLVirtualOfficeSolutions

Bartering is a great way to learn the business, industry and build your network. I would recommend bartering with people that can give you value such as a business coach, established va's etc. This way you learn about building your business at no charge. For example:

A million dollar coach that teaches you how to build your business to a six figure income and they charge $1000 for their program or $200/hr for consulting services. You ask them to barter the program or consulting for no charge VA hours. it's a win win situation! Once the barter is over and you have successfully helped the coach chances are they will consider you for more work in the future or refer you to someone that needs a VA.

Another option is to barter VA hours for referrals. So find a internet marketer or business coach that is well known. Ask them to refer and promote you as a VA and give them free VA hours in exchange.