We continue our interview with Jack Schacht…

Do’er’s Dossier was one of BarterNews popular features, as we asked the person interviewed some interesting questions. When we talked with Jack Schacht years ago (Issue #34) here were his answers…it provides an insight to this very successful entrepreneur.

My career goal at 5: To be the toughest kid in kindergarten.

My career goal at 21: To be a great American actor.

First job: Bagging groceries at local super market.

Heroes: People who make a difference.

I knew I’d made it when: I never thought I made it.

Secret for success: Hire people who can do the job better than me.

Motto I live by: What do I have to do to make this work?

Pet peeve: People who complain.

The barter industry would be better off if: Everyone told the truth.

What I’d like to change about myself: To listen better to those who disagree with me.

I’m so tired of: People who make excuses for failures.

I think they’re under rated: Sales people. Without them, nothing, nothing happens.

I think they’re over rated: Politicians. Even with them nothing happens.

The thing I remember most about my childhood: Being invulnerable.

Ques: In your first 8 months while working ‘part time’ to get the exchange off the ground, what was your typical evening like? How many hours did you worked? What did you focus on?


I never really worked part time. Typically, I would come home from my full time job and work at my desk during week days until about midnight. On week-ends I both prospected and sold memberships. I signed up about 50 members at about $50 each during my “part time” phase, promising them that we would begin trading as soon as we signed up a total of 100 members.

After I quit my job and went full time it took another three or four months to reach that goal and we started trading, using an IBM XT, our first computer. Shortly after that I was able to hire a great sales person, an aggressive broker, and Joan Varner who was later to become my partner.

Joan did the telemarketing, the new salesperson and I sold memberships. We were on our way! We raised our initiation fee to $195, raising them periodically until we finally leveled off at $695. When I left the business, the average money actually collected on initiation fees was about $400.

Ques: The first members, what types of companies did you focus on?


I must admit that some of those early members had little or no value as traders except that they help us fill up our availabilities list. The list was everything!

I remember our first hardware store client. Though he was only willing to trade about $300 per month, we at least got to add another hundred product categories to our list! A few of the early members, however, did go on to become some of our best traders.

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