Those who connect or provide a connection are very important people. They’re really at the heart of economics because there’s no sale (no matter how scintillating or inexpensive the product) until there’s a connection between a buyer and a seller. For the entrepreneur and small business owner a local barter company is a valuable business connector.

Unfortunately, this connection process has not been given its due by most people in our country. It’s often said that those in the connection business don’t do much of anything. We decry their prominent role—and attendant profits—accorded to barter companies, trade exchange owners, bankers, advertisers, wholesalers, warehousers, couriers, retailers, etc.

Yet, looking back through history it’s the connectors who usually transformed society. It was the canal-men, then railroaders, highway builders and phone companies that have done the most to foster economic growth and innovation—not the Procter & Gambles, General Motors and U.S. Steels.

To build your company’s connection power consider the following:

1. Hire connectors, people who instinctively invest in connections and relationships.

2. Learn more about connecting and get a better appreciation for this art form.

3. Spend time developing your abilities in this area.

4. Invest in connecting. Electronic networking is a necessity.

5. “Them versus us” is not the way of networks, so open your doors wider. For survival’s sake, it’s time to drop the suspicion of connectors.

Barter through your connector, it’s cleaner and it’s quicker…

Work through your trade exchange to get what you want. By doing business with this “connector” you will save time normally spent billing, collecting, depositing, withdrawing and accounting for the cash you would have received or spent…and so has your trading partner (member of the exchange). By any objective standard the trade exchange method (your connector) is notably cleaner and quicker!

For a list of barter companies see: BARTER

Want to become a barter professional: FastStart

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 8:38 am and is filed under Entrepreneurs & Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.