An incredible 53% of last year’s business startups opened their doors with $15,000 or less in capital, underscoring the fact that under-capitalization is the norm for the new business owner.

For the knowledgeable entrepreneur, whether new or experienced, the use of trade dollars (earned when one belongs to a barter exchange) to fund either a startup, or an expansion effort, is a tremendous asset to plug in to.

That’s why membership in a barter exchange is a valuable tool. It provides a conduit to new business, generates greater cash flow and an all-important competitive edge over rival business owners who are seeking the use of cash through the usual means…high interest credit-cards.

Although most new businesses are resorting to seeking capital through credit cards or bank loans, which can become onerous burdens, there is a viable alternative. That alternative is the use of barter through a financial arrangement with a barter exchange.

The exchange, in a manner of speaking, acts as a venture capital broker by extending trade dollars to the business owner (a loan of trade dollars).

This facilitates the acquisition of products and services that are needed to jump start the business. Once the business is up and running, repayment of the trade dollar loan can be made through sales to the other barter exchange members.

To learn how to work effectively with trade exchanges read the BarterNews FastStart Program:
FASTSTART

To read the back issues of BarterNews, now in digital format, see:
DIGITAL

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 9:07 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.