Bartering - Back in Style?
The current cash money system is doing a really lousy job of what it is supposed to be achieving. What is it supposed to be achieving? Simple, the current money system is supposed to ensure that ALL goods and services are linked and transacted in an economy. Imagine the following 2 scenarios:
• Scenario 1: There is no money in the economy only goods and services
• Scenario 2: There are no goods and services in the economy only money
Clearly scenario 2 would not serve us as we would not survive without goods and services. Why are you telling me the obvious? you may ask. Well, its often the obvious that hides the biggest illusion from us, and that illusion is that we need money more than the goods and services in the economy. The truth is that the goods and services in an economy are all that matters and money is purely a system to facilitate the efficient transacting of all the goods and services.
Do you believe the current money system is doing a great job in allowing the efficient transacting of ALL goods and services in the economy? Mmmm I think not.... what about all the unsold products and services in the economy? Virtually every business writes off unrealized potential every day in the form of unbilled hours, unfilled hotels rooms, unsold stock with a shelf life etc etc. Why do we currently do this? Simple, lack of choice of another system to allow the efficient transacting of these goods and services we are currently writing off.
Well, there is another choice. Technology has allowed the global barter system to offer us a neat solution to the above problem. Barter companies internationally have pooled all the unsold products and services described above into an 'eBay' like market place, taken cash out of the equation and introduced a barter e-currency to allow the transacting and record keeping of all the barter transactions. The age old concept of barter has been combined with ultra modern technology! Finally technology has provided us with another choice besides the current banking system!
So what is this Global Barter Industry all about? Well the international Barter Industry is now heading into a mature stage with more than 400 barter companies in USA alone. The volume of transactions traded in barter companies globally for 2007 was over $8 billion! The success of the barter industry has been simply because it has taken a completely different view on currency to the traditional money system.
What do I mean? To create currency for yourself in a barter marketplace all you have to do is place your goods and services for sale in the respective market place. Once you have placed your goods and services in the marketplace an interest free amount in barter e-currency is allocated to your barter account. Meaning that you can buy goods and services in the market place before you have sold yours! This provides a fantastic alternative funding option to a business. The barter industry recognizes that the only assets in an economy are the goods and services and that currency should purely be placed into this market place to facilitate the trading of the goods and services.
Many business owners start off with an abundance mind set at the beginning of their business. Yes perhaps some of this is the result of naivety but a lot of it is because they exude raw passion. They are passionate about their product or service, after all that's why they decided to embark on the journey of starting a business in the first place! Shortage of cash often turns this abundant mind set into one of lack and all too often this douses their passion - which is their real asset.
So what about a system that recognizes your passion as an asset and complements your abundance mindset? What about having a choice of another currency system that could perhaps assist you when you are feeling marginalized or limited? The global barter industry could be your answer as it has already assisted hundreds of business with their growth, maybe this is something you need to look into for your business.
Ken Prentis Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Prentis |
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