If so the London Barter Network is for you. As the owner of a video production company, I am very much in the gig economy, and I know well how tough it can be. That is why I have found membership in a barter network, for almost ten years now, to be so advantageous. Here’s why:
Portfolio: Portfolio is one of the toughest things to build when you are a young business. Of course, we all want to put the logos of the biggest names possible on our website under the heading “clients we’ve helped” but more than that we need portfolio to show off our skills, impress and turn quotes into contracts. This is really an area where belonging to a barter network shines. Belonging to exchange will bring you business and often oversized business for someone in the early stages of their business. This is because members want to minimize cash costs by using their barter dollars so they will search the network first for services. They know if you belong to the network you have been vetted by someone they know, have the chops and savvy to join in the first place, and, let’s face it, even if things do go sideways, which they will from time to time, they will only lose the wholesale price of the goods or services they used to build their trade dollar account. In short, the risk vs reward equation is different in a barter network meaning they will much more ready try out “the new guy”.
Times a wasting: As a young creative trying to get new business in the gig economy, and build your reputation, is tough. Every day you’re not working is a lost opportunity that will never come back. When the network brings you new business you can start to leverage your new trade dollars to build through ads, printing, restaurant meals, etc. Why not use that Thursday afternoon you didn’t work to collect trade dollars? It just makes good sense.
Networking and Referrals: underutilized but so important is the referrals and the sometimes hard to quantify networking value you get through belonging to a strong, healthy barter network is immense. We want to help one another sure but its more than that. There is a new compelling reason to use member businesses instead of non member businesses in the form of unspent trade dollars. That means we want to get to know each other and get referrals from each other because those referrals can easily lead to cash business which in the end is really what keeps the lights on.
As I said, I know the challenges of starting a new gig economy business and I utilized a barter network many times to give me the edge I needed to grow. You can too.
To Learn more about Bizbio's London Barter Network visit www.londonbarternetwork.ca
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