I am not kidding one bid or trying to mislead you in this headline. If you learn what I am about to teach you about the trade industry, you can make and save BIG money for you and your business. It's about a the barter industry. You will be astounded by this conversation! Rob, a plumber out of Washington D.C. had called me with questions about this huge worldwide barter and trade industry. Rob wanted to know the best way to learn about it and to become a part of it in order to turn it into a cash income stream. What transpired was an unprecedented 45-minute training class explaining how the major trade organizations operate, inside secrets of how their members obtain and use their trade dollars, the problems these members may experience, as well as the myriad of products and services traded by the members of these organizations. It’s unbelievable! More important, I teach Rob how to buy top-of-the-line goods and services in the trade industry for twenty cents or less on the dollar using my personal technique. I also reveal the best types of products and services to purchase trade dollars. After purchasing these goods and services at a low price, a person can either take advantage for his or her own lifestyle or business or can actually sell what was purchased for, perhaps, fifty cents on the dollar thus netting thirty cents or more on each dollar sold. I also talk to Rob about great ways to find customers for his discounted products. This recording is in two parts 30 minutes each. Enjoy and trade your way to success. If you want help doing this call me at 858-274-7851.





Michael: I got incorporated through trade. All the tables we rented for my wedding were on trade. All the food we used, the French Gourmet, which was a wonderful bakery, catered our entire wedding on trade. My honeymoon when I went up to Oregon was where the main ITEX office was, was on trade. I had my fence in my house done on trade. I had a gorgeous black wrought iron gate all done on trade. I had a beautiful wrought iron table custom made on trade. I had stained glass windows sitting in the entry way of my house that was custom made and done all on trade. I have these beautiful hand-carved statues that were made from chainsaw carvings that I purchased on trade. I had these antique library card catalogue book cases all refinished on trade. I mean, if I told you how much opportunity for things in your home, your lifestyle, your business – if you have a business, it’s unlimited.

Music

Hi, this is Michael Senoff here with HardtoFindSeminars.com and Consulting Secrets. Here’s a very interesting recording. I promise you’ve never heard anything like this, and it’s particularly important for you the HMA Marketing consultants. Now, it’s about the trade industry, and if you don’t know much about it, you’re going to hear, and the reason this recording is so valuable for you is if you’re working with clients and you’re handling any of their advertising or you’re having an intimate knowledge on how to lower their expenses as part of your consulting process, I’m going to give you an edge like you’ve never heard. I’m going to show you how to buy products and services for businesses at eighty percent off the normal retail value. Listen very closely. This is one recording you’re going to want to hear over and over again because number one, it can save you a tremendous amount of money for your own business especially when it comes to advertising and marketing services and direct mail services, and it can save your clients a ton of money as well if you implement some of these strategies. If you’re negotiating your consulting projects properly, any money saved is any money you earn and especially if you’re doing contingency deals. That’s money in your pocket. So, listen really closely to this.
Now, the purpose of this recording is to really teach you several different things. This gentleman, Rob, called me interested in more information about barter. The barter industry is a fascinating industry. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry also called the trade industry which I’ve been involved in for a long time. I’ve had a recording up on my site that shows people specifically how to buy any product and service at eighty percent off the retail price, or how to buy it at twenty cents on the dollar. Now, I’ve bought all kinds of things as you’ll hear in the beginning of this interview on trade, and it’s a fascinating world and it’s something if you have a business especially that you can really leverage your spending power, advertising power, buying power by getting into this.
So, this gentleman, Rob, wanted to know more about this. So, I used my technique about how I position myself as a consultant. It resulted in an hour consultation which Rob agreed to let me record for his benefit and for my benefit, you the listener. So, you’re going to hear me take this gentleman through a consultation session teaching him about the trade industry and how to buy trade dollars and how to buy products and services at twenty cents on the dollar. I assure you I have done this myself. I assure you this works. I assure you this is easy, and we’re going to have a series of recordings that are going to help take you through this process. So, enjoy the process both on how to do consulting by phone long distance, and learning how to buy products and services at twenty cents on the dollar through a little loophole or a creative thinking strategy that I came up with over all the years of being in the trade industry. It’s really fascinating. Enjoy!

Michael: I know I’m crazy.

Rob: You’re not crazy. You’re just good.

Michael: All right.

Rob: And, being that you’re good, I have a question for you.

Michael: Go ahead.

Rob: Now, I was looking at your barter, and I would like to know if it’s something that’s very prevalent and can you be able to start a $200,000 business owner.

Michael: On barter?

Rob: Yes.

Michael: Yes, you can.

Rob: Do you have a system on how to do that or can you explain to me how to do that?

Michael: What is your first name?

Rob: My name is Rob.

Michael: Okay, Rob, I can do consulting. I can teach you a way, I can teach you in about thirty to forty minutes on how to be able to buy anything you want within the barter industry which is a multi-billion dollar industry for anywhere from ten to twenty cents on the dollar.

Rob: And, then just take that and sell it for more than that.

Michael: Well, if you want to buy it for yourself – let’s say you want to buy a house that’s on the market and it’s $300,000, and you can buy it on trade. I can show you how to get it for $60,000.

Rob: A $300,000, but it would have to be listed for barter.

Michael: Yeah, it would have to be listed for barter, that’s correct.

Rob: Is that prevalent?

Michael: Yeah, there’s real estate, there’s all kinds of things sold on barter, absolutely – cruise ships, lawyers, legal fees. Anything you can think of that’s bought and sold you can get on trade. Some things are easier to get than others, but absolutely. It’s very real.

Rob: Now, what would consulting cost? You said you can teach me in about half an hour, forty minutes, something like that.

Michael: First of all, I’ll tell you, I don’t know if I can fit you in, number one. Number two, I’ll tell you, I’m very expensive, but I’ve got three different packages. Okay, one is I can work with you once a week for thirty minutes a week for eight weeks, and that’s $3,000. Or, I have a second tier package where I can work with you once a week for thirty minutes a week for four weeks, which is $1,500. Or, I can teach you everything I know within forty-five minutes on the phone, one time, and you can get all my great advice. I can record the call. I’ll provide you a recording of everything we talk about so you don’t have to worry about taking notes, and I can do that for $375.

Rob: Now, that $375, are you teaching me what to do?

Michael: I’m going to show you exactly what you need to do. I’m going to tell you how to do it. I’m going to provide you the recording. All you need is the road map of exactly how to do it.

Rob: And, that’s what this provides.

Michael: That’s what that will provide, and I think I can do it for you in forty-five minutes. I’m going to explain it all to you.

Rob: Okay, now let me ask you a question before I commit to something like this. When you teach me, because I understand what bartering is. I have a vague understanding of how to turn it into cash, and how to turn it into an income stream. Now, is that what you’re going to tell me how to do?

Michael: Absolutely, I can show you how to turn it into a cash income stream for yourself or I can show you how to be able to purchase anything for yourself or for your business. See, if I can show you how to buy something for twenty cents on the dollar that you would ordinarily pay one hundred percent on the dollar, I’ve made you eighty percent. Does that make sense?

Rob: That makes a lot of sense.

Michael: So, if I could save you eighty percent, I’ve made you eighty percent if it’s something that you want or you could use for your business, or whatever. So, it shows you how to operate a business at eighty percent less than what your competitors would operate on.

Rob: Let me ask you a question. Now, would this be ideal, if I don’t need – say if I don’t need to go out and buy something to save me eighty cents on a dollar. In this half an hour, whatever it takes us to go through, I’m quite sure you’re going to set it up, will be able to go down the street to somebody who needs this and say, “Look, I can charge you X amount of dollars to get you fifty cents on a dollar” or whatever it is that you learn?

Michael: Yeah, once I show you how to do this, you understand that you have a list of all these products and services that you can buy at eighty cents on the dollars. Once you acquire them and own them, okay, and I’ll show you how to lock that up without even taking actual possession, then you can take it down the street and resell it at fifty cents on the dollar and keep the thirty percent in the middle.

Rob: Right, and that’s very prevalent.

Michael: I don’t know of anyone doing it the way I’m doing it. The way I’m doing it is one hundred percent opposite than what everyone does and it’s a hundred percent easier, but most people would never think of it, the way I’ve done it.

Rob: Do you understand what I’m trying to do? I’m trying to create an income stream out of it. I’m not trying to go out and get a bunch of stuff I need because I really don’t need a lot of stuff.

Michael: I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll do the recording with you. If you want to do it now, I can spend time with you now. You’ll only pay me if you’re happy with the information I’ve provided you. You will let me do a recording of it. I’ll record it. I’ll provide you the recording, but I’d also like to if I wanted to train someone else, be able to use this recording for someone else. Would that be fair?

Rob: That’s more than fair.

Michael: I can do it right now with you if you want. Are you ready?

Rob: Yes.

Michael: So, tell me your full name again.

Rob: My name is Rob. My last name is Robinson.

Michael: Where are you calling from?

Rob: Washington, D.C.

Michael: Okay, so we have an agreement. I’m going to talk to you for about forty-five minutes. We agree that it’s going to be $375. If you’re happy after we talk, you’ll pay me. You can send me a check or pay me by PayPal or give me a credit card. Is that fair enough?

Rob: Okay.

Michael: If you’re not satisfied, you don’t owe me anything. Okay?

Rob: All right.

Michael: All right. So, Rob, I want to get right to the heart of the matter. Why are we talking about barter right now?

Rob: I’d like to create a nice income stream with a low overhead. Going into work is not giving me enough money. I work overtime. I get taxed.

Michael: Where are you working right now?

Rob: I work at a plumbing company right now.

Michael: How long have you been there?

Rob: I’ve been there two years, and another company before this for seven years.

Michael: And, are you married with a family?

Rob: No, I have a girlfriend with a family.

Michael: Okay, and are you getting sick of the plumbing?

Rob: Yeah, I’m pretty much sick of it. You know what? I enjoy it, but I’m not sick of it. It’s just time to move on.

Michael: Are you out there in the truck doing plumbing, or are you in the company working?

Rob: Yeah, I’m out in the truck.

Michael: So, you’re a plumber by trade.

Rob: I’m a plumber by trade.

Michael: Okay, good. Well, the barter industry, it’s fantastic. Let me just give you an example of what barter is. Do you have an idea that there are hundreds of barter companies all over the country who have businesses? Barter trade is used in the same way. Barter goes way back to the Venetians, thousands and thousands of years ago before there was even money. People would go to a town square because they didn’t have coins or currency, they would trade product for product. So, if you needed bread or something, let’s say you were a farmer, you may say, “I’m going to trade you two chickens for ten loaves of bread for my family.” So, people would trade and they would give their different items, different value, but it was very difficult. So, when money came along, money kind of solved that trade problem. So, money acted as an intermediary that would allow anybody to buy anything they wanted without having to trade hard good product, without having to do inventory. Do you know what I’m saying?

Rob: Yes.

Michael: Okay, so, there are two very big players in the barter industry. Now, you don’t have to write this down, but you can go visit their websites and you can learn more. Now, the first one is called Business Exchange, and it is BXI, Business Exchange, I think the “I” stands for International. I’m not sure, but if you searched and went to Google and typed in BXI, you will find BXI offices in all the major cities.

There’s another one called www.ITEX.com  Now these companies sell business opportunities. They sell franchises to people who are looking to get into the barter industry. The barter industry is a billion dollar industry. It’s huge. It’s so big, in 99.99 percent of the people out in the marketplace don’t even know about it and what it is, and that’s because it’s kind of difficult for people to understand when they’ve been so used to buying things with cash. Do you know what I’m saying?

Rob: Right.

Michael: So, if you become a member, let’s say you are in California and for instance, one of the largest BXI offices is right here in California in San Diego. It’s owned by a guy named Duncan Banner. So, this guy, Duncan Banner, pays a franchise fee to buy the rights for the BXI office in California, and he may pay – I don’t know – let’s say he’s pays $100,000 for the franchise. So, anyone who becomes a BXI member in San Diego, it’s his company, he makes money off that.

Now, what he does to get his business going is he is almost like a bank. So, what he does is he has salespeople go out and try and recruit small businesses to come into this barter organization. So, he’ll go get a plumber who’s having a hard time getting customers, and what he’ll tell the plumber is, “Hey, join this barter exchange, join this group of all these business who are willing to do business with each other, and it will help you get more business.” So, the plumber joins. The printer joins. The attorney joins. The gift store joins. The drug store joins. The pharmacy, the people who do website design, the graphic artists – there’s every kind of product and service you can imagine if you’ve got a good sales force, will become members of this barter organization, okay, BXI.

Now, it works the same whether it’s Www.ITEX.com  or any of the companies, the Crump Barter, there’s all kinds of different names, but they all work the same, okay?

So, let’s say you’re this guy named Duncan Banner, and you’re the owner of this franchise, right, and let’s say you have a hundred businesses who have joined up with you to say they want to be a member of this trading club, okay. So, you have a hundred businesses and each business gets a list of all the other businesses who are members of this club. So, they’re predispositioned to do trading with you, to do business with you, right, because you’re members of a club. You’re a buying club.

Now, everytime you buy something, let’s say you’re the plumber and then you buy something from a printer, okay? You’re not using cash. You’re using trade dollars, which is really the same thing as cash, but it’s cash that can only be spent within the club. So, look at it as a BXI dollar. A US Dollar you can spend anywhere in the world, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: That makes for a very strong currency because you can take these greenbacks anywhere in the world and almost everyone will accept a US dollar as good currency, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: That makes it very valuable, right. Well, look at a Monopoly game. You can spend Monopoly money, but you can only spend it with the players who you’re playing with right there. That may be four players.

Rob: Right.

Michael: It may be valuable if you want to win in the game, right, but if you take that Monopoly money out to the grocery store, it ain’t going to work. Is it?

Rob: Right.

Michael: On a scale between one and ten, that would be the most less valuable. Now why is it less valuable? It’s less valuable because you can only spend it with up to four players in a game or six players, or how many players can play the Monopoly game, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: So, your buying power is limited. It’s only limited to six other players. Are you with me? Now, the barter company in San Diego, let’s say he’s got a hundred members. Well, you have this currency, but you can spend it with a hundred different businesses. Is that more valuable than what you can do with the Monopoly people? Why is that?

Rob: You have more people, number one.

Michael: More people, more choices.

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: So, your dollar gives you more choices. It has more, what?

Rob: Power.

Michael: More power, that’s right. Does it have as much power as a US dollar?

Rob: No.

Michael: Not near as much. So, you see how the value of the dollar is directly proportionate to the amount of things you can buy with it.

Rob: Right.

Michael: So, when you’re looking for a strong barter company, you want to look for a barter company who has the most members. When I say members, you want to be careful with this because a lot of these barter companies are buying up other barter companies, and some may have a lot of members on the book, but they may not be that active. And, a lot of people who are members of these barter organizations, for instance, some of them will be members of multiple organizations, okay.

Now, when this Duncan guy signs up all these businesses, let’s say he has a sales person who signs up a hundred businesses every two months. Well, a lot of them are going to come in and out of it. A lot of them will be signed up but they don’t really take on to understanding the industry, and they’ll kind of flake out, but the point is they’re signed up and they also have to pay a registration fee. They can pay anywhere from $375 to $600 to become a member, okay. So, they have the ability and the power to become a member and to be able to buy and sell within this group of barter people in this organization, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: Now, that upfront money, a sales rep who signed up the account, he gets a large percentage of that. Some of it goes to administrative fees, and some of it goes to the owner of the company. So, it’s necessary, but where’s the real money made for the guy who owns the BXI office? Let’s say you and I are both members of this organization, okay. You’re the plumber and let’s say I do website design. You say, “Mike, I’m a member of BXI, too. I see that you’re a member because I have the directory of all the members in San Diego.” Then, when I go online to the website, it gives me the members of every one in every other city in the country.

Some barter organizations are worldwide. Barter in some countries is even bigger than here in the United States. Did you know that?

Rob: Yeah, I did know that.

Michael: Okay, good. So, you’re a plumber. You want a website done. So, you say, “Mike, I want a website done. I’ve got $1,000 worth of BXI money.” And, I say, “Okay, I’ll do your website for $1,000.” So, you pay me $1,000. You fax me a trade draft. It’s like you mail me a check, just like you mailed me a check out of your checking account, or you just fax me an order. You can give me the order over the phone. It can work just like a credit card because we each have accounts within that organization. We have our own little barter account, or our own little bank account.

So, let’s say I charge you $1,000 for that website. So, you send me the $1,000. Well, automatically, the guy who owns the barter company for San Diego, he’s going to make ten percent on that transaction meaning for every $1,000 you spend, you have to pay $100 to Duncan, the owner of the organization.

So, it’s just like a bank. When the bank gets people to invest their money or save their money in their bank accounts, they can use other people’s money to go get loans and earn interest. So, a bank makes it money by earning interest. A barter organization makes its money by taking a percentage of the transaction. Some companies, it can be up to fifteen percent.

So, this is really important. You’ve got to know that for every $1,000 that you buy something, you’re going to have to pay that ten percent in cash out of your pocket to Duncan, to the owner of the company. That’s the cost of doing business within the barter organization, and that’s how the organizations make their money, right?

Some people do five and five. You pay five percent cash when you buy something and you pay percent cash when you sell. Some companies don’t charge you anything when you buy something, but they charge you ten percent when you sell. Am I confusing you or does that makes sense?

Rob: No, I’m with you.

Michael: Now, here’s my thing. To earn barter dollars, you have to do what? You have to sell something, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: You have to sell a product. Now, since a barter organization has a limited amount of things that you can spend money on, it takes more effort to find something you want to spend your money on, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: With the US dollar, you know you can go out and buy anything you want at any store. So, let’s say you want to go shopping. You’re limited to just a hundred stores. It’s not going to be as easy for you to spend that money, is it?

Rob: Right.

Michael: It may take more phone calls. It may take more work, and a lot of people who get signed up in the barter industry, don’t really understand how difficult it can be to spend the money, but some people don’t have access to the Internet. Some of these barter companies may not send out the directory on time.

So, the key thing you need to know is you need to have a list of all the members who are members of the BXI office and the Www.ITEX.com  office, and when you become a member of these organizations, you know have the most important thing. You have all the members who would have the products and services that are available for sale. Are you with me?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Now, when you sign up for these organizations, do not pay any of the upfront fees. For example, let’s say you wanted to sell your plumbing services and you wanted to do your plumbing on your own, or let’s say you have any product. What you do is by just asking and negotiating, you can say, “I’d like to be a member of your BXI office, but I’m not paying any upfront fees. I can sell my services to your customers and you can generate money on a percentage of me buying and selling, but I’m not willing to pay any fees.” And, there are franchises all over the country. So, you can call ten of them and tell them you want to sign up, but you’re not paying any upfront fees. “Will you sign me up?” And, you’re going to get three or four of them that will say yes, okay?

Rob: Okay.

Michael: So, that’s first. I just saved you between four and six hundred dollars. You should be able to do that with any of the brokers. These brokers still have to go get businesses to come into their organizations because once they get the businesses in the organization, they’ve got to help facilitate trade – buys and sells - because how do they make their money?

Rob: When you do business.

Michael: That’s right. So, they’ve got to get businesses in there so they’d rather have a business in there that could potentially do business so they can make money, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: That’s very important. Now, here’s the thing I learned. I was buying and selling for years on trade, but I realized I don’t even have to be a member of the organization to get what I want. All I need is what? To know who all the members are, right?

Rob: The list.

Michael: Right, I need the list. So, I got out of BXI. I’m no longer with BXI, but I still have my directory of all the people who are still with BXI. Now, here’s the thing, because it’s harder to spend money with trade, I learned over the years that a lot of people were sitting on all these trade dollars and they would complain that there’s nothing to spend it on. Do you see?

So, they had a big account. Some will have $50,000 of trade dollars. When you’re a member of the trade organization, let’s say you’re selling plumbing services, and they send out an email to the list that we have a new plumber, any kind of plumbing services you need you can get it on trade. People have all this money in their account, and they’re really looking for good things to spend it on. Are you with me?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Because, remember it’s not as easy to spend as a dollar. So, you’re going to get all this business, and you’re going to do all this plumbing, and you’re plumbing company is going to have ten, twenty, thirty thousand dollars in these barter dollars sitting in your account, right?

Rob: Right.

Michael: And, what most people do because most people are lazy and they don’t take the time and make the effort to find good things to spend it on. They’ll have it sitting in their account and they’ll be all frustrated, and they’ll whine and say, “Well, there’s nothing to spend it on.” You see?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: So, that’s your advantage. So, I’m going to show you who to go to who are sitting on all the money in their account, and here it is. It’s the people who sell advertising and publishing, or people who sell email promotions or fax blasting or magazine advertising, newspaper advertising, penny saver advertising. If you go into the sites, you can search every company in the BXI list who sells advertising, and you find that list and you print them all out, and you get on the phone and you call and you say, “Hello, this is Michael Senoff. I know you’re a member with BXI, and I was wondering if you’d be interested in selling some of your trade dollars.” If they say, “Well, hold on.” Then, you want to find out how many trade dollars do they have.

Now, I did this with a girl. I had a telemarketer call up publishers. We uncovered about half a million dollars in trade sitting in accounts. As a matter of fact, one of the people who called me was Dave Waggonvord. I still have his phone number. He called me back. I knew who he was. I didn’t call him back, but I knew who he was and I knew if I ever needed trade, I could go to him.

Now, you can bypass calling all these advertisers and publishers, and you call him and say, “Dave, my name is Rob. I’m out in DC. I know a lot about the trade industry. Do you have any clients who are sitting ten, fifteen, twenty thousand dollars in trade? I’d be willing to pay cash.”

Now, there’s a going market for trade dollars. Everything has a value. US currency has a value that goes up and down. The Australian Dollar has a currency that goes up and down. Well, so does trade dollars, and the value depends on the power of the dollar, and the power of the trade dollar depends on how good the business is going. How many businesses are active in trading, you see?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: So, you could call Dave or you could call any broker, introduce yourself and say, “I’m looking for $20,000 in trade.” And, you can be a member of the BXI establishment by getting a free account, getting one of the trade organizations in one of the states to set you up an account. You just have to do some paperwork, and that’s all set-up.

So, he would say, “Hold on, I’ll get back up with you.” And, he will have someone that he knows. They’re connected. The brokers know what’s going on in the business. They know who’s sitting on all the money, okay, and sometimes they’ll help you. As a matter of fact, when I needed trade, I would solicit the members and the broker, Duncan of the San Diego office called me back and said, “Mike, you know what? Don’t mail this out to the members. Just call me if you need some trade.” They know where the money is. All you’ve got to do is ask for it, and once you’re in the know and you know how the game works, they’ll get you the trade. And, they can get it for you for, depending on the market, it could be for fifteen cents on the dollar, twenty cents on the dollar, twenty-five cents on the dollar.

So, let me give you a couple real life examples, okay?

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Last year, I was in some litigation with somebody, a company out of Phoenix. I had a lawsuit going on, and I was suing them, but do you think I want to go spend $350 an hour on an attorney? There are all kinds of attorneys on trade. So, I went into my Www.ITEX.com  database. I searched attorneys. I found an attorney that handled contract law in the state of Arizona where I needed him, and he was a member of this trade organization, and I purchased attorney fees at thirty cents on the dollar. So, I spent $15,000 in attorney fees, that cost me $4,500.

Now, I guarantee you the guy who I was in the lawsuit with paid full price. Did that give me an advantage in fighting lawsuit?

Rob: Yeah, it gave you an advantage.

Michael: Here’s another example. I needed CD Rom duplications. I found a guy on the Www.ITEX.com  page who was selling due-bills. A due-bill is like a gift certificate. A due-bill is a promise. So, he was selling $6,000 in due-bills for CD Rom duplication, and he was selling it for trade, $6,000 in trade. I found someone who had $6,000 in trade, and I bought that $6,000 in trade dollars in Www.ITEX.com  for twenty cents on the dollar. I paid $1,200 in cash for those $6,000 in trade for CD Rom duplication.

So, my CD Rom’s cost me eighty percent less than what someone would pay retail. Now, did I make eighty cents on the dollar because I saved it right because I was going to spend it anyway?

Now, how did I find those trade dollars? Well, I found it with my telemarketer. We uncovered, and I have a list of all these people who have all this trade. So, now when I need money for trade, I just go to my list. I say, “Do you got any more BXI you want to sell?”

Now, here’s the thing. This is important. When the guys wants to sell it to you, remember everytime it comes out of his account, he’s got to pay a cash fee? Well, what you do is you take yourself out of the picture. You have him buy the item for you. So, for instance, I need CD Rom duplication up at a place called Act One Video. They’re here in San Diego. I get all my CDs printed and video duplication there. I just put a thousand bucks in the account whenever I need it.

So, I call my contacts I say, “Do you have any BXI dollars?” And, I have them fax the check. They just buy it for me. Okay? And, then I pay them the twenty cents on the dollar or the thirty cents on the dollar. Are you with me so far?

Rob: I’m with you.

Michael: Is this all making sense?

Rob: You took yourself out of the equation so you wouldn’t owe any cash.

Michael: I took myself out of the equation. I’m not even on the account for books or taxes or anything like that. You do have to report it on your income tax, but really you don’t even have to be a member of the trade organization. All you have to do is find out who offers trade.

So, how can you take these items and turn them into money. Well, everything has to be sold, right?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: If you could sell something for fifty percent what people are paying a hundred percent for, you’ve got a pretty good chance, right? So, for instance, I had a guy who’s got $50,000 in Www.ITEX.com , okay? Now, I bet if I said, “I’ll give you twenty cents on the dollar for that $50,000 in Www.ITEX.com ”, that would cost me $10,000 for his $50,000 in trade, okay.

Now, I would have to find products and services that I would like to buy on trade that have the same value as if I had to pay cash for it. So, what kind of items are those going to be? Those are going to be things with large margins like advertising, email marketing, lawyers, trusts and wills, legal stuff, stuff that there’s high margins. There’s no way that a guy in a retail store selling candy can make margins. For him to be in the business of barter, there’s not enough margins for him to make it, nor can a plumber because of the cost of your supplies and your labor. It doesn’t work. There’s not enough margin in the plumbing business, the grocery store business, the retail trade business, anything hard goods are not good for trade.

You need to sell something with margins like when you’re selling air, like advertising, legal fees, things like that – cruise ships, travel, vacation hotels, things that are going to expire that the company can’t make anything off because it’s on a time limit. You see?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Okay, so when you’re buying something, you’re looking for companies that sell things with high margins. That’s how you’re going to find the money. You will find so much trade sitting in the accounts of these people, it’s not even funny. Then it just comes to finding your source for your trade dollars, coming to an agreement that they’re happy with, and then you deciding what you want to sell.

Say you wanted to sell legal services in your area where you have a crackerjack lawyer who you made a deal with and said, “Look, if I buy $50,000 worth of legal services, will you give me what’s called scrip.” Have you ever heard that, scrip?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Scrip is like a coupon right?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: So, he may give you fifty $1,000 scrip of legal services that you can go legally resell and transfer. So, let’s say you’re holding these fifty gift certificates or gift cards like you see in all the grocery stores. Do you see them in the grocery store? The plastic gift cards, the same thing with the phone cards?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Now, in the state of California scrip – they used to be able to put a limit on how long you had to spend it, meaning they would say, “This scrip expires in a year.” But, now that is illegal. When you buy scrip, there is no expiration date on it in the state of California. You may want to check the other states.

So, for instance, let’s say you went to this attorney. You knew he was going to be in business for a long time. He’s been in business for a long time. He’s got a great reputation. He’s a crackerjack lawyer. He wins cases. You can say, “I’ve got $50,000 in trade. I want to buy $50,000 worth of your services, but I’m not going to take ownership of all your services. I want you to write me scrip. Fifty pieces of paper worth $1,000 a piece that I can resell to potential clients that they can come and redeem with you for legal services. Okay?”

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: You can do the same thing with anything – a candy store, advertising, anything that you can buy, you can resell on the open market. You’re buying it at twenty cents on the dollar. You can resell it fifty cents on the dollar. You can save your customer fifty cents on the dollar and you can make yourself thirty cents on the dollar.

Rob: Right.

Michael: That’s basically the concept there. Are you confused on anything?

Rob: I’m not confused on anything. It seems to me with the high margins stuff may not be where the everyday needs may be or a business might need.

Michael: Who do you see yourself selling to?

Rob: I see myself selling to whoever has the money.

Michael: Okay, so why not just pick something? Let me give you an example. Let’s say you found a publication that sells advertising on trade, and you bought $50,000 worth of advertising for $10,000, but before you did that, you went to some of the advertisers in the publication who already paying cash and probably 99 percent of them are, and said, “I know you’re advertising with this publication. If I could get you an additional ad in this publication for half of what you’re paying, would you be interested.” You could pre-sell the advertising before you even made the deal.

Rob: Before you even locked it up.

Michael: Yeah, you could have it all sold. They may have been advertising. If you’ve got a couple of issues of the magazine and saw the people who were advertising month after month, and they’re happy with it, you can pre-sell it.

Rob: Right. So, it’s just a matter of when you peep into this warehouse of barter scrip and you look and see lawyers, or you look and see advertisers, it actually tells you where this advertising is.

Michael: Yeah, it tells you the company names who’s selling it because they’re members of the trade organization. They’re in the directory. They’ve got the topics of the members who are here.

Every business needs accounting service. If you approach someone and said, “How would you like accounting services for half of what you’re paying right now?” There’s accountants all over the country. Advertising, there’s advertising agencies. There’s advertising coupon people. There’s people who do direct mail, who do printing, who make directories, hard deck advertising, magazine advertising, national advertising, newspaper advertising. There’s outdoor advertising that you can get on trade. There’s radio advertising all over the country. There’s artists, people who sell artwork. There’s attorneys. There’s business services like people who rent lists, who help people get out of debt, who help people incorporate, who do answering services. There’s payroll services, people who make signs for people. People who do tax preparation, trademark attorneys. There’s business equipment like copy machines, mailing, rugs. Tradeshow exhibits are big in trade. There’s software development. Software, do you know the margins on software? It’s tremendous.

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: It’s tremendous. It costs nothing but a CD. There’s a lot of upfront costs, but software can be a great thing to buy and sell. There’s entertainment from bands to music. There’s florists all over the country. Food, gift baskets are big. Cookies, there’s bakeries. Salsa, there’s wine. Wine is a very high margin product and a very high demand product if you could find a good wine. Restaurant scrip is prevalent all over the country. There’s formal wear – tuxedo rental, that’s very high profit because it’s rental. There’s photography which is very high profit. Graphic design, website design, limousine services, recording studios – these are all high margin things, and you can pick and make a business out of any one of them, any one nice. Bed and Breakfast, hotels and motels, country inns, healthcare products, herbal supplements is huge – any of these, you know, and now have the power that you can buy any of these items with a little work on your part between ten and twenty-five cents on the dollar, and you can also sell them for fifty percent than what the open market sells them for.

Rob: Yeah. Let me ask you a question. For example, when you tack something up and sell it, let’s pick the florists. Maybe you sell, just for a round number, a thousand dollars to go get this scrip for a hundred dollars. You turn around and you sell it for whatever, three or four hundred dollars. You giving the end user a discount, but you’re not actually going to do it. You’re going to direct the person in the exchange to do it for you.

Michael: Bring me back to that example. Give me a specific example and walk me through it.

Rob: Okay, you’re getting ready to buy a thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars worth of floral services, next week.

Michael: Okay, I’m going to buy it from the florist. So, it’s ten thousand dollars and let’s say I buy it for twenty cents on the dollar. So, I pay her two thousand dollars. She gives me in paper, ten pieces of paper each worth a thousand dollars of scrip. So, I have ten – one thousand dollar pieces of scrip for floral services.

Rob: Right – wait a minute, we’re on a different page. I’m saying, I found this stuff located in the barter exchange, people that are sitting on the credit.

Michael: Yeah, yeah that’s right. You found, let’s say a florist that has all these trade dollars sitting in their account.

Rob: Right, I found somebody who wants to buy some floral arrangements or whatever.

Michael: Yeah, okay.

Rob: I negotiate with them. I say, “Well, what do you want to spend?” They say, “Well, ten grand.” Supposing I say, “I can get that for you for say five grand.”

Michael: There you go.

Rob: Well, would you want to do it? They say, “Yes.” Now, I go, and I go inside this exchange where I already know it’s sitting there, but I don’t take possession of it. I get the person inside the exchange to do the whole transaction for me. So, we can bypass and not have to pay anything to the exchange?

Michael: You can do one or two things. If you really want the control, if you knew for sure that this person committed and they wrote down on paper that said, “Rob, if you can get me $10,000 worth of floral services.” And, you have them write up a letter of agreement that “I’ll pay you $5,000.” You can just go ahead and buy the scrip from the floral service because you don’t want them going around you.

Rob: Right, okay.

Michael: But, if you had them sign a simple non-disclosure agreement that you’re going to bring the two parties together and you have the agreement from the person who sells the floral services that they’re going to sell you the trade at twenty cents on the dollar, then you’re locked up. You just have a letter of agreement before you bring the two parties. You’re kind of acting as a broker in a way.

Or, you could just buy the scrip from the florist. If you know that your buyer wants it at fifty percent off, you can buy the scrip from the florist and have her write on the scrip that this is transferable. It’s worth $1,000 worth of my floral services at any time for anyone, and you just take possession and then pass that money. It’s like a coupon. You pass that gift certificate, that scrip, that money over to your buyer, but she pays you for it.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: You can do the deal without being the exchange. The only benefit of being a member of the exchange is having access to all the members. Once you have access to all the members in the exchange, you don’t really need them.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: You just need to know where all the BXI members are, and you’re only going to get that once you become a member. You don’t have to remain a member. The exchange, they’re not going to like you doing this, but there’s nothing they can do as long as you’re not a member.

Rob: I don’t want to be a member then.

Michael: Yeah, if you’re a member, you have to sign a rules and regulation. They don’t like their members knowing that the value of a trade dollar can be bought at that amount.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Yeah, they’re not going to like that, but if you’re not a member, there’s nothing they can do.

Rob: But, the only way to get the list of the members is to be a member a short time or something.

Michael: That’s correct.

Rob: And, then just quit, but if you don’t pay anything to become a member, then you don’t have to officially quit.

Michael: Well, you can become a member and fill out all the paperwork and agree to everything, but the broker is going to let you be a member for nothing. But, you’re bound by the agreement when you become a member whether you pay or not. But, the whole idea is become a member, find out all the products and services and the companies that have the extra trade dollars, you see?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: And, just know where those contacts are. So, whenever you need to buy trade dollars, you’ve got a go to person to get it for what you want at twenty cents on the dollar.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: And, you have the list of people you can buy things from.

Rob: Now, question, to be a member and to get the list, you’re going to have to fill out some paperwork?

Michael: Yeah.

Rob: And, when you fill out the paperwork, you’re going to pretty much say you’re not going to do what I’m about to do.

Michael: No, no, there’s nothing, there’s nothing in there.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: There’s nothing like that.

Rob: Okay. So, the ideal thing is to take the list and see what’s appealing and find something, and then actually go try and find an end user.

Michael: Yeah, find your buyers and your sellers.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: You instantly have access to every kind of product and service you can think of, and you’re going to know the ones with high margins like publishers and advertising and even the brokers. Going to the brokers and just introducing yourself saying, “Look, I’m very familiar with the trade dollars. I’ve got a deal I’m working on. I’m looking for $20,000 in trade or $10,000 in trade. I’m willing to pay twenty cents on the dollar. Do you have any members who are sitting on a lot of trade?”

The brokers know who’s sitting on a lot of trade. They would like to help these businesses alleviate that trade especially if they’ve been whining and complaining, “I can’t spend it. This is not fair.” “I know you’re sitting on a lot of trade. I’ve got someone who may be interest in buying it from you at a discount if you’re interested.” They’ll help you out.

Rob: Okay, so in essence, you could actually pick up maybe the Wall Street Journal and see who’s advertising in that, and contact them and say, “I see you spend a lot of money. Would you like to pay fifty percent?”

Michael: If the Wall Street Journal is a member of a trade organization. Now, I don’t know if they are or not. I doubt if they are, but Entrepreneur magazine is.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: So, when you become a member of Www.ITEX.com  and you talk to some of the brokers, the brokers know where the big players are. So, if you want to get into the bigger dollar things, you say, “Well, who are the national advertisers who are doing trade, and they sell advertising and due bills?” Like I was telling you. That’s kind of like scrip. They sell them in lots of $10,000, but the brokers can get you anything and everything. There’s big players in the trade industry that you won’t even find in the local directories, but your brokers will know all about that.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Now, this is really powerful. You really have probably a thousand different trade organizations all over the country, but the two big ones are BXI and Www.ITEX.com . Now, every trade organization is basically going to have the same type of people – accountants, lawyers, tax prepares, some of the things I read you. They’re just going to be in different geographical locations, but there is something called reciprocal trading meaning all the trade companies belong to this international trade organization group. They want to help make trade and barter even more attractive.

So, they have agreed to help each other out. So, let’s say you’re a member of BXI, and then I’m a member of Www.ITEX.com , and you want to buy something from me on Www.ITEX.com . Well, there are ways of doing it even though I’m not a BXI member that you can use your BXI dollars to buy my Www.ITEX.com  item even though they’re different currencies, you see?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: You may pay a little bit more, but I wanted you to be aware of that. So, no matter what trade organization you find, there are ways to do deals no matter what the currency is. There’s another great trade organization called Intigio. My accountant has been on Intigio for the last five years.

I got incorporated through trade. All the tables we rented for my wedding were on trade. All the food we used, the French Gourmet, which was a wonderful bakery, catered our entire wedding on trade. My honeymoon when I went up to Oregon was where the main Www.ITEX.com ’s office was, was on trade. I had my fence in my house done on trade. I had a gorgeous black wrought iron gate all done on trade. I had a beautiful wrought iron table custom made on trade. I had stained glass windows sitting in the entry way of my house that was custom made and done all on trade. I have these beautiful hand-carved statues that were made from chainsaw carvings that I purchased on trade. I had these antique library card catalogue book cases all refinished on trade. I mean, if I told you how much opportunity for things in your home, your lifestyle, your business – if you have a business, it’s unlimited.

Rob: It’s unbelievable.

Michael: Yes.

Rob: When you mentioned all that stuff, and you say, “I had it done on trade.” That means you located it and you purchased it for-

Michael: Yeah, twenty cents on the dollar, twenty to twenty-five cents on the dollar.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Than what I would ordinarily pay.

Rob: Well, it’s almost phenomenal what you can do once you see what’s available in the trade bank. It’s called the trade bank.

Michael: That’s correct.

Rob: And, you just walk around – I mean in casual conversation or if you wanted to do it as a business and say, “What is that you want me buying next month or next week?”

Michael: That’s right.

Rob: I almost pay people whatever you can pay them.

Michael: That’s right.

Rob: And, take the difference in the margin.

Michael: That’s right. Does that make sense?

Rob: Yeah, it makes sense and according to these notes I’ve been taking, the important thing is the list and to see what’s available.

Michael: That’s correct.

Rob: And, work it almost backwards from there.

Michael: That’s right. Has this been helpful?

Rob: It has been very helpful. It’s been very helpful.

Michael: Do you feel like you got your money’s worth?

Rob: Yeah, I got my money’s worth. I feel like – I’m not going to say it’s easy.

Michael: I’ll tell you what. If you want to do a series of these, I’ll do another recording with you. I won’t charge you for it, but we’ll record it. If you want to call up and we can do some recordings on how to locate the trade dollars and show people how to find them.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Do you want to do something like that?

Rob: Yeah.

Michael: Why don’t we set that up next week? This is what I want you to do to prepare for our next call, okay?

Rob: All right.

Michael: I want you to come up with some real ideas of some things you want to do, and then we’ll do them. We’ll come up with some concepts of what you want to try and accomplish. If you’ve got a potential person you think you’d like to call and sell, I’ll call them for you and to make the presentation offer. I’ll do it for you. We’ll do three-way calls. I’ll see if I can do it.

Rob: Okay, and in the meantime, I need to get in touch with Www.ITEX.com  and BXI.

Michael: I’ll tell you what we’ll do. As part of the call, maybe I’ll call for you and act like I’m you and show you how to negotiate getting signed up with them. How about that?

Rob: Okay.

Michael: Well, do that as part of the call? Getting your account for nothing, I’ll show you how to negotiate it. Do you want to do it Monday ten o’clock my time? That would be one o’clock your time.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: You be thinking of all the ideas until then that you want to talk about, any questions that you have that we’ll go over, okay?

Rob: Okay.

Michael: And, we’ll do another call.

Rob: Okay.

Michael: All right, buddy.