I’m currently going through a lot of upgrading for my business which also includes a new office space and acquiring additional services. The interesting thing is that while talking with different people and providers, in many cases when they found out that I had the ability to offer web related services, many people expressed how they were interested in some kind of possible service exchange where for example if my company could provide them with monthly site maintenance services then they would be willing to exchange their services in return.
While I guess this is a pretty common practice from a business point of view, this just got me thinking on how even in one’s personal life there are so many things where you pay money for that can be obtained by simply trading what you have that the other person doesn’t. For example, I know for many people when they want to learn a new language they try to find someone who wants to learn the language that you are good at and vice versa as oppose to simply paying a person to teach you. Another example I have seen is say two people who work for certain companies who always get these particular things for free as a perk which eventually becomes useless to them. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and you’d be surprised on how there are probably a lot of people who would want to trade with you.
You’d be surprised on how many different types of people you have access to if you try and fully explore your social/networking circle so to speak. For most people, the main objection to this is that they don’t really know how to determine the value of what they would be giving versus what they would be receiving which makes this harder to do. If you were thinking of it from a business perspective, it is a little more straight forward as you both have your set rates and you can simply do the math and see if it makes sense. For personal exchanges, the most common sense thing to do would be to look at the value of whatever it is you are exchanging by basing it on what an established company would normally charge for it. When it comes to something more subjective that mainly just requires your time, I think it is usually better to base it on how difficult it is for the both of you to do as oppose to trading say an exact hour of your time for an hour of the other person’s.
For example, one person could be good at mechanics and the other is good with computers. If the task you are requesting from each other is easy for the both of you then in my opinion that is a good trade. I mean in business you can go more hardcore and say your value is worth this amount as it will help you make this and that, but for the most part I think it is about developing a good relationship with others so that you can help each other save time and money. I personally think this is definitely a great way to save money and don’t be shy in asking people either. At the same time, obviously use some common sense and some research if necessary as you don’t want to be taken advantage of.