I was asked recently if I’d be buying Christmas gifts with my ITEX credits this year, and my answer was a resounding, “YES!” I always buy gifts on trade. There’s just so much to offer, I can’t go wrong.

Actually, what I normally do is take my family to the annual holiday trade fair, which is held on December 4^th this year (which is sneaking up on us, but there’s still time to get in by paying $5 ITEX at the door or bringing toiletry items to donate). I tell them to pick out whatever they want, and I go back and pay for it with my ITEX credits.

The vendors at the fair have everything my family could want or need. My 15-year-old son usually goes for sports collectibles, apparel, tennis shoes, or computer games (this is an increasingly popular item, and there’s always a good selection). My husband tends to pick out tools, parkas, pullovers, sweatshirts…he always find something (or more like a few somethings!) that he wants me to wrap up and leave under the tree.

Being in this business, I’m exposed to so much great stuff that it can be hard to resist picking up things for myself and my family. We have a standing joke in my family that we had to buy a bigger house because 1800 square feet wasn’t cutting it, so we had to upgrade to 4500 square feet just to hold it all!

Sometimes, if I want to add more of an element of surprise to Christmas, I’ll take the family to Nebraska Furniture Mart to get gift ideas. My husband and sons will point out what they want, and I’ll go searching for it on trade. Chances are, I’ll find what they want or something very similar. I’m telling you, ITEX members really don’t have a lack of access to great gifts.

But enough talk. I’ve gotta go; there’s Christmas shopping to be done (through ITEX, of course)!

I hold a holiday trade fair every year where vendors can display their goods and services and all ITEX members can find new things to buy on trade. This event is hosted on December 4^th this year, just in time for the holidays.

This event will feature raffle & door prizes, a silent auction, food & desserts by Attitude On Food, live entertainment, and more than 40 ITEX vendors.

Better still, the event gives you a chance to donate to the John Hoich Recovery Center if you so choose. Instead of paying the entry fee of $3 ITEX pre-paid or $5 ITEX at the door, you can bring a toiletry donation to benefit the Recovery Center. Nothing feels better than doing a good deed, right?

My commitment to this annual event is over $3K in ITEX credits and a safe haven for the jackets, mittens, etc. that are donated to the John Hoich Recovery Center.

To RSVP to this event or receive more information, please contact lucas.richardson@itex.net or call 402-592-2918.

Continuing with my Thanksgiving spirit, I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re all able to celebrate this special day with your loved ones.

In my last post, I mentioned a few things that I’m thankful for. Here are a few more:

·         I’m thankful for the cleaning lady that I hired on trade. Now, after working a 12-hour day, I don’t come home to a messy house, which used to irritate me immensely. Seriously, who wants to come home after a hard day’s work only to work some more, cleaning up their family’s mess? Now I get to come home and actually spend some quality time with my loved ones. It’s worth every penny…or credit, I should say!

·         I’m thankful for the relationships I’ve built as I’ve built my business. I’ve met the neatest people, an opportunity I likely wouldn’t have had without my business. And without their support, I wouldn’t be able to do the work I love, every single day. I must say, I have great clients, and I really enjoy the times I get to spend with them. Most of my business relationships are maintained through phone or email, with little face-to-face interaction. Which leads me to my next point…

·         I’m thankful for trade fairs that allow me to meet and greet my clients.  I usually run across 20-30 of my clients at these events, and I love taking the time to chat with them. After all, my clients are the reason that my business is where it is, and I want to make sure they feel good about their decision to become involved with ITEX. I don’t worry as much about leads or making instant sales; my main goal is to build relationships with people who could benefit from an ITEX membership. The rest will come; at least, it has for me.  Here’s a little tip for those of you who are new in business: you’ll do well if you spend time with customers and make them feel special.

Here’s hoping the start of the holiday season is meaningful for you all!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought we could take a minute to chat about what we’re most thankful for. I’m thankful for many things. So many, in fact, that I figured I’d make a list:

·         I’m thankful for the opportunities that I was able to see when it came to growing my business. Not only did these help with my own business, but they have also served as tools that I could pass along to my clients to help them grow their businesses.

·         I’m thankful that so many people were receptive and willing to listen to me, especially when I was first starting out. Without them, I’d have no business to be thankful for!

·         I’m thankful that, when my son gets hurt playing football, we have chiropractors on ITEX that I can visit when my insurance won’t cover anyone else and I don’t have the cash to fork over to non-ITEX chiropractors. Being able to utilize my ITEX credits keeps my wallet happy, and the chiropractors are happy as well; every one that I’ve met has had a passion for their work that is refreshing to see. Many of them would be happy to do adjustments for free if they had another way to pay the bills!

·         I’m thankful that so many people are understanding the value of ITEX. Being so passionate about ITEX myself, it’s nice to see the system working for others as well.

What are you thankful for? Please post your comments directly to this blog, or feel free to share your thoughts with me directly at terri.smieja@itex.net.

In my last post, I promised to talk about ways that business owners can use their ITEX credits to treat and motivate their employees, and I always keep my word, so here goes.

Especially in these tough economic times, cash can be hard to come by, but business owners still want (and need!) to find ways to thank their hard-working employees. If they do nothing, employees are more likely to feel taken for granted, making it easy to jump ship as soon as a better opportunity comes along.

You don’t have to spend wads of cash to show your gratitude. If you think you can’t afford to throw a holiday party for your employees, think again; you can use your ITEX credits to throw the greatest party they could ever ask for. Use your ITEX credits to rent a nice hall, order in a catered meal, and offer door prizes and/or raffle prizes.

Another idea is to give your employees ITEX scrips (which are basically used like gift certificates) to their favorite restaurants or participating retail shops instead of a typical Christmas bonus. In tight economic times, employees will appreciate any gestures of goodwill that you can offer, especially if it helps them save a little cash as well.

Some employers give an ITEX sub-account to long-term employees (like those who’ve been with them longer than 10 years, for example, but the timeframe is up to you), giving them a spending limit (of $500 per year, for instance) and free reign to spend the ITEX credits with vendors of their choice. What a way to show your appreciation!

These are just a few ideas to get you started; feel free to visit http://317862.itex.com/ to browse our ITEX vendors or email me at terri.smieja@itex.net with any questions you may have.

If you’re among the many Americans who are short on cash these days, now would be the perfect time to look into exchanging your goods and services on ITEX. There are plenty of ways you could use your ITEX credits to save money this holiday season.

Corporate accounts are the bread and butter for many small businesses, and small business owners want to find unique ways to thank their big name clients. This is where ITEX credits come in handy. One company that I know of buys $5,000 of custom-made candies each year and ships them all over the U.S. to their various clients. It’s a medium-sized company, by the way, not a multi-million Fortune 500, so they don’t have all the money in the world; this investment (don’t kid yourself – this is definitely an investment) helps create loyalty in a world where it’s all too easy to jump ship in favor of the cheapest products and services.

I also know of a dry cleaner who has an agreement with a corporate hotel, and they also use ITEX to purchase gifts to thank their clients for their continued business.

Next time, I’ll talk about how business owners can use ITEX to treat and motivate their employees.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about how you can put barter exchange to work for your business, please visit http://317862.itex.com/ or email me at terri.smieja@itex.net.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m very careful about who I do business with. Sometimes it’s a matter of self-preservation, like the time last year when I had to turn a potential member down because he just didn’t seem like a good fit. For starters, his market share was too small, and it would’ve cost me more money than I even had a chance of earning back. I knew I’d end up shelling out a large chunk of my own money trying to find him business when he wasn’t even sure if he could get the work done. In those (rare) cases, I typically choose not to waste my time or theirs.

Let me make one thing clear, though: I don’t maintain exclusivity just for my own company’s sake; I’m also looking out for my clients. If, after I do my research by sending out the email blasts mentioned in my last blog, I’m still not sure about their industry, I’m always very upfront with them about my uncertainty. If they still want to give it a shot, I’ll let them try out a trial membership for 3-6 months. After that point, if we both feel like it’s not working out, we might as well just part ways peacefully.

Even those who don’t have trial memberships can end their relationship with my company at any time. We don’t have long-term commitments here; we work with our customers to meet their changing needs. I also don’t want any hard feelings with clients. If my clients must end their membership for whatever reason, I want them to walk away feeling like they had a positive experience with me and my company.

To me, that’s what great customer service is all about!

If you want to learn more about how you can put barter exchange to work for your business, please visit http://317862.itex.com/ or email me at terri.smieja@itex.net.

Someone recently asked me if there were requirements that businesses had to meet in order to do business with me. You’d be wrong if you thought that I offered a quick, “Heck no!” You see, my main focus isn’t on getting as many clients (and making as much money) as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I do love getting new clients (and making money!), but I also want the connection to be a good fit with my clients.

I want all of my clients to have good experiences with ITEX, and I sincerely want them to make money and/or grow their businesses. So if I’m not sure whether someone will be successful with an ITEX membership, I do a little research. I’ll send out an email blast to all current ITEX members that says I’m looking into a new prospect that offers product X or service Y. I ask if anyone would be interested in doing business with this company and base my decision on the response (or lack thereof).

After all, if companies don’t see any benefit from my membership, they’ll walk away with a sour taste in their mouth after having wasted precious time and money. If they run across someone else who is interested in, or could benefit from, a membership with ITEX, you better believe that they’ll spout off about how much of a waste it was, and their grumblings might just be enough to scare off the potential client.

But that’s not the only reason I do my homework. I really am all about the customer service. It’s the best way to maintain customer loyalty! But more on this subject next time…

If you want to learn more about how you can put barter exchange to work for your business, please visit http://317862.itex.com/ or email me at terri.smieja@itex.net.

All right, as promised in my last post, I’m going to let you in on my secret to financial success. It’s so simple, yet so powerful, and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with you now:

I don’t spend more than I can afford to pay with cash or ITEX credits.

My company is 100% debt-free. If I can’t afford to buy something with cash or barter credits, I don’t buy it. I own and work in a basic office, nothing fancy (but the key is that I do own my workspace, an achievement that wouldn’t have been possible had I held a lot of debt). I buy used or discounted office furniture and equipment whenever possible; as long as it’s functional, that’s all that really matters. I also keep a close eye on my cash flow. I always make sure we have some cash reserves so that if business drops off, we have a rainy day fund to dip into.

Waiting until I can afford to buy new things can be unbelievably frustrating at times, but the end result of a positive cash flow is more than worth the wait! My business is strong and has weathered many economic storms, the last of which we most certainly haven’t seen.

I owe so many of my successes to the barter exchange industry, which has allowed me to buy the things I needed to run my business when I didn’t have cash to spare. And I’m not just saying that because I own a barter exchange company; if you recall, I got started in barter exchange when I was in another industry entirely, and barter exchange was the pinnacle of my success in that company also.

If you want to learn more about how you can take advantage of barter exchange during these tough economic times, please visit http://317862.itex.com/ or email me at terri.smieja@itex.net.

I recently took part in a major conference call with my corporate office (I’m a franchise owner, in case you didn’t know), and I learned that our company is up 13% compared to other companies that are experiencing downturns thanks to the troubled economy. That number is HUGE!

It shows that as more and more companies are finding their cash flows to be mere trickles, they’re turning to barter exchange to help ease their financial burdens. Which means that barter exchange members now have more options to both earn and spend their ITEX credits. That’s good news for people interested in using barter exchange to help grow their businesses!

Also, in the face of lending freezes nationwide, my company still has a $1 million line of credit with our local bank. That’s solid proof that they still have faith in my company and is yet another promising financial kudos for the barter exchange industry.

I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m simply trying to let other business owners in on my secret to success. By keeping my finances in check, I’m trying to set a good example for my current and potential clients. An example of how to find financial success even in the worst of economies. What’s my secret? Check out my next blog post to find out. (I know, waiting is torture, but it’s only a few days away, I promise!)