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Artists Barter To Increase Their Return On Investment

By Gary Crook

An artist and arts education friend and colleague of mine responding to a recent blog, made passing mention of her use recently of barter and her artwork. More specifically, she bartered free dental care for the posting of her wonderful paintings in her dentist�s office.

At ArtBusinessMentor.com we�ve made mention of this tactic often as an excellent way to increase value for the artist by protecting or extending their cash resources. Bartering increases your return on investment (ROI) � your art career � exponentially. It does this directly by enabling the longevity of your arts practice through the conservation of cash, by bartering your art and arts services for something else you need.

Now understand this before exploring the world of barter, value in labor is a very subjective commodity for everyone. More often than not, the value you demand for your labor depends on the urgency of that demand. For example, depending on the urgency of say dental work needed, that urgency will very much dictate how much you get in exchange for your art services. Understand this also, that �urgency� goes both ways! Meeting this �need� can sometimes work to your advantage and/or disadvantage. It�s no different than a cash based exchange.

Therein lies the beauty of this particular arrangement for the artist. Because, let�s face it, material costs alone are very little value compared to the creative labor value you�d like to charge for your artworks. Therefore, �value� and price in the arts cannot be justified by product material costs alone but with the addition of the �creative time value� � which has l-o-n-g been a point of debate for artists and investors alike.

This is an excellent way to conserve precious cash dollars, for say, rent and heat which are very difficult to barter. By saving as much cash as you can for these other difficult areas, you are ensuring the longevity of your arts practice > thus increasing the awareness of your work > thus increasing your value.

Time equals value...so you had better get to negotiating! Especially, with other expensive labor value individuals who will exchange their value for your arts-inflated time value. Go, get out there and barter! By utilizing barter extensively you�ll get more exposure for your work than you might with just cash alone. Thus, insuring your arts longevity.

For more information see http://garycrookartist.com or http://artbusinessmentor.com.

From the BarterNews archives: Issue 45, Summer 1998.

White Compares Barter Industry To Credit Card Industry

Steven White, President and CEO of International Barter Corp., assumed a one-year term as president of the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) at the group�s national convention in San Diego�and was the keynote speaker as well. White�s message to the NATE attendees was an ambitious one: �I believe the barter industry parallels the credit card industry and has the same potential for worldwide acceptance.�

He observed that the growth of charge cards really began when major banks realized the benefits of joining together in a common effort to create and promote nationally accepted charge cards. White says the same situation now exists in the barter industry, and �as we realized early on in the charge card industry, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.�

IRTA�s Universal Currency Has New Member Offer

To read, click here.

Arbitron Finds Online Listening Up 14%

The weekly audience for online radio rose from 29 million in January 2007 to 33 million in January 2008, according to the most recent Infinite Dial report from Arbitron and Edison Media Research, which will release the survey in April.

The 2008 figure represents 13% of the American population over the age of 12, and 17.5% of the total online population (188 million) in 2007, according to separate figures from eMarketer.

In addition to metrics documenting growth in the overall audience, the latest round of research from Arbitron and Edison focused on the substantial overlap between online radio listeners and social network users.

Among the findings released by the research partners, 63% of online listeners maintain a profile on sites like MySpace, Facebook, or Linked-In, compared with 24% of all Americans 12 or older. Of online listeners, 28% have a MySpace profile and 24% a profile on Linked-In. What�s more, they�re heavy users of these sites, one-third of the overlapping cohorts visit the sites nearly every day, if not several times a day.

The Arbitron/Edison report comes amid a flurry of online radio deals. In January, TargetSpot (an online radio ad service developed by CBS Radio and venture capitalists) signed up six new partners, including inTune.fm, a popular audio application on Facebook.

Last week, CBS and AOL struck a deal that will make a broad array of content available to AOL users, including over 150 music, news, talk and sports stations. In addition to providing content, CBS is assuming responsibility for ad sales for all of AOL�s online stations, which number over 200, as well as the 150 stations it brings to the table

Shortly afterwards, Cox Radio said it will provide program information from all its nationwide stations to RadioTime, which allows web users to browse, search and listen to online radio from terrestrial stations with its RadioGuide interface. The station IDs and other information will appear on RadioGuide alongside the streaming audio. Cox joins about 100 other radio networks and a total of about 100,000 programs on the RadioTime site.

Tips Helping Small Businesses Get Paid In Worsening Economy

Thorough invoicing procedures and diligent follow-up are key to getting paid on time, but many small-business owners and entrepreneurs fail to implement basic procedures

�Small business owners frequently deal with chronic late payment and bad debt issues, and this costs their business time and money,� says Ryon Gambill, president and CEO of Marauder Corp. and a collections professional.

�When a company runs into problems, it�s those creditors who can prove that the work was ordered, performed to specification, and invoiced according to agreed procedures who will be paid first.�

Chasing down a debtor who is overdue in settling a past-due invoice can be a frustrating and time-consuming part of running a small or medium-size business. What many business owners do not realize is that timely invoicing and follow-up means fewer collection problems.

To reduce the need for collections measures, Gambill advises business owners to implement the following tips into their invoicing and accounts-receivable procedures:

�         Add a bold due date to your invoice.

�         Make a courtesy call to verify your customer received your invoice. (This is especially important if this is their first credit transaction with you.)

�         Make certain that all customer service issues are addressed immediately, so that they cannot later be used as an excuse for withholding payment.

�         Do not accept temporary checks with handwritten account numbers on them, or a check number below 200.

�         If the credit transaction is being done in person, verify the customer�s identification. If the credit transaction is being done over the phone, attempt to verify the customer�s information via the telephone directory, a Google search, a Zaba search, or some other online database.

�         Have the customer acknowledge acceptance of the terms by signing (and dating) the invoice. This can ensure protection against later fraudulent charge-backs or stop payments.

�         Start collection efforts immediately when the account or invoice becomes past due. Even reputable companies and consumers run into financial difficulties so it�s important that you stick to your policies and inform your debtors when they are late on payments.

�         Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Don�t give up easily and remember not to take it personally when a customer is unwilling or unable to pay.

To help businesses deal with past-due invoices, Gambill�s company sells Bill Collector In A Box, a comprehensive billing and debt-collection software application designed by collection agency professionals. It centralizes the management of past-due accounts, from initial contact to resolution of the outstanding invoice.

For businesses that already have debt-collection problems, the software pays for itself within months. The program runs on Windows PCs and complements popular accounting and personal-finance software such as Quicken�, QuickBooks�, Microsoft� Money, and Microsoft� Accounting Professional.

Bill Collector In A Box includes features not available in typical accounting and finance software that automate every phase of debt collection:

�         Automatic printing of professional-quality legal letters that warn a debtor of impending legal action unless they settle the invoice promptly. (The software also includes numerous debt-collection letters that comply with state and federal laws.)

�         One-click reporting to SCAN (Shared Check Authorization Network) � the same central bureau used by major retailers and banks to identify people who write bad checks.

�         Credit bureau reporting. Reporting a bad debt to a credit bureau is an effective way to convince debtors that they need to quickly settle their invoices. (With one click, BCB reports a bad debt to the major credit bureaus for up to seven years.)

�         Skip Tracing. If a debtor has left town with no forwarding address and has disconnected phones, one click instructs the program to engage a professional investigator who will track down the debtor. (The software includes 25 basic skip traces and one advanced skip trace.)

�         Processing of credit card and ACH transactions (through PPI, Inc.) to enable fast settlement of invoices.

�         Recording of court information to provide fast access to details of litigation or small-claims actions.

�         Comprehensive report generation as well as importing and exporting of CSV files to/from popular accounting software programs.

�         Unlimited technical support, including an initial familiarization walk-through of the software.

�We designed Bill Collector In A Box� so that small-business owners can take the right steps to resolve past-due accounts, and turn debts into revenue,� noted Gambill, a founder of the company that developed BCB to help entrepreneurs and business owners collect money they are owed.

Bill Collector In A Box lists for $49.99 and is available at Amazon.com, Fry�s Electronics, J&R Electronics, Micro Center, Office Depot, OfficeDepot.com, PCnation.com, and Shopblt.com.

For more information visit www.billcollectorinabox.com.

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The Growth and Use of Secondary Capital (New Money) Creates Unprecedented Wealth In Today�s New Age Of Possibility

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