The weekly newsletter for everyone interested in barter--the world's most versatile business tool!

April 15, 2003

Written by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews

NATE Attendance Zooms Upward, While Ad Industry's AAAA Attendance Drops

So I found it interesting to compare this past week's attendance at the annual convention staged by the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) in Atlanta, to that of the annual meeting by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) held the same week in New Orleans.

NATE drew 125, up from 83 last year. AAAA saw 243, fifty fewer. Comparing industries is similar to comparing "apples" and "oranges," but in fact, providing services to a client remains the goal of both.

And what's obvious is the potential ubiquitousness of barter, relatively untapped considering its possibilities, versus the ad industry's future growth which appears caught in a zero-sum game. Ad budgets leveling off, and new ad business (growth), often comes down to taking clients from one another.

Barter's use, as a business tool, far exceeds that of the commercial barter industry. In fact, in a pie chart, the commercial barter industry's multi-lateral services would appear to be a small sliver in the overall picture.

Bilateral trading, one-to-one, is much greater. For instance over $30 billion of real estate "1031" tax-deferred real estate exchanges occur every year, and the airline industry's 10 trillion airlines miles (valued at 2¢ each) have created a $200 billion trading currency...to cite just two examples.

With few exceptions, the commercial barter industry doesn't totally comprehend the potential magnitude of additional business that will come their way when network infrastructures expand, mature, and deepen with successful penetration into the greater business community.

One of the goals of the industry should be adopting a Bill Gates-like mantra. Microsoft's founder's vision was to see a computer on every desk and in every home. The barter industry's mantra should be to have an educated, competent barter person in every company.

Build It And They Will Come

The industry's realization of its potential isn't guaranteed. It will require enormous dedication, perseverance and a razor-like focus. Personal responsibility (by those within the industry) must first create an expanded infrastructure with more goods and services available, which will be needed to service a much larger client base.

Massive and continual education—which the industry has never been willing to underwrite—is sorely needed, followed by the ever-present challenge of "walking the talk," i.e. providing outstanding, competent service all the time.

While annual conventions are stimulating and motivating, in and of themselves they are not enough. Long term visionaries are needed...thinking big and thinking ahead. One of the gravest problems in life is self-limitation: refusing to fulfill one's potential and limiting how we live so we can diminish the amount of anxiety we experience.

Industry greatness will come about only when we recognize that our attitude limits our potential, and then choose to change that attitude.

"The Internet Has Changed The World"

That's what CEO Larry Ellison of Oracle, the second-largest software company in the world, believes. "The internet is hugely important, it not only has changed the technology industry, it's changed the human services industry."

He's very excited about the future. "It's going to be one of the most stunning changes to watch in the 21st century," referring to watching both capitalism in China and professional services in India explode. "These two huge countries are transforming themselves."

What's most remarkable about India, Ellison says, is the quality of its people and the caliber of their computer engineers. "India has a very bright future."

Ellison, personally worth $16 billion, says the bulk of his fortune is going to go to medical research and biotechnology research. He believes philanthropy should not be measured on the basis of how much one gives away, but on the basis of how many lives were saved out of what one gave away. "Today we measure philanthropists entirely the wrong way."

Editor's Note: Information technology is thriving in India, which has a large pool of well-educated, English-speaking workers. The Indian IT industry's sales rose from $150 million in 1991 to $13.5 billion last year, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry. India isn't alone. Other offshore tech centers have sprung up in Ireland, Russia, China and Poland. And U.S. firms have started to outsource more tech projects to near-shore providers in Mexico and Canada.

SPECIAL Announcement: Be a part of the largest, most all-inclusive special real estate report we've ever published...coming in the next issue of BarterNews. If your company offers any type of real estate service (assisting sellers and buyers, offering notary, property management, or counseling services) you should be in this special issue. Plus, of course, all types of properties available on trade—anywhere in the world! To get your company's ad in this unique issue contact: bmeyer@barternews.com... Do it now, so you don't miss this great issue.

Media Ownership Still Concerned About Regulators

The broadcast- and newspaper-industry are fearful about a new proposed "diversity index" that will be used to judge the impact of local media mergers on news and information.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says it is responding to a mandate from the U.S. Court of Appeals that it justify its ownership restrictions with data. And plans to draft nationwide rules based on the index that would instantly indicate whether a proposed deal would be allowable in a given market.

The index is expected to significantly relax current restrictions because it would take into account competition from cable, Internet, and other information sources that didn't exist when the rules were first adopted in the 1960s. The new rules are likely to allow deals in smaller markets that were out of bounds in the past, such as a merger between two television stations.

The following message was used to promote one's trade exchange. The exchange owner sent this flyer/message out to every member....

Trade Is The Competitive Edge-Spread the Word!

We have begun co-publishing a monthly newsletter entitled The Competitive Edge that is a generic overview of barter in today's competitive marketplace.

In addition to providing the newsletter to you (our members) we have also begun a prospecting campaign using the publication. Each month we mail The Competitive Edge to businesses that would be an asset to our exchange, and follow up with phone calls.

Many trade exchanges have successfully used this newsletter, published by BarterNews magazine, to educate potential clients about trade and therefore attract new members. And we hope to have the same results here!

You can help us spread the word by providing some counter space or other conspicuous area to display The Competitive Edge to your clients. Waiting rooms, bookshelves, reception areas...wherever your customers have a chance to pick up a copy of the newsletter, they also will have a chance to find out more about bartering in today's economy.

Each month's issues offers new insights into the advantages of using trade and how it can improve a company's cash position. Every business owner will find the articles interesting and educational.

To learn more about The Competitive Edge newsletter and how it can help build your trade exchange, click here.

Every barter company in the world is listed here click through to our global list of barter companies.

PLEASE NOTE: The Global List of Barter Companies has been updated. Check out the new companies added, as well as changes made to the existing listings.

Also, the U.S. list of barter companies has been recently updated. Check it out!

If you haven't read the current issue of BarterNews, get yourself a copy now! Orders are shipped the same day we receive them. (Click on Order Form.)

Get New Money-Making Ideas, and Valuable Contacts!

You can obtain these ideas and contacts in every every available back-issue of BarterNews.

• Brad Howard, Area Director for BXI Alabama, has informed us that Sales Manager Al Troup has passed away due to complications from knee replacement surgery. Troup was instrumental in taking the Alabama exchange from a start-up to a top producing BXI office in five years. Howard and the entire BXI organization will deeply miss Al Troup.
  
• Follow-up on the March 18th Tuesday Report article titled, "More Media Ahead—College Sports Television." Coca-Cola is taking an equity stake in the network, and committing an additional $5 million for marketing and promotion of the channel. For College Sports Television, the deal gives it a huge upfront sponsor and partner that could help it secure broad coverage on cable and satellite systems.
  
• Stock for worthless options? That's the offer Broadcom is making to its workers as an incentive to keep its top people, despite the 94% drop in the stock's price over the past three years. Although the value will vary depending on criteria, an option with a strike price of $75 will get $3.87 in stock. The program will provide up to 13 million shares of stock...currently worth about $162 million.
  
• Southern California tops the nation in net new business growth... Recent statistics show for the year 2000 Los Angeles was No. 1 in the nation with 1,649 net new businesses, and nearby Orange County came in second nationwide in business growth with 1,381 net new establishments.
  
• Have you signed up to receive a summary via e-mail of the Tuesday Report every week? If not, go to the top of this issue (right hand corner) to sign up!
  
• President Bush, a staunch believer in free markets, is aggressively pursuing pacts to lift trade barriers with five Central American nations. He welcomed the leaders of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to the White House last week.

  In addition to the pending pact in Central America, the White House wants to complete negotiations with Morocco this year, and with Australia and five countries in Southern Africa in 2004. Contracts were recently inked with Chile and Singapore. The idea is to push ahead on these several smaller fronts and create momentum for bigger deals.

• The U.S. Supreme Court has sharply limited the power of juries to punish companies with huge damage awards. The 6-3 ruling was a major victory for American corporations, and sends a stern warning to state judges and juries to rein in excessive awards.

  The message was twofold. Judges and juries may not seek to punish an entire industry or an "unsavory business" in the guise of doing justice in a single case. In addition, big companies should not be hit with enormous verdicts just because they are large and wealthy. The court's opinion goes further than ever before in restricting what the court called "irrational and arbitrary" verdicts against business.