Doug Dagenais senses a resurgence in the art of the barter.
He said with times being as tough as they are — the state’s unemployment rate hit 10.8 percent in December — people without money still need basic services performed.
To get those services, Dagenais suggests trading skills and goods for other people’s skills and goods, rather than using cash. For instance, an unemployed college student could offer to paint a mechanic’s home. That mechanic would in turn fix the unemployed college student’s car. Dagenais even said people can create their own form of currency based on the amount of work bartered.
Dagenais has worked in the business-to-business barter industry for the last 30 years. “I’ve always felt that the same premise should be shared with individuals (or) housewives, (people who) have time where they can do baby-sitting, or guys out of work where they can do painting, other services,” he said.
Dagenais is a National Sales Manager in Oakbrook Terrace for a company called ITEX, which is a marketplace for cash-less business transactions. “When I talk to individuals they say ‘Oh that’s cool, I can do that, how do I do that?’”
Six years ago, he wrote a booklet called “Mainstreet Barter” that teaches individuals how to trade their skills for goods or other skilled labor, without money changing hands. After the economy took a turn for the worse, Dagenais has updated his booklet for sale on his Web site mainstreetbarter.com. “I (said to myself), this is the time to revive this, people are hurting.”
Notable
Taught Marketing at Aurora University
& quotable
“Barter has never gone away. It’s just people are more interested in it because they get more creative when times are tough.”
Business philosophy
“Small business owners don’t have time to fool around. You just have to be square with them.”
Favorites
Restaurant in the Wheaton area Morgan’s Charhouse
Small-business concept Effective marketing for small businesses.
