Can a paper clip change your business?

Jan. 1, 2020
Bartering has never been one of my strong suits. I remember years ago walking the streets of Acapulco, Mexico, coming across a vendor who had a blanket for sale. This blanket was the same in every respect as one I had purchased a day earlier. Curious

Bartering has never been one of my strong suits. I remember years ago walking the streets of Acapulco, Mexico, coming across a vendor who had a blanket for sale. This blanket was the same in every respect as one I had purchased a day earlier. Curious, I asked the price and when he quoted 15,000 pesos, I felt pretty good about the 12,000 pesos deal I had made the previous day. Then I started walking away, however, and the price started dropping and dropping and dropping. My shoulders slumped with every price decrease and I realized the "deal" I had made was "no deal." Hopefully you're better at bartering than I am.

Some of you may have heard recently about the story of a Canadian Web blogger, Kyle MacDonald, who decided to trade his way to a new house beginning with a basic red paper clip. Sounds outlandish, doesn't it? Well, Mr. MacDonald swapped his red paper clip in the summer of 2005 for a pen shaped like a fish. That fish was traded for a doorknob. With each trade the items got bigger. Along the way he acquired and traded a beer keg, a snowblower and even an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper. Finally, this summer, roughly one year from the time his bizarre quest began, MacDonald was given the keys to his new house — a 1920s two-story in Kipling, Saskatchewan, Canada. The final trade was a walk-on role in a Corbin Bernsen movie. He has since parlayed the journey into a book publishing deal and sold the movie rights to DreamWorks.

Why does all of this matter to you? At some point, if you haven't already, you're going to face major financial challenges. Should you buy this new piece of equipment? Is it time to expand or build a new facility? Should you expand your services beyond traditional repair operations? Those are the times when creativity and proper planning can matter most to your shop's survival.

Along with this issue you're going to find a new resource, the ABRN Guide to Shop Design & Construction, which is loaded with useful information about creating the ultimate shop to service your community. One of the stories inside, "Buying Decisions," advises you on making sound financial decisions. New York shop operator Dalton Sachs talks about the economical choices he and his father, Chris, made when they started their business six years ago. Bartering has been one avenue of choice that has helped him succeed. "I can do as much with two small frame machines as anyone else can do with a large one," he says. "And if I get a big enough vehicle that requires a big machine, I can just take it over to a friend's shop."

When new or replacement equipment becomes necessary, Sachs suggests buying used models and trading equipment or services. "Regardless of what you do, watch going into debt," he warns. "It's already difficult enough turning a profit in this business. Debt can kill you."

The experiences of others make for tremendous lessons, and we've attempted in our supplement to draw out some of those stories to help you resolve some of those nagging questions about your operation. None of the stories we've uncovered reveal a shop owner trading a paper clip for a new frame machine, but stranger things have happened. These days, focusing on some non-traditional, over-the-top business practices might be just what your shop needs.

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