I should have called this post “Carol Roth and Catherine Morgan’s Advice for Better Bartering.”

Is trading services a good idea for you and your business? Sometimes yes – but often it’s a bad trade.

Recently, I traded services with someone and we both felt that we got tremendous value. This has been the exception for me, however.

More often, I have felt that people didn’t bring their best because money wasn’t exchanged. Somehow, my project and my needs always ended up on the bottom of the other person’s to-do list. Or, they just phoned it in.

Trying to track people down and hold them to timelines isn’t fun. Carol says that aggravation is an underrated issue and has a high value for entrepreneurs.

I couldn’t agree more. The trade wasn’t a good trade if I was constantly annoyed and my blood pressure kept spiking.

And, Carol points out that you’re actually supposed to declare the value of the service to the IRS. (Yep!)