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Bartering is exchanging your services for your client’s goods or services. No money exchanges hands. And I’m not a big fan of the practice.

But it’s a good way to get your writing/copywriting business started. In particular, working these “arrangements” is an excellent way to start filling up your portfolio.

It should go without saying that a portfolio is quite critical to help you convince prospects that you not only know what you’re doing, but that others have actually “paid” you to do work (this “peer” factor is killer marketing stuff!).

“And here’s a copy of the work I did for ABC Enterprises…” You don’t actually have to tell prospects you bartered, see. Not that you lie about it; if they ask how much you got paid, say you bartered. It’s still pay. But believe me, chances are, they aren’t going to ask.

So why not just try to get paying gigs from the get go? Because barter gigs are easier to get. Especially if you come out a bit on the losing end of the transaction, and your barter prospect knows it.

But so what if you lose a bit? You’ve got an ulterior motive here. And you’re not doing pro bono work. Plus if you’re halfway decent at selecting your initial prospects, you may actually end up with bartered stuff you need/want anyway.

That’s win:win in my book.

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