Baseball cards, wages, chatteling and bartering. What's the difference???

A recent eZine discussing "paper currency" and "value" in sales got me to thinking yet once again about the selling process. On the surface there was considerable merit in what was said. Basically, you had to create "value" in something to have someone else give up their paper currency for your product. Pretty basic, right?

Create value. Seems simple enough. All we need to do is "create value" and someone else will ship their "paper currency". Easy enough.

But what is paper currency? It has no value on it's own regardless of what Alan Greenspan tells you. It simply lies there. It hides folded and crumpled in your wallets and purses. Simply by creating "value" is by no means going to make someone exchange their paper currency for whatever your "product" may be.

Water is sold in bottles for 10x the price of your tap water. And most all of the convenience stores I've purchased water in had a drinking fountain where you could drink for free.

The water itself has no value. But it carries a steep price tag! It solves a problem and provides a "Needed" solution.

It's not value in selling although it appears to be on the surface. It's the "Need" and the ability to provide a "Solution" to someone elses problems, or concerns. The bottle water had no more value than the drinking fountain. But it provided a solution to an upcoming problem. I thought I may get thirsty later on while driving. The water provided the solution. I paid $2.00+ for something I had free access to while standing there.

As a young boy in grade school all my buddies were into baseball cards. Baseball cards were our "currency" at the time. We traded them for other cards. We traded them for the coveted favorite sandwiches which one of our friends mom would make him. Yeah I once gave him Rusty Staub AND a Tom Seaver for a Hostess Cupcake!

As a 10 year old was I aware of the "value" in the cupcake? No. Just aware of the chocolate icing, filling, and the ache in my stomach.

Now I'm a few years older and I've learned the utility company does not accept baseball cards as payment for my electric bills. They accept money. And it can be "paper currency" or it can be by online payment. "Electronic currency". But not baseball cards.

So where I used to make purchases with cards, I now must use money. So we work. We sell. We work for others. We run small businesses. We invest in stocks. We play the ponies or bet on games. All to get more money.

Some may work construction for $10 an hour busting their butts and sweating under the sun all day long. Others may make $100's an hour day trading. And many in between doing as many other jobs as there are stars in the sky.

But are you actually using "money" to pay for things? Or are you actually exchanging the hours you work for whatever it is you want.

A person making $10 an hour would certainly like to have a high value sports car. But may end up with a 1992 Ford Explorer. While the daytrader may drive a $60,000.00 Hummer. Both have value. But the daytrader probably won't be seen in a 1992 Explorer.

So the question becomes... Are you providing a solution to a problem someone has the "need" to solve, along with the ability to pay for the solution?

"Value" in a product is inconsequential to your success. It may be a part of it - and a selling point because everyone wants value - but it isn't always necessary, is it?

Chatteling doesn't increase value per se in an item either. You purchase some old trinkets for next to nothing, list them on eBay, and they may sell for 100x what you gave for them. Have you increased the "value" of them? No. But someone else wanted them more than you and were willing to ante up to purchase them.

You might even trade one item for another much like we did with baseball cards. You exchange something you may or may not have a need for, in return for something else you need. No value. Just need.

Bartering is the same way. Maybe you'll build a swimming pool for the services of a dentist.

Yes, "value" can be very important. But never overlook the fact in order for something to be considered valuable, it must fulfill a "Need".


Now if I only had all those old baseball cards back I squandered on cupcakes and sandwiches, and listed them on eBay today, I could buy a Hummer instead!

Just remember this... If you'll take care of the needs of other people, your needs will always be met.


Success and Regards... Mike