Skill Swapping - the Downside

Skill Swapping
The downside of skill swapping lies in the issue of value. If, say, I am a web designer with a need to bring in an income (as business people are inclined to have) and I'm approached by an aromatherapist who wants to swap a massage or two for a web site, I've got to take a view on whether that swap is worth foregoing the income I would make if I was doing paid work and the income I would make during the time I spend having said massage - it's a double-whammy on the financial front if I don't crave a massage (and being The Devil's Advocate, I thrive on stress!) but I do need the money. It's more than a question of simply costing out time - it's how much value I place on the swapped skill when my priority is generating income.

On the other hand, if the suggested swap is a web site for advice from a tax expert who can save me the cost of the time I'd spend on the swap and then some... the swap starts to look much more attractive because it provides something that I value at that time.

I don't want to knock the concept altogether. When there's a good match it can work well. But before you suggest a skill swap, you might want to consider whether what you do is as important to the other person as what they do is to you.

Bootstrapping
Great idea - as long as it's part of a planned approach. The danger of chasing bits of free help and grant funding is that you end up doing the things that these are available for, rather than prioritising your efforts on what your business actually needs. The balanced answer is to have your own plan and be very canny about how you find the resources to put it into action.