--- title: 'How to Trade Services Instead of Raising Rates' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=IApsRQvjEz8' video_id: 'IApsRQvjEz8' date: 2026-07-14 duration_sec: 0 --- # How to Trade Services Instead of Raising Rates > Source: [How to Trade Services Instead of Raising Rates](https://youtube.com/watch?v=IApsRQvjEz8) ## Summary This video presents a strategy called the 'trade stack' for agency owners who cannot afford to hire designers, bookkeepers, or developers. Instead of raising rates, the speaker outlines three moves to swap services with complementary businesses, saving cash while building referral partnerships. ### Key Points - **The Trade Stack Introduction** [00:00] — Agency owners struggling to afford talent should use trades instead of raising rates. The trade stack consists of three moves: expense audit, warm room scan, and calibration loop. - **Expense Audit** [00:30] — Review last 60 days of transactions, list all paid services (design, dev, bookkeeping, etc.), and pick the top three highest cash burn categories as trade targets. - **Warm Room Scan** [01:00] — Look at current clients, referral network, and mastermind members for those who sell services on your wish list. Complementary services (e.g., web developer and lead gen) make ideal trade partners. - **Trade Pitch Message** [01:30] — Send a direct message: 'Hey, I've been thinking about a trade. I need your service and I've been meaning to hire someone. I looked at what you charge and it lines up pretty well with what I charge for mine. Want to just swap? Neither of us has to write a check.' - **Calibration Loop** [02:00] — Name your rate, ask theirs, then adjust scope until they match. Example: $1,500/month cold email management for $2,000 brand kit – trim deliverables to align. Both sides must feel like a win. - **Tax Implications** [02:30] — Bartering is not tax-free. Report fair market value of received services as income on Schedule C, then deduct as business expense. Usually nets near zero, but consult an accountant. - **Scaling Trades with Outbound** [03:00] — When warm room runs dry, use light outbound sequences for trade prospecting. Scraper City can pull lists of freelance accountants or web dev agencies by location and headcount. - **Operational Layer & Referral Partnerships** [03:30] — Running 3-5 active trades simultaneously adds complexity but builds strong referral partnerships. Trades create skin in the game and familiarity with deliverables. ### Conclusion The trade stack enables agency owners to acquire needed services without cash, while building referral partnerships. Proper tax reporting and scaling via outbound can turn trades into a sustainable growth strategy. ## Transcript If you're running an agency right now, and you can't afford the designer, the bookkeeper, or the developer you need, stop trying to raise your rates and start doing this instead. And I can show you the exact steps to make it happen. Let me walk you through exactly how. I call it the trade stack. Three moves. First, the expense audit. Pull up your last 60 days of transactions and go line by line. Every category where you're paying someone for a service is a possible trade target. Design, dev work, bookkeeping, video editing, legal. Write them all down, then pick the top three that are burning the most cash, because those are your first trade targets. Let me show you what that looks like in practice. Second move is the warm room scan. Before you cold outreach anybody, look at your current clients, your referral network, people in your mastermind, and ask yourself, do any of them sell the services on your wish list? A web developer who needs more clients is a perfect trade partner if you do outbound lead gen, but the services have to complement each other or the deal falls apart after round one. When you find it, here's the exact message. Hey, I've been thinking about a trade. I need your service and I've been meaning to hire someone. I looked at what you charge and it lines up pretty well with what I charge for mine. Want to just swap? Neither of us has to write a check. No long pitch. Third move is the calibration loop, and this is where deals die. You name your rate, ask theirs, then adjust scope until they match. Say you charge 1,500 a month for cold email management and a designer charges 2,000 for a full brand kit. You trim your deliverables to your 1,500 package, they drop the print deliverables from theirs, and you're close enough. Both sides got to feel like a win, not a favor. And beyond the calibration itself, there is one more piece to this you need to know. And there's one more thing I want to add. One tax thing. Bartering isn't tax-free. You report the fair market value of what you receive as income on Schedule C, then deduct it as a business expense on the same form. When both sides are deductible business services, it usually nets close to zero. But talk to your accountant before you scale it. Once your warm room runs dry, set up a light outbound sequence just for trade prospecting. If you need to find every freelance accountant or web dev agency in your city, Scraper City is where I'd pull that list. Search by company title, location, and head count, then send your trade pitch to a filtered list instead of blasting it blind. And that trade pitch approach is something I picked up from direct experience. I learned this running my own businesses. Running three to five active trades at the same time adds an operational layer that's easy to underestimate, but some of the strongest referral partnerships inside Galadon Gold started as trades, not paid work. The other side already knows how you operate because they've seen your deliverables up close, and they've got skin in the game. If you need leads, check out scraper.city. For cold email coaching, check out galadongold.com. And if you want to see my favorite tools to grow your business, go to alexberman.com/tools. The next video is coming up now.