Photo: David Fling of Itex
Who ever said cash is king? There’s a community of entrepreneurs out there that says cash is optional. Forget cash, checks and credit cards. Never mind Venmo, Apple Pay and the rest.
Trading is the name of the game when you’re trying to grow a business, they say, just like the trappers, hunters, and pioneers on the American frontier hundreds of years ago.
Of course, those ramshackle trading posts that used to dot the prairie gave way to the general store, then to Walmart, and now we have Amazon. But the business of trading merchandise for other kinds of merchandise has not gone away.
And these traders are not bartering at garage sales or flea markets. Modern traders use the internet. They use UPS and FedEx, and the IRS keeps track and gives them forms to fill out.
Trading products and services rather than using cash can be beneficial to small businesses, said David Fling, a modern-day trading post operator who’s been in the business for more than 20 years.
Instead of a cabin in the woods with a dirt floor and leaky roof, Fling works in air-conditioned offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and St. Louis. He owns an ITEX franchise, and his territory includes Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, ITEX has a trading legacy dating back to 1965, and the company says it has helped tens of thousands of businesses generate new sales, conserve cash flow, and increase profits. The company also says it’s the largest marketplace for business-to-business cashless transactions in the U.S. and it processes millions in sales for thousands of member businesses every month.
For a membership fee of $25 per month and a 6% charge on every transaction, ITEX member businesses can sell their products and services to other member businesses across the nation and receive “ITEX dollars.” Those dollars go into their personal ITEX account and can be used to purchase other products and services from ITEX members.
Fling says ITEX provides a way for businesses to capitalize on excess inventory or excess service capacity. Through trading, they can generate ITEX dollars to pay for things like new equipment, promotional tools and advertising as well as vacations, jewelry, or other perks.
Meanwhile, they are keeping cash reserves in the bank to cover other business expenses like payroll, utilities and taxes. ITEX helps members open new markets and build new relationships, he said.
The network consists of more than 12,000+ members from coast to coast. In St. Louis, there are 90+ member businesses that trade with each other rather than using cash.
Fling said he’s working with a member who owns a cleaning service and wants to expand into the embroidery business. By selling her cleaning services to other ITEX members, she has accumulated enough ITEX dollars to purchase an embroidery machine from another ITEX member. He said ITEX helped her open a new market to sell her excess service capacity, which has allowed her to establish a new business.
Oklahoma City businessman Nick Kakish has been an ITEX member for more than 30 years, and he says ITEX has helped his printing company generate out-of-state clients from as far away as Florida and Montana.
“This is business I never would have gotten,” said Kakish, who owns Oklahoma Executive Printing, 1017 S. Meridian Ave. “I never would have gotten to know those people from other states if I weren’t involved in ITEX.”
Kakish says the ITEX dollars he generates from that business has helped him pay for products and services, such as signage, cleaning, painting and other building maintenance costs.
“It’s worth it and it’s easy to use,” Kakish said. “I wouldn’t be using it this long if it weren’t.”