By Becky Schlake, Communications Coordinator

Mark Caldwell, Middle Tennessee State,
trades with his top broker, Cyndi Welker,
for a pair of TN Titans tickets.

As we begin this new year of 2004 it is hard to imagine the term “bartering” being a useful and modern term in our businesses. Middle Tennessee State AGR alumnus Mark Caldwell sees things differently.

Caldwell owns and operates a successful “bartering” firm in Middle Tennessee called Tradebank Inc. It is a franchise of Tradebank Inc., which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The concept is simple - local businesses trade their goods and services for other local businesses goods and services. The business is a throwback to the early days of business, selling and buying with goods instead of cash. Caldwell's firm takes care of all of the fine print and legalities of the trading. And it seems it has paid off. Caldwell now has over 400 businesses averaging about $2 million in annual trades involved in his trading circle and the numbers keep rising.

There are a large variety of businesses involved in his company - as you can tell from his very thick client directory. Businesses range from photography to lawn care to baking services. Members of Tradebank are also able to barter their goods and services with members across the entire Tradebank network. For example, they can use Tradebank “dollars” for a hotel room at Niagara Falls or a dinner in Kansas City. All the customer needs to do is call the Tradebank 1-800 number and get a confirmation on the trade and they are in business.

Caldwell prides himself in the fact that almost anyone who joins Tradebank is able to figure out how to make trading work for his or her business. To keep the trade game fair and honest, Tradebank gives the clients Tradebank “dollars” for all services and goods and they can use their “dollars” to buy other services and goods. Caldwell notes “the average client saves 40% every time they spend trade dollars on something.” Clients are also able to meet new people and make business contacts they might have otherwise not made. Many times clients will recommend other Tradebank businesses to their own customers. Caldwell guarantees new business for his clients within six months or he refunds their $500 joining fee.

In order to keep members involved in the company and keep them trading Caldwell runs a tradebank internet site, newsletters, two yearly directories and has a staff of two “brokers” and a telemarketer who help solve his customers trepidation with bartering their goods and services.

He first became involved with Tradebank while working for a company called Impact International. They make an engine additive similar to slick 50 or duralube. He saw how the owner was trading his oil products for things he needed like ac units, advertising and package materials. After leaving that job on good terms, his former employer suggested that he get in touch with Tradebank. He went to the corporate headquarters in Atlanta, and then purchased the Nashville Tradebank Company from the previous owner.

Caldwell's company does all the paper work for the companies from handling the books (they send out monthly statements showing all purchases and sells and also take out w-9 and report their “trade sales” as income) to matching up services equally (customers are given “trade dollars” to use in exchange for other goods and services so that all transactions are fair.) Tradebank charges a 10 percent fee on the value of the purchases made and Caldwell's franchise pays a portion of that fee to the International Organization. Around 600 barter trade organizations are operating worldwide, and about 400 of those are in North America.

Caldwell became an AGR in the spring of 1990 at Middle Tennessee State after being invited by some co-workers to visit the AGR house. He says that being an AGR “has strengthened me: I learned about commitment, seeing a plan through. It taught me to be a leader…not a follower. It taught me how to help others and to receive help. It brought me out of my shell socially and professionally. I learned how to plan ahead, set goals and do my best. It taught me to serve others and to always do good.” Mark majored in Mass Communication, hoping to land a job with an ad agency handling agriculture accounts.

He hopes to open satellite offices in Murfreesboro, Clarksville and Bowling Green sometime in the near future and stay with Tradebank until he retires.
 

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