Rebel News Podcast - SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Can bartering help social-credit proof your finances？

00:00:00.000 What's old is new again, including commerce, bartering for goods and services.

00:00:04.840 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:00:24.220 You know, over the course of the last two and a half years,

00:00:26.800 a lot of people are discovering or rediscovering the old ways,

00:00:30.840 the ways that worked for, well, millennia.

00:00:34.220 I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that the systems and institutions

00:00:38.940 people thought they could trust and rely upon broke down with very, very little pressure or strain.

00:00:47.420 People took up baking and gardening and foraging for their own food and preserving their food

00:00:52.660 and even hunting because they were worried about supply chain issues.

00:00:57.920 I know it sounds crazy in a modern society.

00:01:00.520 I think people are starting to rethink their relationships with their communities

00:01:03.540 and their neighbors and realizing that those connections should probably be a lot stronger

00:01:09.100 and our connections and trust in our institutions should probably be a little bit more decentralized.

00:01:16.220 Which is why I was so interested to learn about this parallel financial system right under our noses.

00:01:23.120 It's been there for a while, built by John Porter at Barter Pay.

00:01:26.220 I won't explain too much of what John does.

00:01:29.220 I'll let him actually do that for you.

00:01:31.140 He does a much better job than I do.

00:01:32.960 But the pandemic has locked a lot of people's assets and services

00:01:37.340 because of business shutdowns and lockdowns.

00:01:41.400 Businesses had a lot of money tied up in assets that they couldn't use,

00:01:45.080 that maybe somebody else could use elsewhere.

00:01:48.500 So along comes this parallel system, Barter Pay, to sort of unlock all of that.

00:01:53.820 Although Barter Pay has been around for much longer than the pandemic.

00:01:58.920 It was there, poised, at the right time to help businesses.

00:02:03.880 And now Barter Pay is rolling that business-to-business connection out to the people.

00:02:09.380 Given that a lot of people have a healthy distrust in their own financial institutions these days,

00:02:15.420 as many Canadians are now worried that their political opinions

00:02:18.560 might disconnect them from their financial assets.

00:02:22.260 I think bartering is a wonderful way to make sure that people can still get the things that they need

00:02:27.080 without subjecting themselves to a bankster political litmus test.

00:02:32.500 All that being said, I'll just zip my mouth

00:02:34.440 and let's hear from John Porter of Barter Pay in an interview we recorded earlier Wednesday morning.

00:02:46.900 So joining me now is John Porter from Barter Pay.

00:02:50.200 John, thanks for coming on the show.

00:02:52.780 There's so much I want to talk to you about,

00:02:54.880 but I find it fascinating that your business has really done something special

00:03:01.300 in that you address these, for lack of a better term,

00:03:05.180 stranded assets that so many businesses were left with during the pandemic because of shutdown.

00:03:11.200 So businesses with cash flow problems were really able to address that problem

00:03:16.620 and unlock the things they already had.

00:03:19.200 But before we get into that, tell us what Barter Pay is all about.

00:03:23.660 And maybe even a little bit about yourself, how you sort of turned back the clock on commerce.

00:03:31.680 Yeah. What's old is new again, right?

00:03:34.080 It's the Barter Pay, the oldest, newest way of doing business.

00:03:36.880 So yeah, I mean, I was heading to Waterloo University for Engineering back in 1996

00:03:42.500 and took a little bit of a left turn and got involved with some sales and marketing

00:03:46.900 and door-to-door sales and whatnot.

00:03:48.280 Realized that I liked that sort of world

00:03:50.000 and met somebody who was sort of starting this barter company in Toronto.

00:03:54.380 And I thought that was a really great idea.

00:03:56.140 And long story short, they hosted a convention.

00:03:58.680 There was a couple of people there that were wanting to launch a business in Canada,

00:04:01.480 the same, you know, similar type business.

00:04:03.400 And so I just came on board and got involved with that brand.

00:04:07.000 I did that for about 15, 20 years.

00:04:08.680 And then in 2017, I actually bartered my way to a meeting with Gary Vaynerchuk in New York

00:04:14.360 and came back from that, you know, got a lot of social media coverage off of that,

00:04:19.360 but came back from that and then really launched Barter Pay in 2018.

00:04:23.060 So we've been in the barter payment space for over a quarter century,

00:04:26.960 but really it was way too early to market.

00:04:29.640 You know, back then business owners weren't ready.

00:04:31.580 Their mindset wasn't there.

00:04:33.020 You know, nobody was thinking about alternate forms of payment, that sort of thing.

00:04:36.040 And so we just stuck with it long enough and along the way, my wife and I just celebrated

00:04:39.700 26 years married, but we've had four boys, you know, age almost 16 to 23.

00:04:44.060 So that's obviously a busy time.

00:04:45.440 So building an unconventional business in a time where really nobody understands it or

00:04:49.960 wants it and the technology is not there.

00:04:51.720 And then obviously growing a bigger family of busy boys was an interesting time.

00:04:57.340 So tell me exactly what Barter Pay does, because I find this fascinating.

00:05:00.600 But as an Albertan, I can definitely relate.

00:05:03.120 I'm a rural Albertan.

00:05:04.380 So we're trading and horse dealing on things all the time out here in the country.

00:05:09.720 I mean, you're just far away from town.

00:05:11.240 It's what you do.

00:05:12.760 So I understand it.

00:05:14.540 But I think it's really interesting that you brought this to sort of the e-space, which

00:05:19.020 I think is incredible.

00:05:21.340 Yeah, yeah.

00:05:21.720 We're very grateful for this opportunity to serve businesses in this way and soon to be

00:05:26.160 people.

00:05:26.540 We'll get into that in a bit.

00:05:27.240 But at the end of the day, Barter Pay, what we are as a company now that helps hundreds,

00:05:33.200 sorry, thousands of Canadian businesses, all Canadian businesses that want to participate,

00:05:36.820 get the things that they need without having to use their hard-earned cash.

00:05:40.720 And so, yeah, we do that across the country and in multiple different cities.

00:05:44.140 But we all know that, you know, like you've already mentioned, bartering is really the oldest

00:05:47.140 form of commerce.

00:05:47.920 It's how business was invented a long time ago.

00:05:50.620 And so, but we also know that for two parties to enter into a fair trade, each side has to

00:05:55.120 want what the other person has at the same time and value, or they can't make that deal.

00:05:59.780 It's actually called the coincidence of wants.

00:06:02.680 And so, yeah, to solve that problem, we've just created this platform that allows a business

00:06:07.360 to open an account with Barter Pay.

00:06:09.800 They can establish an account number, then they can offer up their goods or services onto the

00:06:13.960 system.

00:06:14.260 And we only really focus on what we call, you already alluded to this, their spare capacity,

00:06:18.760 possibly stranded assets, that type of thing.

00:06:20.920 For a service-based business, you know, that's time and space that's expiring.

00:06:25.240 For a product-based business, that's extra idle inventory sitting in the warehouse or on

00:06:29.040 the shelf that normally they'd have to discount.

00:06:31.880 And so, yeah, they offer up this spare capacity onto the network and they're able to bank barter

00:06:36.720 credits in exchange.

00:06:38.060 And one barter credit equals one Canadian dollar for valuation purposes.

00:06:41.040 And as they bank this new revenue stream of barter credits, they're able to then take

00:06:45.700 that barter value and go and barter and trade with anybody in the entire network.

00:06:50.300 They're not restricted to those that acquired their good or service.

00:06:52.800 So instead of this one-to-one conundrum of bartering, it's now this one-to-many ecosystem,

00:06:57.500 this sharing economy, this bartering network that allows all these businesses to monetize their

00:07:02.600 spare capacity in real time and all get what they need through the barter credit system.

00:07:07.260 So how many businesses are actively using this?

00:07:11.400 I think it's, as I said before, I think it's just fascinating that you figured out this way

00:07:15.540 to connect people with, you know, things that they have, but they can't use with people who

00:07:20.820 want it and have this other thing that they can't use.

00:07:23.280 So how many businesses are involved in this?

00:07:26.060 Yeah.

00:07:26.200 And I'd love to chat about a couple of examples.

00:07:27.980 Sure.

00:07:28.260 That'd be great.

00:07:29.120 In a moment.

00:07:29.660 But just to answer your question, like we have about just over 4,000 businesses in about

00:07:33.720 22 different markets across Canada.

00:07:35.500 Um, it's a very painstaking process to grow a parallel economy, especially a bartering

00:07:41.200 system that's dealing in a new form of, you know, digital medium of exchange, right?

00:07:44.980 So, uh, which is the barter credits themselves.

00:07:47.000 If you can picture 20, 25 years ago, I was 20 years old and I was, um, you know, starting

00:07:52.280 this barter system and I would, I would, you know, go through the yellow pages to try and

00:07:55.920 find different, uh, potential clients.

00:07:58.000 And, um, one of them was an office furniture place.

00:08:00.200 And so we just found out that he had been, uh, uh, pulled, pulled out a bunch of, uh,

00:08:04.680 used furniture from McMaster university and put in a bunch of new stuff.

00:08:07.480 Anyways, long story short, I'm chatting with him.

00:08:09.540 Hey, can we barter some workstations for our new office?

00:08:11.640 He says, sure.

00:08:12.560 3,000 barter credits is good.

00:08:14.220 And so I, I made that deal.

00:08:15.960 And as I'm filling out the actual application to onboard him as the very first customer,

00:08:19.660 he's like, well, where can I use my barter credits?

00:08:22.080 Once I, once I gained them, I said, sorry, Terry, like you're the first guy, like you just

00:08:25.660 got to trust that we're going to build this.

00:08:26.900 And so it's been, it's been very difficult to grow, but again, we just stuck with it

00:08:31.020 long enough.

00:08:31.520 And, and, and, you know, uh, for such a time as this, we now realized 25 years later that

00:08:35.440 it's actually going to, going to become mainstream and really help a lot of businesses, uh, you

00:08:39.560 know, through these, through these times.

00:08:40.840 Right.

00:08:41.420 You know, when you and I were talking the other day before we, before I was so intrigued that

00:08:46.960 I thought you better come on the show.

00:08:48.780 Um, you were telling me about how essential this is for people with perishables.

00:08:54.460 Mm-hmm.

00:08:56.380 Absolutely.

00:08:57.220 Uh, there's a number of examples there from both from the time and space side, you know,

00:09:00.940 service-based businesses and, and the, uh, the product-based businesses, you know, products

00:09:04.760 have shelf life, most of them.

00:09:06.680 But for example, uh, we did a deal, uh, recently, uh, about a year ago with a greenhouse in Niagara

00:09:11.160 region where I live.

00:09:12.300 And, uh, we found out that they were going to be, um, putting in their compost pile about

00:09:16.560 $400,000 worth of really great quality plants.

00:09:19.560 They just had, you know, they were a pretty big operation.

00:09:21.400 They just had extra plants that they didn't sell.

00:09:23.560 Um, and they're used to kind of having that, uh, that dump pile kind of build every, at

00:09:27.140 the end of each season.

00:09:27.740 So we said, well, don't do that.

00:09:29.580 Why don't you join the barter pay system?

00:09:31.060 We'll advertise out your, you know, these SKUs to our network, uh, we'll, we'll sell

00:09:35.380 off some of those plants into barter credits and then you can use the barter credits.

00:09:38.220 So anyways, uh, thank goodness it was about, it was about October, uh, and it was a warmer

00:09:43.200 week that October.

00:09:44.000 Thank goodness, because we ended up selling off about $150,000 worth of plants.

00:09:47.460 He then banked those barter credits.

00:09:49.780 He was able to use them for things like printing and marketing and web, web development.

00:09:53.700 And he even gave, uh, I think 50,000 or more to charity, uh, through our barter pay it forward

00:09:58.800 foundation.

00:09:59.340 We also have a charitable arm in the whole thing.

00:10:01.620 So yeah, it's like a super cool story of what was going to be going into the compost pile

00:10:06.120 is now being, you know, is capturing that value and now being redistributed, uh, for his

00:10:10.680 own use and also to, to local charities.

00:10:12.440 Now tell me about that charitable part, because, um, I think that's an incredible thing too.

00:10:18.240 The, not only are you helping businesses connect with other businesses so that, you know, they

00:10:22.940 can utilize the things that normally that would just be a, a write-off, but you also are giving

00:10:28.260 back to communities.

00:10:30.080 Absolutely.

00:10:30.740 We really want to be a community impact business in that way.

00:10:33.560 Uh, it's, it's one of our biggest why's it is our biggest why right now is it's helping

00:10:37.560 small businesses and helping the community as well.

00:10:39.820 So essentially we've got thousands of businesses that are on the platform and that's growing.

00:10:43.540 Uh, we're teaching them to, you know, barter that spare capacity, monetize it, capture that

00:10:47.500 value and use those barter credits to offset future cash expenditures, um, to boost their

00:10:52.160 bottom line, help with cashflow.

00:10:53.620 But at the same time, we're saying, Hey, in order to be competitive in today's environment,

00:10:57.280 you really have to be connected to your community as well.

00:10:59.160 But we also know that these small businesses don't have much cash to give back.

00:11:03.120 Uh, and so we've just invented a new way for, for businesses to, to barter, but also to, uh,

00:11:07.640 fund charity.

00:11:08.440 So we established the barter pay it forward foundation, uh, Canadian registered charity.

00:11:12.900 And now we've got, uh, you know, thousands, hundreds of thousands of barter credits being

00:11:17.160 donated to our foundation from these businesses.

00:11:19.860 We take those barter credits.

00:11:21.260 We issue a charitable tax receipt.

00:11:22.500 We give them a great, you know, pat on the back and a social media shout out.

00:11:25.240 And they're happy about that.

00:11:26.540 But then we take these barter credits in our foundation and we distribute them to charities

00:11:30.020 across Canada in all the communities that we're in.

00:11:32.400 And then those charities, this is the best part, take those same barter credits and spend

00:11:36.360 them right back into the same ecosystem from where they were generated to begin with.

00:11:40.340 So again, it's this closed loop, uh, exchange of value.

00:11:43.740 We're now we're looping in all these charities to, uh, offset their admin and overhead costs.

00:11:47.960 Like they need, you know, video production, website production, uh, swag, um, you know, printing

00:11:53.300 costs, um, you know, all sorts of things that they need for their, for their chair to run

00:11:56.700 their charity.

00:11:57.160 And we want to help them reduce those admin and overhead costs so that more of the precious

00:12:00.980 donor cash can go to the end cause instead of administration.

00:12:04.220 So yeah, it's, it's such a great, um, feeling for us and our team loves it.

00:12:08.540 It's, it's, it's why we come into the work, come into work and do the work that we do.

00:12:12.380 Now.

00:12:13.160 Yeah.

00:12:13.400 I think that's what it's, it's great because I think at the end of the day, the charities

00:12:17.860 probably those barter credits go a little bit further than cash would if you were out spending

00:12:22.940 cash in the real world because of the ability to sort of negotiate what they want for what,

00:12:29.960 you know, for the costs that they're willing to pay.

00:12:31.700 But what's the point of entry for a business that wants to get involved in this system?

00:12:37.980 Because I think it might be a little overwhelming.

00:12:40.900 So what's the point of entry and how, is it easy?

00:12:44.400 Is it scary?

00:12:45.440 I'm a little scared, but I'm also, I'm also scared of crypto.

00:12:49.140 So tell me how this works.

00:12:50.940 So we're really big on making sure there's a, there's the right fit.

00:12:53.620 And so our process for onboarding, um, you know, new businesses into the platform, you

00:12:57.500 know, we're actually building out an app that will help, you know, this onboarding process

00:13:00.860 and sort of teaching and training and make it more self-serve.

00:13:03.560 But, uh, in the meantime, we're at our, our process is working.

00:13:06.460 What we do is we, we go to our website, barterpay.ca.

00:13:09.980 And from there you can, you know, scan the website, get started, you know, watch a few videos

00:13:13.580 and hit the get started button.

00:13:14.900 That's all that's going to do is book you into a, into a quick 15 minute discovery call with one

00:13:19.040 of our business development people, mainly Cody and Cody will spend 15 minutes just kind

00:13:23.480 of asking about your business.

00:13:24.800 He will, um, you know, assess whether or not there's a fit, make sure that you actually

00:13:28.120 have spare capacity, whether it's time and space or extra inventory.

00:13:31.260 Cause that's the, uh, you know, the, that's the, that's the best way to kind of enter the

00:13:34.540 network.

00:13:34.860 And it's all about just banking some barter credits and then utilizing some barter credits.

00:13:38.820 And then there's no contract.

00:13:40.000 There's no minimums, you know, there's no nothing like that.

00:13:42.360 It's just a matter of trying it out.

00:13:43.480 And if you like it, you'll keep doing it.

00:13:45.080 If you don't like it, that's okay.

00:13:46.500 Uh, we part ways, you know, knowing a bit more about each other's business.

00:13:49.100 And if we, if we don't feel there's a fit for your business right now, or for the, for

00:13:52.360 the, for the prospect business, we'll just say, Hey, you know what?

00:13:54.800 This isn't a good time.

00:13:55.660 We don't have a need for this in the network or whatever the case may be.

00:13:58.220 We're also, um, you know, as much as we have a technology that sort of manages all the

00:14:02.260 transactions, we actually, uh, really pride ourselves in being a human to human connection,

00:14:06.460 uh, in terms of our relationship with our clients.

00:14:08.820 And so every business that comes into the platform, we assign them a real life barter

00:14:13.000 coach, a real life person, uh, that manages, uh, about a 200 to 300, uh, client portfolio.

00:14:18.400 And that coach is an extension of their team, both from helping them market that spare capacity

00:14:23.400 out to the network so they can earn barter credits and capture that value.

00:14:27.320 But also maybe more importantly on the spending side, on the utilization side where they're

00:14:31.380 like, Hey, here's my wishlist of what I'm looking for.

00:14:34.160 You know, can you kind of put together some deals and find me some vendors that I can use

00:14:36.960 barter credits with instead of having to touch my cash.

00:14:39.620 And so that's, uh, that's a really great feature for the barter pay B2B side is the,

00:14:43.560 is the, you know, the barter coach aspect.

00:14:45.620 You know, I think that's wonderful.

00:14:46.780 If you're a small business owner and you've tried to actually talk to a human being at the

00:14:50.060 bank, it can be a days long challenge.

00:14:52.100 So to provide business coaching, just, you know, as part of getting involved in the system,

00:14:57.900 I think that's a great value to a lot of businesses, but you've expanded this barter

00:15:03.440 system to normal people out there who maybe have, you know, again, I say stranded assets

00:15:11.460 or they want to barter the old fashioned way, person to person, the way it was in the villages

00:15:17.320 for millennia before the big banks and the government got involved.

00:15:21.160 So tell us about that.

00:15:22.120 Yeah, so we've been approached, uh, numerous times over the last, uh, five to 10 years

00:15:26.940 about how we can extend this kind of like the charities we're approaching us to make

00:15:30.240 it, you know, part of the charitable sector, uh, people have been asking, you know, how,

00:15:33.700 how do we barter?

00:15:34.620 And we've kind of, you know, um, we're just busy building the B2B side and the charitable

00:15:38.280 side.

00:15:38.580 So we really didn't have time, but over the last couple of years, obviously with, with, um,

00:15:42.280 where things are at, uh, you know, it's become even more prominent and prevalent.

00:15:45.880 So, uh, my wife and I, you know, thought about it and we're like, Hey, six months

00:15:49.120 ago, well, four to six months ago, we decided to, um, build a brand and, and we launched

00:15:54.260 a landing page.

00:15:55.780 It's barterit.ca.

00:15:57.320 So just barter it.

00:15:58.260 It's going to be a barter.

00:15:59.220 It is the name of the person to person barter system that we're developing.

00:16:02.920 And, um, for such a time as this, right.

00:16:04.700 It's, it's, everybody wants community.

00:16:06.400 Everybody wants the sharing economy.

00:16:08.020 Everybody wants to, um, you know, be part of a big part of a new way to transact, you

00:16:12.860 know, that sort of thing.

00:16:13.480 And everybody's got, but the people also get back to the coincidence of wants, you know, they

00:16:17.940 have things that they want to offer, but it doesn't necessarily line up with what they

00:16:21.200 need from somebody who wants their stuff.

00:16:22.920 Right.

00:16:23.120 So we have to create a way, uh, that these people can actually barter and trade their

00:16:28.080 skills, their time, their expertise, their products, their, their downsizing their home,

00:16:33.080 extra goods that they might have.

00:16:34.660 Right.

00:16:35.160 And they, there's gotta be a way that they can, they can do that on an organized, uh, in

00:16:38.800 an organized way.

00:16:39.520 And that's where the barter it, um, app that we're launching in the next six months or so is

00:16:43.580 going to solve those problems.

00:16:44.600 I think it's incredible because there are so many people out there who are, you know,

00:16:49.420 suffering pandemic job loss, but they are skilled or maybe they are liquidating their

00:16:54.840 business because the government destroyed it.

00:16:57.240 And so they have, again, all these assets, they need to connect to somebody somewhere

00:17:00.380 else who needs these things.

00:17:02.480 And there are a lot of people who just want to check out of the inflationary system and

00:17:07.160 go back to doing things the old way.

00:17:09.080 And you're giving them this opportunity now, what's the cost to entry for people who want

00:17:15.680 to get involved in this system once it's fully built out?

00:17:20.120 Yeah.

00:17:20.300 So once we're not going to be charging, like on our, on our B2B side, we charge a commission,

00:17:24.820 like a deferred sales commission for every transaction that we set up.

00:17:27.220 Cause we do a lot of work for those businesses, uh, for the people side, it's going to be very

00:17:31.040 self-serve.

00:17:31.720 Uh, we're all about providing them the tools and the ability to barter and whether they

00:17:36.040 use, you know, uh, the, the digital medium of exchange in that system is going to be

00:17:40.200 called bits, you know, one bit equals one Canadian dollar for valuation purposes, whether

00:17:44.440 they choose to barter directly because they got lucky, or they just want to give something

00:17:48.260 away for free or have a coffee with somebody because they met them through the barter at

00:17:51.460 community app, or they want to exchange within bits.

00:17:54.200 It doesn't really matter to us.

00:17:55.480 The fact is it's just going to be a small subscription fee is likely the way we're going to go, uh,

00:17:59.800 with that in terms of a revenue model so that we can continue to build it out and provide

00:18:03.540 awesome features.

00:18:04.360 Think Facebook marketplace and Kijiji, but only in a, in a, in a bartering economy, uh, with 0.99

00:18:09.840 like-minded community and friends.

00:18:11.240 Right.

00:18:11.480 So that's, that's kind of what's going to happen there.

00:18:13.460 You know, I really think that this addresses a real concern for a lot of Canadians who are

00:18:17.460 worried about the imposition of social credit into our financial systems.

00:18:21.640 And I, uh, you know, I, I'll talk politics.

00:18:25.360 You don't have to, but there are a lot of people who are feeling the real threat.

00:18:29.800 Of their personal, political, peacefully held opinions, disconnecting them from their bank

00:18:36.420 account, thanks to the government.

00:18:38.460 And I think for a lot of people, they're going to see what barter it offers and say, you know,

00:18:44.460 at least there, at least there, I can still exchange what I have with somebody else who

00:18:51.320 wants it without my bank account being frozen because I gave five bucks worth of coffee to

00:18:57.740 a trucker one time.

00:18:59.760 Yeah, that's, that's all a great points there.

00:19:01.640 I mean, it's, uh, again, bartering is the oldest form of commerce.

00:19:05.380 It's never going to go away.

00:19:06.880 Um, it's, it's, you know, these direct trades are always going to happen.

00:19:10.280 All we're doing is making it easier for people to connect in this, uh, system, in this community,

00:19:15.920 and then have this, you know, digital medium of exchange with the bits to be able to solve

00:19:20.100 that coincidence of wants.

00:19:21.400 And so that people can, um, can offer what they have, get those, those bits and then go

00:19:25.300 get what they need.

00:19:26.300 And everybody's working together in this, in this sharing economy.

00:19:29.060 It makes a lot of sense.

00:19:30.400 Yeah.

00:19:30.760 Um, now what is the timeline for development of this?

00:19:35.300 Because I know you're, you're sometimes, I don't know about you, but it feels like I'm

00:19:39.400 trying to fix the airplane as it's in the air.

00:19:41.240 And so you're on the way down, right?

00:19:44.220 Exactly.

00:19:44.760 And so you've already got barter pay up and running.

00:19:47.500 And so you've got to manage that, but what's the timeline for the build out for barter it?

00:19:52.400 Yeah.

00:19:52.780 So we spent a lot of time last year, uh, designing, uh, with UX UI, uh, all the screens for our

00:19:58.600 barter pay sort of, uh, app that we're going to be building out.

00:20:01.200 And that, that really is, can be transferable over to the barter it side.

00:20:04.340 So we've got a bit of a headstart on that in that aspect, but really we're in this bit

00:20:08.120 of a chicken and egg right now, no pun intended.

00:20:09.940 In fact, our technology company is called chicken and egg technology corp.

00:20:13.280 But, uh, but yeah, we're, we're, we've got, we've been approached by a lot of people in

00:20:17.260 the last month who've been hearing about, uh, barter pay and barter it, especially the

00:20:20.940 barter it side.

00:20:21.540 And this is bigger than me.

00:20:22.700 It's bigger than my wife.

00:20:23.600 It's bigger than my team of 30 people with 150 years experience in this space.

00:20:28.800 We, uh, need help.

00:20:30.060 And so we've had people making some donations just out of the blue, which is amazing.

00:20:33.760 We really thank them for that, but we're going to, we're going to open this up.

00:20:36.660 We've got people that want to invest, but the, you know, and these, the ROI

00:20:39.720 for the investors is, you know, it's more than financial gain.

00:20:42.560 It's all about, uh, they're helping build a new way of doing business, a new way of

00:20:47.280 transacting, a new way of connecting people like you've already alluded to.

00:20:50.320 So, uh, that's, that's really cool.

00:20:52.420 And so we're, we're just deciding what we're going to do there.

00:20:55.240 Um, uh, we've got, um, uh, a lawyer, uh, in Calgary, a great lady who's, uh, working

00:20:59.920 on our shareholders agreement and some things there.

00:21:01.660 So it's, it's really just a matter of mapping that out.

00:21:03.560 We've got a call this afternoon with a, with a, an equity crowdfunding company out of BC.

00:21:07.800 And so we might go that route and allow everybody to participate that wants to sort of be

00:21:11.980 involved and which is, you know, would be amazing.

00:21:14.460 Um, so yeah, we're about to, uh, you know, I, I think, I think it's going to be about

00:21:18.280 a six month, uh, process from the time we actually get the funding that we need.

00:21:21.960 And then we can really sprint to the finish line and deliver the solution.

00:21:25.040 Uh, hopefully, you know, late spring of 2023 kind of thing.

00:21:29.100 So how do people get involved at this point?

00:21:31.780 If people want to throw some money because they're moral investors and they, they see this

00:21:37.660 sort of disconnecting from the existing financial system as a moral move, or if they're,

00:21:43.000 you know, just money motivated folks and I'm a capitalist, so I get that too.

00:21:47.600 So how do people get involved at this stage, um, in Barter It?

00:21:52.860 So the best thing to do right now is to go to the barterit.ca website, uh, www.barterit.ca.

00:22:00.120 There's a landing page there.

00:22:02.120 There's a quick little form.

00:22:03.320 You fill that form out so that we know we're connected.

00:22:05.860 Uh, we're then going to do all the, uh, the updates via email to that group.

00:22:10.080 There's thousands of people who are signing up and obviously there'll be much more,

00:22:12.740 um, as we, you know, um, make the story, uh, known.

00:22:16.460 And so it's, uh, yeah, we're excited about that.

00:22:18.440 So that's, that's step one is get on that list.

00:22:20.240 And then from there, as we, as we map out this plan and have a concrete way to, to move

00:22:25.100 forward in terms of the investment side, then we will, um, do that through that email campaign,

00:22:29.780 right.

00:22:29.980 And make sure everybody's aware of it.

00:22:31.080 And then from there, we'll just, uh, find the right partners and move forward.

00:22:34.400 But, uh, actually if somebody wants to make a, you know, a donation, even in the short

00:22:37.900 term, uh, just down below on the screen, there's going to be an e-transfer email that you can

00:22:42.940 send an e-transfer to.

00:22:44.080 So we'd be happy to take a donation, obviously, but, uh, yeah, just whatever support, uh, that

00:22:48.620 we can get it.

00:22:49.560 We're really, really grateful for an honor to be, to be able to serve in this way.

00:22:53.620 And I think it's wonderful because part of the rebel ethos is to do things differently

00:22:58.560 and build some success doing things as a response to the failed old ways of doing things.

00:23:06.920 And, uh, you know, you're sort of that, but also backwards. 0.93

00:23:12.360 So you're doing something new with the economy and with transactions, but your new thing is

00:23:18.240 actually the very, very old thing.

00:23:20.060 Um, and I wish you the best of luck.

00:23:22.320 And I, I really appreciate that you're bringing this solution to normal people at a very low

00:23:29.180 cost to entry, because there are a lot of people struggling out there.

00:23:33.260 And I think this will help connect those people to other people who can sort of get their cash

00:23:38.780 flow moving.

00:23:39.380 And that makes me very happy.

00:23:41.840 Awesome.

00:23:42.880 Uh, yeah, great summary, Sheila.

00:23:44.960 And I really appreciate you taking the time to have me on here and, uh, look forward to

00:23:48.480 connecting with, with the audience and making sure that we, uh, we stay in touch.

00:23:51.980 And, uh, build this thing for the people.

00:23:54.780 Yeah.

00:23:55.200 I, uh, as things move along, I hope to have you back on the show because I'm very interested

00:23:59.020 in, uh, what the uptake is on it.

00:24:01.120 I think it's going to be exceptional, quite frankly, John, thanks so much for coming on

00:24:04.360 the show.

00:24:05.100 Awesome.

00:24:05.500 Thank you so much.

00:24:13.260 Well, friends, we've come to the portion of the show where I take your viewer feedback.

00:24:17.080 If you'd like to send me viewer feedback, it's really easy.

00:24:19.720 First of all, leave a comment on one of our videos, wherever you might find it, either

00:24:25.200 on YouTube, but YouTube is a censorship platform.

00:24:28.360 So if you're watching us on rumble, leave a comment there.

00:24:30.860 I just might find it and read it on air.

00:24:32.360 Or if you want to send me an email directly, send it to Sheila at rebel news.com, put gun 0.68

00:24:37.720 show letters in the subject line.

00:24:39.540 So it's really easy for me to find because, wow, I'm sure you realize I probably get, you

00:24:45.360 know, a couple hundred emails a day and they're hard to sift through, but if you make it easy

00:24:49.240 for me to search, it'll be easy for me to read on air.

00:24:52.500 We care about what you think about the work that we're doing.

00:24:55.220 Unlike the mainstream media, they just take your money and they want you to shut up and

00:25:00.060 disappear forever.

00:25:00.720 Well, not us.

00:25:01.860 We actually want to know what you think.

00:25:04.840 And today's comments are from the YouTube comment section on my interview with Tom Harris from

00:25:12.260 the International Climate Science Coalition from last week, where Tom discussed how citizens

00:25:19.180 of Ottawa are turning up at municipal debates and absolutely hammering the local politicians

00:25:26.360 on the issue of climate change and not so much the issue of climate change, although there

00:25:31.280 are some that are questioning the science for sure.

00:25:33.600 And science should always be questioned, but they are holding these politicians to account

00:25:39.920 for the things they support.

00:25:41.440 If they support a multi-billion dollar climate plan that will cost, by Tom's analysis, I think

00:25:50.040 it's $60,000 per citizen of Ottawa, including the babies.

00:25:56.360 Somebody should have some answers for these people when they turn up at the municipal debates.

00:26:00.440 They should have some very good answers before they stick you with a bill that is akin to

00:26:06.280 the cost of an electric car.

00:26:08.960 You know, if you want an electric car, I wouldn't advise when they don't really work in Ottawa

00:26:12.400 weathers.

00:26:13.420 Anyways, Cindy White Elliott writes and says, I appreciate how you cut through the narratives

00:26:19.420 to expose the facts and the relevance of an issue.

00:26:22.000 The experts like Tom Harris always support the truth and facts as we know them to be.

00:26:27.880 I love, love, love your journalism, Sheila.

00:26:30.060 You know, that's the thing about Tom.

00:26:33.820 He wants to have a civil discussion on the facts.

00:26:39.560 Take the emotions out of it and let's talk about the facts, the science, the cost.

00:26:45.600 The problem is the other side wants to inject emotion into everything.

00:26:50.760 They want to listen to a little Swedish girl who's mad at all the grown-ups and insists that

00:26:57.340 you be scared and panic.

00:26:59.300 And people like Tom and like our friend Michelle Sterling at Friends of Science, they say, no,

00:27:04.160 let's have the grown-ups come into a room and we're going to talk about what we're doing,

00:27:09.800 what we can do, if any of it is effective, if we even care if it's effective.

00:27:14.660 And for me, what does this cost my family at the end of the day?

00:27:18.160 For me, that's my big concern because I want to weigh the risks versus benefits.

00:27:23.140 And if handing me a $60,000 bill plus my kids a $60,000 bill for literally nothing in return,

00:27:33.000 I don't think that's a good risk versus reward.

00:27:36.900 Do you?

00:27:38.500 Moving along.

00:27:40.060 Carport Carl says, yes, environmentalists, the climate does change.

00:27:46.160 It's called seasons.

00:27:47.780 You know, there's that too.

00:27:49.980 The weather does always change.

00:27:52.560 That's the nature of weather.

00:27:53.640 It is changing.

00:27:55.240 It's not cyclical.

00:27:56.680 It's different and different things affect it.

00:27:59.920 And do I think humans affect the climate?

00:28:02.480 Of course we do.

00:28:03.000 We affect everything.

00:28:04.460 We're just another variable in the grand scheme of things.

00:28:09.000 What I disagree with is the extent to which the left environmentalists say that I've changed

00:28:17.260 or harmed the weather.

00:28:20.220 You know, they keep telling me that it's going to get warmer.

00:28:22.080 And I keep saying, quit threatening me with a good time.

00:28:24.800 But what I really reject here is the idea that people who live their lives inside of a cubicle

00:28:31.260 and call a 600 square foot high rise personal coffin their home and who ride their bike everywhere

00:28:41.560 because everywhere is concrete.

00:28:44.200 I reject the presupposition that those people care more about the environment than me.

00:28:51.080 I'm a farmer.

00:28:52.700 My livelihood depends on the health of the environment around me. 1.00

00:28:59.540 To write me off to say that I don't care about the environment because I think differently about my relationship with it is stupid and ridiculous. 0.99

00:29:08.540 And I just don't accept the criticism. 0.99

00:29:11.000 I spend more time in nature than the people who live in cities telling me that I don't care about it.

00:29:17.220 And I just, I don't care.

00:29:19.260 I really, I don't care about their cubicle criticism.

00:29:22.700 Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.

00:29:24.800 Thank you so much for tuning in.

00:29:26.540 Thanks to everybody in the office in Toronto and around the country who works hard to put the show together for you.

00:29:32.880 I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.

00:29:35.980 And remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to think.

00:29:39.520 We'll see you next week.

00:30:09.520 We'll see you next week.

Rebel News Podcast - September 29, 2022

SHEILA GUNN REID ｜ Can bartering help social-credit proof your finances？

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