Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast—your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade.
Whether you're a seasoned member or just getting started, we're here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries, and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of the Bartercard ecosystem.
Mike Caladine_BC
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast, your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade. We are here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of barter cart. So welcome to another episode of the Barter Edge.
I am here with another Bartercard royalty with, uh, Mike Kine, the senior franchise owner with Venue Smart and Venue Smart, help businesses save money. With their transaction fees and point of sale for e-commerce and uh, fpos terminals and Venue Smart is the preferred payments partner with Bartercard Network.
And Mike, can you please introduce yourself and share a bit of your history with Bartercard because you've been around Bartercard for [00:01:00] quite a while. Uh, thanks, Jen. Thanks for that generous introduction. Yeah, look, uh, I started with Bartercard way back in, uh, August, 1991. I was actually the first person to take Bartercard to market, uh, in the Brisbane area.
Um, so a few of my career highlights. I, I was promoted to National Sales Manager, uh, I think around, uh, 95, but Bartercard continued, uh, its global expansion and so, uh, made the honor of, uh, becoming the, uh, international sales manager. In around 2000, that was shortly after Andrew Feki was promoted, uh, to, uh, managing director and then, uh, of Barca International.
And then I became the international sales manager. We worked quite closely together and, uh, we supported operations in, uh, in, uh, around 19 different countries over that, uh, that space of time. So after that, uh, I was involved with a Coin project and, um, [00:02:00] we registered 40,000 businesses in two years. And about two years ago, I took on at the time what was called a master franchise, uh, with uh, a payments company called Venue Smart.
So now we called, uh, senior franchise, uh, uh, ease or franchisors. Uh, and I think that's all because we are starting to get a little bit older, right? Um, but what that means is that we can, uh, we can grow a team. So I've got a, a, a team of, uh, uh, franchisees right across the country that are dedicated to providing incredible service and assisting businesses to reduce expenses and improve efficiencies on accepting payments in any form.
I love that. And I've heard from you some of the results that you've been able to get for some of your clients, including some of your Bartercard clients. But what. Made you and Venue Smart want to partner with Bartercard as the preferred [00:03:00] payment solution? Oh, good question. Okay. So I've been working with, and, and listening to Bartercard, uh, uh, merchants and small business, uh, owners for more than three decades.
And overwhelmingly these days, I'm, I'm hearing that business is damn tough, right? Mm-hmm. The, the owners generally work the longest hours. Mm-hmm. They take all the risk. And that they get paid last if there's any money left when everything else is paid. So I've got a way to save businesses with very minimal effort to save them a lot on processing.
Uh, for example, with F Os, we can generally save a business somewhere between 15 and 25% against the, their, their normal providers like Tyro or. Any of the major banks, but most of, uh, uh, of, of my clients now have decided that they're not paying fees anymore and they're passing on a very small surcharge, uh, [00:04:00] uh, to the customers and in some cases saving them tens of thousands of dollars, uh, every year.
And that might be the difference of keeping all the employees or having to let somebody go. Yeah, that's phenomenal. And it's that big picture thinking. It's the trying to future proof your business as well, because business is tough, expenses are rising, getting good team members is challenging. You don't wanna take them for granted either.
So Venue Smart really does help with the flow on effect of business as well. It's not just a payment solution, is it? Yeah. Well, unlike most payment solutions or I think any out there. Um, it's not just the savings, right? Uh, at at Venue Smart. If you've got a problem. We've got a solution and you've got somebody to talk to, right?
So with my customers, if, if anything sort of plays up, they're gonna give me a call. I'm not a tech, but I can always steer 'em in, in the, the right direction to get it resolved [00:05:00] as quickly as possible. I mean, the equipment that we use, this is our latest payment terminal. Okay? Now, now this little guy has got a, a, a 10 hour battery life, okay?
Uh, the old black en ingen codes that are, that are around. Sometimes they've got less than a five minute battery life on. So these, they, they've, they're built in redundancies. If something ever goes wrong, a technician can actually remote in, run a diagnostic and find out what the issue is. If it's completely gone, we can take all of our franchises have, uh, spare terminals so I can take this terminal to, uh, a, a malfunctioning, uh, merchant.
Use the camera within here, scan this, this barcode, and it'll self set itself up to, to, uh, to be your replacement terminal going into the same bank account, processing just as normal within about half an hour. Okay. Wow. 'cause I've, I remember in [00:06:00] times, uh, being in business when the. Uh, that things malfunction.
Yeah. It's like, Ooh, look, there's no solution for that sort of thing. And that could cost a business a lot of money. Uh, even that a nail salon that I used to go to, uh, they couldn't update their machine because of some weird contract that they were in, and they could only accept. Cash. And they were like, most people are walking away.
Or people have come in, got their nails done and then just walked off. Yeah, I'm going to the bank. And then they're not getting paid. Yeah, yeah. And so having, because that needs to be fixed so quickly, doesn't it? Yeah. And these, these machines are much more reliable than anything else that's ever been. But not only that, if the wifi goes down, okay.
Yeah. Th they've got a tri sim, so if the wifi goes down, it, the, the machine will detect who's got the strongest signal from Optus, Vodafone, and Telstra, and automatically switch to that sim, [00:07:00] uh, so that you're transacting with far, far, far less downtime. Oh, that's amazing. That sounds like it'd be a great solution for people that do events with merchandise and all of that sort of thing as well.
Because I know I've been in a position where we've got the terminal, but it has to be connected to one of our phone's, wifi. Sure, sure. And some of the places that we had those events. Had very low signal. Yeah. And then it causes all of these issues. And if you walk away, then it's attached to your phone and you've got your phone on you, then people can't make transactions.
So I've seen the ugly side of what can go wrong with that sort of thing. Now, what are some of the key advantages for businesses engaging in Bartercard and then also partnering with Venue Smart. Okay, well, look, Bartercard's always been about reducing business expenses and, and venue smart's the same.
Only it specializes in payments, right? So. [00:08:00] F os is a real, uh, easy example by changing out a machine, upgrading a machine, then uh, exposing yourself to better service than you've ever, ever experienced. And lower fees, it's gotta have a positive impact on, on, onto the business, right? But it's not just f os.
We do, uh, reoccurring payments. So if you're a business that sends out invoices, we can help you. We've got an automatic, uh, invoice, uh, system that'll actually act as a debt collector for you without, uh, engaging a staff member. Uh, if you've got a, a website or take e-commerce payments in, in any form, we can provide better solutions than Stripe or PayPal at far less costs, right?
Uh, we've even got. The ability to turn, uh, an Android mobile phone into a payments, um, mechanism for the tradies, right? So they can tap and go on their mobile phone, uh, and, and get paid without the, [00:09:00] the, the, the terminal rental. That's incredible. And how much time and money is that gonna be saving businesses from someone having to manually do invoicing and follow up payments and you know, getting back from a hard day's workout on the tools.
And then you've gotta sit down and do two hours of invoicing. Yeah. And then you've gotta wait for that money to come in. You are on the spot. Tap and pay. Yeah. Like you would if you were going to buy a coffee or going to any sort of store. It's an amazing, uh, like value add for. Everyone in business and Bartercard merchants are too busy to be getting home and then chasing debts at night.
Right. Absolutely. Leave it to an automotive system. Yep. Yep. Now, you have been around Bartercard for a long time and you've got a lot of different stories. Uh, Mike, you've come in and done some training with the team recently, which was just absolutely amazing. What would [00:10:00] be your favorite Bartercard story?
Oh, look. To me, Bartercard's filled with highlights. I mean, some of the opportunities that, that I've had to, um, travel and support our international operations. I believe I've worked in every single office throughout the Bartercard world, throughout the Bartercard history, right? So that's been an honor. It was a privilege to run our international sales conferences all over the world at at exotic locations once a year.
But one of the favorite barcode stories has actually happened this year when I heard that Andrew Feki had been reappointed as CEO of, of the barcode group. And that gave me the, the assurance that were in good hands, that the future is very, very solid, uh, for the Bartercard community. Yeah, I, it, it is amazing the energy.
Yeah. [00:11:00] Um, the, the things that have happened since then. Yeah. As well. Like there's a really big flow on effect. What about, uh, another story around some, some client results, some bar card members? Okay. Let's take a couple of, uh, examples of Bartercard members utilizing Venue Smart within a kilometer of here, actually probably 500 meters.
Uh, there, there's a, a Barca member that's a tie store. Um, uh, should I mention its name or you can give them a shout out? Well, they're, they're just so marvelous to work with. It's, uh, it's, it's tire plus just, just down, down the road a little bit. So in West Burly. In West Burly. Now they saved by, by switching to venue smart and passing on a very small surcharge, they've saved themselves.
If I remember correctly, around $28,000, which has made sure that they could keep all of their staff. Okay. Um, a [00:12:00] bowling center, the first bowling center that, um, uh, that, that joined up with with. With me with Venue Smart was, uh, uh, Brian at Kbo. She Bowl another, another par powered Bartercard, uh, merchant.
And, uh, he's, he's now saving well over $20,000 a year and he's, he, he's been able to refer me onto about 15 other bowling centers 'cause he's so happy with the service, uh, and the savings. That's amazing. Um, and look, both of them, amazing results for small businesses as well. Imagine what you would do if you're a business owner listening to this.
What would you do with the potential of having an extra 20,000 in your cashflow? Like what's it gonna do for you, your family, your team? What are you gonna be able to afford to do that you've been saying no to? Just by switching providers and getting a much better deal. Yeah. Even if you don't surcharge, we can still inject new money, [00:13:00] new cash flow, uh, into your business almost straight away.
It's still going into your, your same bank account. We offer a seven day every single day settlement. Right. Um, and all the changes is, is we've upgraded the machine and savings for you. Amazing. And it does look a lot better than a lot of the terminals that I've seen around. Um, look with, uh, Bartercard, there are a lot of industries that do incredibly well.
And you've dealt with a lot of different industries that have come into Bartercard. What do you think are the perfect types of business that do amazing? From being in our network. Yeah, sure. Look, um, as, as far as that suit, uh, venue smart, uh, more for Bartercard. So what businesses do really great out of Bartercard?
Oh, look, I think, uh, I think. It's not really the industry or, [00:14:00] or, or the business. It's, it's the person behind the business that DD determines whether barcode's gonna be a great fit for your business or not. Right. Um, I think there's examples of, of virtually every industry that, that I could think of that have, that have, that have done amazingly well, uh, out of barcode.
And then there's, there's ones that, that don't want to utilize the tools that they've got and maybe won't do, do quite so well. Absolutely. It's all about that mindset and I always think that to do really well from being a member, you've gotta be open for opportunities. Yeah. You've gotta think outside the box.
And our, our account managers like the way that they help businesses open their eyes to opportunities and, you know, the, all of the different trading tips and things like that, it just. I say it all the time, but I often feel like I've got steam coming out of my ears because I'm just [00:15:00] like, that's such a brilliant way of doing business.
But the business owner is essentially. At the core of that to whether they're willing to take the advice and try doing things differently, aren't they? Yeah, that's right. I mean, you know, if it's u utilized correctly, but a car can definitely increase your sales. It can reduce your, your business expenses and doing those two things has gotta result in more profit.
So utilize the tools and make a little bit more profit. Right? And then with some extra savings. Have a chat with, uh, with Lenny Smart as well. Absolutely. Now, what would you say to someone who was on the fence about joining Barter Cart? What's the harm in giving it a try? You know, like if, if you've got the ability to generate a few more sales, you've got the capacity within within your business, so you've got some downtime or some slow moving stock.
If you've got some ongoing, realistic business expenses that you'd like to offset [00:16:00] or reduce. And you'd like to make a little bit more profit, what's the harm? Giving it a shot. Amazing. Thank you for those words of wisdom, Mike. Now talk to me again about Venue Smart. Uh, tell me like, what are you doing through Bartercard with Venue Smart.
Okay, so look, our margins are incredibly small. We, we, we have to rely on, on volume, but where wherever we can, we are gonna offer terminal rental. Uh, uh, on, on Bartercard. 'cause that's a fixed fee of, uh, of $33 per terminal. Which we can, we can offer to the, to the Bartercard community as long as there's enough volume there.
Right. And generally we, we are looking at, at volume of, of about 30,000 or more a month going through a machine. Amazing. What an amazing, um, way to be able to get more clients, but also to save more money and [00:17:00] to have a better experience that you've got the support and everything and the technology in these machines to get amazing results.
Mike, it's been absolutely amazing having you on the podcast today, and I'm sure we will be speaking again with you soon. Okay. Thank you so much and uh, thanks for the invitation. Thank you for being with us today and sharing your stories and expertise. If you wanna find out how Bartercard can help your business, or if you wanna be a guest on our future podcast, contact our team at hello@bartercard.com.
Make sure you tune in for our next episode of the Barta Edge.