I will pay you, do taxidermy work for trade, promote the hell out of your work, or a combination of all three.

I am looking for something simple and clean. If this is your thing, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d like to get it up and running within a few weeks.

Lately I’ve been doing work for trade because some of my potential students do cool stuff and sometimes having something they do or make means more to me than getting them to pay class tuition. I’ve had good experiences and bad experiences. Here’s some advice and things to think about before you commit to trading someone for goods or services.

• Think about value. Not necessarily monetary value, but think about how much something means to you — I have traded teaching taxidermy classes for tattoos and for video work. My classes are worth between $150-$250, but taking into account what that taxidermy experience meant compared to what I got in return, these were all fair trades.
• Don’t commit to making a trade you don’t think is fair. If you think your goods/services are worth more than what you’re getting, ask for more. One girl I traded a large tattoo for felt that her tattoo was worth two of my classes, so she took two classes and I got the tattoo in exchange.
• Don’t commit to a trade and then change your mind, especially after  you’ve received the goods or services from the other person already. ESPECIALLY if it’s a good/service that can’t be returned if you change your mind. If you’re learning to do something and someone teaches you, it’s very unfair to change your mind after you’ve learned it. It’s also unfair to retract your trade when the item is personalized to you, or if it’s permanent like a tattoo.
• Don’t agree to a trade if you don’t want a trade. If you’d rather have the cash, don’t make a trade and then complain about it.
• Use common sense!

Have fun with it. I’ve gotten awesome stuff and made great friends by trading what I know with other people that have cool skills, knowledge, or stuff. Be smart and use trade deals to get what you want fairly — for both parties.