I remember vividly my first experience scuba diving. As soon as I went beneath the surface of the sea, I realized that an entire world existed every day within my own world and I wasn’t at all aware of it. Whether or not I knew of it, that world was still alive and happening.

The same is true of the world of barter. It’s alive and happening, now more than ever and yet, most small business owners are completely clueless as to its existence – and its value to their companies. To fully comprehend the magnitude of barter in today’s economy, consider that in 1998, more than 55 percent of media was not purchased, but obtained by barter. And that’s just media. Many other goods and services are obtained for no money whatsoever – simply by bartering.

Almost all small businesses want and need something. Perhaps it’s exactly what you offer. And it’s practically certain that your small business also wants and needs something – and other small businesses offer it. Not only that, but they may be very interested in bartering for it with you.

Barter enables small-businesses to address a pressing need: cash flow. By empowering businesses to trade their goods or services for the goods or services offered by other businesses, bartering facilitates enables complex exchanges among multiple businesses.

Any unused time, inventory, or capacity can be transformed into business value. Small businesses around the world are learning to conserve cash, find new customers, and convert their excess time or capacity into things they need. All it takes is a simple barter.

Since learning of the immense power and economy of bartering, I have personally bartered my own marketing services for a solar heating unit for my pool, a giant-screen TV set, a hot tub, an electric scooter for my wife, a year’s supply of coffee, a palm tree, a vacation in Hawaii, a cruise to Russia, and scads of secretarial services. I tell you this only to open your mind to the variety of goods and services available to those who are willing to trade what they have for what they want and need.

Many small business owners want and need products and services for both their business and their non-business lives. Often, these offerings are just too expensive to purchase and don’t fit into the budget. But by bartering, they do not require any cash outlay and fit easily into anyone’s budget.

Bartering is at the very core of guerrilla marketing because rather than requiring a financial investment, it requires only an investment of your time, energy and imagination. Simply by visiting a site such as lassobucks.com, the astute small business owner can learn of offerings that can make the difference between success and failure, growth or stagnation.

What you may consider to be an overstock of inventory or downtime for your employees can be transformed into exactly what your company needs right now. In the past, such complex barter arrangements were time-consuming and often led to frustration.

But as the online world grows, and small businesses pop up all over the globe, barter has become much simpler, much faster and within the reach of any small business. What you desperately need today, but just cannot afford, may be yours tomorrow – and very easy to afford.

Traditionally, small businesses had to rein in their growth plans because they just plain didn’t have the money to fuel their dreams. But guerrillas are rapidly learning that they don’t need the money. They already have just what is necessary for them to acquire the goods and services they desire – and all it takes is opening their minds to the concept of barter.

Centuries ago, barter was commonly used by small businesses, but as cash assumed a greater role in the economies of nations, barter seemed to fall by the wayside. Today, that trend has been reversed and barter is assuming a greater role than ever.

Small businesses are realizing that they already have just what it takes to get what they need – and get it in a hurry. It is not complicated. It is not time consuming. It is not reserved for huge corporations with a lot of clout. The business and marketing plans of increasing number of small businesses include bartering for resources.

They now comprehend that rather then visiting their banker, they can simply click their mouse and enter a world where they are welcome, a world teeming with valuable offerings that can shift them into hyper-profitability.

If you’re a guerrilla, you’ll discover this world and become intimate with the benefits it offers to your business. Whether you discover it or not, it will continue to thrive, continue to propel small businesses to their goals, and continue to become an integral part of the world economy.