NJ Mompreneur: Faye Alba, BarterPays!

New Jersey is home to many ambitious and talented women who juggle family, career and home. A select few of these women are also extremely busy building their own companies to help better manage the whole work-life balance. At NJ Mom, we want to highlight these extraordinary women building NJ businesses and learn the secret to their success.

BarterPays! Founder & NJ Mompreneur: Faye Alba

Faye Alba is the President and Director of BarterPays!, New Jersey’s leading Barter Network for over 20 years. Since 1993, BarterPays! has marketed thousands of local New Jersey businesses to increase sales, build customer loyalty, tap into new markets, while conserving cash flow – all by bartering goods and services in the BarterPays! membership network. Faye enjoys bringing in new clients and showing them how to successfully develop their business. NJ Mom had the wonderful opportunity to ask Faye a few questions about her business and herself; here’s what she had to share.

NJMOM: What do you offer to your clients and how is it different than other professionals in your field?

Faye: BarterPays! is unique because members get to buy great stuff without using cash. They pay with an alternate form of currency, barter dollars, and earn barter dollars by selling to new customers introduced to them through BarterPays!.

NJMOM: What inspired you to come up with the idea for your business?

Faye: I was a young single mom struggling to make ends meet and I discovered there were barter exchanges in other parts of the country, but not right in my area. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and talking about it. One of my girlfriends told me to stop talking, and “just do it!” So I did, and Barterpays! was born!

NJMOM: What is your favorite part about your business?

Faye: I love learning about different businesses. I have always been curious about what makes a business unique, and the best way to market it. I love bringing my clients new customers and helping them grow their businesses. I like that I can be effective in helping so many local business owners and their families. Our members save cash for things like mortgage payments and taxes, and barter so many great things for their families. Bartering for childcare and healthcare can make a big impact on a family’s budget, so I love recommending day camps, preschools, and orthodontists that members can use on barter. I also really enjoy planning birthday parties for our clients using just barter dollars.

NJMOM: What is your background in business and bartering?

Faye: I started out in advertising and marketing. I worked at magazines and newspapers and owned a small graphic design business, before I started BarterPays!. I have always been interested in marketing, even when I was a young girl.

NJMOM: Who is your role model?

Faye:

Anybody that can juggle home and career, childrearing, school, and starting and running a business, deserves a lot of credit.

Life is not always easy, and many moms are exceptional in keeping it all together.

NJMOM: What’s the best piece of advice your mom has given to you?

Faye:

My mom always made sure I wrote thank-you notes, and I do that in business today.

It is not common to send handwritten thank-you notes nowadays in a business environment. But I try to do so when I go to a lecture and learn something new, or if someone offers support or guidance or encouragement.

NJMOM: Do you have a favorite quote you live by? Why is this quote so important to you?

Faye: The BarterPays! slogan is, “What goes around…comes around”.

And I think that is a good quote to live by. In a barter exchange it means, you sell something, and you get something back from someone else. And in life, it means that what you put into the universe always comes back to you.

NJMOM: What are your favorite things to do in New Jersey with your family?

Faye: My favorite place in New Jersey is being at the Jersey Shore with my daughters and sons-in-law. They live in Hoboken so there is nothing sweeter than them coming down to Belmar beach on the summer weekends, and just hanging out together.

NJMOM: What is the best part about being a mom for you?

Faye:

The best part of my life is being a mother.

While my daughters are now grown and out on their own, there is nothing more joyful to me than the relationship of a mother and daughter. I operated several home-based businesses for many years, and my daughters learned about business from a young age. Now one of my daughters is working for BarterPays! handling the North Jersey territory, so it’s great that we can work together and play together.

NJMOM: What are your favorite businesses in New Jersey?

Faye: I have a very long list, because all my members are my favorite businesses!

{Editor’s note: Awwwww, spoken like a true mother!}

NJMOM: Anything else you’d like to share with moms in New Jersey?

Faye: If you are considering starting a business, there will be people who will tell you that it is a bad idea or you don’t have the experience, or it’s too much work, or other negative thoughts.

It is good to listen to people you trust, but the ultimate decision should be your own.

I had no experience in barter when I started it, and I had no money to operate, but I knew in my gut that I could do it, and that was the momentum that kept me going those early days of the business. Part of being a business owner is having the vision that no one else has, and bringing it to fruition.

Faye is graciously providing a special offer for NJMom.com {business owner} readers!

[button link=”http://www.barterpays.com” size=”medium” color=”yellow”]Free BarterPays! Membership with Code “Mompreneur”[/button]

To learn more about Faye and BarterPays!, visit Barterpays.com, give her a call at 732-364-4614 or email info@barterpays.com. Be sure to follow BarterPays on Facebook and Twitter!