From help around the house and DIY, to beauty treatments and business advice, we all have skills that could be of great help to others – and with the launch of a new Gloucestershire-founded skills swapping app, users can get access to the skills they're looking for, without needing to save up to pay for them.
SoGlos sits down with Cheltenham business owner Marie King to find out how her innovative new app, TradeOff, is empowering people to trade skills seamlessly, with no money exchanged – from how it works and who can use it, to her hopes for its future.
Marie – tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm the owner of Finishing Touches beauty salon on Bath Road in Cheltenham. We've been there since 2020 having opened up in lockdown, and I've worked in beauty for about 15 years altogether. I was doing advertising for BT before that, for around 10 years. I decided to go into beauty when I had my children, as it was a bit more flexible.
Where did the idea for TradeOff come from?
It came about from working in the salon, and just naturally trading with people anyway. People would say they've got a skill and I'd say, for example, 'well, I could do with a cleaner – do you want to clean the salon and I'll do your nails for free?'.
People in the beauty industry often trade anyway, beauty treatment for beauty treatment, where no one's actually exchanging any money, it's just their time. I felt like I was doing it more and more, and finding that I could actually save myself money by offering a service instead.
I think there are a lot of people out there struggling for money, and something like beauty, for example, is a luxury; a cleaner is a luxury. When you start being a bit more strapped for cash, these are the things that you start cutting back on. So in turn for getting a service I needed, I was helping people to keep hold of their disposable income, because they were saving on having their nails done.
So how does TradeOff work?
It's a little bit like a dating app – you set up a profile where you enter keywords, being the skills that you offer. For example, mine are all the beauty treatments I do, but also other things – I do a bit of mentoring, and helping friends out with things like dog walking.
Then you can actually post if you're looking for something specific. For example I went on and I posted that I was looking for HR advice, and in exchange, I could offer a beauty treatment. You can also simply set up your profile and see what offers you get.
An offer will come up as a match, again like a dating app, when somebody in your area is looking for a skill that you've got. Then you can start the line of conversation in the app's built-in chat, whether it's 'I want to offer you this for this', 'how much is it worth', or 'how can we negotiate?'
If you're happy, you can accept the trade, and then the next step is completing it. You both have to sign it off before it's complete, and then at the end of the process, you can review that person.
Who can use TradeOff, and what can you trade?
It can be used by individuals and businesses alike. In terms of what you can trade, it can be anything. For example somebody recently put up a night in their hotel in exchange for having some electrical work done; it might be offering a bit of painting, in exchange for somebody taking their elderly nan shopping. It literally has no boundaries.
You don't have to have a qualification to offer a trade or a skill. It could be ironing, cleaning, gardening, beauty, you could help somebody write their CV or prepare for an interview – it's actually limitless.
A lot of people might think that they don't have a skill or they don't have the time, but when you actually evaluate what your time is spent on – whether it's getting through stacks of washing, or cooking a meal – you might find swapping skills is more relevant to you than you think.
Someone could come in and have a nice lasagne there for you when you get home from work, so you can sit and do things with your family, rather than spending the time cooking. Or rather than cleaning your house on a Saturday afternoon, you can get someone doing that for you. Everybody's got a skill, everyone's got something to offer, they just need to think outside the box a little bit.
Other than the cost saving, what are the benefits of using TradeOff, as opposed to finding skills and services via traditional methods?
It's about making connections, as much as saving you money. People that might need some help supporting an elderly relative has the opportunity to build a relationship with somebody that can walk their dog regularly, for example. It's more of an introduction than anything, as when you use it once for that specific thing, if you like the person, you're likely going to use them every time.
The difference with finding people on Facebook is you have to use your Apple or Google ID to actually log in, so you're essentially being verified through that. And then there's an arbitration process if you're not happy with the trade that's happened – we will find out what's happened and what's gone wrong, and then try to resolve it for you. Whereas if you buy goods or service through Facebook, you can't always trust people – you don't really know who they are.
How can users ensure their trade is a success?
I think it's a lot to do with standards – when people are negotiating their trade, they need to be clear on what it is they want and what they expect.
You can use pictures – so if, for example, I need a cake made, I put up a picture of what I'm expecting. Then a person says 'yeah, I can do something similar to that, but I might not quite be able to do this, this and this' – so your expectations have been set. But then if you got the cake and it was an absolute mess, you take a picture of the cake and say to them you're not happy with it. If they think it's completely fine, then it can go to the arbitration process, and the trade wouldn't get signed off.
What has the journey to launching the app been like?
The app was created about three or four months ago. We're still very much in the piloting stage, we wanted to use Gloucestershire as the pilot to gather feedback on user experience and get any bugs fixed – at the moment we're not finding many! The app is quite self-explanatory, it talks you through the process. So hopefully, we've hit the nail on the head.
Feedback has been really positive so far – people love the idea, now it's about getting more people to download the app and start using it!
What is your vision for the future of TradeOff?
The app is completely free to use at the moment. In the future, there's potential for it be subscription-based. We also hope to expand its use outside of Gloucestershire, on a national scale, and maybe take it on Dragon's Den.
We're also looking at it being used for work experience, with people offering their services as a mentor for young people that don't have experience. I've got teenagers and a lot of their friends are struggling to find work, because no one will give them a chance to gain experience. So there could be an angle for that, or even for people that are out of work or have been for a while, and haven't got the confidence to go into a working environment, or might struggle with an interview.
How can people start using TradeOff?
The app is available to download for free on the Google and Apple stores. People can search TradeOff or head to the website, tradeoff.uk, which has all the links for where to download the app.
It literally takes three minutes to set up your profile and get looking for things!
