Deb McGuire does it in exchange for yard work.
McGuire is a former news anchor, producer and model who turned her love for animals into a career. She now spends time behind the camera.
She says, "In this economy that is the key you have to go above and beyond for service."
McGuire says her business of taking photos of people's pets has been booming, but not everyone has the money to pay. So instead of paying, they trade.
"I had a yard guy trade, so i got my weeds pulled and he got beautiful pictures of his cat," she said.
But the benefit of bartering doesn't stop there. McGuire sometimes trades her skills as a photographer in exchange for massages.
Cindy Ogata left her job as a teacher after her daughter was born with a disorder called Apert Syndrome. Therapists recommended she massage her daughter's hands. After seeing positive results, she became a massage therapist.
"You need something I got, I need something you got," she said.
As for her massage business, Ogata says, "It goes up and down with the economy."
Ogata enlisted the help of a retired seamstress to sew something that could help her daughter exercise her hands and motor skills.
She describes the bean bag exercise, "You can see what materials are in each bag and its different textures and different weights so it just registers to the brain differently and so this is the perfect gift for my daughter."
Ogata says the woman who sewed the bean bags for her daughter refused payment, so she traded for pet photography.
She says, "It was like this kind of thing that worked out."
Yara says, "It's not just about what you need and what you have and sometimes what you don't need is sometimes what somebody else might need so you know it goes around nicely."
You can call Deb McGuire at 247-5282 or email her at magicrock@hawaii.rr.com.
To reach Cindy Ogata, you can call her at 836-1490.
