The following story is written by Siddharth. Siddharth is always looking to ‘explore the synergies and symbiosis within the community.’ He enjoys fitness, sports, design, art, music and theater.
When I first saw Simbi’s ad on Facebook, it barely caught my attention. I’ve previously traded skills on sites like Fiver and the experience was sub-par. Particularly, I remember spending a lot of time soliciting “clients” and never hearing back. Since it’s 2017, the Facebook ad followed me long enough to make me click through to visit the website.
Immediately, I realized that Simbi was different. The idea of a barter economy and currency-less transactions was something I advocated personally for a long time. And so I decided it was time to put my principles to action…
The first thing that differentiates Simbi from other gig-economy sites is the community. People on Simbi are generally looking for more than a mere exchange of economic value. This translates into friendly interactions and highly responsive conversations. I’ve noticed people generally make an effort to send a polite declination when they don’t see a good fit. This alone makes the Simbi experience so much better!
My first Simbi encounter was with Ella who offered to give me a personal yoga lesson. In exchange, she sought help on some graphic design for a community project that she was passionate about. I already practiced yoga regularly and wasn’t looking for a run-of-the-mill beginners class. Ella was both energetic and knowledgeable. During the lesson she made sure to give me instructions best suited to my needs. She taught me new poses and routines to work on my balance and gave me specific tips on how I could improve upon my present exercises. I was thoroughly energized by her lesson and now find myself doing yoga much more frequently than before!
I would probably never go to a yoga studio and pay for a personal lesson. Even though I could afford it, it’s just not something that I would think of. Nowadays, I don’t usually offer design services on the internet. Removing currency from a transaction creates a whole new paradigm of mental accounting. I no longer equate the cost of a yoga lesson with other products and experiences that I could purchase with the same money. Instead, I’m simply thinking of what I would need to do in return and whether that is a “fair” transaction. This is very important to me since most things I pay for with money are valued by demand-supply (or other economic principles), absolutely devoid of any notion of fairness.
Simbi allows me to obtain experiences that I would otherwise not have sought out. Since joining, I’ve had a few other very positive experiences. From time to time I keep browsing to see what other experiences are available within my locality. It’s also a great way to meet someone entirely out of my social circle. I hope this community to grows stronger and larger every day.
I’m also interested to see more people offering real everyday products such as food, clothes or consumer goods. This would tie in very nicely with the maker movement and principles of self-sustenance.
Simbiotic Stories are real anecdotes told by you and other Simbi community members. Tell us about your Simbi deals and experiences with other members. If your story is published, we’ll credit your account with 150 simbi. Submit your entries by starting a conversation with us via this link.
