The Silvatree blog
Plain-spoken articles on the Capacity Exchange model, idle capacity and cashflow, from the team at Silvatree.
Model comparisons
Do You Have to Sign a Personal Guarantee to Trade Your Spare Capacity?
Why credit-line exchanges ask a director to guarantee the debt, what BBX's and Bartercard's rules say, and why a Capacity Exchange has nothing to guarantee.
27 July 2026
Model comparisons
Who Are You Actually Contracting With When You Join a Trade Exchange?
Before fees or network size, find out which single entity holds your account, whose law governs the contract, and which forum decides a dispute.
27 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
A 90-Day Plan for Putting Idle Capacity to Work
A staged, three-month plan for listing spare capacity carefully, watching what actually sells, and scaling only once real trades prove it works for your business.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Be Everywhere Your Best Buyers Are
A practical guide to showing up where buyers already gather, through honest video, borrowed audiences, consistent content and a simple community, without a bigger ad budget.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Build a Resilient, Profitable Business Without Cutting Costs First
Protect your visibility, stack value instead of discounting, track profit not revenue, keep adapting, and fund it all with idle capacity you already own.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
The Reserve Sitting Next to Your Cash Reserve
Your cash reserve protects wages and tax. Your spare capacity is a second reserve, and it can fund the marketing, training and kit you keep deferring.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
The Capacity Profit Multiplier: When Filling Capacity Beats Chasing Sales
A worked, illustrative comparison of what a modest utilisation lift is worth in profit against chasing the same growth through new cash customers.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Why a Real Limit Sells Harder Than a Fake One
Countdown timers that quietly reset and "only 3 left" banners on stock that restocks nightly cost you trust. A genuine cap on seats or slots, stated plainly, is what actually persuades a sceptical buyer.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
How to Build a Referral Programme That Actually Gets Used
A practical guide to building a structured referral programme for a UK SME: when to ask, how to ask, the reward that feels generous, and the honesty rules that keep it trustworthy.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
How to Calculate Your Idle Capacity
A simple three-number method for working out what your unsold time, space and stock are worth over a year, and how much of that figure is genuinely worth listing.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
How to Get More Customer Reviews Without Buying Them
A practical guide to systemising review collection at the right moment, and turning the proof you gather into something that actually keeps selling.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
How to Reactivate Past Customers
A practical guide to waking up the customers and old leads you've already paid to find: how to segment the list, what to say, and when a list is too stale to bother.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
How to Spend Your Spare Capacity
A practical guide to what you can actually buy with Silva, what stays in cash for now, and what to do if the network doesn't yet supply what you need.
23 July 2026
Model comparisons
The trade exchange worked. Then I learned what it couldn't fix.
Ian Jones ran Bartercard businesses in four countries. Twenty years inside the credit-line trade exchange taught him what its structure could never fix, and why Silvatree is built the way it is.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
Split the Price: How Hybrid Payments Save a Deal
How a hybrid price, part cash and part Silva, lets you win a deal cash alone would lose and fill capacity that would otherwise go unsold.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
The Risk Line Your Balance Sheet Never Shows
Idle hours, empty rooms and slow stock behave like a hidden cost line. Here's how to see that risk on your books and put it to work instead of losing it.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Make Every Sales Conversation Count
Five points where a sale you already have on the line quietly turns into a no, and how to fix each one without discounting or overselling.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Monetise the Customers You Already Have
A practical guide to getting more from the customers, list and reviews you already have: better email, a smaller list that buys, referrals and proof that turns hesitation into a sale.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Someone Else Already Has the Customers You're Trying to Reach
How UK SMEs use joint ventures and partner-driven funnels to reach customers who already trust another business, and how to make the arrangement fair.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Plug the Leaks in Your Sales Funnel
Five places most UK SMEs lose customers they've already paid to attract, and how to fix each one before spending another penny on new traffic.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Should You Cut Marketing in a Downturn?
The honest answer on cutting marketing when trading tightens: what it actually costs, when cutting is the right call, and how to keep visibility running without finding new cash.
23 July 2026
Model comparisons
Silvatree vs Bartercard: What's the Difference?
How Silvatree and Bartercard differ in structure: who issues the currency, who can run a negative balance, and what the rules say on wind-down and exit.
23 July 2026
Model comparisons
Silvatree vs BBX: How Do the Two Models Compare?
How Silvatree and BBX compare on the structural facts in each operator's own rules: who issues the currency, who can run a negative balance, and what happens on exit.
23 July 2026
Practical guides
Stop Discounting, Stack Your Offer Instead
Discounting trains customers to wait for the next sale and quietly erodes every full-price sale after it. Stacking genuine value around your price protects the margin a discount gives away.
23 July 2026
Idle-capacity economics
The Hidden Cost of Idle Capacity
Idle capacity feels like nothing happening, so it looks free. It isn't. Why an unsold hour, table or van run is a cost you've already paid, and how UK SMEs can start putting it to work.
23 July 2026
Model comparisons
What Are the Alternatives to a Trade Exchange in the UK?
An honest buyer's guide to the alternatives to a UK trade exchange: another credit-line exchange, direct barter, cash discounting, or a Capacity Exchange, and the questions that matter more than the brand.
23 July 2026
Model comparisons
Why Do Trade Exchange Balances Lose Their Spending Power?
The economics behind trade balances that get hard to spend: how an operator that can issue and spend its own currency inflates prices and dries up liquidity, and the structure that prevents it.
23 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
Capacity Exchange vs Trade Exchange: What's the Difference?
How a Capacity Exchange differs from a trade exchange: who can run a negative balance, what happens on wind-down, and why structure beats promises.
22 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
How Does Silva Work?
How Silva works in plain English: a unit of account referenced at 1 Silva to £1, earned by filling spare capacity, spent with members, and never cashed out.
22 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
How to Choose a Trade or Capacity Exchange
A practical due-diligence checklist for any trade or capacity exchange: twelve structural questions to ask before you join, and why each one matters.
22 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
Is a Capacity Exchange Safe?
How a Capacity Exchange protects members by architecture, not promises: the non-negative operator rule, the wind-down ranking, and a tamper-evident ledger.
22 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
The Two-Pot World: Run Your Business on Cash and Silva
Why running your business from two pots, a cash pot you protect and a Silva pot that circulates, keeps cash in the bank while your spare capacity earns.
22 July 2026
Capacity Exchange explained
What Is a Capacity Exchange?
A plain-English guide to what a Capacity Exchange is, how it turns spare business capacity into Silva you can spend, and how it differs from a trade exchange.
22 July 2026