Attraction Based Networking

Joint Ventures. What exactly are joint ventures? Well, according to Wikipedia, "A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together." Or simply put, teaming up and leveraging each other's talents rather than flying solo and doing all of the work yourself.

Makes perfect sense doesn't it? But yet so many people today in the internet based marketing world do not take advantage of this incredible opportunity. Why? My guess is a lot of people don't realize that these opportunities exist or they simply don't know how to find other people who are looking for what they are trying to accomplish. Maybe you just don't know what it is you want to do yet or maybe you have a great idea but need expertise in areas you are not so familiar with for your venture. 

Or, maybe you are a lot like me, a baby boomer with years of business experience, years of building a team for my network marketing business, but new to this internet based marketing thing and not sure where to even begin.  You have a great business model, but really need some help filling in the gaps.

Most of us are used to pulling the load on our own without help from others.  But today, there is no reason you can't have a successful on-line business utilizing all of the incredible opportunities there are to leverage other's talents and share in the outcome. It's pretty much a win-win for everyone involved.

Some advantages of Joint Ventures:

• Joint Ventures leverage off of the work and results that someone else has done.
• A Well Executed Joint Venture allows you to piggy back off of the effort of an existing lead flow/customer base
• Joint Ventures are simply another form of lead generation

Let me give you a real life example of a joint venture I recently was involved with and didn't even realize it until it was all over. My daughter is graduating from high school. If you have ever been through a high schooler graduating and lived to tell about it you might be following along right now. If not, please bear with me.

I made it through the SAT's, the college visits, the prayers that she would make it through her senior year without some boyfriend, friend or other high school "crisis" getting in the way. Well it all happened and it is getting down to the final day. But wait, one more thing left. The graduation party. As if shelling out thousands for college, caps and gowns, school fees, whatever else they could throw at me wasn't enough, I now needed to think about a party, which in today's standards is comparable to a wedding from my era!

Then one night, something happened. One of my friends called me and asked if I wanted to do a "joint" graduation party with 3 girls instead of one. What's that? I asked the same thing. Well, since all of the girls have the same friends, my friend thought it would make more sense to rent one big room, invite all of the friends the same night, and add our own lists to the invites. This way we could share in the costs of the room, the caterer, the invites and whatever other miscellaneous items that came along. The biggest attendees were the kids so the costs of the party would be defrayed by the fact that so many of the attendees would be "joint" friends.

This is when something truly unique started to happen. We began teaming.  We all started working on things for the party based on our strengths. We didn't even think about it, really. We met once or twice and decided to do the things that were tailored to our strengths. One woman is extremely artistic; so she did the invites, the decorations, etc. The other has lots of connections with caterers, and supplies so she went to work on getting us the best prices. I handled the financial aspect, keeping track of the money flow and making sure we kept within our budget.  And you know what, our party is scheduled in a few weeks and I'm actually "stress-free" about it.  Really.

The interesting dynamic here is we actually were jv'ing and didn't even realize it. If I would have been flying solo on this project, I still would be stressing over most of it; but as it turned out, it has been a win-win for everyone involved. Our daughters are thrilled to have it together with all of their friends; we are thrilled because we saved a ton of money and everyone's contributions were tailored to their strengths so we have the best of each element for the party.

The whole point of my story is to help you see the power of joint ventures. In the internet based marketing world, the power of joint ventures cannot be underestimated. Teaming with other people who have strengths in different areas can only lead to success for your business venture.

So how do you start a joint venture?

• Get on people's lists.  Start networking with people who offer a service or product that compliments your business.
• Get a better understanding of other people's offers by following them.
• Determine what you would look for in a partner.
• Lead with service and value when approaching a potential partner.
• Start small and work your way up. 

The key to a successful joint venture is to make sure you team up with the right people who have the same goal. Work as a team, get input from all involved and feed off of each other's strengths.  Don't try to be perfect or have it all mapped out in the beginning.  It will come into focus as you move along.

You can continue flying solo but why would you?  As Ann Sieg points out in her video from Renegade Breakthrough, Joint Ventures are the fastest way to get into the big leagues.