Two people decide to start a rubble removal business together as a Joint Venture.

They agree that they will each pay half the monthly lease and maintenance on the truck, which they will share, by using it  on alternate days. For example, John will use the truck on Mondays, work hard, and make as much money as he can. Jim will use the truck on Tuesdays, for his own benefit. Each will be responsible for finding his own business and paying for the gas he uses. Each will earn as much as he can.

Sounds Good.  Here’s the Reality.

John works hard, promotes his work, delivers excellent service, goes the extra mile, and makes good money. Jim is lazy, does shoddy work, has a bad attitude, and doesn’t make enough money to even cover his portion of the lease and maintenance on the truck, so he blames John and claims that this is a “Win / Lose” situation. After all, he is paying for half of John’s expenses, and John is making money, but Jim is losing money. This might sound ridiculous, but I encounter this loser mentality regularly.

Earn According to Production

John is not responsible for Jim’s choices, work ethic, or abilities. He is paying what he agreed to pay, and earning money according to his own personal production, so he deserves what he earns.

Jim deserves what he earns, too.

This is a win/win situation.

Losers Always Expect to Be Carried

Losers always find a scapegoat and claim to have been ripped off by successful people – that is as old as time itself. The leeches and parasites want the producers and creators to carry them on their backs, like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. Sooner or later, Atlas Shrugs,  and the losers fall off his back. And then the losers blame the producer for their own bad choices.

What a Win/Win Really Means

A win/win Joint Venture should always reward production and punish slothfulness and failure, and as long as both parties do what they promised and agreed to do, and each takes responsibility for the results he produces or fails to produce, we have a win/win.

Another Example

Adam decides to become a carpenter, so he pays to attend carpentry school. He learns everything, the classes deliver as promised, and Bob is certified as a qualified carpenter. But he makes bad choices, does bad work, smokes pot and sleeps half the day, so he fails as  carpenter. Then he blames the carpentry school and calls the situation win / lose.

Silly, right?  Silly, and sad.

Winners are accountable, and they honor their commitments. Only set up Joint Venture with winners who have a proven track record, and when they start to play these word games, break away from them fast.

My Criteria – I Only Work with DollarMakers.

I received an e-mail from a character who wanted to Joint Venture with me. I told him my criteria to enter any Joint Venture: “You have to be a Member of DollarMakers, we have to build a relationship, and then I will decide whether or not I want to JV with you.”

He was upset, and said this was win / lose. He has the choice – accept my criteria or don’t accept them – this has nothing to do with win / lose.

Win /win requires that you only work with winners. Look at peoples’ track records and do your due diligence, and test them in small ways, before setting up JV’s with them.

I’m not talking about a Tony Robbins style “whip them up and jump around” seminar, much as I love Tony’s work. I’m not talking about the scare tactic type of “motivational” lecture we saw in the excellent movie, “Glengarry Glen Ross.” I’m talking a movies that motivate you at your core being and can be watched again and again. “Defiance” is such a movie.

Excellent Motivating Movies

Based on a true story, one cannot help but be seriously motivated to achieve ones goals when you watch this movie. Like “The Last Castle” or “The Shawshank Redemption”, you see people who are totally committed to their dreams. “Patton” is another such movie, which, like Defiance, is based on fact. Your own little obstacles fade into obscurity when you see these giants going for their goals. Naturally, “Slumdog Millionaire” also fits this category of motivational movies.

Why Not Go To The Next Level?

Why not get all these movies: Defiance, Patton, Slumdog Millionaire, The Last Castle, and The Shawshank Redemption, and watch them all in two days?

And then, go to the next level of serious motivation: pick the three most successful, motivated people you know, and build relationships with them. Spend regular time with real winners. You will become unstoppable.

Fix Your Energy “Leaks” Too

Finally, mend the leak at the bottom of your motivation bucket. Pouring in great movies and excellent friends is wonderful, but you must stop the leaks at the bottom of the bucket.

The biggest leak is associating with the wrong people: losers, posers, parasites, and whiners. And the other leak is negative input: CNN, newspapers, politics, bad philosophies, and negative places. Only accept positive, upbuilding input.

Control Your Input and Become Unstoppable

Carefully control your input – what you see, hear, and associate with, and you will build a strong, confident, enthusiastic, unstoppable attitude that will carry you over, around and through every challenge on your way to your objectives. You become like the people you spend the most time with, and what you think about comes about. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Paul J. Meyer said:

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass.”

Take my advice – watch these five, powerful movies ASAP. Start with “Defiance” – you will be seriously motivated.

We all have agendas, however some people have hidden agendas that need to be guarded against to avoid loss of reputation, customers, business, orders, suppliers, or other resources and assets.

Those with hidden agendas will usually agree to everything, and be very friendly and accommodating on the surface, while executing their secret plans under the table. These affable, helpful people use their promises to put one off guard.

The Key is to Limit Access

The way to avoid losing too much to these thieves is to limit their access, control, and exposure as much as possible while testing their loyalty and agendas. This is not cynicism, but rather skepticism.

Hypocrisy Runs Rampant

After 22 years in business, I never cease to be surprised at how well people can hide who they really are. Many are passive aggressive, and when they finally openly turn against you, they are usually very nasty. Those who claim to be “spiritual” and religious have been the worst I have encountered over 22 years – they hide behind a veil of hypocrisy to subdue any suspicions you might have – “wolves in sheep’s’ clothing”, as it were.

11 Tips to Prevent Your Loss from Others’ Agendas

1. Expect the best, but plan for the worst.
2. Have exit plans, contracts, a “Plan B”, and damage control in place before getting involved with new people, if at all possible, especially those who you get that “gut feel” about.
3. Look for patterns and consider reading “The Art of War” sections on spies.
4. At all times, seek leverage and control, but don’t expose your suspicions.
5. Always endeavor to be one step ahead of them, and don’t hesitate to use private detectives if necessary.
6. Protect your relationships and database.
7. Put yourself into communication loops.
8. Consider the worst case scenarios.
9. Don’t bank on the promises of any one person.
10. Also, find out who the real decision maker is, and who the “front man” is.

… And, Of Course, Use Joint Ventures

This is why I use Joint Ventures to make money – I limit my risk, spread my income, and always have many options available. I do as much due diligence as possible on my JV partners and those I am involved with, and while I still get attacked and people still try to steal from me, my risk is limited. Conventional businesses have a lot more to lose from spies and saboteurs than I do as a Joint Venture Broker.

A Healthy, Objective Attitude Will Serve You Well

A healthy dose of suspicion is always a good thing, and warning signs are often there if you remain objective. Once you get emotionally involved, greed and desperation will blind you to what is really going on. Remain, as the Buddha teaches, “Unattached”, hedge your bets, and don’t expect things to last forever.

A mature view of business and life, and access to good mentors will help you to remain strong and rational. Try to see things through the eyes of others, seek to understand their motives, and ask lots of questions.

There’s an old story of a man who heard about a flood on the radio, so he prayed to his god that he would be saved and continued to read his newspaper.

Then his neighbors came by to warn him, but he simply prayed again, and had lunch. The water rose and the cat climbed gingerly onto the cupboard, but the man refused to accept the fact that the flood had arrived. Eventually, he perched precariously on the roof of his house,  surrounded by surging flood waters, and a boat came by to rescue him, but he refused, stating that his god would save him. Then a helicopter came by to rescue him. Again, he declined their help. Finally, he drowned, bitterly blaming his god for his demise.

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” – Sir Winston Churchill.

The Benefits of Facing Your Fear

Ignoring reality and denying the truth might prolong your false sense of comfort and security for a short while, but the consequences grow exponentially over time. Dealing with festering conflict is not something the passive aggressive types like, but the benefits of facing your fear and confronting issues is increased self-esteem and the peace of mind that follows that brave choice.

Some questions to ask yourself:

• If I continue going the way I am going now, what will my life look like in two years?
• Am I moving in the direction of my goals, or away from them?
• Am I getting wealthier, happier, healthier, and more successful?
• What are the consequences of my current choices?”

Then, shout, “YAHOO!” (You Always Have Other Choices.) Winston Churchill also said:

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

..But Beware Whose Advice You Take

And when you understand that taking action to change your direction is the way to go, be careful whose advice you take.

The blind are the first to step up and offer to lead the blind – empty men with empty promises, who wish to fill their empty pockets with your hard-earned money. Those parasites will lead you down the road to destruction while telling you how much they love you. They are the bloodsuckers and the looters who sell nicely wrapped, glittering garbage to the unsuspecting and naive.

“Don’t take advice from anyone more screwed up than you” is valuable information, but don’t confuse money and fame with integrity.

In a nutshell, wake up, smell the coffee, and turn your horse in the direction of the treasure.

Are you a victim of the herd mentality?

If you are, you’re heading for the edge of the cliff. Look at the facts below and then let us apply them to your reaction and options in this recession. I will offer you some solid, safe, and secure guidelines.

How Reliable is the Evidence You’re Following?

Vito Rispo writes, “Researchers at Leeds University, led by Prof Jens Krause, performed a series of experiments where volunteers were told to randomly walk around a large hall without talking to each other. A select few were then given more detailed instructions on where to walk.

“The scientists discovered that people end up blindly following one or two people who appear to know where they’re going. The published results showed that it only takes 5% of what the scientists called ‘informed individuals’ to influence the direction of a crowd of around 200 people. The remaining 95% follow without even realizing it.”

This is called “Social Proof” – everyone else is doing it, so it must be right.

What Would It Take for You to Give Up Your Sense of Reality?

In “Cascade Behavior”, an individual wholly disregards his or her own information to follow the crowd.

Len Boselovic of the  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, “On the way up, this irrational exuberance is all well and good as long as there is a ready inventory of fools willing to pay more than the last fool. When the supply of foolish buyers runs out, the issue becomes the supply of fools who want to sell for less than the last guy, which is where we find ourselves today. Friday’s 4 percent slide in the Dow Jones industrial average left the market barometer down 5 percent for the week, 27 percent since Sept. 1 and 37 percent for the year.”

Remember the lines of idiots buying overpriced real estate off plan? And those who bought properties in third world countries? Many of them attended seminars…

Investor Behavior Demonstrates Social Proof

Daniel J. Howard, a marketing professor, says investor behavior demonstrates the principle of social proof: The more an individual sees those around him believing something or acting a certain way, the more the individual believes that thing to be true or the behavior appropriate. (If you really want to see people getting ripped off, attend a Franchise Show.)

The Moral to These Stories

When you see the herd lining up to listen to the latest snake oil pitchman, RUN in the opposite direction.

Be Warned & Take Comfort In This Simple Advice:

A lot of desperate people are about to do some very silly things in this turbulent time, and you are warned not to join them. This is what you should be looking for when you consider ways to alleviate and change your financial situation:

#1 – SLEEP on it.

Does the opportunity make logical sense in a way that you can establish its accuracy before jumping on board? SLEEP on it.

#2 – Consider the Source

• Is the person selling you a solution credible?
• How long has he or she been in business, can they prove it, and what is your REAL risk factor?
• Also, who are they associated with?

Birds of the feather flock together. Do your due diligence, and be very careful where you are getting your advice from.

#3 – Don’t Believe the Hype

Don’t believe the media hype – politicians, the media, banks, “financial planners” and people who use podiums and pulpits are usually less than honest, and always have an agenda.

In every situation, there are those getting poor and those getting rich.

• Be objective and remain calm.
• Don’t take your check book or credit card with you to pitch fests. It can always wait until the cold light of dawn, when you have had time to calm down and get real.

I recently heard of a swine who charged unsuspecting, unthinking sheeple thousands of dollars to attend his seminar / selling routine, at which he sold them the same information again for more thousands of dollars, and they lined up to pay him. Lambs to the slaughter, I’m afraid. And he is endorsed and promoted by those like him; thick as the thieves they are. You SHOULD judge people by the company they keep.

So next time you buy anything or make any decision, ask yourself if you are being pressured, lied to, duped, conned, hoodwinked, or helped.

“Social Proof” is no proof at all.