Leverage is what it’s all about in business. That is, after all, how the rich get rich.  And that’s why I love being a Joint Venture Broker – I use leverage.

How about getting leverage on your mind, so that you can accomplish your goals faster and easier? It costs nothing, and it’s simpler than one might imagine. They say, “Affirmations, like ‘I’m happy, healthy, and successful’, consistently spoken out loud with enthusiasm and belief, work.” Well, that’s at a very basic level. One can ramp that up significantly.

Stepping Up Affirmations

Entrepreneurs, more accurately termed “Solopreneurs”, often believe that they are an island, that they must accomplish everything on their own with their own resources.  These Solopreneurs think that they are maximizing their chance of survival and profitability.  They are totally WRONG.  Consider what Micheal Gerber says in his world-famous book The E-Myth: Revisited.

“Picture the typical entrepreneur and Herculean pictures come to mind: a man or woman standing alone, wind-blown against the elements, bravely defying insurmountable odds, climbing sheer faces of treacherous rock–all to realize the dream of creating a business of one’s own. The legend reeks of nobility, of lofty, extra-human efforts, of a prodigious commitment to larger-than-life ideals. Well, while there are such people, my experience tells me they are rare.” – Micheal Gerber

I agree with Micheal Gerber that this image is absolutely absurd!  As long as you are a solopreneur, working on every facet of your business, you will be your business’ number one problem!!!  As Gerber explains in his book, there are 2 kinds of businesses:

1. People-dependent businesses
2. Systems-dependent businesses

Which Are You?

How do you know which one you are?  Well, simply ask yourself this:

“if I (or anyone else in my company) were to leave my business for 6 months, would the business still exist when I came back?”

If you answer YES, then you have a systems-dependent business.  If NO, then you likely have a person-dependent business.

What IS a Systems-Dependent Business?

So what IS a systems-dependent business?  Consider this: McDonald’s can deliver the exact same promise – the exact same food and customer experience – whether you are in Edmonton, Toronto, New York, or Kalamazoo.  And it’s delivered by disinterested, teenage kids – some of the least qualified employees on the continent.  And this do this BILLIONS of times every single year, at thousands and thousands of locations from sea-to-sea.

…and yet you can’t ever deliver that level of consistency to one set of customers of your one business, located in only one city or town.  What’s the difference?

The difference is SYSTEMS.  Your business depends on you (people-dependent) while McDonald’s depends on systems – the people can be swapped in and out.

I will now ask you: why is it that you are taking care of making sales calls, balancing the books, dealing with inventory, answering calls, cooking, cleaning, and doing all of this ON YOUR OWN?

True Entrepreneurs

The true entrepreneur sets up a system, then delegates it.  Once that’s taken care of, then they create a system for another area of their business, and delegate that out. And they do this with every area of their business until they ARE able to walk away for 6 months or more.

And the funny thing is that it is often the mundane, monotonous, pressing / urgent, and repetitive tasks that distract an aspiring entrepreneur from actually doing the “big-picture” items that will actually take their business to the next level.

Build a SYSTEM for these mundane, monotonous, and repetitive tasks, and DELEGATE.  Then get re-focused on the MOST IMPORTANT things… building your business, learning new skills, ideas, and strategies, and maybe even spend more time with your kids, spouse, family, and friends.

Systems for More Than Business

And what if you don’t own a business?  Well, in your family life you likely DO have many mundane, repetitive tasks that take time away from being with your family.

• Perhaps processing application forms for a charity you volunteer for.
• Perhaps calling all of your relatives for the forthcoming family reunion.
• Perhaps it’s really a pain for you to balance the family cheque book at the end of the month.
• Or maybe it’s a hassle to always be coordinating the parents for Johnny’s soccer team.

Any of these items could be systemized and delegated.

So many routine and mundane tasks…

• WHAT IF you could get someone else to do any or all of this?
• Would that make you extremely happy?
• Would that give you more time to be with your family, kids, and friends?
• Would your life experience be better if you just didn’t have to deal with any of that boring, productivity-killing, repetitive brain-freeze?

Well, having your own Virtual Assistant (VA) may or may not be a fit for you.  To find out if and how a VA would help you in your specific circumstance, contact Tina at 1-877-977-4776, or Info@SaveTimeBoostProfits.com to get a FREE 30-minute consultation.

Why do you employ people? For each of them to produce value, resulting in net profit in excess of the amount you pay them.

Why would you accept less than that? I know some of us are saddled with unions, relatives that work for us, people we’ve inherited and can’t easily get rid of, and many other excuses, however here are a few pointers that I think will help.

Remember, getting the job is the first job of someone who wants to be an employee. After that, every day, they have to prove to you why you should still hire them. and not give them the sack.

1.   Link their income to their production.

Work out what your real net profit is, your incremental profit, and a way to measure the output of every employee. This takes some analysis and a spot of Work Study (Organization and Methods), but it is well worth the exercise.

• Don’t be too generous, and remember you’re not a socialist organization. People should get paid according to what they produce, not what they need.
• Set traps to catch rats. Take a really good look at productivity, shop your own business, record phone calls, restrict Internet use, use Secret Shoppers, send one employee on leave for a week and see if the others cope. If they do, get rid of the worst one.
• Educate your employees about profit and business.
• Look after your champions, and remember that people change.

2.  Increase the production of your salespeople.

Teach your salespeople to sell, make them accountable, don’t accept excuses, have a sales meeting EVERY day, and fire your worst salesperson on a regular basis. Focus on results, not pipe-line, reputation, branding, market share – just the bottom line. Get them all onto a commission-only basis. Beware of  “sales trainers” – they usually can’t sell.

3.    Weed out the leeches and parasites.

Make their job unbearable if necessary; simply give them lots of work that they hate and micro-manage them. They’ll soon leave if you do it right. You’re in business to make a profit, and you don’t owe them anything.

4.   Learn to Delegate.

The best program I ever attended to learn about management was the Dale Carnegie Management Course. I learned a lot of valuable information about delegation, and I highly recommend it. Most “managers” have no idea how to manage, motivate, or discipline people. Your people need to set their own goals, report to you how they’re doing and how they will improve, and be accountable for their commitments. No excuses acceptable.

5.    Understand Joint Ventures.

In my business, everyone I deal with is a JV partners. I run my company with no employees, no risk, no cost, no overhead and little time. So I make a lot more profit and I don’t have to deal with losers and users. Lean and mean. Learn how JV’s work.

6.    Don’t hire socialists, smokers, or people who don’t need a job.

If you need an explanation for this one, you have a problem.

7.   Reward innovation, honesty, loyalty, and ambition.

These qualities are hard to find. Look after your champions and lock them in with residual commissions and long-term incentives.

8.    Familiarity breeds contempt.

Don’t be their “buddy”, maintain your distance, be strict, hold people accountable, and lead by example.

9.    Set up a “Dress and Grooming Code”.

When people look good, they feel good, and they do better work.  Set and maintain high standards in every area of your business.

10.    Train them, train them, train them.

Especially in the Joint Venture mindset.

Years back in South Africa, my sales team would advertise my public seminars with huge, oversized posters / signs that they would attach high up on poles and trees along roads and highways – just high enough to make it hard for the municipality morons to get them down. Of course, they would be pulled down, since they were all illegal, but for the while that they remained in position, they filled the seats and we all made money.

When I took a salesman on, here was my pitch: “You pay for the signs, you print exactly what I tell you to put on the signs, you include your cell phone number on the signs, you put your signs up every week, you never turn your cell phone off except during my seminars, you take the calls that result from your signs, you book the seats, you pay your share the rental of the room where I present the weekly seminar, and you get five thousand bucks for every business I sell to the people you brought to the seminar as a result of your signs. OK?”

My Salespeople Earned Lots of $$$ – But if they didn’t remain consistent, they were Fired

My salespeople all earned between 5,000 and 10,000 per month in commissions. If they didn’t put up enough signs or respond properly to calls, if they didn’t show up in a suit and tie at every event, they were fired. There were two different responses to my pitch:

1. “I haven’t got money to pay for the signs / I haven’t got time to put up signs / I haven’t got a car / I haven’t got a suit / I’ll try / I hope / What if it doesn’t work? / How much money can I make? / What if nobody buys?” These people were chased out of my office immediately.
2. “What is the limit on my earnings? Can I put up more signs than anyone else? Can I put my signs higher than the others?  Can we have more than one seminar per week? Can I start right away? Can I recruit more salespeople and get an override on their sales?” There people started work immediately. If they had a job, I made them quit it.

There is always a reason to do something and there is always a reason not to do something. To me, it’s black or white. If you’re not making money, stop sleeping and work longer hours. Put in double the effort. If you can’t afford it, sell your TV set, your Xbox, your toys. Borrow the money. Stop making excuses, because the more excuses you make, the less I trust and like and respect you. I don’t believe or accept your excuses, anyway.

Losers Always Have An Excuse At The Ready

Losers always leave the back door open. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll get a job again.” That attitude GUARANTEES their failure. They make excuses in advance: “IF it doesn’t work / I’ll try my best / I can’t FORCE people to buy / I GUESS / I HOPE / I can’t guarantee anything / the weather / the economic situation…” Winners never doubt that they will succeed, because doubt is poison. Would you drink a little poison every morning? Mixing with losers is poison. Following losers is poison. Belief and positive expectancy is rocket fuel power.

I know what you believe and who you are by what you DO, not by what you say, your promises, hype and B.S. I look for consistent actions – I don’t even hear your words. The reason why people succeed is that they expect to succeed, and they will do whatever it takes 24/7/365 to make their dreams come true. They are fearless warriors who never quit, never make excuses, and never lie or steal. With a winner, what you see is what you get. Winners are fanatics. I had one salesman, Colin, who heard from someone that his eyebrows were too thick, so he shaved them right off! When he walked into my office the next morning, I laughed so much, I nearly wet myself. But my respect for Colin went through the roof, and in spite of looking like a Martian, he doubled his sales that month.

Be Serious, Dedicated and Fearless

Be a fanatic about your work, and you simply can’t avoid succeeding. Paul J. Meyer said, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, MUST inevitably come to pass.” Believe and achieve!

Have you heard, “Don’t delegate and then abdicate?” Even worse than that is delegating tasks to incompetent people.

When you set up a Joint Venture, bearing in mind the potential residual income, and the fact that all JV income from triangulated deals is 100% profit, it behooves you to manage it responsibly in order to glean the maximum benefit for all parties concerned.

8 Pointers to Manage Your Joint Ventures to Their Fullest Potential

Here are a few pointers that will help you maximize your Joint Ventures and open the doors to new opportunities and bigger and better deals:

#1 – Investigate Partners & ONLY Work with the Successful

Only work with JV partners who have a successful track record and who have committed in writing to their part of the deal, including their duties, input, contribution, and specific, measurable responsibilities. This will improve the chances of a successful JV.

#2 – Think the Deal Through & Then Put It In Writing

Set up your JV’s carefully – take time to do your due diligence and think through the “What if?” scenarios.

#3 – Communicate Regularly

Monitor, manage, measure, and, maximize the JV.

1. Remain up to date on new developments, marketing materials, benefits, opportunities, and options.
2. Track results carefully, and, more importantly, track the income and charge-backs, if any.
3. Hold regular conference calls and/or meetings with your JV partners to maintain, secure, and build the relationship.

#4 – Continually Build Your Joint Ventures and Joint Venture Network

Continually look for ways to improve your existing JV’s, link them with others, and upgrade them. Find ways to enhance the value to the recipients. Bear the relationships with your JV partners and the Big Picture in mind at all times.

#5 – Remain Detached

5Be prepared to walk away from JV’s that don’t work, and from JV partners that don’t live up to their promises. That makes place for more JV’s of better quality.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and set your JV’s up with an option to quit at any time without recourse or repercussions. This helps you retain your leverage and freedom, but also your integrity.  Being involved in a JV with dishonorable partners will crush your reputation.

#6 – Remain Alert

Beware of greedy, lazy, or arrogant partners. At the beginning of any JV, the parties are all smiles, back-slapping, promises, and big dreams, but when reality bites, people will reveal who they really are. When you see the red flags, don’t bury your head in the sand – confront them immediately.

#7 – Know Where You Stand with Your Partners

Always be aware of the priority your JV enjoys in the mind of your JV partners.

• Have they lost interest?
• Are they lowering the priority of your JV?
• Do they have new, hidden agendas?

#8 – Make Sure Partners Maintain Integrity Too

Finally, don’t allow your JV partner to delegate important aspects of the JV to incompetent, uncaring employees who will agree to anything to keep their jobs. Their incompetence will cost you money.

At any given time, I have about 22 income streams for my JV’s, and managing 90% of them takes me about an hour a day. Keep your finger on the pulse!

At a seminar I presented to business owners, a delegate told me that he discovered that one of his employees had cost him at least ten times what he paid her.

1. I had been telling my audience to incentivize all earnings…
2. and to link every cent earned to five cents generated in profits.

I told them that paying someone a fixed salary was not just stupid, but dangerous to one’s financial health.

Here’s his story, which adequately makes my point:

He had employed a middle-aged man whom he met at his church, and for whom he “felt sorry”, to “give him another chance”, at an above-average salary. Lots of red flags right there, but I digress.

Naturally, this “grateful” fellow promised to be the best employee he had ever had, and he went to work.

The business generated a lot of profit from back-end income, Joint Ventures, investments, and the like, and an important part of the duties of this employee was follow-up.

What the business owner didn’t understand was that he was dealing with an employee whose highest priority was to keep his job, not to create additional profit for the business. And that’s where he had made his mistake.

Why the Employee Mentality is Poison to Your Balance Sheet

The employee went through the motions of calling, closing, following up, and providing information, and completed all the required control and time sheets, but he was simply doing a job -

• he had no passion for profit or understanding of business,
• and he didn’t understand why his employer might want to make so much more money – after all, didn’t he have enough already?

His was a collectivist, altruistic, mystical philosophy, which was why he had never made money himself, and that philosophy is like poison to any balance sheet.

The Results Speak for Themselves

When the employer started getting phone calls and letters from his Joint Venture partners, his downline, his suppliers, and his customers, he started to put two and two together. He found that many of his valued customers had moved to his competition, where they got better services, more information, and more value from people who actually benefited directly from their patronage.

This employee had a lackluster, mediocre attitude when his boss wasn’t around, and we have all been exposed to that.

He realized that his lost opportunities, missed sales, lost customers, and diminished transaction values had conservatively cost him ten times what he had paid the loser that he should never have hired for that job in the first place.

The Moral(s) to the Story

An employee:

• Does the least and expects the most.
• Tells you exactly what you want to hear, and, like a politician, will bend the rules and overlook anything in order to keep his or her job.
• If they don’t receive a significant piece of new business, sales, or profits that they are responsible for generating, why should they bother? Where’s the passion and commitment?
• Their real agenda is far from that of the entrepreneur. They have no vested interest in the success or growth of the business, and they are in fact paid slaves or mercenaries. They are not capitalists.
• They will leave you for $100 per month increase, and you will never be able to pay them enough to secure their loyalty or commitment.
• A disgruntled employee can sabotage your business and reputation, and use the courts to hurt you.
• There’s a thin line between love and hate, and you tend to give your employees lots of information which they can use against you when they feel like it.

Create Overlap

Smart entrepreneurs work on creating a vested interest for people with whom they work, which we call “Overlap”. They remove the risk from their own business and force their employees to take responsibility for their duties and choices through financial incentives and commissions. They fire salaried people and rehire them on a commission only basis – no base salary, no leverage on the company except their ability to perform and produce, and no place for hidden agendas.

If that is a new concept for you, read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand and examine the concept of Joint Ventures as presented at www.JVWisdom.com.

My Employee Free Business

After 22 years in this business, I run my business with no employees, cost, risk, overhead, or inventory. I can walk away from anyone at any time, everything I earn is 100% profit, and nobody gets to limit or sabotage me for long. Everyone with whom I work is a Joint Venture partner.

Audit Your Business to See the Truth

Audit what is really going on while the cat is away.

• Take a good, hard look at your employees.
• Shop your own business anonymously.
• Install cameras.
• Record all phone calls “for quality control.”
• Rethink the way you compensate your people, and what you are actually paying them for.

This is especially important for hiring web “masters”, often the most passive-aggressive people around, as well as secretaries, assistants, and office staff. You will find that you are paying far too much for losses, bleeding wounds, theft, and apathy than you should be.

The High Price of Altruism

By the way, when the business owner in this true story fired the loser who cost him so much money, he got sued, and his church excommunicated him for his “sinful and selfish” behavior.

You’re in business to make the maximum after-tax profit, with the least cost, risk, time, and frustration. Remember that.

Bridges don’t collapse for no reason. And Joint Ventures don’t fail for no reason. A well-constructed bridge lasts a long time and does the job it was meant for, as do good business deals. The main reason why Joint Ventures don’t work are essentially very simple, and DollarMakers is designed to use our 22 years of experience to teach people how to create lucrative, long-term JV’s with no cost or risk, so that if something doesn’t work out, nobody gets hurt and we can all remain friends.

Seth Godin brought up some excellent points about where joint ventures can go wrong in his post “Why Joint Ventures Fail So Often” – however he does not provide any solutions other than to say ‘do something that requires more risk and causes you yourself to have a lot more at stake.’

Here are the 6 Top Reasons why Joint Ventures don’t work and their effective solutions:

1. Wrong premise or expectancy: If we assume things which aren’t true, have unrealistic expectations, or misunderstand certain market shifts or requirements, or if we misjudge buying trends or the choices of consumers, a JV won’t work. If set up correctly, with no cost or risk to either party, we can learn from the mishap and live to fight another day, as friends rather than foes. We’re not fortune tellers, and we can’t predict the future, but we can arrange our JV’s in such a way that we avoid any harm being done.
2. Wrong partners: If you’re dealing with weasels, parasites, losers, or conmen, your JV’s won’t work. Do your due diligence and be prepared to walk away as soon as you see the red flags. Again, if you roll out your JV in a small way before committing to a large launch, you can test your partners and the market before going big. In some cases, the JV partner is honest but incompetent, or he simply can’t handle the volume or demand when we have underestimated the response. A good “What if?” planning session with objective evaluations and checks and balances can help avoid that scenario.
3. Greed and ego: When one of the partners gets his ego in the way or gets greedy, things can go awry. Avoid this with solid agreements and contracts and work with mature, seasoned business owners, not incompetent upstarts who don’t know that pride does, indeed, precede the proverbial fall.
4. Insufficient planning and/or quitting prematurely: Often, we’re so excited and in such a hurry to get going that we neglect to plan the details and specify amounts and quantities, percentages and responsibilities, and things fall part because of that. Miscommunications and misunderstandings come from haste, and inexperience and a sense of entitlement, along with the desire for instant gratification result in quitting too soon, instead of tweaking and fixing what could be a lucrative JV.
5. Inconsistency and a lack of self-discipline break down trust and repel good JV partners. A good reputation attracts a good database and solid JV partners, which results in successful Joint Ventures. Don’t get involved with people who are not consistent – reliability and honesty, along with proficiency and integrity, are the mortar that hold good JV ‘s together. Both parties are responsible for the success of any JV.
6. Finally, communicate regularly and effectively. Losers hide behind excuses and don’t communicate well. Most flaws in any JV can usually be rectified through effective, adult communication and openness.

Joint Ventures are the most sophisticated way to make money, and people who genuinely understand Joint Ventures can make an unlimited amount of money with no cost or risk and little time.  Just keep the above 6 points in mind when executing any JV, and you’ll find yourself breezing through your JV’s.

Invaluable Information in Just 7 Minutes

While a good DISC assessment takes only seven minutes and will reveal remarkable, useful information that will predict choices and show one how to manage, motivate, and discipline an individual, as well as assist in hiring the right people and discovering their strengths and weaknesses, my system takes much longer, but costs nothing, and is infallible.

Ideally, one should use both systems.

My Infallible System: Monitoring Behavior

My system is as old as the hills, and it works inexorably. It is called BEHAVIOR. By allowing people access to many, diverse choices and options, and simply observing their consistent choices and behavior over time, one can predict what they will do in the future.

My business (DollarMakers) is designed like a giant filter. It attracts people and monitors their choices. The cream, as always, rises to the top. It’s like sorting coal from diamonds. Simple.

Just watch them. When they consistently make good choices, we offer them better stuff. They disqualify or qualify themselves. Their behavior tells us whether or not we can trust them, and what they will do in the future.

Other Critical Indicators to Watch

• Obviously, we also like to look at their past – track records help a lot.
• Also, if people CHANGE from good to bad, and many do, cut them loose – fast.

“Little” Things Speak Loudly

Simply observe the little things:

• How they dress, groom themselves, and behave.
• Do they show up on time?
• Do they leave early?
• What verbal clues do they give?
• Do they respond promptly to e-mails and phone calls?
• Do they hide when they are late with payments? That is a form of dishonesty.
• Do they lie? The more they talk, the more they reveal – good and bad.
• Are they cheap? Are the generous?
• Do they offer their help?
• Are they optimists or pessimists? Regardless of what they say, what they DO will tell me if they believe or not.
• Are they in for the long run, or are they quitters? Time will tell.
• Are they saboteurs, backstabbers, and thieves or are they winners, champions, and loyal friends? Their actions will tell you – just watch them closely.

Test Over Time

You can devise simple tests.

“Come hiking in the mountains at 8am Monday morning”, you suggest. Do they show up? Are they on time? How do they behave? Do they return? Do they bring friends?

Put them in a position where they can be dishonest – set a trap. Your loyal friends will report to you on bad behavior. Look for consistency.

The Tortoise and The Hare

Most people start off well, but quit soon. Some will start with a powerful fanfare, huge promises, massive action, and burn out just as fast. Others will start slowly and build over time – the tortoise and the hare.

Why Using Both Systems is Best

If you use DISC to assess people after observing them for a while, you will have even more information, and your choices will be even better, resulting in better business and a real win/win.

Other Helpful Situations to Observe

• Watch how people interact with their families and pets.
• See how they deal with laborers, waiters in restaurants, parking lot attendants, and hotel employees.
• Are they smokers?
• Listen how they speak with their spouses on the phone.
• Discover someone’s world-view / philosophy / religion, and you will know a lot about their future choices.
• Listen for pain, regret, guilt, fear, embarrassment, bias, political views, and you will find valuable clues.
• Look at the books they read, the pictures in their homes, the state of repair in their homes, what cars they drive, their hobbies, and most importantly, their friends.
• Are they gamblers?
• What groups or clubs do they belong to?
• Monitor them on Facebook.
• Say controversial things and watch their response. I love that one.
• Talk with their employees, vendors, and competition.

6 Vital Guidelines for Monitoring Behavior

1. Look for patterns.
2. Ask open-ended questions.
3. Do this due diligence before getting involved in serious business with them.
4. Make them qualify for the privilege of your company.
5. And be aware of who you’re dealing with / who the real decision maker is – is it their spouse or parent, or is it them? Spouses are often the fly in the proverbial ointment – be very careful.
6. Finally, remember that desperate people tend to do desperate things – look for vices and money problems.