This short article is intended to impart and share a Joint Venture Mindset that can liberate us from restrictive assumptions and perceptions.

Chances are You’ve Been Hoodwinked!

Entrepreneurs have received many messages in the past that have had the cumulative effect of hoodwinking us. We have put blinders on by accepting certain “Solutions” from the Gurus.

The purpose of an Entrepreneur is to make after tax profit. We use business as the vehicle. But we heard that we need to be “focused” and that we need an “Elevator Speech” and similar concepts that can effectively lock us out of tremendous wealth opportunities.

Just Connect Problem to Solution

When I visit my doctor, does he immediately suggest a special on hip replacements or hair implants? Does he urge me to consider a heart transplant, perhaps, (early bird special) without even examining me? No. He looks for problems and then suggests solutions, and I buy every single time. Does my doctor need to specialize in orthotics to prescribe orthopaedic footwear? No. He refers me to someone who does that. He doesn’t need to be an anaesthetist or a surgeon in order to offer me that service. He examines me, asks me questions, LISTENS, and offers solutions. He doesn’t talk about himself.

Why Networking Meetings Don’t Work

Go to any “Business Networking Meeting” and you’ll find dozens of wanna-be entrepreneurs, usually self employed salespeople, who thrust their business cards at you, talk at you, pitch you, and then leap up to enthusiastically deliver the pre-digested, pre-packaged, boring “elevator speech” that they paid someone who lost their job and now calls themselves a “coach” to create.

Everyone is there to sell, sell, sell.

And while they’re giving their elevator speech, what are the rest of the people at their table doing? They listen long enough to decide whether or not the speaker will buy their product or service and then promptly lose interest. They’re waiting to give THEIR speech. You know this is true. Just look at the audience – they’re bored stiff. Everyone is there to sell, sell, sell.

Perhaps it’s time to reconsider things.

When you go back to your office, you send e mails to all the people you met at the “Networking Meeting”, saying how nice it was to meet them. Most of them don’t even return the e mails. And so it goes. Everyone is out to sell, everyone is only really interested in themselves, and nobody gives a damn about you or your amazing business, flashy brochures or scintillating elevator speech. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider things.

See, it’s not about you at all.

Nobody cares about your packaging, website, qualifications or incredible accomplishments. Most people whom I meet that insist on telling me about all the things they have accomplished, are simply HAS BEEN’S. I don’t care hat you did in the past. I want to know what you will do in the future, because that’s where we’re going to live! People don’t care about your qualifications – they want to know one simple thing: “What can you do for ME?”

How about this elevator speech?

“My name is Robin Elliott. My job is to help you achieve your business goals with no money and no risk. I would like to find ways to apply my rather extensive resources, contacts, skills and connections to your business challenges and help you to achieve your goals – at no charge. To see if you qualify for this service, call me.”

The Right JV Mindset:

I’m like a plumber coming to fix your problems at your home. You don’t care about my background or how many kids I had. You just want your problems solved.

My contacts and Joint Venture Partners are my Tools.

I walk in to a meeting with a toolbox full of really great, professional, honest, competent, experienced and trusted business associates and all their products and services. I don’t care which tools I use – I will always get paid for my services. I don’t have to have a business or products or services of my own in order to solve your business problems because I understand business. I have been doing this for 19 years. I look for the problems, discuss the solutions and introduce you to the person who will apply those solutions to your business. And I will get paid by the people whom I refer to you, while I’m at home with my wife and everyone else is working hard, creating multiple, diverse, passive income streams for me.

Joint Ventures:

• If you know John needs what Paul is offering, you introduce them and get paid. You’re a middleman, a tollbooth, a facilitator. You connect the right people.
• And when a few people have a common goal and wish to share their skills, resources and abilities, you can help them form a syndicate or a team.
• If someone has excess resources, underutilized inventory or assets, you can show them how to optimize their resources through Joint Ventures.
• You can facilitate the sharing of sales staff, employees, distribution, advertising space, retail space, warehousing, transport, skills, reputation, access and databases. And get paid for the value that you create.

Most of the Joint Venture stuff out there is related to internet marketing and affiliate programs. But most businesses are more interested in real time, real money, real people and touch-and-feel business. The internet is great and we all use it, but there needs to be balance.

The KEY

The key to successful Joint Ventures is to find the RIGHT PEOPLE. In fact, if there were twenty good people in a room, and all we did was mastermind, brainstorm and create Joint Ventures for five days without leaving that room, we would all double our wealth.

It’s hard to find good people who will honor their commitments, do what they say, deliver the goods and take responsibility. It’s not easy to find honest people who will pay you and reciprocate.

That why I started the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum.  www.jvwisdom.com

The best part of Joint Ventures, as well as the easiest and most lucrative, is “Piggybacking”.

When I was 11 years old, my favorite game at school was similar to piggybacking. Small guys like me would ride on the backs of big, strong guys and we would try to pull our opponents over. They key to winning was strong arms and a strong “Horse”. I had strong arms and I always chose a strong horse, so I usually won.

A Strong Recommendation

In business, the book, “Horse Sense” by Al Ries and Jack Trout applies the same concept. This book was personally recommended to me by a multimillionaire client of mine, many years ago. I read the book three times.

A Lucrative Piggybacking Example

I recently talked with a man who has 1,200 people in his database. I suggested he offer them Membership in my DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum at a great discount. By sending out two e-mails and one voice broadcast and adding value, for which I would pay, and by mentioning the opportunity in his e-zine, we estimated that he would have at least 120 join (10%). That would earn him significant money, at no cost or risk to him. That’s piggybacking – and it’s that simple.

The same can be done with shared advertising, mailings, e-mails, e-zines, direct mail, seminars and business opportunities. Riding on the back of existing distribution, reputation, reach, access and exposure is very effective.

Consider the Power of Partnering

• Don’t buy a 747 to fly to LA – simply rent a seat.
• Don’t own the overhead or create a competency; borrow it.

Consider the power of partnering: everyone wins by sharing underutilized resources and Hidden Assets. And here’s the Good News – you don’t need to own the resource, be it a database, distribution route or relationship – you simply make the connection – it’s called “Triangulation”. No risk or cost, no downside, lots of fun and lots of money. You don’t need a business to set this up. Link me up with someone else and take a piece of the action. Link Bob up with Sally and get paid on all ensuing business over the next two years, why not?

The key to successful piggybacking…

is a strong horse and a strong rider – both parties should be ethical, generous, smart, professional and proactive. That’s the hard part. I know people whose databases I wouldn’t touch with a 20 foot pole. Be selective; be VERY selective.

Talk with Members of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum and if you want to make a lot of money easily, remember that all it takes is a bit of thought. It’s not hard work and there’s no risk if you’re dealing with the right people.

The Bottom Line

Bundle a product or service with one that is already selling well or add a product or service to an existing database or distribution route – that’s piggybacking, and it can create increasing, multiple streams of passive income for you.

When you sell your time, you sell your life. You might as well be a slave or a mercenary – or an employee.

You cannot get rich selling time unless you’re very highly qualified or a rock star or film star. That’s why most consultants and coaches experience peaks and valleys - “chicken or feathers” – their income is seasonal and they work harder and harder for less and less.

Make A Money Machine Instead

When I meet with my Joint Venture Forum Members, I always tell them that they should have each Joint Venture they consider fit within the following parameters:

“No time, no risk, no cost, win/win.”

That doesn’t mean a Joint Venture won’t take time to set it up, or a little expense up front – it simply means that ideally, the JV should run like a money machine, without your presence or time. The idea is to utilize and leverage underutilized resources and create links as a broker would. You get paid a percentage of resulting business. You link supply with demand and piggy back distribution and advertising.

How Much Is Your Freedom Worth?

The average consultant or employee (a consultant is simply an employee with many bosses) doesn’t realize that his hourly rate is not what he actually earns. When you look at your real profit, you should also consider what your freedom is worth to you.

• Are you free to do what you like, when you like?
• Are you free to go skiing or hiking when the weather permits, or when a boss permits?
• Are you really like a child in a classroom who has to ask permission to go to the little boys’ room?
• How much is time with your family worth to you? What will you sell it for?
• Do you really want to have a boss decide whether or not you’re allowed to take your wife on holiday or go fishing with your friends?
• How old are you, anyway?

Maybe it’s time for your personal Independence Day.

Fire Your Boss

Other peoples’ time, money, resources, equipment, expertise and access is freely available to smart JV experts. We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems. Let us understand that we don’t have to sell our time. Fire that boss, once and for all. Fire your consulting and training clients like I did. They don’t deserve you. You family and loved ones deserve you.

One phone call can earn a good JV broker more than the average employee earns in a month or more. Attend our Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp and find out how you can have all the time and money you want.  Contact Us to attend one yourself.

Which are you right now?

I worked with a real estate company to help them increase sales and saw the “tortoise and the hare” fable come to life right before my eyes. One of the salespeople (the tortoise) was slow, not highly skilled, not a great communicator and she had a long commute to work, which cut into her flexibility. But she was steady, consistent, reliable, very enthusiastic and totally focused and committed to reaching her goals. Some of the other “hare” salespeople tended to be highly skilled and polished, but they were often erratic and unfocused. They worked in fits and starts. They got side-tracked. The tortoise beat them every single month. The results I see a salesperson accomplishing are in direct proportion to his or her consistency and focus.

The “Magic” Formula

The formula for Momentum is p=mv where p is momentum, m is mass and v is velocity. If we were to translate that into sales, momentum would be branding and results, m would be the amount of effort, action and focus and v would be enthusiasm and belief or:

Your Brand’s Momentum = Your effort, action and focus + Your enthusiasm and belief

It’s the Accumulation of Great Action

Branding and momentum is not achieved overnight. It takes consistent sowing and nurturing to build a brand, whether that brand is you, your website, your product or your business. Imagine someone pushing a car up a hill. As they push, they gain momentum and it gets easier. If they stop and let go of the car, it starts rolling back down the hill! Momentum is a vector. That simply means that momentum is a quantity that has a magnitude, or size, and a direction.

Are you headed in the best direction?

Some businesses have momentum in the wrong direction, and they require a turn-around expert to deal with them. We need to be sure that our efforts are taking us in the right direction and we need to know why we want to move in that direction.

Use this Reality Check

• It’s good to stand back and take along, hard look at your business.
• Re-evaluate your goals.
• Look at your activity.  Is it building momentum and the branding you want?
• Are your sure you’re creating the right image?
• Most of all, focus and consistency should be built into all your systems.

As Michael Gerber tells us in the E Myth, work ON your business, not IN it. And continually adjust and improve upon every aspect of it. Concentrated effort and persistence is the mark of a winner. Once you gain positive momentum in the right direction, make sure you continue to feed the fire, and the sky’s the limit.

One of the most important aspects of the Joint Venture Mindset is that we don’t need to, and in fact shouldn’t, “Sell” a Joint Venture proposal.

Avoid this Poor Play

Last night I attended a “Networking” meeting where the Membership Services Manager walked up and asked me outright why I didn’t join their Chamber of Commerce. She showed no interest in me, my business, my problems or my interests. She was simply out to hard sell everybody she could.

When I indicated that I needed to see how joining that Chamber would benefit my particular business, she proceeded to reel off the “benefits” of joining. She is not someone to approach for a Joint Venture. She is egotistical, arrogant and stupid.

Make the Smart Move

If this “Manager” was intelligent, she would have listened carefully to me and asked herself a few simple questions:

• How many people could Robin introduce to this Chamber?
• How many people does he influence and who are those people?
• What is his ‘Hot Button’? What does he really, really want?
• How can this Chamber bring him massive, unprecedented value?
• How can I best present this option to him, in a win/win scenario?

If she had listened carefully, she would have learnt that I have many DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Members and that many of them might consider joining her Chamber, and that many of her 1,400 Members could join the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum and attend our Bootcamps, which could make her a substantial amount of money (a lot more than she earns at the Chamber). She would have found out that I can put her in front of a lot of prospective Chamber members via my talks, e-zines and seminars.

When to Walk Away

When someone doesn’t understand the value you offer them, walk away. If you have to sell it, the value is not perceived. Either you have to:

1. Describe it better,
2. Listen better or
3. Realize there is no match and walk away.

But you shouldn’t try to persuade someone to Joint Venture with you.

They should eagerly accept your no cost, no risk offer – that will mean they’re committed and serious. If both Joint Venture parties are excited, enthusiastic and passionate about the Joint Venture, it will probably work very well.

The Joint Venture Mindset

You have to kiss a few frogs to find a prince, you know. But you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Some people will never understand the Joint Venture mindset – get used to it, don’t take it personally, and remember what smart salespeople say:

“Some will, some won’t, so what? NEXT!”

One of the most common questions I am asked at the seminars, talks and Bootcamps I present, is:

“But, Robin, how do I find people to Joint Venture with?”

Good question, of course. In a world where a good website and business brochure can make a bank robber living in his dog’s kennel look like the CEO of a Fortune 500 business, we have rightfully become skeptical, even cynical. We are wary of the scam artists and wanna-be’s out there. We don’t want to refer our trusted clients and friends to losers.

Use a Group that Enforces High Standards

That’s why we started the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum. Good people were invited to join and they invited their best people, and so on. And now that people from all over the world are applying to join, we insist they agree to adhere to our Code of Ethics and we watch them carefully. Any deviation and we unceremoniously kick them out. Unlike many “Networking Groups” that would accept Hitler if he paid enough, our fees are so low and our benefits so high that we can afford to be, and are, very selective. So that is one way to find good Joint Venture Partners: simply join the Forum!

Use Your “N.E.E.R.” Relationships

Another way to find good Joint Venture partners is to start with your N.E.E.R. relationships – your Naturally Existing Economic Relationships – people whom you know and trust and have done business with in the past. People who are referred to you by trusted friends and associates are more likely to turn out well. And if you follow our guidelines, you will initiate those Joint Ventures with no money, no time and no risk. So you can walk away if things don’t work out or the Joint Venture partner deviates from the agreement, as some, I assure you, will.

Why You Should ONLY Associate with Successful People

Always remember that there are people out there who will agree to anything to grab a customer and make a quick buck. Desperate people do desperate things. So you should choose successful people – not the trailer park type who lives on welfare and can’t afford gas, whom you want to help; you’re not a social worker. I have tried that and it cost me money. Find winners and visionaries.

Other Key Factors

And make sure to manage the relationship and the Joint Venture – it takes attention and monitoring to make it work well. And the more they know about Joint Ventures, the more likely the Joint Venture is to succeed. For example, DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Member who has attended the Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp is more likely to succeed than one who hasn’t.  Contact Us to attend one yourself.

“Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”

- Helen Keller

Do you know this person?

• He rises without hitting the snooze button.
• She works without complaining.
• He works longer and harder than anyone else.
• He always delivers on time.
• She gets there before anyone else.
• He cares little about the opinions of others.
• She consistently raises his own standards and expectations.
• He is not cowered or frightened by his circumstances – he is in control of his environment and his mind.

If you know such a person, they are living on purpose. They have a Magnificent Obsession.

“But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.”

- Paulo Coelho

Living on Purpose

People with a very specific and definite purpose are not easily phased or thrown off course. They are utterly reliable and focused. They do not make excuses. Their lives are meaningful. They know who they are and they don’t need anyone else’s permission, endorsement or acknowledgement – only their own.

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

- Thomas Paine

He knew whereof he spoke. Purpose driven people pay the price of success gladly. They are warriors.

Are You an Eagle or a Chicken?

Unstoppable people are Eagles – they have goals and objectives and they are self reliant. They concur with Ayn Rand’s definition of Freedom: “To ask for nothing, to expect nothing, to depend on nothing.” And Freedom is usually their highest value. They enjoy strong self esteem and confidently pioneer new frontiers, never doubting their own ability. They don’t know how to turn tail, quit or compromise. It’s foreign to them. Eagles expect to win.

Someone with a purpose will know unprecedented peace, power and profit when they discover their own Magnificent Obsession and give themselves permission to win at all costs. They are strengthened by detours, obstructions and the mindless, seething masses. They see beyond the ordinary. They rise majestically above the quicksand of Collectivism and compromise.

Do you see this person in the mirror every morning? You can, you know.

A client of mine who owned a chain of restaurants radically improved his business when we tested his employees for the personality styles and re-organized the business. We all have characteristics of all the four major personality styles, however one is normally dominant. In business, it’s important to acknowledge our strengths and leverage them, and to find others to supplement our weaknesses. There’s no right or wrong character type. Here’s a quick overview.

The High D - Dominant style

Dominant style (minority of people, hardest to find) is bottom-line andresults oriented, impatient, sometimes tactless, driven and extroverted, with weaknesses in details. Major fear: being taken advantage of / ripped off. Good closers, great pioneers. Need the numbers and systems guys.

The High I - Influencing style

Influencing style is an extrovert, “party animal”, great at meeting people and starting relationships, popular, good opener, weakness is details and time management. Major fear: being embarrassed in public. Needs closers and numbers guys.

The High C - Cautious style

Cautious style is introverted, loves details, numbers and systems more than people, excellent numbers guys and accountants, computer experts, analyzers. Weakness is over analysis; fear is criticism of their work. Needs the extravert’s and the drivers.

The High S - Steady style

Steady style (majority of people) is an introvert, loyal, team player, family type, great systems and support person, needs security and long term relationships, fears risk, conflict and change. Needs others to make things happen and to create change and to take unpopular action when necessary.

Optimizing the Strengths of the Styles

This is a simplistic approach, but understanding our strengths and weaknesses and allowing people to do what they’re good at, while avoiding tasks that they’re weak at, is simply smart business sense. For technical sales we use High C’s and S’s. Ideal salespeople are normally High D’s with secondary I’s. One wouldn’t an accountant who is a High D, or a High S to launch a new business. You don’t want a High C to be the host at a cocktail party and we don’t want two High I’s behind a reception desk because they’ll talk all day!

Using personality style analysis has helped many of my clients to be better entrepreneurs and hire the appropriate people. Self knowledge is essential to success. I use the DISC style analysis – there are many others available, including the excellent Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Sales Tip

When selling to:

• High D’s - Talk results and ROI and close early and hard.
• High I’s - Build relationship, have fun and close early.
• High C’s - Provide copious details and proof and take time to close.
• High S’s - Prove that the support and relationships will be in place long after the sale is made and close slowly.

Management Tip

When Managing:

• High D’s - Give them lots of control and clear objectives and do what you say you will do.
  High I’s - Reward them publicly, make them look good and watch their time allocation.
• High C’s - Be specific, don’t rush them, and compliment their work (catch them doing something right), set time goals.
• High S’s - Make changes slowly, provide lots of security, share long-term plans.