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.

Everything in your life is a trigger of some sort – the things you see, hear, feel, taste, read, and touch, the people you mix with, the places you go, the things you wear, what you eat and drink, your car, your home - everything is affecting you, whether you know it or not.

Peak performers carefully monitor their input, associations, diet, and environment. They control their self-talk, and set high standards for themselves.

Making the Right Adjustments

• You know how you feel if you wear dirty or creased clothes, if you don’t groom yourself well, if you spend time with losers, or if you don’t get enough exercise or sleep.
• And you know how you feel if you associate with winners, wear smart clothes, look your best, and go to top restaurants.

When you feel good about yourself, it’s because you have systematically created that situation, and you will achieve a lot more. Simply making the right adjustments in your life will go a long way to improving your self-esteem, and we earn money in direct proportion to our level of self-esteem.

How We Learn:

• Taste 1%
• Touch 1.5%
• Smell 3.5% (yet it is the most emotional sense)
• Hearing 11%
• SIGHT 85%!

Because visual triggers are so important (ask any advertiser), I designed a few triggers you might want to take advantage of.

Carefully Design Your Environment

My office is very carefully designed to visually trigger motivation, work, belief, optimism, feelings of well being and success, joy, and peace of mind.

I remove anything that has a negative trigger for me. Photographs of people who hurt me get removed and replaced.

Everywhere I look, I see multiple triggers.  I surround myself with:

• Gifts from people I like, respect, and love.
• Reminders of past victories.
• Reminders of future promises.
• Symbols of success and strength.

Our entire home is like that. Rika and I are careful about our triggers, and we’re highly disciplined. Cleanliness, orderliness, and high quality are important to us.

Do Some Spring-Cleaning

Take a good look at the triggers in your life, from people to things, and do some spring-cleaning. After all, it is spring, and every day is the first day of the rest of your life. Create an environment that makes you happy, healthy, and successful.

You probably wonder what has helped you succeed in life, and what has prevented you from succeeding.

Most people blame their environment, circumstances, parents, and others for failure, but mature, intelligent people look in the mirror.

Let me show you the only REAL secret to your past and future successes, and the only TRUE roadblock you ever have, or ever will encounter.

Your Self-image is the Key

Dr. Joyce Brothers said:

“An individual’s self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change, the choice of friends, mates, and careers. It is no exaggeration to say that a strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.”

Wow! Read that again five times.

Your self-image is the key to your success and the cause of your failure. Not the systems, the governments, or other people.

You Earn in Direct Proportion to Your Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the reason why two people in the same business, in the same town, with the same products and services at the same price, selling to the same market, can get very different results.

The reason why one goes bankrupt and the other becomes wealthy is their self-esteem or self-concept – how they feel about themselves and their worth, and what they believe about themselves.

Can You Change?

Here’s the question, though:

1. Can you CHANGE and improve your self esteem?
2. How long with it take?
3. If you change your self-concept, your entire life will change.
4. So how do you do that?

The good news is that there is a rational, effective way to dramatically improve your self-image. I am about to share the recipe with you right here.

Five Simple Steps

Here are Five Simple Steps to creating a great self-concept and ensure your future success:

1. Discipline yourself to honor your commitments. Do exactly what you say you will do, when you said you would do it, in the manner you promised to do it. Never quit – persevere and insist on success. You will admire yourself and start to believe in your abilities.
2. Tell the truth. Don’t try to be tactful, diplomatic, politically correct, and Mr. Nice Guy. Be real, even if people are offended. Live according to your own beliefs and values. You will get to like and respect yourself.
3. Only mix with positive, successful people. Kick the losers, posers, and parasites out of your life. Be like Atlas – shrug them off your back, even if it costs you money in the short term. You will be amazed how good you feel about yourself when you only associate with winners!
4. Make sure all your input (where you go, what you see and listen to, and what information you expose yourself to) is positive and encouraging. See these powerful videos.
5. Get mentored and trained by someone who already has what you want – don’t take advice from people more screwed up than you are.

Follow this recipe, and I’ll see you at the top!

We’ve all found ourselves in difficult financial situations, and we all know how fiscal pressure can tempt one to lower one’s standards and compromise in certain areas out of simple desperation and the urgency of the moment.

…And we have all found out how that backfires.

Like a wild animal, money runs away when you chase it; you have to lure it, entice it, attract it with value, and never compromise your standards.

Sell Up!

When we’re feeling down and the wolf is scratching at the door, it’s natural to “sell down” - we approach other broke and frantic people instead of “Selling up” - seeking out people who are more successful than we are at the time.

Note I said, “at the time.” Being broke is a temporary situation - remember that.

Everyone has been there, and there’s no shame in facing the odd storm; it’s HOW you face the storm and the reactions you choose under fire that will determine how long the storm lasts. You get to know yourself and others under pressure; you find out how tough and motivated you really are.

Turning A Tough Situation Around

The key to turning around a difficult cash flow predicament is to get a strong trunk out of the basement, find a solid lock to put on it, and stuff your bruised ego and emotionalism into that trunk until you recover.

Being objective and clear-headed is essential and that’s where it’s valuable to have access to an objective, successful mentor or friend who can keep you from rushing out and making a fool of yourself. Desperate salespeople seldom make sales, but they do make a lot of enemies.

1. Be prepared to walk away from any deal.
2. Be low-key.
3. Remain relaxed, professional, urbane, and at ease.

You Set the Standard

When I ran a hotel for a smart hotelier who was an even smarter entrepreneur, he told me,:

“Robin, no matter how urgent a matter is, even if the hotel is on fire or the chef is murdering yet another waiter, you must NEVER RUN.

You will walk in a stately manner, like a gentleman taking his leisurely constitutional.

Be professional and in control at all times, since you set the example and the standard for the entire staff and the guests.”

The Money Will Come

Most important, don’t hide from your creditors. Keep contact, offer payment schemes, communicate, and remain confident and self-assured at all times.

Think big, be flexible, and take the advice of your mentors, but don’t do silly things that will haunt you for years. Create the value that will attract the money.

Discipline yourself to be patient and consistent, and the money will come.

Have you ever joined a health club or started a diet or exercise program, and given up after a short while? I have.

Muscle, Mind, and Motivation

I was once approached by a publisher friend to co-write a book with another friend, Lionel who was the country’s number one bodybuilder. The book was to be called, Muscle, Mind, and Motivation.

Lionel would write about health, exercise, and nutrition, and I would write about motivation and self improvement.

We would market the book through the eighteen health clubs that Lionel owned at the time and through my database and my talks and seminars – a lovely Joint Venture.

“I won’t start writing until you get into shape.”

We set up a lunch to agree on the terms. Lionel hadn’t seen me for a while, and when he did, he said, “Robin, I won’t start writing until you get into shape. You’re fat and unfit. Here is a Gold Membership Card to my Club. Come train with me, lose some fat, add some muscle, and then we’ll write the book.”

You Get Results Quicker When You Work with the Best.

I had been going to gym before in my life, but this was a new experience. When you train with the best in the country, it’s a whole new ball of wax, I assure you. I worked really hard and found out what makes a champion bodybuilder! I was in a bodybuilding Joint Venture with Lionel! I lost weight and fat, put on muscle faster than ever before, looked great, and we wrote the book, which was a roaring success.

The Best Laid Plans

The best kind of plans have three components:

1. You team up with champions, winners, and successful people only, not with undisciplined losers.
2. You both commit to a measurable, time-related, specific action plan that makes you both accountable for exact results.
3. You diligently and regularly monitor your progress and make adjustments as you go. And because you’re working with a champion, quitting is never even a consideration.

To this day, I remember the power of teaming up with champions, and I am privileged to know some real business champions with whom I Joint Venture.

If you receive information, which, if applied, can earn you an unlimited amount of money, what is that information worth?

• The information on the Bootcamps makes David Dubeau $84,000 per month.
• It saved Kumar Ramlal $145,000.
• It allowed Patrick Giesbrecht to retire in seven months with more residual income than he needed to live on.
• It allowed me to retire twice.

It has made people millions of dollars.

Why Even Smart People Object to the Deal of a Lifetime

Would you pay $5,000 once, to be able to earn $10,000 and more per month for the rest of your life? Of course you would.

Let me tell you why certain people balk at the measly $500 we currently charge for a seat at a Bootcamp – two reasons:

1. First, it’s too cheap, so they think the content can’t be worth much. They don’t realize that we make it cheap so that we can reach and help more people.
2. Second, they don’t believe in themselves: they know they’re lazy and weak, and that they never follow through on things they start. Winners know that they always succeed in everything they do.

You Can Apply This & Make Money Too!

A winner will never ask, “How much did YOU make from the Bootcamp?” or, “How much did others make?” Why?

Because winners know that most other people fail most of the time, and they know that they are not most people. They know themselves. They know they always rise to the top. They have a track record. They know how hard working and disciplined they are.

If they evaluate the Bootcamp and believe the information works, they will pay for it and apply it and get rich.

Winners will take action and MAKE it happen, while losers and parasites will pose and procrastinate and analyze and make excuses until they find another seminar to attend.

What’s It Worth to You?

• How much is the security, retirement, peace of mind, self-respect, adventure, freedom, time, and happiness afforded by having enough money worth to you?
• What would you pay to be able to live your dreams, help others financially, travel to exotic places, and be free of fear and stress?

You will learn proven, tried and tested technologies and skills that you can use to create wealth anywhere, under any circumstances, regardless of your background, age, or education, or whether you have a business or not.

What is that worth? Ten thousand, twenty thousand dollars?

You’re learning from people who actually do what they teach.

This is not some seminar by a conman that has you running to the back of the room to buy the “real, meaty stuff” at ridiculously high prices. This is the real thing. Get it while it lasts. Whatever you pay for it, it’s too cheap.

The most lucrative Joint Venture one can engage in usually involves a Center of Influence.

• This is a person who has the respect, admiration, trust, cooperation, and attention of a large group of people with whom he or she regularly communicates.
• This database of people is strongly inclined to follow the directions, instruction, advice, and suggestions of their leader, and they often do so blindly, as do most sheep.

And herein lies the challenge:

There are some dishonest and psychopathic centers of influence that misuse and abuse their power and their people, selling their loyal followers pigs in pokes, and taking advantage of their position of power to the disadvantage of their flock. One wants to identify and avoid these centers of influence like the plague.

You will be judged by your associations and the company you keep, and aligning yourself with con artists is financially tempting, but is as unwise as eating chocolate cake doused in strychnine.

The Most Valuable Activity of Any JV Broker

Seek out the honest and sincere centers of influence.

I would rather spend $2,000 working on a relationship with one genuine center of influence who has integrity, than reach hundreds of individuals who are not centers of influence. Those who have successfully Joint Ventured with good centers of influence know how valuable those relationships are. This is BY FAR the most valuable activity of any JV Broker: finding and pitching centers of influence.

7 Pointers for Gaining Top Notch Associates

Here are seven pointers that you would do well to be aware of:

#1 - Not everyone who has a large database is a center of influence.

There are characters lurking on the Internet who have plagiarized lots of information and built large opt-in databases under false pretenses – those databases are usually low quality, and your hit rate and conversion rate will be very low, while those you do convert will be low quality, too.

You want a high quality relationship between the center of influence and his or her people, and a high quality person in the database. Quality is more important than quantity.

#2 - Centers of influence can lose their credibility…

…with their flock as the products, services and investments they sold their followers prove to be scams at worst, and empty promises at best. The chickens come home, as it were, to roost.

Be on top of things and be current in your information about your target centers of influence. Things change, and there are a lot of posers and has-beens out there. Some centers of influence are on their way out.

#3 - All centers of influence are busy

…and what we hate more than anything else is an MLM type that sells lotions, potions, swill, and pills, snake oil and weight loss products, magic drinks, and overpriced vitamins and placebo effect products.

Realize that JV’s that involve the aforementioned and start-ups, unproven, miracle investments, gold mines in far-away places, and property/real estate “investments” in volatile, unstable third world countries are not JV’s most intelligent and honest centers of influence will even consider. We hear a lot of hype, and we have “BS Detectors”.

#4 - Don’t be intimidated by a center of influence.

They all want more money, and they all realize they can leverage their database. And they’re all looking for good, solid, lucrative, and viable JV’s that don’t involve cost, risk, or time.

#5 - Your Presentation:

Look, act, groom yourself, dress, and present yourself at least at the same level of professionalism as your prospect.

Showing up badly dressed, unshaven, covered in cat hair, answering your cell phone in the meeting, surreptitiously  glancing at your Blackberry or cell phone every few minutes (usually the sign of a lack of discipline and/or desperation), being unprepared, or smelling of tobacco, will simply irritate your prospect and end the meeting before it begins. And if you’re overdressed (glitzy, embroidered French cuffs, bling, big mouth, loud, ostentatious, aggressive and egotistical), you simply reveal that you’re intimidated, nouveau riche, or stupid. (Or all three.)

Be demure, professional, high quality, self confident, relaxed, and focused.

#6 - Your Offer and Approach:

Your offer has to be sufficiently financially rewarding to get the avid attention of your prospect.

• Get it in writing.  Click here for information about writing up an MOU, otherwise known as Memorandum of Understanding.
• Run it by your lawyer. I use Pre-Paid Legal and save a fortune on lawyers.
• Be very specific.
• Be concise and to the point, and remember that you have little time and only one opportunity to make a good impression. Talk about the bottom line and the time it will take to deliver the profit.
• Also mention who will control the money. This can easily be a deal breaker.
• Do your homework and position yourself.

I will personally not even consider doing a JV with someone who is not a Member of DollarMakers.

#7 - This is a JV between equals.

…and you’re not a sales person or employee, so don’t act like one.

Be prepared to walk away from the deal. No center of influence wants to deal with someone who is in financial distress or under pressure to make money.

By seeking out solid, professional, and honest JV partners, you build your financial future on a firm foundation. Be selective, patient, and focused, and the sky’s the limit when dealing with centers of influence. DollarMakers is built on JV’s with good people.