I will not tolerate dishonest businesspeople.  And sometimes, I feel like the Grim Reaper.  I have to burn bridges and cut them off from my own business and that of my friends.

My Rule of Thumb

I know it’s popular for mediocre people to overlook things, turn a blind eye and compromise, but if you’re serious about success you should always remember that compromising with a rattlesnake usually results in a painful death.

At any point in time, people are either building trust or destroying it, revealing who they really are by their actions.

What You Should Be Impressed By

This should be a no-brainer, common sense issue, but obviously not for many people. In business, smart people deal with you because they like you and trust you, not because you have a large database, large ego and supposedly large bank account. The only people who are impressed with that are sycophants, losers and desperate people. In honor of the fact that the average IQ on a bell curve is only 100 and that entrepreneurs are not exempt from that startling and sad reality, here is my little lesson in Building Trust 101.

Trust Killers

This is how you break down trust and let others peak under your Eagle mask to see a gobbling turkey hiding inside:

• Don’t return your calls promptly.
• Don’t reply to e-mails within 9 hours.
• Put people on hold.
• Break your promises.
• Show up late.
• Deliver late.
• Make excuses.
• Don’t shave.
• Answer your cell phone in business meetings.
• Insist on meeting near public transport because you can’t afford a car.
• Be cheap.
• Be unreliable.
• Try to sell stuff without creating reciprocity.
• Offer a computer printed business card.
• Lie.

Recognize a few past acquaintances there? If you do, make sure it’s a PAST acquaintance.

Don’t worry…There are still some winners out there.

Sure, it’s a small percentage and they’re not easy to find, but they’re out there and there is a way to find them! YES. You can build a WINNER MAGNET that will act like Eagle Bait, and this is how you attract those amazing people that restore your faith in mankind and bring them into your life like bees to the proverbial honey. And, before you balk at this radical approach, I can honestly tell you that it works very well for me. Do I have your rapt attention?

12 Ways to Build Trust and Magnetize Winners:

1. BE a winner yourself.
2. Expect and demand the best of yourself and others.
3. Deplore loser behavior.
4. Mercilessly cut losers out of your life.
5. Speak out.  Offend the losers.
6. Be more concerned about being respected than being liked.
7. Be politically incorrect. Rattle the cages of the herd. Frighten the socialists and the collectivists.
8. Respect you time and the time of others.
9. Come on time, prepared and looking your best.
10. Act boldly and confidently.  Warriors are not timid or concerned about the enemy’s feelings (and losers ARE your enemies in business) – they are strong, sure and they win battles.
11. Be loyal and caring to your troops.
12. Realize you attract what you are. The turkeys will attack you, but you won’t even notice them because you’ll be so busy working with Eagles.

One of the questions that comes up in every talk, seminar or Bootcamp I deliver is:

“I have been feeding people business and leads for ages and I never got paid. How do I change that now, without offending and alienating these people who are my friends?”

It‘s a good question. First of all, as a decent, self-respecting capitalist and business person, you should get paid. And secondly, we don’t want to distance our business associates.

4 Simple Steps

For years, you’ve been sending and referring business to people that has been worth, perhaps, tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. Now, you realize you have left a lot of money on the table unnecessarily. Here’s the best way I have found to turn this situation around with tact and finesse. It works well.

1. First, you identify the people to whom you want to continue sending business on the understanding that you will be fairly and adequately compensated for it.
2. Then, you do some research homework (usually with their competition) to find out what their profit margins are so that your expectations are reasonable regarding the commissions you expect. These commissions could be once-off or an upfront payment with ongoing residual payments on all ensuing sales.
3. Once you are comfortable with the commissions you expect from referrals in the future, you set up a meeting with the person to whom you wish to continue sending referred business.
4. At the meeting, you have a simple script to follow that won’t upset the person.

Follow this script:

This is what you say, even if you have never received any referrals from this person:

“You know, Bill, I have been having a good look at the Joint Venture opportunities in my business and I read something that really put me on the spot and I have to apologize to you. Up until now, I never offered you any compensation for any business you refer to me. I realize now that that is not fair to you. We all deserve to be paid for what we do, of course, and it was not ethical of me to accept leads from people without offering to pay a fair and reasonable commission. So, from now on, I will pay you 20% (or whatever is right and generous for you) on any business you send me. And of course, you will do the same, right?”

What to do if you’re not happy in the end

At this point, if he refuses to pay you for future referrals, or if he offers you too little based on your research, don’t argue or fight. Simply agree and never send him business again. Instead, find someone else to refer your business to. Ascertain exactly how much he will pay you, how it will be determined, be specific, for example an exact percentage gross profit or net profit, will there be payments on all ongoing business or not, should he add taxes, at which point will he pay, will he pay weekly or monthly, etc. Confirm this in writing after the meeting. Also include what you will pay him!

This simple system can be worth a small fortune to you. Joint Ventures work.

Check out this page about Memorandums of Understanding or MOUs at JVWisdom which you can use to put your simple agreement in writing.

A Cool Study

Sociologists put 100 people in a room for fifteen minutes. They secretly instructed two of those people to say only negative things, and the other 98 to say only positive things. Guess how long the two negative people to find each other and talk? Fifteen minutes! Like attracts like.

Hypocritical Entrepreneurs

Some entrepreneurs love to blame their bad financial circumstances on others. But when things are good, they’re quick to take credit for it. That doesn’t make sense.

Two entrepreneurs in exactly the same city, same market, selling the same products for the same price: one makes a fortune while the other one goes bankrupt. And the loser tells you it’s the fault of the government, the weather, the market, the competition. And when you ask him how he explains his competitor’s success, what does he say? He accuses him of dishonesty, greed and underhandedness. The tall trees catch the wind.

It’s not WHERE you are; it’s WHO you are.

Everything we have is what we have created. Nothing comes TO you – everything comes THROUGH you. YOU create your success and your failure. Naming, blaming, complaining and shaming, is loser behavior. It’s not WHERE you are, my friend; it’s WHO you are. We attract what we are. Our minds are magnets. “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” It’s all about taking responsibility. We get back what we send out. Napoleon Hill told us:

“Whatever the mind of man can believe and conceive, it can achieve”

At a seminar I presented last week in Ottawa, I told the audience,

“The only people in this audience who will get restless, indignant and uncomfortable when I use the word, ‘Loser’, are the losers!”

Business success or failure is no accident…

…it’s simply a RESULT – a CONSEQUENCE. We reap what we sow. People who are always telling me they’re afraid of getting ripped off or unconsciously attracting shysters. They get what they expect. They create their circumstances just as surely as if they were baking a cake. Earl Shoaf said:

“Let’s not be reflectors of ideas like a moon – let’s be creators of ideas like the sun!”

1. Let’s take control of our thoughts and our attitudes.
2. Let’s focus on solutions instead of problems.
3. Let’s set high goals and mix with winners.

Don’t think of lack and shortage; think of abundance and prosperity. “I am an unstoppable Money Magnet.”

Let’s Take the Prize!

Farmers who reap great crops sowed good seeds and carefully nurtured them. The same goes for entrepreneurs. When people say of you, “Everything he touches turns to gold”, it’s because you are causing good results. It’s no by chance that you succeed; it’s by choice! Let’s take charge, take responsibility and take the prize!

Inviting someone to participate in a Joint Venture with you should always be carefully structured as an “Offer that is too good to refuse”. This is easier than it might seem, and it is done by creating a large benefit or solving a significant problem for the other party, while at the same time removing the following barriers:

Risk

Remove the barrier of RISK to both parties. This includes the risk of alienating, upsetting, or losing his existing customers or losing customers to his competition.

Time

Remove the barrier of TIME invested by the other party (and you should also invest the minimum amount of time.)

Effort

Remove the barrier of EFFORT. Entrepreneurs are busy and they will want you to do most of the work if possible. Remember, you’re approaching them, not vice versa.

Complication

Remove the barrier of COMPLICATION. Some proposals are very complicated. Complication, many irrelevant facts and the promise of huge, unusual rewards, is often the mark of a confidence trickster. Keep it very simple and straightforward and answer all questions in advance.

Religion & Politics

Remove the barrier of RELIGION and POLITICS. People are often negatively disposed to certain religions, religious groups or political affiliations. Play down your religious and political leanings until a relationship of trust has been developed, and, even then, business is not about religion or politics.

Ego

Remove the barrier of THREAT to the Other Person’s EGO. People don’t want to be made to look foolish or unsuccessful. Keep things simple.

Loss

Remove the barrier of LOSS – any loss, including embarrassment, time or reputation.

By carefully structuring your JV proposal to remove the above threats, you lower the barrier to business. Think through the deal from the other person’s perspective. This means doing your homework – credit checks, Google searches, police checks, understanding the other person’s business and Hot Button and obtaining a clear understanding or their needs, wants, goals, drives, problems and dreams – before structuring your proposal.

I was recently asked why I was so passionate about Joint Ventures. Here is why:

Money is the lifeblood of a free, capitalist society. Joint Ventures offer people who have no savings, little education and no connections or business background, the opportunity to make money quickly and build multiple streams of passive income. Joint Ventures is a tool:

• to create wealth and freedom.
• to help small businesses survive and flourish.
• to build strong relationships between good entrepreneurs.
• to allow people to regain their dignity and self respect through the ability to be paid what they’re really worth.

A Tremendous Opportunity for All

Joint Ventures are a business opportunity in itself – it is the great liberator. Anyone can learn how to use Joint Ventures to create financial independence.

• Students who finish college and still can’t find a job,
• Seniors who can’t survive on their pensions,
• Immigrants who face xenophobic attitudes in their new countries,
• Good people who are downsized and people whose educational qualifications are no longer deemed sufficient by bureaucrats…

… can all grab Joint Ventures as a drowning man in a turbulent and dangerous ocean would grab a lifebelt.

Quashing Desperation & Instilling Prosperity

Crime, drug dealers and terrorism needs poverty and desperation in order to flourish. By helping people to create their own financial independence through the understanding and application of Joint Ventures, we can save marriages and lives and our society. The only people who claim that money is not important are those who don’t have any.

People can make good money with no risk, no overhead and no previous experience or education, and they can do so very fast. Our one day, Joint Venture Broker Bootcamps teach people in one day how to start making money the very next day, with no capital investment, regardless of age or gender. It’s almost miraculous how powerful this concept is. That’s why all the large businesses use them.

Real Security

Joint Ventures also give us security – we can earn money even if we can’t work through illness or other reasons, because that is the nature of a good Joint Venture. This is the solution so many people seek, yet they don’t even know it exists. I want to tell people all over the world that they can create financial freedom through Joint Ventures. With Joint Ventures, we don’t put all our eggs in one basket and we don’t give someone else power over us. We can be independent and proud and free.

I love Joint Ventures and I love teaching others about this amazing business tool.  I strongly suggest you watch the following video on the home page of www.jvwisdom.com.

One of the questions I get asked on a regular basis is, “How much should I ask for when setting up a Joint Venture? What percentage is reasonable?” And that’s a very good question. Different businesses have different profit margins. Some have higher overhead and costs of sales and than other.

• If you sell computer hardware, for example, you make a very small profit – most of your profit is in the software, service, keyboards, etc.
• If you’re selling a service, you make big profits, but you can also have varying costs.

So we have to keep this in mind.

• Some people have certain restrictions on their ability to pay out commissions, like certain financial planners or dentists.
• Others are not used to paying commissions, like the realtor who offered me $75 for a buying referral!

So here is a way to approach this challenge.

Step 1: Do Your Homework.

I know I keep saying that, but information is power when it comes to negotiations. That’s good news, because most people talk a lot, but don’t listen much, so when you listen a lot, you learn a lot.

• Find out about the business and its profit margins.
• Make sure they’re telling the truth when they say they’re not allowed to pay commissions. Sometimes, they’re just plain lying, because they’re cheap!
• Talk to their competition.
• Ask employees questions.

With this you will get a feel for the amount of profit they make, so you know what to ask for.

Step 2: Educate Them About the Money in the Back End

You might make no profit at all on the first sale (break even on the first transaction) but you can make a lot on future transactions, referrals, additional products and services sold through other vendors on a JV basis and on and on. If people understand the Back End correctly, they will be eager to give away a generous portion of the front end.

• Show them the principle of Incremental Profits (profits made when overhead and salaries are already covered and the new sale is incremental, like putting an extra seat into a seminar or serving another plate of food when the food cost is only 32%)

Step 3: Understand Negotiating Techniques

• By all means start high and drop, but don’t start greedy.
• Be prepared to walk away from any deal at any time.
• Remove risk from both parties.
• Work WITH the competition. Savvy entrepreneurs know their competition can be their greatest ally.

Most of all, approach any Joint Venture proposal from a position of strength – know more than the person you’re dealing with. Be well prepared.

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Strong and successful entrepreneurs make decisions fast and stick to them. They don’t wait for the cat to fall out of a tree or Grandma to buy a new dress. They don’t have twenty committee meetings before they decide whether or not to order the Beef Wellington.

• They say, “Yes” or they say, “No.”
• They are fast on their feet.
• They don’t find excuses to procrastinate.
• They will weigh the information, do their due diligence and decide.

You don’t have to run after them for a decision, either; they will get back to you when they say they will. They are winners.

“All I needed was a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’.”

One seminar attendee gave me SEVEN reasons why he wouldn’t be able to attend an event. At the end of his whining, I said, “All I needed was a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’.”

Winston Churchill put it this way: “They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.” And George Canning said,

“Indecision and delays are the parents of failure.”

Those who vacillate, dither, hesitate and flounder are simply fearful of making ANY decision. They are afraid of the consequences of agreeing and equally terrified of the results of disagreeing. As Tony Blair once said of a certain politician, “Weak, weak, weak!”

Be willing to make decisions.

The chairman of Mesa Petroleum said,

“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the Ready- Aim-Aim-Aim Syndrome. You must be willing to fire.”

Any decision is better than no decision. “I’ll get back to you” and “I’ll think about it / discuss it / review it” usually means, “I’m too scared to decide – please leave me in my misery and go find a real man”. Let us decide to decide. Let us be warriors and Eagles. Let us be confident, courageous and focused. Time is money and the window of opportunity doesn’t wait. Seize the day!

I asked the bell captain to call a cab for me to get to the train station for my trip to Ottawa. He replied that, with all the freezing snow Montreal was enjoying that morning, a cab would take 45 minutes to arrive! Shock and awe – what was I to do? I had meetings and a seminar lined up in Ottawa – carefully planned down to the last minute. I couldn’t afford to miss that train!

Then I realized that the bell captain was still there, talking. He was saying, “But, Mr. Elliott, why not take the underground to the train station? It’s right around the corner, here.” In only twenty minutes I was at the station via the underground, saved money on the cab and enjoyed a great, relaxing train ride to Ottawa.

Has Conditioning Got in the Way?

When he walked into the huge seminar venue in the Toronto hotel, he seemed pretty professional and successful Well dressed and groomed, poised, aware. He handed me his business card and I was impressed. Thirty minutes into my seminar, I asked the audience, “How many of you think this looks ‘Too good to be true’?” and the same man put up his hand. Shock and awe! It was hard to believe that this sophisticated businessman was, in fact, seriously handicapped by his mental conditioning. We all are. How many wonderful opportunities have we all missed, because our conditioning got in the way? We all have mental programming that hampers and restricts us.

We don’t have money problems, we have thinking problems.

The same goes for technology – I searched for YEARS to find a way to record sound bytes on my computer at home and then to e-mail them. It only took one e-mail from Member Andrew Cavanagh in Australia, and within ten minutes I had the solution, which has been working great ever since.

We don’t have money problems, we have thinking problems. And the same goes for everything else. We already have whatever we want and need – it’s all in the way we think. Understanding that we have mental blocks is the first step on the road to overcoming all obstacles on our way to success.

The Fastest Way I Have Discovered to Get Over Blocks

Other people know things that we don’t know. They have different perspectives and they know how to get to the train station. The fastest way I have discovered to getting over, under and around mental blocks is by associating with a wide variety of Eagles through our DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum.

Hundreds of ethical people around the world with a Joint Venture Mindset are available to help me to succeed in a win/win way. They have different frames of reference, experience, skills, connections, access and resources that are readily available. We help each other to see through the mental blocks and solve problems. Together, we can do amazing things.