What ten things should you look for to determine whether or not you should consider accepting a Joint Venture proposal? What criteria should you consider?

Here are some guidelines that I have used successfully over 22 years as a Joint Venture Broker.

1.    The Person:

Your potential JV partner needs to be thoroughly checked out and investigated before you JV with him or her. Look for clues and do your due diligence. Look at:

• whom they associate with,
• their level of professionalism and punctuality,
• their dress and grooming,
• preparation,
• philosophy,
• understanding of JV’s,
• and attitude.

Don’t be afraid to decline any JV at any stage – the more selective you are, the more money you will make.

Be sure who the real decision maker is – often it’s a spouse or lover or business partner behind the scenes, making the bullets for the front man to fire. ALWAYS, Only deal with the top guy, and never with the minions, managers, and puppets.

Don’t deal with new entrepreneurs who still have an employee mindset if you can avoid it.

2.    The Product of Service:

Avoid products that are really trends, fads, gimmicks, or new on the market, since these are usually vastly overpriced and will soon appear in Wal-Mart at a fraction of the price, which will embarrass you and diminish your reputation and status as a JV Broker.

They usually have a short lifespan, and people make money on the front end and pay for years on the back end for the damage done.

3.    The Past (history) of the Person and the Product or Service:

Past behavior predicts future behavior.

• How long has this person been doing JV’s?
• How long has the company and product been around?

Google, Google, Google, talk with their competition, and use a private detective if necessary.

Watch out for people who arrive new on the scene from far away – they’re often running away from something, or too many people know them in the town they left.

4.    The Pressure:

• Are you being pressured to implement it?
• Is your JV partner under financial pressure?

These are signs of desperation, and red flags to any JV Broker.

NEVER deal with a JV partner who has financial problems or is cheap (tight-fisted). You need confident, secure, relaxed, professional, mature JV Partners.

5.    The Potential of the JV Financially:

• How much money can you make?
• Is it really worth your time and effort?

Always include the back end and new relationships when evaluating the financial potential of a JV.

Look at the big picture, but also the time required and the cash flow component.

6.    The Potential of the JV Timewise:

• How long will it likely last?
• Is it a flash in the pan?
• Will it take ages to take off and then die a fast death?
• What is the track record, if any?

Avoid new inventions and start-ups like the plague.

7.    The Positioning or Fit within the Whole:

That means how it fits with your:

• other JV’s,
• database access,
• interest level,
• gut feel,
• your existing JV Partners,
• and experience.

You should feel comfortable, confident, excited, and secure with your new JV partners and the products / services involved. There should be a natural fit, especially on the back end.

8.   The Complexity:

• How Problematic is it?
• How complex, involved, convoluted, and abstruse is it?
• Or is it simple, straightforward, easy to implement and track?

Keep it very simple – often, the more complex, the more problems are being hidden. Complexity is often the sign of hidden dangers and agendas.

9.    The Pace:

• How quickly can you implement and integrate it with your other JV’s?
• How soon will it make you money?

Be realistic about your predictions.

10.    The Progress:

Once you have implemented the JV:

• …is it making progress?
• …are your JV partners doing what they said they would do?
• …is it working as well as you expected it to, or does it need to be either fixed or ditched?

Don’t be afraid to walk away at any time – you have millions of JV opportunities out there.

Scotiabank has a slogan, “You’re richer than you think” – I wholeheartedly concur.

Most of us focus on what we don’t want to happen, what we don’t like, our fears, and the bad things in our lives. You only have to open any newspaper (do people still read those?) or turn on CNN to see how bad news dominates the thoughts of the average person.

The fact is that you have access to wealth and prosperity of which you’re probably blissfully unaware.

Bear with me, and you will see both the logic in my statement and the way to turn problems and goals into hard cash.

A Mind-blowing Epiphany for Entrepreneurs

We’ve all heard the truism, “Business is finding a need and filling it”, so people rush out and find a product or service to sell, or they buy or build a business to solve problems. Then they have to sell those products or services.

That’s why 87% of new business fail in the first five years and 87% of the remaining 87% fail in the next five years.

And that’s also why most “business owners” are in fact broke, self employed salespeople, and why most entrepreneurs either have money or time, but seldom both.

The problem is that they are working BACKWARDS.

Make Money Linking Problems to Solutions

The fact is that:

1. Everyone in the world has access to resources, and everyone knows many people who have access to resources. By the same token, everyone has problems, challenges, hopes, and dreams.
2. Every business is looking for more customers and more sales, and every business has excess inventory, perishable resources and other resources, hidden assets, and customers.

There is a proven way to create unlimited, residual wealth by linking supply and demand, solving those problems, and helping people reach their goals, without limitation, cost, risk, lots of time, or even selling – it’s called Brokering Joint Ventures.

I’ve been doing it for 22 years. Very few people understand how to do this, and that’s what DollarMakers is all about – teaching people to make money by simply introducing people to solutions and being paid.

Anyone Can Do It

Anyone, regardless of their circumstances, age, education, or background, and whether they have a business or not, can create wealth by setting up Joint Ventures.

Bill needs what Sally has, so you link Bill and Sally and get rewarded. This is not a new concept, and it can be as sophisticated or as simple as you like.

You Can Profit from What Others Don’t Know

Most small and medium sized businesses operate on about 10% of their potential net profit because they simply don’t understand the concept of Joint Ventures. It’s also why so many of them fail. Joint Ventures give businesses the edge and provide them with a way to dramatically increase their profits, while lowering their risk and overhead significantly.

If you track the lives of truly successful people, you will see they all have a history of taking action, raising their hands, and stepping up. Successful people:

• take the lead
• innovate
• break the mold
• get out of their comfort zones
• put themselves on the spot

…And they do it consistently. They immigrate, start new ventures, and volunteer. And they never quit.

But there is a BIG difference in the way winners do things to the way losers attempt things.
Begin It… and Begin It Now.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote:

“…the moment one commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

4 Things that Make Winners Successful

There are four things that make winners successful WHEN they raise their hands and take action:

#1 – Model Successful People

They model successful people – they make sure they are mentored and lead by champions, not chumps in shiny suits or pretenders that ride on the coattails of the real leaders.

• They take advice from the right people.
• They align themselves with winners and avoid losers like the plague.

#2 – Work with Successful People… Even if They’re “Competition”

They realize that they can’t do it alone – they work with other successful people.

“If you think I am your competition, I will be your competition, and you will make less money. If you realize that together, we can accomplish more, and you will get your ego in check and work with me.”

#3 – Lead Yourself

They are their own bosses, never lead, manipulated, or directed by others behind the scenes, like spouses or silent business partners. They don’t have hidden agendas.

They are their own moral compass – they don’t need gurus and witchdoctors to tell them what to think. This means that they make decisions in line with their true values and beliefs, honor their word, and never quit.

#4 – Take Consistent Action

…And they consistently take action, because it’s easy to move when your ideas, motives, and choices are aligned with your values and objectives.

#5 – Have a Winning Mindset

• They are “abundance thinkers”, which means they think big, expect a lot, and take massive action.
• They are generous and humble.
• And you won’t hear them whining about being ripped off or taken advantage of or “what’s in it for me?” all the time.
• They understand reciprocity and relationships.

A Good Example

I saw a good example of this kind of winner in the person of a young man who attended one of my Joint Venture Broker Bootcamps recently – he consistently makes good choices, takes action, steps up, and deals with the top dogs instead of their gofers and emissaries.

Tim Francis is someone who will achieve a lot, because he is smart enough and confident enough to take advice from the right people and take action until he succeeds. He raises his hand.

You should always look for ten things in a Joint Venture:

1. No Money – that is no cost to you.
2. No Risk – to either party.
3. Very Little Time Invested by you.
4. Easy to Sell / Promote and Track.
5. Credible, High Quality, Unique, and Large Demand – Necessary Service or Product.
6. High Income Potential, preferably unlimited.
7. Easy, Natural Fit with the other things you am currently doing.
8. Maximum Leverage.
9. Quick to set up, quick to make money.
10. Honestly and Track Record of the person behind the JV.

Logically, if one continues to accept the beliefs and philosophy that got one into a pickle in the first place, one’s trajectory won’t change. Any rational person accepts that if we keep on doing the same things, we will keep on getting the same results.

Change Starts in the Mind

To break free we have to change a few things, starting with one’s understanding of money.

All change starts off in one’s mind. Believe it or not, we don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems.

5 Simple, Doable Steps to Freedom

When our lives are so complicated and scary, when we’re sleep-deprived, drained, and weakened, complicated, time-consuming solutions are not the best medicine; one needs simple, quick, cheap, doable fixes to build a ladder out of the dark, dank dungeon of dejection, rung by rung.

First, take personal responsibility for your predicament, and accept full responsibility for the solution. Then, start climbing the ladder to laughter, light, and luxury:

Rung #1: Visit www.JVWisdom.com and consume as much as you can about Joint Ventures. You will find heaps of valuable, free information and videos. Share this information with your family.

Rung #2: Choose a Joint Venture strategy that you feel comfortable with, and start taking consistent, focused action.

Rung #3: Accept that some of your Joint Ventures will work, and some won’t, but since they take little time, and given that they entail no cost or risk, you have nothing to lose and everything to learn and gain, so don’t quit – keep on keeping on.

Rung #4: Surround yourself with successful people and kick the pessimists, losers, and parasites out of your life. Start reading “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.

Rung #5: Repeat rungs 1 though 4 until you emerge, victorious, into the glorious sunlight, having broken free from financial slavery, and breathe the fresh air of freedom, peace of mind, and security. I did, and you can, too. It’s not too late.

“Buy me candy! I want a toy! Gimme food! Me, me, me! Look at me! See how high I can jump!” No, that’s not a four-year-old, spoilt brat – it’s a typical, brain dead, self-employed, broke salesman, pretending to be an entrepreneur. I get these e mails all the time, asking me to expose my list and database to unknown felons posing as salespeople. “Buy my products because I need money! I paid $247 to join your club so now you have to help me sell my services!” SHOOT ME NOW. I even get emails from “JD” asking me to spam my Members with his snake-oil “health” juice adverts, and he’s not even a Member of DollarMakers. OK I’m calm now. My gun is loaded, but I’m calm.

Why “Me, me me!” Doesn’t Work Anymore

Basically, when you’re trying to sell your services, tap into other peoples’ databases, and sell, sell, sell, you’re simply wasting other peoples’ time. Joint Ventures is about getting the attention and the reciprocity of other people by NOT selling, but by solving THEIR problems. You’re in selling mode, that’s why you’re not getting ahead. This isn’t a networking club. Here’s how you get someone’s attention and create enough value for them to ask, “And tell, me Petunia, how can I help YOU?” That’s what I teach. The “Me, me me!” approach doesn’t work anymore – people will simply delete your e mails. You need to find out what other people want, help them get it, and get paid for it. It has nothing to do with what you’re selling, but everything to do with THEY want.

Why People Buy

People only buy from you (they have millions of other options, believe me, Mr. Manson, or may I call you Charles?) when they like you and trust you, and they will only take time to even LOOK at what you’re offering when you give them a damn good reason to do so. I get to know you by spending time with you, even if it’s on the Internet, not by reading your adverts.

What “Sowing Before You Reap” Means

The Members of DollarMakers who make the most money are on our Members Only conference calls, at the local Members meetings, especially at the Convention, and at the Bootcamps, building relationships. Are you involved in these ways? You have to sow before you reap and earn the right. I promote people who have proven themselves to be trustworthy, reliable, honest, professional, and generous. I cannot know that when there is no relationship.

My suggestion to you is to:

1. identify people with whom you want to work,
2. then to go all out to create value for them (and get paid for it, of course, Petunia,)
3. and build relationships with them.

The return on that investment is substantial. Give me a reason to like you and trust you and help you.  Put wood on the fire before you expect heat.

The Difference Between Selling and Brokering

Desperate salespeople are a dime a dozen, and nobody likes them or respects them. They hang out at business networking clubs, reeking of aftershave, pushing business cards, flashing their whitened teeth and trying to sell their stuff to other broke people. Joint Venture brokers are entrepreneurs who work strategically and use leverage, relationship, and reciprocity to create long-term wealth. Then you can go buy you own candy and even have your teeth whitened, if you’re that needy.

Are You Running your Business on Gasoline or on Nuclear Power?

A pound of highly enriched uranium as used to power a nuclear submarine or nuclear aircraft carrier is equal to something in the order of a million gallons of gasoline.

When you consider that a pound of uranium is smaller than a baseball, and a million gallons of gasoline would fill a cube 50 feet per side (50 feet is as tall as a five-story building), you can better understand leverage.

Unlocking Unlimited Potential

Running a business in the conventional way is like using gasoline. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s very limited potential compared to someone using the nuclear power of Joint Ventures.

Here is why using Joint Ventures in your business to double and quadruple your profits, or, better still, becoming a Joint Venture Broker, is so superior and a so much more sophisticated way to create wealth:

1. No overhead
2. No selling
3. No risk
4. No inventory
5. No employees
6. No leases, licenses, or franchise fees
7. No limitations or restrictions
8. No entry barrier
9. No ramp-up period – start earning immediately
10. Everything you earn is 100% pure profit.

Click here for more information about how to turn your business into a money magnet using Joint Ventures.

Many years ago, I was on the brink of bankruptcy. It’s a very scary feeling, unless you’re a dyed in the wool sociopath. I will never forget the sleepless nights, having to plead with bankers whose arrogance was exceeded only by their ignorance, and how the only way out was hard, 24/7 WORK.

Why did I totter on the brink of a flaming financial furnace?

High overhead, all my eggs in one basket, relying on other people, and refusing to confront reality; we all like to hide our heads in the sand at times. And when you extract your head from the sand, you find that the house has burned down around you. Fortunately, I managed to escape the jaws of bankruptcy, and I swore that I would never put myself in that position again.

Falling Hard with a “Successful” MLM

It’s interesting that pride always comes before the fall.

We knew a fellow in Edmonton a few years back who was making big money selling a magic health juice through an MLM company. Naturally, they made wild, silly claims about their juice, which was soon replaced by another juice from another company. Different packaging, same snake oil.

Well, as with most products and services, the juice ended up in Wal-Mart for a fraction of the price, and that was the end of this fellow’s arrogance and swollen head.

He lost pretty much everything, because, typical of the nouveau riche, he felt he had to lease expensive cars and buy the bling to convince other dumb people that he was making money.

It Happens in Traditional Business Too

I know someone in the UK who put every ounce of his energy and every penny he had saved into building a business. He had a great reputation, delivered excellent service, and was admired by many.

One day, a big customer showed up and started giving him large orders that required that he expand his premises and increase his production and overhead in order to cope.

Soon, the new customer brought him 85% of his business.

Slowly, this powerful customer insisted paying on him after 60 days instead of 30 days, then 90 days, thereby putting the squeeze on his cash flow.

One winter day, the customer showed up with an offer to buy the business for a mere pittance.

He was offered two options: “Sell me your business for pennies on the pound, or I will take all my business away and bankrupt you.”

This is not an unheard of story. He ended up in debt and despondency after selling his business, having to start all over again at the age of 63.

Job: Selling Your Life for “Security”

Having a boss is the same thing – handing over the control of your life, income, security, and dreams to one or a few people is crazy.

Many entrepreneurs are glad to sell themselves into slavery and bondage for the promise of enough money, and they forget that while power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Don’t buy a golden leash – it might look impressive to your cranky old mother-in-law, but there’s a slip knot on it, and it can end up choking the life out of your finances.

Be Willing to Work for It… And Then Work SMARTLY.

It amazes me how easily vulnerable people will commit themselves to large amounts of money, debt, and suicidal indenture for the sake of a free trip, accolades, and false hope. I think the main reason why people will gamble their future financial freedom is the idea of a quick buck – greed and indolence at work.

Hard work is not something most people are comfortable with, even when they know that working hard for a year can allow you financial freedom for the rest of your life, if you’re moving in the right direction.

What It Takes to Weather the Storm

The combination of arrogance and greed with having all your eggs in one proverbial basket is a recipe for failure. Today’s expensive fad is mass produced and sold in malls tomorrow.

Companies, competition, and economies come and go, and people come and go. Floods, fires, changes in laws and governments, offshore competition, new technology, and the blatant disregard of patents by certain nations means we live in a changing, dangerous world. Nothing lasts forever, and business is a series of cycles, like the seasons.

Those who spread their income and risk and maintain a low overhead can weather storms; when one section or area of business suffers, another prospers. That means no feast or famine, chicken or feathers, rollercoaster cash flow.

Why Joint Venture Brokers Have It Made

Joint Venture Brokers can participate in multiple different markets, products, services, and cultures simultaneously, with no cost, risk, overhead, or limitations except their understanding of profit, value, and business.  Typically, they are very selective, and they maintain a mature, objective approach to business.

Everything they earn is 100% profit, and they don’t have to allow themselves to be manipulated or ripped off, since they always have other options due to the nature of their business. They have the money as well as the time to enjoy it.

Savvy Businesses Use Joint Venture to Explode Their Bottom Line

Business owners who understand how Joint Ventures can be used to leverage existing resources can significantly lower their overheads and advertising and marketing budgets, while at the same time building multiple additional income flows at 100% profit. The more sophisticated operators use their front / primary businesses as “feeders” for their lucrative Joint Ventures.

Your Most Valuable Asset

The most valuable assets you have in business are your relationships, and those who understand the power of synergy, leverage, and Joint Ventures seldom walk away from good relationships or allow greed and ego to steal their futures. Together, we can do amazing things, and it’s always better to have 5% of millions than 100% of $1,000 with no support or leverage.

Keeping all your eggs in one basket is tantamount to Russian roulette.