A few weeks back, I bought a wonderful, new bicycle. I love riding it along the river and around the lake, and I’m getting fit and losing weight.

I get excellent service from the store I bought the bike at. This store specializes in bikes and has a splendid reputation. I invested about $700 in the bike, and I will buy more stuff as time goes by.

Under Utilized Resources are Everywhere

I took it in yesterday for a complimentary service. While waiting, I chatted to the friendly owner of the store. I suggested that she must have a huge database of satisfied customers, and that she could seriously increase her sales by using a good referral system. I know she does no follow-up at all with her customers, and I wasn’t asking her for any money.

Small Business Arrogance

Her response reminded me why I started the DollarMakers Club. She immediately got a distant look in her eyes, and dismissed me with:

“My family has been running this business for seventy years.”

Her arrogance was typical of the ignorance of most small business owners – they really think they know everything there is to be known about their business.

Opportunity Abounds for the JV Broker

From my limited exposure to this bike store, I assure you that a DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor could easily double the profits in that business. To a Joint Venture expert, there are a number of glaringly obvious opportunities to dramatically ramp up this store’s profits, as well as sales.

Don’t Look Back on Those Who say “No.”

But a closed mind is a sad thing, and I smiled and thanked her for her service and pedaled off into the sunset. She will never know how much money she lost by succumbing to her conceit.

By looking beyond the doors of her store and her inflated ego, and considering the leverage and access she has available to her, she would have discovered a treasure trove of easily accessible profit at no cost or risk.

Taking Advantage of the Recession

The good news is that there are a number of business owners out there who realize that they have to adjust their sails in order to accommodate the new winds of business, and their precarious predicament makes them approachable for and amenable to win/win Joint Venture proposals.

Don’t deal with desperate or cash-strapped businesses, but rather with those who are doing well but have the intelligence to perceive the change in business and the need to consider alternatives to conventional and outmoded, risky, and costly sales and marketing approached that worked in the past (PR- Pre-Recession).

Where to Find Hundreds of Educated JV Partners

DollarMakers has hundreds of Members in nineteen countries, and we continue to grow.

Instead of trying to persuade the unaware, save time and money by working with those who understand the power of Joint Ventures by joining the DollarMakers JV Broker Club. (Or the DollarMakers Women’s Club.)

• Do You Want Viral Growth for Your Business?
• How About Viral Wealth?

An epidemic, a pandemic – Mexican Swine Flu, Facebook, Twitter – have you considered that all viral growth is based on piggybacking, on Host/Parasite relationships, and on leverage? This is the natural way of fast growth.

Maintaining Potency

Drop some food coloring into a glass of water and stir it – it spreads, but it gets diluted. However, when properly created, viral growth retains the strength of the seed. You can grow your business and create viral wealth fast through Joint Ventures.

Creating Viral Wealth Fast Through Joint Ventures

When you realize that you can use existing resources, distribution systems, and relationships upon which to piggyback your business and wealth, all barriers in respect of time, cost, and risk fall away.

The Mexican Swine Flu uses people, airplanes, subways, and all manner of means to spread and grow. Use this model.

Are you Operating Like a Solider or a General?

Most entrepreneurs are like soldiers – they carry heavy packs and guns, slide around in mud, get shot, go without sleep and food, and are continually at risk.

Joint Venture experts are like generals – they sip tea in comfort while their batman polishes their boots. They use strategy, leverage, delegation, and their brains. They are like chess players.

Real Joint Venture Brokers:

• Don’t spend money, except in return for results.
• Seldom take risks or spend a lot of time making money.
• Focus on relationships, deals, leverage, strategy, and profit.
• Are not egotistically involved in their business – they are objective and rational. They are like Poker players.

You are not your business!

Your business is merely a vehicle for creating profit, not an extension of your body or personality. You are not your business. When you get your ego out of the way, all sorts of options magically arise.

What You Need is Leverage

Every resource you need is easily and freely available through Joint Ventures. You don’t need salespeople, expensive and risky advertising, or so called “Consultants” and “Coaches”. What you need is the understanding of leverage.

• A franchisee is someone who has bought a job and answers to a boss (the franchiser.)
• A Network Marketer has all his eggs in one basket – the company.
• Most entrepreneurs are really just self-employed salespeople. All sell their time like paid slaves, take risks, and limit their income potential by the nature of their business.
• Joint Venture Brokers create multiple sources of residual income in multiple industries with no selling, cost, limitations, risk, or overhead, and little time.

If you own a small business, realize five things:

1. It’s all about PROFIT, not sales, ego, that shiny, leased car, or reputation.
2. You should only pay for RESULTS, not promises, work, activity, show, and obligation.
3. You don’t need to buy and rent stuff that you can borrow.
4. You can use OTHER PEOPLE’S resources, money, credit, reputation, employees, premises, tools, equipment, distribution, sales teams, time, experience, and skills.
5. The real profit is in the BACK END, your DATABASE, and your MIND.

You have to get in the Pool if You Want to Swim

I agree with Ben Franklin, who said:

“Empty your purse into your mind, and your mind will fill your purse.”

What he left out, though, was WORK.

Initially, to learn how to use Joint Ventures to grow virally and create viral wealth, you have to pay to for the training and support, but you also have to work and practice; you don’t learn to swim while sitting in a seat at a seminar or reading a book.

Most “seminar junkies” are losers who are trying to hide from reality and accountability. You have to get in the water to learn how to swim, and it takes time to learn a new skill set. But once you get it, you will never look back.

Advice from Those Who Walk Their Talk

The key here is to learn from people who actually practice what they preach.

• If I spent a fortune on advertising, could I teach you how to grow a real, international business that makes real money with no cost or risk? I think not.
• If I employed people, could I teach you how to run a lucrative JV brokerage with no overhead? No.

Don’t take advice from anyone who doesn’t already have what you want, and never take advice from people who are more screwed up than you are.

DollarMakers is the world leader in Joint Venture training and support for individuals, professionals, and the owners of small and medium-sized businesses. We have a 22-year track record. We walk our talk. We fire Members who don’t abide by our Code of Business Ethics. We grow our own business virally and create viral wealth, and so can you.

There are few worse or more frustrating things than a smelly, clogged up drain. The buildup of biofilm gets to a place where the water can’t flow through, and at that stage you need a good drain cleaner. Most drain cleaners are pretty toxic, but they do a good job.

Losing Money Over an Unhappy Customer

I once had a friend call me and leave a message on my voice mail to complain that an unhappy, negative customer of his was calling his other customers and badmouthing him, telling lies. He said he was going to lose money, and he wanted to sue for defamation of character. I was busy, and I couldn’t get back to him for two days. When I did call back, he was out of the office. Eventually, we got to talk a week later, and I learned a great lesson from him.

A Blessing in Disguise

He explained that a business is like a water pipe, and the cash flow is like the water going through the pipes. The pipes get clogged up with blockages, usually bad systems, but toxic, mostly bad people – employees and customers who are unproductive, negative, whining, blaming, difficult, and looking for a reason to leave.

His unhappy, poisonous customer who was badmouthing him turned out to be a drain cleaner! Those who were looking for an excuse to leave, got their excuse, albeit based on lies and fabrications, and when they left, they unblocked the pipe and were replaced by good, positive, accountable, productive employees and customers. Cash flowed stronger than ever after the cleanup.

Never Fear Losing the Losers

There is an abundance of opportunities and there are many fish in the seas.  There is no shortage or scarcity.

• Good people will stay with you, produce, contribute, innovate, weather the storms, and in the end reap the rich rewards of their loyalty persistence…
• …while the losers and victims will come and go and take their friends with them.

Some of your Joint Ventures will work, and some won’t, but there is an unlimited amount of opportunities to do JV’s. Spring clean your garage, and you will find treasure hidden under the junk, while making place for shiny, new toys that bring you much joy.

Kick Your Garbage to the Curb!

Don’t hesitate to divest yourself of negative customers or employees, and realize that they will help you by taking people like themselves with them. Keep on weeding the garden of your business to protect the beautiful flowers. Drain cleaner is a wonderful thing.

I knew a jeweler who attended a Dale Carnegie management training program with me  and returned to his business a changed man.  Suddenly, mall security guards started arresting thieves in his store.

When he remarked to one of the security guards that it seemed that crime was increasing in the mall, the security replied that the crime rate hadn’t changed – the guards had simply started intervening and arresting thieves, whereas before, they had turned a blind eye. They were rewarding my friend for his change in attitude towards them. But I digress…

What REALLY Motivates Employees

In his book, “Persuasion IQ”, Kurt W. Mortensen discusses a working paper by Kenneth A. Kovack of George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Kovack researched the differences between what motivates employees and what managers think motivates employees. Here’s the data:

What Motivates Employees as Ranked by Employees

1. Interesting work
2. Appreciation of work done
3. Being well informed
4. Job security
5. Compensation
6. Growth and promotion opportunities
7. Good working conditions
8. Personal loyalty to employees
9. Tactful discipline
10. Help with personal problems

What Motivates Employees as Ranked by Managers

1. Compensation
2. Job security
3. Growth and promotion opportunities
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Personal loyalty to employees
7. Tactful discipline
8. Appreciation of work done
9. Help with personal problems
10. Being well informed

“Shared Ownership”

One thing that I believe will cover many of these requirements is “Shared Ownership”. I’m not talking about giving your staff shares in your company.  I’m talking about profit-sharing Joint Ventures, where employees get compensated in direct proportion to the value they add as measured in profit.

Front line employees are often to privy to information of which management is blissfully unaware, and many times by design. Empowering your employees by partnering with them:

• gives them an “ownership mentality”.
• reduces absenteeism, laziness, and shoddy work.
• increasing motivation, loyalty, productivity, interest, enthusiasm, and innovation.

Managing the Potential Downside

Opening opportunities to your staff has its downside and risks, and therefore should be carefully managed, watched, and controlled, while allowing enough freedom and accepting enough damage through honest mistakes and inexperience to remove fear and hesitation.

Clearly defined boundaries, regular, open communication, and quick feedback, and awareness of the power of operant conditioning, with it’s requisite fast reinforcement, is essential.

As “partners” (without legal implications, please), most of the above motivational factors (we should also be cognizant of Hertzberg’s Hygiene Factors here) will be more than adequately addressed, indeed enhanced, and your bottom line will see the results.

I grew up poor, and I have made money. I have been on both sides of the fence. After 22 years in business and 55 years in life, I have arrived at some conclusions about money.

• When you have enough money, you relax, enjoy life, and focus on contribution, health, relationships, balance, and quality of life.
• When you don’t have enough money, everything is seen through the prism of money.

In my experience, money will solve, eradicate, or seriously reduce 97% of your problems. A shortage of money affects your health, relationships, self-esteem, peace of mind, choices, quality of life, and temperament. Enough money, or an abundance of money, makes a dramatic difference in every area of your life.

Why You Deserve to Be Wealthy

• You say we can’t buy time? You can. You can travel faster and in comfort and hire the help you need to do most things for you.
• You say we can’t buy health? You certainly can, with great food, medical attention, assistance, equipment, technology, drugs, and peace of mind. And you can “suffer in comfort”.

Money is extremely important, and most people know this, even though they don’t all admit it.

The problem is, how can we make more money so that we can enjoy the benefits?

The first and most important obstacle to making money is mental conditioning and attitude. For this, I wrote my book, “Break Free!” I won’t address that foundational issue here, but suffice to say it is an essential read, as is Ayn Rand’s book, “Atlas Shrugged” in order to clear away any mental barriers to becoming wealthy.

Don’t Shrink – Expand!

And so here we are. We decide that, instead of tightening our belts more and spending less, depriving ourselves of the things we want and need as we try to live within our income, we should go out and make more money.

And so we look at Robert Kiyosaki’s Four Quadrants:

The E Quadrant – Employee

The first one is the E Quadrant – Employee  – you have a job – that’s where you sell your time, which is your life, sacrificing yourself for a paycheck, compromising your values for a boss, making sure you won’t get rich. Your boss pays you just enough to keep you, and makes you work as hard as possible, with as little freedom as possible.

Real wealth is having more monthly residual income than you need to live comfortably – enough time to enjoy your money. So we won’t waste our time on that quadrant.

The S Quadrant – Self Employed

The second quadrant is the S Quadrant – Self Employed – you own a job. Here, you’re also selling your time, and most so-called “business owners” are really just broke, self-employed salespeople, and they would do better getting a “real job.”

• Very little security, except that you can’t be fired.
• Usually no time to enjoy any money you make.
• Very limited potential.
• One product or service, one geographical area, one focus.
• Big ego – “big hat, no cattle”.
• And if you’re making a lot of money, you have less and less time  and more and more problems as your business grows.

The B Quadrant  – Business

The third Quadrant is B – Business – you own a system, and people work for you.

Interestingly enough, this is where Network Marketing (MLM) fits in, except that it takes a long time to start making you money, and again, it’s all your eggs in one basket – a very dangerous place to be. Many MLM companies fail. There is only one that I use and endorse, after trying many over the years and making good money. But it takes time, and we want money fast, don’t we?

So we look at Franchising – very expensive and risky as well, requiring massive capital, and you’re simply buying a job. You have no freedom, no time, and it takes ages to make money.

Or we buy a conventional business – again, risk, overhead, no free time, massive failure rate (87% fail in the first five years of new ownership or start-up) and frustration.

The I Quadrant – Investing

And then we get to Quadrant Four – the I or Investing Quadrant, where we have our money work for us. You have to have money to invest, and many investments are not what they seem to be. We all know what has just recently happened to the stock market.

Joint Ventures – The Best Solution I’ve Found & Why

Let’s tie this up. After 22 years in business, conducting seminars for business owners, professionals and employees across North America and in Africa and the United Kingdom, and after working with tens of thousands of people and seeing many opportunities and options, the best solution to wealth that I have found incurs no risk or cost, no overhead, no licenses, leases, inventory, employees, or selling, and takes little time once it’s set up and working.

1. I run my business with no overhead, employees, inventory, or any other costs except my telephone (I seldom use a cell phone) and a computer connection.
2. Everything I earn and bank is 100% profit.
3. And 90% of my income can be maintained and grown in one hour a day from anywhere in the world.

This may sound too good to be true, but it is, and I am living proof of it.

• You don’t need education, resumes, the old boys network, connections, a database, or business experience.
• Your age, circumstances, background, and whether you have a business or not, is irrelevant.
• You can retire within one year of starting off as a Joint Venture Broker, with more residual income than you need to live comfortably on.

What You Need to Set Up

As a JV Broker, you simply link supply and demand and get paid an ongoing commission on all resulting business. You can be involved in multiple business transactions, products, services, and industries, in numerous geographical areas, simultaneously. You can have multiple income pipelines feeding money into your bank account while you sleep, as I do. And one of them can be Network Marketing.

Spreading your risk across many industries and geographic areas gives you unlimited income potential and security, peace of mind, and many options.

You can be as sophisticated or as mundane and simple as you please, but the more you learn, the more you earn, because your discipline and education improves your self esteem and confidence, and you attract larger JV’s and more money.

By cross promoting and linking your various JV’s, your income can grow exponentially.

Succeed from Anywhere

And you can do this from home if you like – you never have to set foot outside your door to get rich doing this. Stay in your pajamas or wear a $1,000 suit, or wear jeans for the rest of your life – your choice! You could even do this from a prison! And you don’t need to be computer literate or technically savvy – your JV’s can be high tech, low tech, slow tech, or no tech. There is no excuse not to succeed and make money, except your own beliefs and the amount of work you do.

As a Joint Venture Broker, you can use the JV mindset to invest, make money on other people’s money, grow your MLM business, and have other people doing all the work. I have successfully run my business remotely from Cancun, Hawaii, England, the US, Canada, Africa – no more barriers, no more restrictions – every resource you need is freely available through JV’s.

That’s Why I Made DollarMakers

DollarMakers was created to provide you all the training, connections, JV partners, ready-made JV’s, and support you need, from Members in 18 countries just waiting to write you a check, to conference calls Bootcamps, online training, newsletters, ezines, Members Meetings, Conventions, and much more.

We are the world’s leading experts in our field with small and medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals, and we have the structure and systems you need to make it happen. We are your ladder to lots of money and your bridge to a burgeoning bank account. We are your way to wealth and your ride to riches.

How soon do you want to be financially free?

Say “Goodbye!” to scarcity, fear, insecurity, sleepless nights, and limited options, and say “Hello!” to freedom and joy. What you sow, you will reap, and we’re waiting to work with you. We agree with Zig Ziglar, who said,

“You can have anything you want out of life if you’re prepared to help enough other people to get what they want.”

Jump on board the DollarMakers Train to your Dreams!

Bear with me – read about this Alaskan Pipeline, and then see the valuable lessons below.

There are a lot of oil deposits in Alaska. Oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968. Because Prudhoe Bay is located north of the Arctic Circle, they knew that they would need to find a way to get the oil to a port that was ice-free during the winter. They chose Valdez to be the end of the pipeline.

Laying the Ground Work

Before they could start building the pipeline, they needed to make a road because the pipeline was going to be built in the wilderness. They needed to be able to get to different places along the pipeline route. The road that they made was called the haul road. It is 360 miles long. It cost 150 million dollars to build the haul road. There were 29 camps along the road, and each was like a little city. 19 of the camps were major sites for the construction.

Harsh Conditions

Building the pipeline was really hard because of the weather and the insects. The temperatures in the winter can get as cold as -60 degrees Fahrenheit. When the wind is blowing it can feel as cold as -115 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, there is no sunlight in the Arctic for 56 days. During the summer it can get warmer. It can get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and it will be light for 24 hours a day. However, the mosquitoes and other insects can swarm around and annoy people.

Another problem that they had was the ground. The parts of the pipeline that go over permafrost had to have special supports to make sure that the pipeline wouldn’t wiggle or move around when the ground thawed out in the summer. They also had to make sure that the parts of the pipeline under the ground would not freeze up. They made the pipeline in a zig-zag design to help keep it from cracking in case of earthquakes.

An Amazing Feat

The Alaskan pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on Prince William Sound. The highest point is 4800 feet. The pipeline is 800 miles long. 11 pump stations were built to move the oil through the pipeline. There are 9.04 billion barrels of oil under the ground at Prudhoe Bay. Each part of the pipeline is 40 feet long. It weighs 1400 pounds. The pipes were made in Japan.

The Bottom Line

Joint Venture Brokers understand that they need to build pipelines of income, but they forget that it takes a little time to build those pipelines. Now read this excellent article below:

Building a Pipeline to Wealth

(The Four CASHFLOW Quadrants)
By Robert Kiyosaki

Each of us resides in at least one of the four quadrants of the CASHFLOW Quadrant. Where we are is determined by where our main source of income comes from.

Many of us rely on pay checks and are therefore employees, while others are self-employed.

• Employees and self-employed individuals reside on the left side of the CASHFLOW Quadrant.
• The right side of the CASHFLOW Quadrant is for individuals who receive their cash from businesses or investments they own.

My Rich Dad told me a simple story when I was 12 years old that has guided me to great wealth and financial freedom. It was Rich Dad’s way of explaining the difference between the left side of the CASHFLOW Quadrant, the ‘E’ and ‘S’ quadrants, from the right side of the ‘B’ and ‘I’ quadrants.  It goes:

“Once upon a time there was this quaint little village. It was a great place to live except for one problem. The village had no water unless it rained. To solve this problem once and for all, the village elders decided to put out to bid the contract to have water delivered to the village on a daily basis.

Two people volunteered to take on the task and the elders awarded the contract to both of them. They felt that a little competition would keep prices low and ensure a back-up supply of water.

Self Employed Thinking

“The first of the two people who won the contract, Ed, immediately ran out, bought two galvanized steel buckets and began running back and forth along the trail to the lake which was a mile away. He immediately began making money as he labored morning to dusk hauling water from the lake with his two buckets. He would empty them into the large concrete holding tank the village had built.

Each morning he had to get up before the rest of the village awoke to make sure there was enough water for the village when it wanted it. It was hard work, but he was very happy to be making money and for having one of the two exclusive contracts for this business.

Business Owner Thinking

“The second winning contractor, Bill, disappeared for a while. He was not seen for months, which made Ed very happy since he had no competition. Ed was making all the money.

“Instead of buying two buckets to compete with Ed, Bill had written a business plan, created a corporation, found four investors, employed a president to do the work and returned six months later with a construction crew.

Working Smarter, Not Harder.

Within a year his team had built a large volume stainless steel pipeline which connected the village to the lake.

• At the grand opening celebration, Bill announced that his water was cleaner than Ed’s water. Bill knew that there had been complaints about dirt in Ed’s water.
• Bill also announced that he could supply the village with water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ed could only deliver water on the weekdays–he did not work on weekends.
• Then Bill announced that he would charge 75% less than Ed did for this higher quality and more reliable source of water. The village cheered and ran immediately for the faucet at the end of Bill’s pipeline.

Working Harder: How The Self-Employed Adjust

In order to compete, Ed immediately lowered his rates by 75%, bought two more buckets, added covers to his buckets and began hauling four buckets each trip. In order to provide better service, he hired his two sons to give him a hand for the night shift and on weekends.

When his boys went off to college, he said to them, “Hurry back because someday this business will belong to you.” For some reason, after college, his two sons never returned.

Eventually Ed had employees and union problems. The union was demanding higher wages, better benefits and wanted its members to only haul one bucket at a time.

Working Smarter: How The Business Owner Expands

“Bill, on the other hand, realized that if this village needed water then other villages must need water too. He rewrote his business plan and went off to sell his high speed, high volume, and low cost and clean water delivery system to villages throughout the world.

He only makes a penny per bucket of water delivered, but he delivers billions of buckets of water, and all that money pours into his bank account.

Bill had developed a pipeline to deliver money to himself as well as water to the villages.

Bill lived happily ever after and Ed worked hard for the rest of his life and had financial problems forever after. The end.”

“Am I building a pipeline or hauling buckets?”

That story about Bill and Ed has guided me for years. It has assisted me in my life’s decision making process. I often ask myself,

• “Am I building a pipeline or hauling buckets?”
• “Am I working hard or am I working smart ?”

And the answers to those questions have made me financially free.

The CASHFLOW Quadrant

The CASHFLOW Quadrant is about the four different types of people who make up the world of business, who they are and what makes individuals in each quadrant unique.

It will help you define where you are in the Quadrant today and help you chart a course for where you want to be in the future as you choose your own path to financial freedom.

While financial freedom can be found in all four of the quadrants, the skills of a ‘B’ or ‘I’ will help you reach your financial goals more quickly. A successful ‘E’ should also become a successful ‘I’.

I saw this on BBC World this morning:

“One Quarter of the Honey Industry in England Destroyed.”

Yes – a mite infestation wiped them out.

• Beetles in Canada closed down lumber mills.
• Locusts invade an area in Australia, just as the farmers are about to reap.
• In Vancouver, the new Skytrain development on Cambie street, in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics here, bankrupted local businesses that depend on their walk-in trade.
• The digital photography development caused thousands of conventional photographic businesses to go under.
• Fires destroy properties and businesses in California.

Are You Putting All Your Eggs In One Basket?

When you have 90% of your income based on one anything – one geographical area, one product or service, one industry, one major marketing system, or one or two big clients or key employees, you’re in a precarious and dangerous position.

When you slave for three weeks per month just to cover your payroll and overhead, you’re on a slippery slope.

Beware of People Pitching “Focus”

People who pitch “Focus” usually have a selfish, vested interest in taking everything they can get out of you. This is particularly true of the Network Marketing business. Although I enjoy being involved in that business, it is only one income source amongst many, but most MLM companies operate more like cults than businesses, demanding absolute focus and attention, in spite of the fact that there is a higher way.

What Joint Ventures Has to Offer

Joint Ventures offers you the opportunity to:

• spread your risk
• lower your overhead
• remove all limits from your income potential

Your JV’s can be designed to “feed” each other, resulting in exponential growth through strategically created synergy.

Understanding business, value, supply and demand, and most importantly, Joint Ventures, removes the ego and desperation that most business owners demonstrate in the way they operate. An inclusive, reciprocal, unthreatened approach shows an abundance mindset and maturity and sophistication that is scarce in today’s world.

Don’t Panic… Profit!

As the world-wide recession bites deeper, Joint Ventures becomes the only viable alternative to conventional sales and marketing, and will save many business owners from bankruptcy, shortage, and loss.

DollarMakers is the world leader in JV’s for small and medium sized businesses and professionals. We provide the training, access, and support that will open your eyes to a whole new way of running a successful, bottom-line oriented business.

When I instruct a Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp I talk to 375 people at one time. Better than talking to each one individually, right? Archimedes said,

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I will move the world.”

• If you had the choice between carrying rocks and using a wheelbarrow, you would choose the latter.
• If you could either make a phone call or drive to a meeting, a phone call would save you time.

This is simple, common sense. Yet as entrepreneurs we tend to forget this in business. You find business owners who are great salespeople spending time on minimum wage activities. Why spend your $100 per hour time on an $8 per hour administrative job?

Are one of the people working hard instead of smart?

We complain that we don’t have enough time and that we can’t afford advertising dollars, and we’re right. Because we’re allocating our resources incorrectly and we’re not taking advantage of resources that are readily available. We’re working hard instead of smart. We’re putting the cart before the horse.

Two fellows get together and decide to start a transport business. They max out their credit cards and deplete their bank accounts paying for the design of a fancy logo, buying a new truck they don’t need and printing expensive brochures. Then they find they don’t know how to market or find customers and they have no money left.

Your Alternative to the Traditional Schools of Thought

There are two schools of thought:

1. One says, “Go out and spend years and all your family’s money creating what you have convinced yourself is a great product, then try to sell what you have made.”
2. The other suggests you first go out and see if you can get some orders before you spend a blue cent on manufacturing.

Here’s the Joint Venture approach:

• Find someone who has a great product.
• Get someone else to market and sell it to their existing customers and you take a piece of the action.

Leverage other peoples’ time, money, distribution, reputation, access, database and skills. Let them carry the risk, inventory, leases and sleepless nights. And you make money.

Only spend time on things that only you can do.

Your Time IS Money

• When you’re selling time and selling widgets, you’re losing out on the power of leverage.
• When you’re reinventing the wheel, you’re missing the business success boat.

Why do consulting or “coaching” when you could have someone else do it and pay you 20% of the gross sale on an ongoing business? I’ll tell you why you would do that: It’s because you don’t understand profit.

See, if a five minute referral phone call to a “life coach” makes you $100 net profit, it’s better that spending hours of your time and a lot of other expenses to make $500. Time IS money.

Real businesspeople understand that $100 for five minutes is $20 per minute and that’s better than $250 per hour less your traveling time and your gas and car maintenance expenses. They’re more interested in making a profit than in feeling important.

Bottom Line

Here’s the bottom line approach for real Joint Venture success:

• How can I do this with the minimum amount of time and risk and the maximum return on my time investment?
• How can I leverage other peoples’ resources?
• How can I distribute the maximum value to the most people with the highest possible margin in the least possible time with no cost or risk to me?

Think more, solve more problems and use Joint Ventures to make all your financial dreams come true.