What a Joint Venture is... and IS NOT!

There's a lot of information floating around on the web these days about Joint Ventures (JVs). Some of it REALLY good... and some if it WAY off course.

I've made a lot of money -- for myself and my clients -- marketing and building businesses via joint ventures over the last few years. I personally think they are THE #1 BEST and FASTEST way to quickly grow a business without spending a fortune on upfront advertising and marketing.

Here's my quick take:

A Joint Venture is a relationship (read that... "Relationship") between one or more business "partners" -- usually 1 to 1 or in the case where a JV Broker is in the middle... 1 to 1 to 1.

But, on the internet a lot of people have -- in my opinion -- confused JV's with Affiliate Programs. That's where it's more like 1 to 50 or 1 to 500 or 1 to 5000. The commission is the same for everyone. Anyone can join. And anyone can throw up a page pitching the product or service or membership or whatever.

In my opinion... a JV is not about promoting the "ebook of the week" or the "MLM Flavor of the Month."

And... I'm not necessarily knocking every Affiliate Program -- many are profitable and have their place... but IMHO they ARE NOT Joint Ventures.

TRUE JV'ing is about building relationships with complimentary, non-competitive businesses (or professionals) who bring something to the table that benefits the other.

What are your thoughts?

Excellent post JP!

Here's something I've learned over the past few months --

If interested in doing a JV with someone, get to know the person first and become friends.

You'll soon discover whether this was the right decision or not by how well you two mesh or "harmonize" together.

In other words, don't do JV "deal" with someone just because it is beneficial to each other's "monetary bottom line" -- these types of deal are just temporary --

Taking the "relationship route" might win you a more rewarding prize than money itself . . . "lifetime friendship" -- something money can never buy!

Damn JP,

you're on fire lately! Great opening post...

I agree - true JV's are mutually beneficial relationships that last. Like you say: Everything else is just a "deal".

I've heard John Reese talk about this; a well operated business should snowball, growth should pile on top of itself. If you're not actively growing, you're stuck in "trading dollars for hours" mode (Even if it is $1,000/hr, it's still bad)

I'm currently trying to only work on income strategies that last at least a year in substantial profits, and preferrably are indefinite (i.e. longterm).

Just doing this has made (and is going to keep making) the biggest difference in my bottom line I've ever seen...

I agree. Great post. While I do much more JVs offline, I am thinking about doing some online as well. I don't want to approach it from an "affiliate" or "the same as everyone else" standpoint. I really want to spend time building relationships first. I'm in no rush.

And I want to work it both ways. Of course I'd like to JV to sell my products. But I'd like to help others as well (and not necessarily for the money, but, as you said, nurturing the relationship).

I have a number of people in mind already that I already have a relationship with. And I have some people I don't know very well (yet), but the key is not to introduce yourself by the way of a JV. That comes after the relationship is already established. That's why you'll never see me on those JV exchange sites and the like. While they may work for some (that's why I am not knocking them), I don't do business that way.

I like our close-knit little group here. And I believe all of us here stand to help each other (and ourselves) gain a lot through JVs and other strategic alliances.

So I'll suggest opening up a dialog on some things we can do in our little community here that will help each other...whether it be overflow work, product JVs, or whatever. Why not spend a few minutes each day getting to know your "fellow copywriters" here.

To all of our successes,

John