Joint Ventures - Why Do I Want One? ---------------------------------------------------- Sounds like an odd question, doesn't it? The answer should be obvious to most. To make more money, right? Well, that's one reason for sure. However, many marketers don't see past the obvious reasons for wanting to secure a joint venture with a big name marketer, or anybody for that matter. Well, in this article, I'm going to point out some of the other reasons why you might want to get a joint venture. Some of these are just as important, if not more so, than the money aspect. For starters, a joint venture gives you exposure. Where you were once a nobody in the grand scheme of Internet marketing superstars, you are now being associated with the likes of whoever the big name is that you got lucky enough to hook up with. Suddenly, people are beginning to recognize YOUR name. It might not make a big difference at first, but gradually, people are going to come to you for advice and maybe even approach you for a joint venture. It doesn't take long and before you know it, you ARE one of the big names. That's how it all begins. Another reason you want to get a joint venture is because whenever you're working on any project alone, there is a lot of work to do. There is product creation, sales copy, autoresponder series and other things that have to be whipped up for your new product. By getting a joint venture, the workload gets evenly distributed. Not only does this give you less to do, but it gets the project done in half the time. This effectively makes it so that you can get more projects done in a year than you could on your own. This means more money in your pocket. Then of course there is the sharing of expenses. This can be a real killer for one person, especially if they have to shell out thousands of dollars for sales copy, templates, graphics and so on. Sometimes a single person can't go ahead with a project because he doesn't have the funds to do so. By getting in with another marketer, they can share the expenses, thus making it much more affordable for each one to be able to bring the project to completion. And if one of the marketers knows sales copy or web design, they may even save more money on skills that don't have to be outsourced. So as you can see, aside from the aspect of making more money, there are other very good reasons for wanting to secure a joint venture. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - Why So Tough To Get? ---------------------------------------------------- Let's face it, if you've tried to get yourself a joint venture with a big name marketer, you've found it to be, quite honestly, close to impossible. Heck, even just getting a response is sometimes impossible. Well, there is a reason for this. Actually, there are many reasons why joint ventures are so tough to get. This article is going to go over some of the main reasons why you're probably having serious trouble getting the joint venture that you're looking for. One reason, and maybe the biggest, is because the approach that you're taking is just all wrong. You have to understand that the big name marketers get pitched to all the time. So the last thing they want to do is read another email that begins with, "I'd like to propose a joint venture." In most cases, that's about as far as they get before they chuck your email in the trash. This is without a doubt the biggest mistake that marketers make. Change your approach, and you'll have a better chance at getting that joint venture. Another big reason for not getting your joint venture is that your offer just doesn't match the person's business model. For example, let's say that you are a software developer and you write to a big name marketer for a joint venture for your latest script. He may not entertain your offer if he has no interest in promoting software or if his list isn't going to be responsive to that kind of product. If the match isn't there, the chances of getting the joint venture are slim. Then of course there is the "right place, wrong time" factor. Sometimes you'll approach a person for a joint venture and they simply don't have the time. Maybe they're working on another project. Maybe they're thinking of taking a vacation. Maybe they just accepted another joint venture and they're going to be tied up for a few months because of it. Maybe they just did a big promotion and they don't want to bombard their list with another one so soon after the fact. The above reasons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to not getting a response to your joint venture request or a reply of no thanks. However, with the right approach, which is the most important part, you do give yourself a better chance of getting that joint venture of your dreams. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - What's The Ideal One? ---------------------------------------------------- Let's say you could have any joint venture that you want and had a list of 10 to choose from, but you could only choose one of them and you wanted to choose the ideal one. Would you know which one to choose? See, sometimes we're so desperate to get a joint venture that we don't think about the quality of the one that we get. Just getting one is all we care about. Well, after reading this article, you might want to think twice about accepting just any joint venture. The one you choose CAN make a big difference to its success or failure and ultimately how much it will help you down the road. Okay, what IS the ideal joint venture? Well, this is going to be different for everybody. And the reason it's going to be different for everybody is because we all have different goals. Each one of us has our priorities. For example, for some people, the joint venture is simply a way to make more money quickly. For those people, long term gains are not as important. Then there are those who are thinking ahead. They want to make a name for themselves. They want to increase their visibility on the Internet. For them, maybe the short term monetary gain isn't as important, so accepting a joint venture that might not bring instant riches might be an option as long as it leads to bigger and better things in the future. Another thing that makes the ideal joint venture is the person you actually hook up with. Each person has his or her own personality type. Some personalities just clash and there is nothing you can do about that. For example, two very strong willed opinionated people doing a joint venture together could be a volatile combination. I'm not saying it can't work, but you're more likely to run into problems if you're working with somebody who is as pig headed and stubborn as you are. Another thing that makes the ideal joint venture is the product match. If you have your expertise in creating certain types of products and your partner has absolutely no experience in that area, you might end up having to do most of the work. At the very least, the work done by the partner may not be up to your high standards. Just because somebody is a successful marketer doesn't mean that they are good at everything. So it's important to pick somebody who has the skills to pull off the project. The above items are just a few of the many things you need to consider when entertaining the possibility of a joint venture. Getting one is just half the battle. Getting the RIGHT one is the other half. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - The Pitfalls ---------------------------------------------------- Not all is sugar and spice in the land of joint ventures. The truth is, these little buggers can go terribly wrong if you don't know what you're doing and don't know what to look out for. Heck, if people knew what could explode in their faces when it came to joint ventures, they'd probably think twice about wanting to get one in the first place. However, because the benefits do outweigh the potential pitfalls, they are worth going after. However, having said that, it is important that you understand a few of the things that can go wrong with a joint venture. One thing that can go terribly wrong with a joint venture is the partners not being able to agree on things in relation to the creation of the product itself. Each one is going to have his own ideas. Sometimes these ideas clash. When that happens, compromises are necessary. Unfortunately, sometimes compromises are not possible. When that happens, the partnership usually dissolves without anything getting done and a lot of time wasted getting to that ugly conclusion. Yes, it happens. Another thing that can really screw up your joint venture is getting hooked up with somebody who, quite honestly, isn't worth a hill of beans. They have no skills, no work ethic and basically lied to you about what they can and can't do just to get the joint venture in the first place. Why do they do this? Well, obviously to get the deal. What they don't realize is eventually they have to put their money where their mouth is. This is when you find out how terribly incompetent they are. Again, when this happens, you either do all the work yourself or dissolve the partnership. Then of course there is the trust factor and what happens when you end up dealing with thieves and con men. It is not uncommon for a person to take the money that has been collected through a joint venture and run off to the islands with it. If you need proof of this, just look up the name Joe Kumar on the Internet. It is not a pretty story. The fact is, people lie, people cheat and people steal. This has been going on since the beginning of time and isn't going to change just because you want to believe the best in someone. The above items are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the pitfalls of joint ventures. Still, they are more than worth pursuing. You just have to go into them with your eyes wide open. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - 3 Joint Venture Tips ---------------------------------------------------- To be honest, there are enough tips of building joint venture relationships to fill up a whole book and then some. However, there are a few things that I feel are most important when it comes to joint ventures and will be sharing them in this article. Hopefully, you will take this advice to heart as it will greatly impact the success of your joint venture as well as your chances of even getting one. The first tip is to be sincere when approaching somebody for a joint venture. So many marketers make the mistake of sending hype filled emails expounding on the great benefits of their product and how the marketer would be a fool not to jump all over this offer. Trust me, this is not the way to go about it. When approaching somebody for a joint venture, you want to stay away from hype and come across as an honest person. This is going to get you a lot farther than the canned "promotional" emails that most people send. The next thing I would recommend is to think long term. So many marketers are always just thinking about making the quick buck without any regards for the future. This leads to them promoting products that most people wouldn't be caught dead promoting. This might make you a quick score, but if you think you're going to gain any customer loyalty by promoting a crappy high end product and soaking them out of their hard earned money, you are sadly mistaken. This may very well be the last joint venture you ever get. Another thing you want to do is be different and unique. There are way too many "me too" products out there. The world doesn't need another widget whacker. You want to come out with something that's just a little bit different, or at least improved over an existing product. The marketing world is saturated with crap and another crappy product isn't going to win you any friends. Something with true value will. There's a lot more that I could add to this, but these three things should give you a good jump on getting that joint venture you're looking for. Remember, there is a lot of competition out there and a lot of noise out in the marketplace. It's becoming harder and harder to get the attention of prospects. Therefore, you have to be different. You have to have something that people are going to look at and say, "Wow, I have GOT to have that." That's when you know you have a winner. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - Clearing Up The Misconceptions ---------------------------------------------------- Okay, it's time to clear up the misconceptions about what a true joint venture is. Many marketers who call certain activities joint ventures are really talking about something completely different. So it's about time we set the record straight on this once and for all. This article will clearly point out the difference between what a joint venture is and what you think it is. Picture this scenario. A marketer sits down to compose a nice long letter to another big name marketer. It might go something like this... "Dear Joe. I am writing to you today to tell you about this great new product that I just created. It is a new and improved widget whacker and it's absolutely the best one that you've ever seen. I am writing to ask you if you'd be interested in promoting it for me. It sells for $97 and I am offering a whopping 75% commission. That comes out to over $70 per sale for you. I am including promotional materials such as text ads, banner ads, articles and other items. I am sure you are going to want to take advantage of this offer. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience on this matter. Thank you." Okay, sounds like a pretty standard joint venture offer, right? Wrong! This is NOT a joint venture offer. This is simply one marketer asking another marketer to promote his product, or as I call it, pimping for affiliates. This is not a joint venture. So, what then IS a joint venture? A true joint venture is when two or more people get together and combine their skills and resources to create their own product or service from scratch. In a true joint venture, the partners usually share the profits equally because they've put in an equal amount of work. They also share the expenses equally as well, unless something different is stipulated in the contract. Yes, a true joint venture will have some kind of a contract drawn up...at least if you're smart. Yes, there are going to be those who will argue that the first scenario is indeed a joint venture because it is two people working together. However, this is no different from you taking a product, putting it up on Clickbank, offering a 75% commission and getting a ton of affiliates to promote it for you. The only difference is that you approached this person personally and maybe he has more influence than most. But it still doesn't change what it really is...one marketer promoting another marketer's product. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up for those of you who think that getting affiliates, however you do it, is the same as getting a true joint venture. It's not...and it never will be. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - Protecting Yourself From Disaster ---------------------------------------------------- Nobody likes to think of anything going wrong with any part of our business, especially when we engage in joint ventures, but the truth is, things go wrong...sometimes terribly wrong. So it's best to protect yourself as best as possible from disaster. The best way to do this is with a joint venture contract. The question is, what should go into this contract? Well, there are a number of things. In this article, I'm going to cover just a few of them. Naturally, consult with a lawyer before you have any contract drawn up. One of the biggest pitfalls of joint ventures is one or more of the participants not sticking to their end of the agreement. In a typical joint venture, each person will usually be given some task to perform. For example, a joint venture might require a product to be created along with a sales page, squeeze page, text ads and so on. Each person will be given certain things to handle. In order to make sure that these items are taken care of, a contract should be drawn up specifically stating what each person is responsible for. This way there is no confusion on the matter. It's there in black and white. Another thing that should be covered in a joint venture contract is the time frame for the project to be completed. Naturally, things happen and sometimes it's not possible to have something done on time. However, if nothing is actually stated in the contract as to when the project should be completed by, the joint venture could end up going on for months and months with no completion in site. By agreeing on a date, and putting it in writing, you give yourself a better chance of getting the project completed on time. Finally there is the money involved...not just income, but expenses. It should be put in writing how much each person is going to receive from this project and how much they are expected to put in as far as expenses. In both cases, normally, the profits and expenses are split 50-50 unless the participants agree to another split, which is fine. Just get it in writing. This way, one person can't say to another that they're being cheated. While this may all seem very formal, it is necessary in order to prevent problems, which you are still going to have. Contracts get disputed all the time for one reason or another. But by having something in writing, you give yourself the best chance of pulling your joint venture off without a hitch. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly ---------------------------------------------------- Ah, joint ventures. We so love the thought of getting one. We actually salivate at the thought. And why not? After all, getting one can mean the difference between living your life in marketing obscurity and becoming a player in the world of home business big boys. However, joint ventures aren't all fun and games. Along with the good, of which there is a lot of, there is also the bad and the ugly. This article is going to take a look at each so that you can get a clear picture of just what you're getting yourself into. The good...plenty of it for sure. There is of course the money. A successful joint venture can bring you thousands of dollars. One successful joint venture could very well mean tripling your income for a year. It's not unusual for this to happen. In addition to this, there is the added exposure that a joint venture gives you. Many people have made names for themselves because of strategic joint ventures. And of course there is the benefit of having somebody share the workload with you. All of these things, and a lot more, are great reasons to get a joint venture. The bad...which can be pretty bad. There's always the possibility of the person you hook up with simply not pulling his weight. He may be a lazy slacker and you're not going to find this out until after you actually start to get to work. By then, it's usually too late to pull out of the deal. Worse, the person may turn out to be a thief and steal every dime that you bring in, especially if you allow him to be the one to set up the merchant account. Then of course there are creative differences and other arguments that can turn your joint venture into a nightmare. The ugly...which can pretty much wreck your reputation for life. This is usually the aftermath of a joint venture where you've teamed up with somebody who brings a bad name and a bad reputation to the project. The product itself is ultimately not well received and the bad mouthing begins. Suddenly, you're confronted with having to do damage control for something that should have gone off without a hitch, had you carefully researched the person you went into business with. So as you can see, joint ventures are not all wonderful. Things can go wrong and many times do. However, if you prepare for these possibilities, you'll minimize the chance of them happening. In the meantime, you can benefit from the many good things that a successful joint venture can bring to you. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - Flattening The Competition ---------------------------------------------------- There is one thing about joint ventures that most people don't think of when looking for one. I'm talking about what the effect of your joint venture is going to have on your competition. In many cases, a strategic joint venture can effectively put your competition out of business if you're able to get your product or service to the public cheaper than the competition and also put a better product out there. This article is going to explore this afterthought of many joint ventures and explain why it's so important. Let's face it, competition is the one thing that can make or break YOUR business. If the competition has a better product or has a product that they can sell cheaper than yours, for whatever reason, this is going to make it very difficult for you to get a foothold in the marketplace. Many businesses don't even get off the ground because the competition is just too fierce. This is where a strategic joint venture can make it so that the competition is the last thing you have to worry about. But why? Let's first examine the price factor. Like it or not, many consumers buy on price, especially if the quality of the two products are relatively the same. Now, if you're creating a product on your own, your costs are going to be what they are because you ultimately have to absorb all of them. There is nobody to share the cost with. However, with a joint venture, you can share the costs with your partner. In effect, what this does is it makes it so that you can sell your product for less than what you could have sold it for on your own. This in turn makes it so that you can now compete more effectively in the marketplace. Next, let's examine the quality factor of the product itself. Sometimes, especially with informational products, the quality is only going to be as good as the person writing the product. If you yourself are not a great writer, then your product is only going to be so good. However, if the person you team up with is an excellent writer, then the quality of your product increases tremendously. Once word of this gets out, prospects are going to be eager to get their hands on your product. Suddenly, your competition has something to worry about. The bottom line is simple...by forming strategic joint venture alliances, you can turn your competition into yesterday's trash. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim --------------------------------------------------- Joint Ventures - Are You Ready For One? --------------------------------------------------- Sounds like an odd question for sure. After all, if you're reading this, you probably want one more than anything. However, wanting something and being ready for it are two completely different things. That's why so many people who desire fame and fortune in show business end up taking their lives because they can't handle it. Not that I am suggesting that securing a joint venture is going to bring you to the brink of hanging yourself from a chandelier, but not being ready for one can still turn out to be an unpleasant experience to say the least. For starters, there is the actual work that needs to go into a joint venture. Remember, you're not working alone now. You're working with another person and this person is going to expect you to pull your weight. If you don't, or if your skills aren't up to snuff, your partner will most certainly sever the relationship at best and at worst, smear your name all over the Internet as somebody who you don't want to do business with. So you'd be better off not accepting the joint venture than going through with it and ending up getting your name dragged through the mud. Then of course there is the financial responsibility of a joint venture. Your partner is going to expect you to share the expenses equally. After all, this is an equal partnership. So, if you're short on funds and can't handle your end of this, you're going to at least be up front with your partner right from the start. Otherwise, again, if you can't cover your half of the debt, word is going to get around that you can't be trusted when it comes to finances. This can seriously destroy any chances you have of getting a joint venture in the future. Then of course there is the fame that a joint venture can bring. Once your name gets around as a player, other marketers are going to expect things from you. They're going to expect quality in everything you do. Plus, you're going to start getting JV offers from a lot of people. You're going to need to be able to learn what to accept and what to turn down. This is quite a responsibility whether you realize it or not. So, before you accept your first joint venture, sit down and think to yourself if you're really ready to go through with one. Because once you take that first step...there is no turning back. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim ---------------------------------------------------