Joint Venture Psychology – Turning Weaknesses to Strengths

Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Anyone who has sat down for a job interview has probably been asked these questions. However, have you actually sat down and truly analyzed your weaknesses?

Weaknesses may appear to be strengths. For instance, a perfectionist may consider his need for superior craft, design, or process an asset, when in actuality; it hinders his progress and prevents forward momentum. By carefully determining where your weaknesses are, you can work toward improving them, or using them to the advantage of your business or your JV business.

As an example, during your JV efforts, you find that your marketing strategy for billboard advertising is not what you expected, but your online marketing is showing results. As a response, you and your JV partner modify your strategy to reduce billboard advertising and focus more on online SEO searches and pay per click advertising. This helps to generate the most out of your marketing dollar and improve sales.

The same holds true for your own weaknesses. You might determine that something is not working as well as you’d like. However, by modifying your behavior or capitalizing on a weakness, you can improve your own personal achievement.

Write It Out

The first thing you must do is take some time to write out your weakness. This is not the time to be over-confident and deny that you have any. Consider what hinders your progress. Are you a procrastinator? Do you have trouble with authority and taking directions? Are you a slow typist? Any of these could be a weakness that prevents you from getting work done. Be honest and list what you think are your weaknesses. Then ask others as well.

Determine the Impact

What do your weaknesses cost you? Does your procrastination cost you time and money? Does your problem with sharing authority prevent decisions? Knowing how your weaknesses affect your external outcomes is important to know before you can begin working on internal changes.

Dedicate Yourself towards Improvement

Now that you know what you can improve, and what happens if you don’t, you must dedicate your efforts toward improving that weakness into an asset. Were your communication skills determined to be a weakness? Take writing and speech classes. Procrastination an issue? Read books on organization today (don’t put it off!), or take a local community center class on improving organization and motivation skills.

Capitalize on Weaknesses

With your work set before you, you can set a goal to capitalize on your weaknesses. Take the classes. Face your fears. Focus on improvement. And don’t forget to measure the results. When you can measure your improvement in certain areas, then you know you are on the right track to turning your weaknesses into assets.

Remember, there is strength in your weaknesses. You merely need to crash through the blocks of doubt and denial, and focus on changing behaviors.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

11 Reasons Why Companies Form Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are very common – and in fact, more common than you might think. Particularly, JVs are quite prevalent amongst big business. Oil and gas companies are common allies when it comes to forming joint ventures for drilling purposes. Electronics joint ventures, such as Sony Ericsson, fuel innovation and global access to untapped markets.

Here’s a look at why big businesses form JVs. Do you see a similarity to your needs? Most likely you do. Learn from the global corporate giants and get an idea of how you can form your own JV right in your own city, state, region, or even on a national or global scale.

Internal Reasons to Form a JV

• Spreading Costs – You and a JV partner can share costs associated with marketing, product development, and other expenses, reducing your financial burden.

• Opening Access to Financial Resources – Together you and a JV partner might have better credit or more assets to access bigger resources for loans and grants than you could obtain on your own.

• Connection to Technological Resources - You might want access to technological resources you couldn’t afford on your own, or vice versa. Sharing innovative and proprietary technology can improve products, as well as your own understanding of technological processes.

• Improving Access to New Markets – You and a JV partner can combine customer contacts and together even form a joint product that accesses new markets.

• Help Economies of Scale – Together you and a JV partner can develop products or services that reduce total overall production expenses. Bring your product to market cheaper where the customer can enjoy the cost savings.

External Reasons to Form a JV

• Develop Stronger Innovative Product - Together you and a JV partner may be able to share ideas to develop a product that is more competitive in your industry.

• Improve Speed to Market – With shared access to financial, technological, and distribution resources, you and a JV partner can get your joint product to market faster and more efficiently.

• Strategic Move Against Competition – A JV may be able to better compete against another industry leader through the combination of markets, technology, and innovation.

Strategic Reasons

• Synergistic Reasons – You may find a JV partner with whom you can create synergy, which produces a greater result together than doing it on your own.

• Share and Improve Technology and Skills – Two innovative companies can share technology to improve upon each other’s ideas and skills.

• Diversification – There could be many diversification reasons: access to diverse markets, development of diverse products, diversify the innovative working force, etc.

Don’t let a JV opportunity pass you by because you don’t think it will fit in with your own small business. Small and big companies alike can benefit from the reasons listed above. Analyze how your company can benefit internally, externally, and strategically, and then find a joint venture partner that will fit with your needs.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

What You Can Learn About Joint Ventures from eBay and Craigslist

Joint ventures can provide both partners with tremendous success, but even the best intentions can go awry. One example of an off track joint venture involves online marketing giants eBay and Craigslist.

In 2004, eBay and Craigslist entered into an agreement whereby the two companies would try to expand more into global markets. However, the joint venture soon stagnated to the point where eBay was trying to market the 28.5% share in Craigslist to other companies, and Craigslist was fighting to get it back.

The biggest problem with this joint venture is that the two companies obviously had completely different intentions and goals. Craigslist wanted to retain authority and management of its own operations, but learn from eBay about larger online classified operations. eBay wanted to use their share in Craigslist to better compete against Google in the online classified industry and maximize profit potential in Craigslist operations. Although both companies had a shared intention of expanding into bigger global markets, their alternative intentions soiled the relationship, and they are now in litigation to end the JV.

Looking at the original intention of the JV, it was a good one. However, there are things you can learn to prevent such a tragedy from occurring in your own JV. Here are some things to consider:

Write Out the Intention of the JV as a Mission Statement

Before your JV goes “live”, you and your JV partner need to know exactly what is expected from one another. Are you looking to have access to technology while your JV partner needs help in reducing expenses? Or perhaps you both are looking to enter into bigger national markets by combining forces?

The mission is critical to ensuring that you and your JV partner will not have disputes over the overarching goals.

Explicitly Write Out the Partner Responsibilities

What will you be contributing to the JV? What will your JV partner contribute? Who will manage the accounting books? Who will handle distribution?

All of the facets need to be clearly outlined in the beginning. You don’t want to have a finished product ready, but find your JV partner reluctant to distribute it appropriately. Know who is responsible for every step of the joint venture.

Shelter Your Proprietary Information

eBay used confidential Craigslist information and techniques to form its own “free” online classifieds, called Kijiji. Craigslist did not want another competitor, especially one that was using its own technology and industry secrets.

Although you may agree to share certain proprietary information to develop a new product, be careful what information you do share. Keep your proprietary information private. Remember, you are still in business for yourself.

Define the Exit Strategy

eBay and Craigslist are still in a lengthy and expensive dispute on how to dissolve the joint venture partnership. You can avoid legal litigation by defining exactly how your JV will dissolve if things go wrong, as well as if things go right.

Joint ventures don’t have to end badly. Knowing all expectations and responsibilities will help you and your JV partner get the most benefit and profit from your JV efforts.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Are You Giving An Inspired Performance in Your Joint Venture?

We all want to perform better. Our jobs, our personal life, our marriages – all this and more require our full attention and focus in order to be successful.

With so many areas of our life pulling at our focus, how can we maintain a consistent and outstanding effort with a joint venture? Doesn’t your JV require your full effort as well? However, sometimes we lose sight and forget why we formed a JV in the first place: to make money and be more successful in business.

Evaluate Your Feelings

You can improve your JV efforts. If you have felt any of the following in regard to your JV, then you are not realizing your full potential, or are unaware of the full potential you can give to making your JV a success:

• Over stressed

• Health challenges

• Feeling of futility

• Imbalanced

• Isolated

Here are three simple things you can do to leveraging your highest effort and give an inspired performance in your JV.

Create a Compelling Vision

What was the reason you formed your joint venture? To make more money? To gain additional business contacts? To tap into an underdeveloped market segment? You need to go back and look at your JV documents and business plan. What is the purpose? If you just review your vision, you can get back to the place that made it exciting.

Don’t have a vision written down? Now’s the time to do so or improve on what you already have. A vision needs to be compelling. “Make more money” is not a compelling vision. “Earn six figures in the next fiscal year with a global marketing effort” is more like it. Make sure your JV vision is compelling enough that it gets you excited every day.

Tackle Challenging Situations

One thing that can really get you down is dealing with tough situations. However, haven’t you felt great and gained a sense of accomplishment when you last tackled and overcame a challenge?

Don’t let tough situations get the best of you. You can feel inspired when you succeed. Approach challenging situations with a goal to tackle one small thing at a time. Break it down into smaller steps. Then check off one step at a time and soon you realize the overwhelming situation is manageable. And always remember to give yourself a pat on the back with a small reward when you complete a challenge.

Tap into Your Creative Abilities

Nothing gives a more inspired performance than when you are creative and productive.  Practice brainstorming more often. Lay out multiple scenarios and solutions to a problem. Give yourself permission to come up with seemingly crazy ideas. That is where you find yourself thinking outside the proverbial box – when you allow yourself to think of innovative and creative solutions outside the norm.

Sometimes you just need to breathe life back into your JV performance. Don’t let yourself get a stale attitude toward your joint venture. Remember what you’re working for. Get that sense of accomplishment. And allow yourself to be creative. You and your JV partner will be thankful for it.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Leveraging Affiliates as Part of Your Joint Venture Marketing

Affiliate marketing has seen tremendous growth in 2009. People who are passionate about other products, as well as individuals who want a successful work-at-home business, are finding that affiliate marketing can give them the winning edge. With this in mind, you and your joint venture partner should consider leveraging affiliates as part of your JV marketing mix.

What do affiliates do? Affiliate marketing is when a third party agrees to market your product or service for a portion or percentage of each sale they make through their efforts. Affiliate marketers can make great full-time or part-time earnings by gathering a large Internet following and recommending products for their followers.

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing for Your JV

There are significant benefits associated with employing affiliate marketing for your joint venture.

• You pay only when a sale is made – One very nice benefit of affiliate marketing is that you do not pay any marketing or advertising costs until a sale is made. No money is paid up-front. By trusting that your affiliates will bring in sales, you hold onto your much-needed cash until each sale is processed. You can even agree to pay affiliates on a monthly basis, which allows you to leverage cash in your bank account even longer.

• Exponential sales potential – If one affiliate is bringing in an average of sales each month, then five affiliates could potentially be giving you 25 sales each month. Imaging what 100 affiliates could do! The more affiliates you have working the Internet marketing channels, the more you can profit!

• Let others do the marketing – Why not take advantage of others’ marketing efforts to sell your JV product or service? You and your JV partner both have your own businesses to run. By leveraging affiliates in your marketing strategy, you give yourselves more time to focus on improving and expanding your own businesses, or even focus on forming new joint ventures.

• New customer bases – Affiliate marketers can utilize their respective following to make sales. Affiliates may focus on specific market niches in their efforts, such as book clubs, video game player associations, auto clubs, and the list goes on. These marketing niches can be new customer bases for your JV business.

Affiliate marketing may have downsides as well. Some affiliates may not bring in any sales or lose interest in your product when the next best thing comes around. That is why it is important to screen your affiliates and choose the ones that have the best sales potential. You should also offer the largest sales percentages to the best affiliates. Make sure they have an established web site and verifiable list numbers. Offer up to 50% of each sale to the best affiliate marketers. You may see less profit on each sale, but remember, your sales numbers can skyrocket and total profits will increase as a result.

Affiliate marketing could be a boon to your JV business. If you have a product or service that could easily be sold via affiliate marketing, consider this as a viable option.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

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