Can a Joint Venture Benefit Your Business? Part 2

In my last newsletter issue, I covered what the definition of what a joint venture is and the advantages of forming a joint venture with a business partner or partners. Again, I’ve listed the definition in case you didn’t see if the first time.

Definition of a Joint Venture:
A joint venture is working together with another interested party so that both sides can benefit from the combined effort. This can be a project that is for a set period of time or even long term.

So in this article, I want to cover how to form a joint venture and some key points to keep in mind when you are forming this joint venture.

Here is a list of a few ways to form a joint venture:

1. A good place to begin is to try networking in discussion groups/forums. This is a great way to get your business and name out there and get recognized as a key player. You can build relationships with other business associates and learn about their business and what they offer.
2. Ezine (Newsletter) directories are another great resource to finding joint venture partnerships. Most newsletter publishers will welcome the opportunity of a joint venture providing it parallels with their business and your approach is professional.
3. You can also perform a search with the major search engines to find potential joint ventures. Just implement your targeted keywords and visit the websites. When you find ones that you would consider, look for the contact information and contact them.
4. You can search for sites that promote link exchanges, cross promotion forums and ezine exchanges. Many of these types of sites are interested in joint venture partnerships.

Key Points to Remember:

• When searching for a joint venture, capture as much contact information as possible, including the phone number, if given.

• After you have formed a joint venture and worked out all the details, its good business sense to build on your new relationship.

• Always make sure that the products your partner will be promoting for you are all in working order.

• Pay your partner the proper commission that you both agreed upon and that he/she gets paid on time.

• Always treat your business partner with respect and professionalism, be honest and upfront at all times. Remember in a joint venture you are instilling trust with one another. If you agree to promote your partner’s products or service, make sure you follow through on your commitment.

Going Cheap is Not Always the Best Value

Discussing the topic of cheap services is nothing new to the Virtual Assistant or small business industry and I have actually wrote about this before, but thought it was necessary to re-educate the VA community on what seems to be the norm now more than ever.

I recently had a prospective client consultation and I really felt a synergy between myself and this “PC”, but what ended up being a great prospect turned out that this business owner wanted to hire a Virtual Assistant overseas where he was only paying a few dollars per hour for a large number of hours per month. Sound familiar? This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. As a matter of fact, I am seeing it happen more and more because biz owners want to go “cheap” and hold on to every dollar they have. And it’s the fear of the recent sagging economy that is causing people to look for a better value for their money. But really, they are not getting a better value!

I know of a number of times that I have had prospective clients come to me that used the service of a company or a solo VA overseas, and they ended up having to discontinue the service due to miscommunication or a lack thereof. Sometimes getting through the language barrier becomes an issue between the VA and the client. When a client invests their money into a company that they end up canceling with, they have lost money and they have not gained a DIME of extra income.

Another observation that I discovered is when you work with a VA company or a solo VA abroad, you may only get someone that performs tasks and it not really be someone that can invest their time to help you build your business. And that is what a successful Virtual Assistant or an Online Business Manager should be able to do for you…they should be the right fit for your business model, having knowledge of your industry and your business processes.

Finding a Virtual Assistant that can be proactive in assisting you in areas of marketing, organization (setting up and implementing streamlined processes), or taking on a bigger role as your online business manager, can take some time to choose. But choose wisely. Do not sign up with the first VA company or VA professional that has the cheapest price. In my opinion, a rate of $5 – $10 per hour is way too low to partner with a VA. When you review the higher rate of a professional VA, consider the return of investment once you realize the money that the VA has brought to your business because they helped you promote your products or services. It’s well worth spending that extra money so that you can focus on what really matters to you…working on your business, growing your business to its highest level.