Do Small Guys Stand A Chance To Do Joint Ventures With The Top Guns?

Last week, I talked about the 10 most common mistakes people make in a Joint Venture approach.

Coupled with the fear of rejection (like I’ve said before, who likes to be rejected?), I believe this is the reason why many beginning marketers look for other marketing and traffic driving methods. Pay-Per-Click, Article Marketing, buying ads off site spaces… anything but the dreaded JV. Because most other marketing methods don’t have the need for dealing with people, they have the highest appeal. And why not? You don’t need to face another rejection.

These other marketing methods work splendid too, but just not as splendid as Joint Ventures. And if you don’t do JVs this often means leaving a bigger pile of money on the table which otherwise can be yours.

The top Internet Marketers work with one another and bring in 10 times more money than the average marketer.

Look at conventional businesses. The bigger players are bigger than the small timers because they not only know the right people, they also know how to talk to them. Big companies do ventures with other companies to bring in exponential sales revenue.

If big businesses do it, why not you?

So the bigger question is: Do Small Guys Stand A Chance To Do Joint Ventures With The Top Guns?

This isn’t a straight YES or NO answer you’re expecting. Quite simply, however way you answer it, it will be right. Always. If you think small guys don’t stand a chance at all, you’re right. If you have strong reason to believe that your current circumstances won’t prevent you from working with the best people in the field, you’re just as right. And I hope this is where your conviction is.

The first step is to stop thinking like a small guy. Also, stop calling yourself “small guy” or thinking of yourself that way. You are a big guy, just waiting to prove himself. That’s just it. So the next step is to strive to be a big player. If you want to work with the best people, you have to be the best at what you do too.

Build your business foundation until it’s rock solid first. Have a line of products to start and sell. Be an expert and major at something that will be of big benefits to the people you are going to work with.

Just doing these gives you tremendous advantage over other wanna-be’s and lets you put a foot in the door much, much easier because you have something valuable to offer when you approach other people for Joint Ventures.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you can get the top guns right away but you can always work your way up. Make escalating to ‘guru’ level your ultimate goal. I had that resolution set years back when I started out because I know it would definitely change the fortunes of my business warfare. And it can for you too.

Joint Ventures: Avoiding 10 Most Common Mistakes

A big part of the success of my business, sales and network is owed to the Joint Venture partners that I work with. Without them, my business and I wouldn’t come a long way. I suspect it would have died and fizzled if not for these wonderful people around me to work with.

It wasn’t a bed of roses when I started out, of course. I kept hearing ‘no’ every time I tried to strike a JV deal. Nobody wanted to work with a nobody like me back then. I hate rejections (who doesn’t?) and above all, I was afraid of rejections. Terribly afraid.

Previously, I had failed at Network Marketing. And here I was, getting pounded by ‘no’ replies. I also took no reply as a ‘no’.

However I was very, very convinced that doing Joint Ventures successfully will mean a big difference to my business. And if I didn’t stay and crack the code my business will never have thrived. And I would have never survived.

I’m glad I didn’t give up even when it seemed like the best and most comfortable thing to do. And the rewards were finally revealed and reaped.

Today I have many of the top Internet Marketers in the world promoting my products and the latest launches - Jeremy Gislason, Simon Hodgkinson, John Delavera, Ian del Carmen, Michael Rasmussen, Calvin Woon (who is doing a remarkably great job rising fast from Singapore), and too many more to name.

While I occasionally hear a ‘no’ I have overcome my mental barrier in networking with other business people, and I know it’s a business sport I can keep getting better at.

If you have been facing constant rejection in your Joint Venture approaches - like it happened to me many times when I started out - you will do well to take a serious look at yourself and your approach from a third person perspective.

I get a lot of JV requests (which is what usually happens when people know you’ve got the money and mailing list) and to treat you to some straight talk: I get a big share of them which I found… downright dumb. So dumb even I didn’t think of making those mistakes.

Here are 10 most common mistakes I see often recur in a JV approach. If you are doing any of this right now in your JV approaches, stop it now!

1. Approaching a potential JV Partner when he’s busy. REAL busy. He could be prepping for his next product launch, getting ready for another vacation, or something suddenly happened in his life and it matters to him most. This is through no fault of your own. However you can avoid making this mistake by taking a serious interest in the people you aspire to work with, keep tabs with their schedules on your calendar and approach them when they are least busy.

2. Inviting the potential JV Partner on a short notice. People in general are more busy than ever compared to just 10 to 20 years ago. If you have a product launch coming up, it is courteous of you to give the potential JV Partner a heads up notice at least two to four weeks in advance before the date of your launch.

3. Nothing valuable to offer. This rarely goes spoken and runs in the potential JV Partner’s sub conscious mind. If he sees that you don’t have reciprocal value, or have a history of not reciprocating equally or better in promotions, there’s seldom any reason for him to promote your product first.

4. Not in same niche. I’ve got ridiculous JV requests from people who wanted me to push their products from Mandarin lessons, Cashback SMS and even gardening… to a list of Private Label Rights buyers. It’s absolutely foolish to push the wrong product to an un-targeted group of audience. Would you place an ad for paintball in a women magazine? I rest my case.

5. The ‘me first’ approach. This is by far the most common type of JV approach I have seen. And also the most ineffective. The reality of the situation is that you need the potential JV Partner more than he needs you. And he’s more interested in what’s in it for him, not for you. Instead of what your company is all about coupled with the average commission payout, tell him what he wants to hear and that’s a good start.

6. You’re a nobody. A lot of Internet newbies hate to hear this. But it needs to be said. If you haven’t set out to make a name for yourself or proved yourself yet it’s going to be extremely difficult to settle for a good deal with a potential JV Partner. Sure, you may be lucky to be given a first chance but if you want to truly win the JV game, go prove your worth first and make a name for yourself. Then attracting the best people in your line of business is going to be as easy as running down the hill.

7. Showing signs of desperation and use of guilt. This is the second most popular JV approach I have seen to date, and also the one I hate the most. I have received a fair amount of JV emails along the lines of “Please help me promote my product. I’m broke and down to my last dollar so will you please help promote this product that teaches people how to make $20,000 a month using a proven system… etc.” Ironic and stupid, I know. But it’s amazing how many people actually think this is a valid way of getting JVs. Emails like that deserve to be in the trash can, together with the guilt traps. I have been in huge financial predicaments myself when I started out, but I had never once used my desperate situation as a means to secure a venture with anyone. NEVER EVER talk about your personal and financial predicaments when approaching potential JV Partners, no matter how pressing it is. It’s not for your potential business friends to hear but the mess is for you to solve on your own.

8. Back end? One Time Offer? Having a sales funnel that also credits your JV Partner can be a big influence in their decision as to whether they will work with you or not. If you are in a competitive industry like Internet Marketing itself, professional marketers are already half expecting you to have a sales funnel in place and still credit them for the same customers buying your products throughout the funnel process.

9. Lousy sales letter and poor or no promotion materials. Ruling product quality out (because it’s obvious that your product must meet demand and buyer expectations) you must have a proven sales letter. If it doesn’t convert well even for targeted traffic potential JV Partners will be reluctant to promote for you. And if you don’t have promotion materials comprehensive enough to save their time and effort, this can easily thwart their decision to promote your product and go for a competitor who has more to offer for less promotion work. So make things easy for your JV Partners and offer to do all the work so all they need to do is just focus on what they do best: bringing in sales for you.

10. Poor leadership. If you show signs of poor leadership and keep reverting to ask too many questions from your potential JV Partner, taking his status as an expert marketer for granted, you will give away that you’re an amateur in this business. Some of them can be patient. But most are not. Don’t give unnecessary trouble to your JV Partners and if you’re not confident in your own product or doing a launch, you have to carry out your own marketing campaigns, make and learn from your mistakes, and carry out thorough tweaks before proposing any venture to your potential promotion partners.

Why I Attend Seminars and Courses

At one time, I considered going back to continuing my tertiary education. I had second thoughts after meeting my peers whom I knew way back in high school, caught up with them and asked how they were doing. From high school to college, later to university, and then some more years of studying subjects they were barely interested in or as told by their parents.

I changed my mind at this point.

Perhaps I should have known myself better that I do much better outside the halls of education than from within (like home, for one example).

Up until recently, I learned building my business purely on my own and with some help from home study courses I purchased online to be shipped to my doorstep. While I have the privilege to meet great people in this business, I was later presented with the opportunities to go higher ticket, more exclusive seminars and courses which I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to just some years ago.

I jumped onto the excellent opportunities and I decided it’s smarter to learn what I want, what I need, in a few days, and be able to apply right away vs. studying several months and semesters of theoretical study with a lot of fluff to boot.

I also decided that I won’t fit and mix well with students going to college and I should have forecast possible arguments with the lecturer, something I will do better to avoid before I give it a chance to happen.

So seminars and courses will take the place of my continuous education for the rest of my life. I’m sticking to the original plan. Preparing for a future without papers.

I don’t need a degree to my name to be approved in the society. I never needed it. And up until now, no one has asked me how many As I’ve scored in high school or what qualifications I have to my name. My credibility speaks better than my credentials.

And to best prepare myself for my daily to annual and lifetime challenges, I know that I must constantly equip myself with education. USEFUL, PRACTICAL education. More often than not, they are found outside the halls of formal education.

A Forex friend and sub mentor of mine told me this, “every day is test day“. I know I have passed or failed when I look at the balance of my bank account. And there will be a new challenge every time I wake up and start the day.

Emergency Time Management For One-Man Entrepreneurs

I think I dug my own grave two months back. And I had to pay the price.

Mega Red Packet support was very time consuming. I just moved into a new place on my own. Everyone around wanted a piece of my time. And I wanted to do everything I wrote in my idea bucket. To boot, I should have known better than to get clients instead of customers.

I got very stressed out, frustrated and haven’t had time for a proper, worry-free vacation since my trip to Sydney back in February. My revisit to Japan was kept postponed.

All in all, I had to say… I really deserved it.

So I had to do an urgent fire control. I’m glad I bailed out of the mess I created for myself, and the bigger mess I almost created in the process. If my situation sounds anything like yours right now, here are some useful tips for emergency time management especially if you are a one-man entrepreneur.

1. Do only 2-3 important things in your to-do list that matter. If you are overloaded with a lot of work and to-do’s, you have to make a decision to accomplish only 2 to 3 most urgent and most important things for the day. These are the things that (a) are urgent (e.g. meeting a deadline for a client) (b) will make a difference to your business tomorrow (e.g. doing an email promotion) An interesting thing I found from doing this is that after a while, of the 10 things I have in my to-do list, only 2-3 are the most important and brings in the biggest impact to my business. Pareto’s Principle applies here whereby you do 20% of the things that bring in 80% of the results. On the other hand, the other 80% of the items in my to-do list would matter only 20%, or can be done away with.

2. Check your Inbox and reply emails only once or twice a day: one in the morning and the second time in the late evening. Like many other people, I have an addiction to check my Inbox regularly. I was afraid I would ‘miss out’ - important helpdesk tickets, latest promotions and so on. But I kept to my discipline to check my Inbox only twice a day for the time being in favor of increased productivity.

3. There are always great opportunities everyday If you are bombarded with a lot of good deals, it’s easy to get over excited. TOO EASY. The problem with trying to take advantage of all the opportunities coming your way is that you have only 24 hours in a day. Whether you work alone or have a team of people working for you, this still holds true. The good news is that great opportunities will always come so if you miss out on some today, there will be another card for you to draw from the deals deck tomorrow. Which leads to…

4. Stay focused and keep the fire on. Reading Donald Trump’s predicaments during the 90’s brought me back to reality. He wasn’t focused and took things too easy, convinced that 20 years of business experience entitled him such luxury. And the results were 900 million dollars… plunged. I would definitely hate to lose everything I’ve worked for up until now and this really got me to set my priorities straight once again. I stayed to walking on the straight path in my business rather than try to be ‘omni present’ in my business. And I remind myself that no matter how successful I become, I will keep the fire and perseverance on because my past success and hard work doesn’t mean I am entitled to slacking off.

5. Don’t make promises you cannot keep. I wanted to work with as many people as I can. And many people wanted to work with me. I had never, and still don’t, like to say ‘no’. But I had to do it this time. I can only promote a few Joint Venture partners in a week. And in order to stay focused, I work with only one partnership at a time. It wasn’t easy but I had to say ‘no’ to new JVs in favor of putting my top JV Partners from my past promotions on the priority list. Then, I also spared them the alternative: disappointing further by not being able to keep my promise.

6. Outsource more. Whether you work alone or in a team, trusting the best people in other areas of your business is a skill you must develop over time. I had always preferred working alone but I cannot be stubborn if I want the greater good of my business and free my time.

7. Respect your own time and be selective with who you meet and hang out with. This is rarely discussed in Productivity and Time Management articles and books but I found that who you hang out with influences the quality of your time. A friend once said to me that “you are the summary of the 5 people you spend most of your time with”. If you hang out with positive thinking people, you will lead a more quality life. If you hang out with negative thinking people, you will be at the mercy of your friends’ approval that will prevent you from being greater in what you do. I make it clear to the people I know that my time is precious and have little tolerance for “Malaysian timing” (e.g. coming in 30 minutes late after a set appointment). Where possible, I get things done by email. Saves time from driving out and I am not a believer in making many appointments and meetings.

Hope my insight helps. Now it’s time for me to take my long awaited vacation!

P.S. Don’t make the same mistake I did two months ago. It can happen to just anyone, successful or not!

When Small Changes Make An Impact (seriously!)

To be really, really honest with you…

I wasn’t a big believer in small changes making big differences. Hardly.

Until recently.

After discovering new things, strategies and approaches that work for my business, I was excited to carry out the changes throughout my network of websites. In hind sight, I also cannot help but wonder how much money I have been leaving on the table on these while.

Better late than never, nonetheless.

In spite of my busy schedule, I put business optimization on priority for the past two weeks, tweaking my websites and implementing the changes I have found to have worked splendidly well. You will be surprised how small changes can make a HUGE impact!

1. Adding the Virtual Smart Agent script to my sales pages.
The VSA is a script that pops up after a visitor attempts to leave your website. A virtual agent will appear in the pop-up window to negotiate real-time on your behalf and save the sale for you. It’s an ingenious concept but I didn’t believe in it initially… until I saw VSA in action for Mega Red Packet. VSA has saved 28% of the sales which otherwise would have been lost! 28%. The same script saved 20% of sales for Vince Tan during his Biggest Firesale 2008. And recently, I saved 7% more sales for my recent 3-day Private Label Rights sale. I wish I had implemented this way earlier! (but again like I said, better late than never.)

2. One simple email boosted daily sign ups for one of my membership sites from 20-30 a day to 30-40 a day!
At first, I didn’t store in any follow-up emails for a particular membership site I own, where members would sign up and receive these emails periodically. I added an email that the member would get 1 day after he signs up, asking him to tell his other friends about the membership site and I gave his affiliate link on the spot. This small change boosted the daily sign ups by 30%. Just like that!

3. Restructuring and adding more follow-up emails.
After identifying which products I affiliate for sell well and don’t sell well, I removed the poor sellers from the line of follow-up emails in my autoresponder in favor of the proven sellers. I’m constantly amazed at how many people are not maximizing their autoresponder privileges, given that you can store in as many follow-up emails as you want. Doing this pro-longs the lifespan of your product, which means products you have released before can be continuously marketed to the new crowd without the need to manually email over and over again. Some time back I talked about storing 14 follow-up emails in your autoresponder instead of the usual 7. Now I am experimenting with 21-24 follow-up emails.

4. Centralization.
I have had JVManager1 since 2005 but it was only early this year that I have centralized all of my websites on one centralized domain www.amloh-central.com. Don’t ask me why I paid attention to this late; I wonder why too. Again, I wish I had done it right from the start. Because ever since I used the centralization approach business became more effective. Affiliates sign up only once (not multiple times) and get their links all from one place which is obviously acting as a hub. They can choose to promote any product they want from the AMLOH-Central database, and their affiliate ID will always be the same. Sales and tracking can all be done from one single place. Talk about time and effort saving, too. If you want to know who is the ‘Godfather of Centralization’, John Delavera is your man.

Other changes I carried out, which remains to be observed for results, include:

1. Changing all of my 404 Page Not Found error pages. Visitors are prone to going to non-existent pages especially if they manually type a link. This is where I attempt to capture leads where possible, using a free report gift as a bait.

2. Added rotating banner ads to my blog (which you are seeing now on your right) and the secured areas in my membership sites.

3. Most of my Thank You pages now use a uniformed layout, bearing the AMLOH-Central logo. I also add further recommendations using the Amazon.com style - “Customers Who Have Purchased This Product Also Bought…”

If you already have a substantial business up and running, it pays to take some time off just to make small changes and optimize your websites for results that matter. And if you are just starting out, this just goes to show that proper planning comes a long way!

I’ll report further in the near future on the results from the tweaks and optimizations I am making.