How You Can Improve Your Well-Being with a Joint Venture

When was the last time you made a bad decision? Perhaps it was just this morning when you decided to skip breakfast. Your decision to skip the most important meal of the day was a personal one, which only affected you. However, what if your decision had an impact on your joint venture or your JV partner? If you didn’t fuel up properly and your body and mind did not function at its highest level, could you be on a path to making more bad decisions that affect the success of your JV? It’s possible. That’s why simply becoming a member of a JV can help you make better decisions and improve your well-being.

Responsibility of Human Cooperation

Psychological studies have shown that when individuals act only for themselves, they tend to make decisions based almost solely on emotion. A key factor in a successful JV is cooperation, which requires each partner to focus not only on his own needs and wants, but his partner’s as well. When someone else may be affected by a decision, we as humans tend to act more rationally, rather than seek to maximize our own benefits.

What this says is that your involvement with a JV can help you make better decisions when someone else’s well-being is also at stake. The power of cooperation is the leverage needed to get group members to contribute their highest efforts for the collective benefit of the group.

Improvement of Information Processing Capabilities

As mentioned, when you make decisions that may have an impact on others, you will tend to be more rational. We as humans are emotional creatures. And emotions can sometimes lead to irrational behavior, especially when it comes to competing with others for resources.

However, if you pool resources and share in a common goal with a joint venture partner, you will tend to take in more information and process the information more thoroughly on a non-competitive level. In essence, your shared culture develops a better processing system for mutual benefit.

Better Behavior Makes a Better Person

Cooperation for mutual advantage is evidenced in basic society. We have developed societal regulators who help make the laws that benefit society as a whole and have enforcers who make sure that no one benefits at another’s expense. This is the entire basis for the term “civilization”. We have become better people and improved society by not remaining barbaric or savage in nature.

The same goes for you as an individual. You can improve your personal emotional and cognitive maturity with the decisions you make for the benefit of your JV. Your financial situation can improve with the pooling of resources and cooperation you get with your JV partner. In addition, you will feel more compassion and enter a more rational psychological state when you know that your decisions are benefiting both you and someone else. So go ahead, have that bagel and make better decisions today.

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.

How to Use Blogging to Market Your Joint Venture

Social networks have become one of the hottest ways to promote and market business – and blogging is still at the top of the list. If you have formed a joint venture and are looking for new ways to attract and retain customers, then you need to get on board the social networking train. Here’s some great ways you can promote your business on the web.

What is a Blog?

In the 1990s, it was hip to have a website. Internet access grew at an astonishing pace, and any business with a website had a leg up on the competition. Now businesses with an edge are those with a blog.

Blog is short for web log. It’s simply a way to write about your JV and publish it on your website easily, quickly, and with great results. Each blog post acts as its own web page. Thus, it is searchable from major search engines. And the more frequently you update your blog with pertinent information, the better chance your blog will show up on a search result.

You and your joint venture partner can easily set up a blog with no money using free popular blogging sites such as Blogger or WordPress. You can also obtain a unique URL website address for your blog for a small fee.

How Your JV Should Blog

So how do you blog? It’s simple. Write a short article that promotes your JV business in some way. Though some blogs have long posts that are more like never-ending political overviews found in The New Yorker Magazine, people who read blogs on the Internet like to get their information in shorter doses. Try to keep your blog posts to about 300 to 400 words, and that will make it much easier for a follower or potential customer to read.

The content of your blog is the most important thing. You want to post articles and short quips that tell a reader about your business. How can they benefit? How does your JV product make their life easier? What’s in it for them? Tell them all the great news and don’t hold back.

You could write short case studies of how a specific customer benefited from your JV product. Include testimonials from customers as well. If potential customers are going to try your product, they like to know that others just like them endorse it.

A blog can also have short features about you and your JV partner, and other employees of the JV if you have them. What are your interests? What makes you enthusiastic about your JV business? Give customers a reason to know you are human and are just like them.

Blogging can be fun and a great way to promote your JV business. And since setting up a blog is so easy, why not try it? Get on the “blogosphere” today and find your niche in promoting your JV business on the Internet.

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.

Give Your Joint Venture Customers A Reason To Buy

Have you formed a joint venture and experienced less-than-stellar sales compared to your expectations? Usually two or more entrepreneurs or business owners partner up to form a JV with the full intention of making more profit. However, the problem may be in the marketing of your JV product or service. Simply putting a product on the market doesn’t necessarily convince a potential buyer to make a purchase. That’s why you need to use marketing psychology to give your potential customers a reason to choose your product.

Triggering Psychology for Sales

Picture this situation: I recently was at the grocery store standing before an aisle full of different brands of green beans. There must have been 10 or more options, all with different price and packaging. As I stood there scratching my head trying to determine which can would have the best tasting green beans, I found one brand with a simple marketing line: “Picked fresh from local farmers and canned the same day for freshness”.  I remember picking greens beans fresh from my grandma’s garden when I was a kid and enjoying a tasty meal that same evening. I chose that brand because I wanted the same kind of freshness, despite the fact it cost 20% more than the basic generic brand.

This example illustrates why your JV product must differentiate itself from the competition. Consumers are indecisive. Help guide their choice by giving them a reason to buy your JV product. It doesn’t even have to be a proverbial grocery list of reasons. But simply highlighting a few simple benefits can help solidify a consumer’s decision.

Reasons Your Customers Buy

Here is a small list that is by no means complete regarding why your customers buy.

• Price – Some people will always base a decision on price. However, that doesn’t mean your product has to be the cheapest. You could promote that your product costs less than the leading competitor. Or you could charge a premium, but give a good reason why your JV product is worth it.

• Quality – Consumers like quality. Be sure that your product is manufactured or produced using quality and durable materials. Or if you offer a service, make it the best quality service and be sure to explain why it’s better than the other company.

• Innovation – Something new always attracts customers. Highlight how your JV product is innovative and can solve their problems better than standard products seen on the market today.

• Warranty/Guaranty – People also like to know that you will stand behind what you sell. Offering a warranty on a product or guarantying satisfaction can provide them with the impetus needed to buy your product.

Make sure your JV product or service stands out from the crowd. If you want to see your profits expand, then take the time to provide the reasons why customers should buy your product.

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.

Give Bulk Bonuses for Bigger Joint Venture Profits

If your joint venture sells a range of products or services, then most likely you have a pricing list. This is a simple marketing printout that displays or lists your products for sale from the cheapest to the most expensive. The question is, are you cutting prices or giving bonuses to customers at the most expensive level? If you find that the sales of your higher end product offerings are lean, then read on to find out how you can give customers a boost when buying bulk.

Are Discounts Enough?

Many businesses cut prices. For instance you might sell an apple for $2, and you may promote a bulk discount by offering 3 for $5. That saves the customer money by purchasing in bulk and cuts the price of each apple by about $0.33. It also gives your JV cash register a bigger single sale.

This type of bulk pricing is seen all over the spectrum of business, and not just at the retail level. Wholesalers offer big discounts for buying in large quantities. Costco members can get a case of candy bars for cents on the dollar found at retail checkout lines.

However, price slashing for bulk, or for the bigger and more expensive items your JV offers, may not be tapping into the full potential of sales. Why not give something extra for customers who pay more?

Give the Extra Bonus

The fact is many customers will not buy bulk because they simply don’t need it at the time. If I needed only one apple, I would just buy one apple from you, even though I know I could save a few cents if I bought a few more. But what if your JV business offered me a free caramel dip for buying 3 apples at full price? That’s even more value to me! I then realize that I’m getting something for free and not just saving money. That’s a big psychological difference in the consumers’ mind.

Case Study: How Bonuses in Joint Ventures Work

It’s that something extra that gives customers incentive to put out more money. Here’s an example. John and Bill formed a JV wedding video business. John was a freelance video editor and Bill was a video producer the camera equipment. Together they offered various wedding video packages ranging from $500 to $5,000. They made more $5,000 sales than their cheapest package and saw their bottom line explode with profit. Why?

At the highest end of their package deals, they offered the bride and groom a free romantic stay at a local posh hotel, a free new DVD player, and a free short documentary featuring a love story about the couple. These few extras made the highest end package the best deal for customers, and John and Bill profited from their clever marketing.

Don’t just cut prices for your highest end products. Give something extra. The extra value that the customer gets from buying bulk will help them open their checkbooks and help drive your JV profits.

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.

3 New Ways to Find a Great JV Partner

Still haven’t formed winning joint ventures because you can’t find the right partner? JVs are a great way to increase business and make more money, but you need to have the right partner to make it succeed. If you’re still looking for the perfect JV partner, here are some ways you can focus your search and get started on a JV right away.

1. Subscribe to e-Newsletters

Smart people like to share their intelligence. That’s why you will find literally thousands of entrepreneurs on the Internet sharing their experience and advice. Many of these enterprising individuals have created a website that helps them spread the word about their moneymaking formula, marketing techniques, or their work.

Perform Google searches for popular sites, and look for links to recommended sites that offer the type of services or products you want in a JV. When you find one you like, sign up for their RSS feed if they have a blog, and subscribe to their email newsletter if offered. Usually subscribing is free, so what have you have to lose?

Get to know potential JV partners from their e-newsletters. When you feel you have found a perfect match, approach them with a proposal.

2. Read Trade Magazines

Trade magazines in your industry are also a good way to find a great JV partner. Read them all and look for articles highlighting or interviewing an entrepreneur for their innovation. These are the types of people you want on your side. You may have to conduct some additional research to find contact information, but use clues in the article to narrow a city and look for website information.

You might also look for entrepreneurs who have contributed an article with some fabulous insight to the industry. Usually an author gets a brief bio at the end of an article where you might find an email address or website. If you find a good prospect in a trade magazine, don’t let him or her pass you by!

3. Use a Matching Service

The Internet has a place for everyone. There are websites you can visit where you can get paired up with a potential JV partner, much like a dating service. Usually these websites charge a fee for their service, but you will find that there are lots of potential matches. You may choose to post a proposal for all members to read and let them contact you, or you could browse others’ posted proposals and find one that matches your JV interests.

These sites can be hit and miss. It may take a few months to find a good partner, but you need to calculate whether that subscription is worth the cost of finding one.

Your perfect JV partner is out there. Try using these options to make a search, and get creative with other ways you can find a good JV partner. With the right effort and focus, your JV business will be running full speed in no time.

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.

How To Add More Value To Your JV With Intellectual Property

Necessity is the mother of invention. However, invention can be just good business too, especially when two great entrepreneurial minds come together to form a joint venture and develop an innovative new product. If your JV is in business with something new, innovative, and that excites consumers, make sure you make the most of it.

Joint Venture and Innovation: A Perfect Match

A JV joins the minds and resources of two individual businesses or business owners and creates a third business with a new product. Many times, a JV team will discover that their initial enthusiasm for the venture has created something even bigger than their imaginations first suspected. When that happens, and innovation and creativity reign, a truly remarkable thing can happen in the intellectual property world.

Let’s say you are an expert software programmer and an enterprising individual approaches you to form a joint venture using your programming skills and his database designing expertise. The original idea was to develop a database system that would make invoicing, billing, and purchase easier and cross-referenced for coding and authorization for distribution businesses. The final product was such a success that it has found useful application in almost any business that does shipping of manufactured items.

How to Protect Your Innovation

What you and your JV partner created was highly valuable intellectual property. Your patent for the software and licensing potential can shoot your joint venture equity through the roof. If you are working with a JV partner and have developed intellectual property, here are some things you should do to protect it.

• Patents – New inventions, such as the software program, should be patented for your protection. With a sole patent on the product, you can license it for sale or for others to manufacture and sell. Residual income can amount to millions of dollars with the right patent and licensing strategy.

• Trademarks – A trademark can be a highly valuable identification. A product or even your JV business name can be trademarked if it becomes highly reputable and recognizable. A word, phrase, logo, or a combination of these can become a trademark.

• Copyright – A copyright is any creative artistic or literary endeavor that has manifested into a concrete, tangible item. Books, articles, paintings, graphic designs, sculptures, music compositions – all these can be copyrighted and licensed to others for publication, performance, or display. If you and your JV partner create copyrighted material, be sure to carefully manage the licensing and use of these items to increase the maximum profit.

Intellectual property is sometimes overlooked. Take time to make an inventory of the intellectual property developed by you and your joint venture partner. The inventory may surprise you. It is also recommended to hire an attorney who specializes in intellectual property to help not only protect these assets, but to help license them to the maximum benefit of your JV business.

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.

Follow Wal-Mart’s Joint Venture Example

If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur who wants to find a way to increase sales and enter new business arenas, a joint venture is a great way to break into new horizons. An entrepreneur with savvy business acumen can research, find, and negotiate a JV deal with another business that can help achieve new business goals. And a few lessons from the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, may be helpful in finding creative JVs that will help expand your business.

How Wal-Mart Entered India with a JV

In 2009, Wal-Mart started doing business in India for the first time. However, the Indian Wal-Mart is not the typical Wal-Mart retail superstores you see in most every small, medium, and large city in America. Rather, the retail giant formed a joint venture in 2006 with Bharti Enterprises, Inc., one of India’s leading business groups.

For the last three years, they have found a way to do business in India that complies with the strict government foreign-business investment restrictions and does not compete with domestic retailers. Rather than be an everyday retail store, the new Indian Wal-Mart is a wholesale business catering to the specific needs of vegetable vendors, hospitals, restaurants, and hotels, operating under the name BestPrice Modern Wholesale.

Wal-Mart is a world leader in consumer marketing and product logistics. Even you can take lessons from Wal-Mart’s India presence. Here’s how:

Find The Right JV Partner

First, Wal-Mart had to find a retail leader in India with a good reputation. Through their combined efforts, Wal-Mart and Bharti Enterprises were able to form a working business entity.

Your efforts to find the best JV partner with a high reputation for quality and service are vital. If your goal is to enter new markets and larger market segments, a JV with another reputable business can aid your efforts to succeed quickly and more efficiently.

Jostle Your Paradigm

Wal-Mart is known worldwide for its large retail stores with low prices on popular consumer products. However, that paradigm would not work in India due to strict government non-competing laws on foreign businesses. Therefore, a new wholesale business paradigm was designed to help Wal-Mart play into the non-retail sector of India’s business economy.

Your JV entity and structure may need to change the way it normally does business. If you’re a retailer, you may need to work wholesale only. If you provide consumer services, you may need to change to a business-to-business format for your JV to succeed. Stay open to business paradigm changes.

Beat Competition Through Stealth

Of course, India is familiar with the Wal-Mart name, and it has a large controversy as a foreign business trying to steal customers from local retailers. Thus, along with changing to wholesale business, they changed their name to BestPrice Modern Wholesale.

If you are looking to beat competition, you and your JV partner can work under a new business name and entity that can succeed at penetrating a higher market share. Of course, this requires market research and marketing strategies so make sure to carefully evaluate this decision.

Your next JV may be the right formula to thrust your business into new heights. With the right JV partner and strategies, you can find ways to make your business work in new areas that were previously impenetrable.

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.

How You Can Improve Your Well-Being with a Joint Venture

When was the last time you made a bad decision? Perhaps it was just this morning when you decided to skip breakfast. Your decision to skip the most important meal of the day was a personal one, which only affected you. However, what if your decision had an impact on your joint venture or your JV partner? If you didn’t fuel up properly and your body and mind did not function at its highest level, could you be on a path to making more bad decisions that affect the success of your JV? It’s possible. That’s why simply becoming a member of a JV can help you make better decisions and improve your well-being.

Responsibility of Human Cooperation

Psychological studies have shown that when individuals act only for themselves, they tend to make decisions based almost solely on emotion. A key factor in a successful JV is cooperation, which requires each partner to focus not only on his own needs and wants, but his partner’s as well. When someone else may be affected by a decision, we as humans tend to act more rationally, rather than seek to maximize our own benefits.

What this says is that your involvement with a JV can help you make better decisions when someone else’s well-being is also at stake. The power of cooperation is the leverage needed to get group members to contribute their highest efforts for the collective benefit of the group.

Improvement of Information Processing Capabilities

As mentioned, when you make decisions that may have an impact on others, you will tend to be more rational. We as humans are emotional creatures. And emotions can sometimes lead to irrational behavior, especially when it comes to competing with others for resources.

However, if you pool resources and share in a common goal with a joint venture partner, you will tend to take in more information and process the information more thoroughly on a non-competitive level. In essence, your shared culture develops a better processing system for mutual benefit.

Better Behavior Makes a Better Person

Cooperation for mutual advantage is evidenced in basic society. We have developed societal regulators who help make the laws that benefit society as a whole and have enforcers who make sure that no one benefits at another’s expense. This is the entire basis for the term “civilization”. We have become better people and improved society by not remaining barbaric or savage in nature.

The same goes for you as an individual. You can improve your personal emotional and cognitive maturity with the decisions you make for the benefit of your JV. Your financial situation can improve with the pooling of resources and cooperation you get with your JV partner. In addition, you will feel more compassion and enter a more rational psychological state when you know that your decisions are benefiting both you and someone else. So go ahead, have that bagel and make better decisions today.

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.

Accounting for Your Joint Venture

You have spent much of your precious time researching potential joint venture partners, making proposals, and finally making a JV agreement that excites both you and your new JV partner. However, once your new business process begins, you and your partner need to agree to an accurate bookkeeping process that one or both of you will need to attend.

Accounting for joint ventures is just the same as for any other business. Revenues and expenses must be accounted for, and statements must be prepared to help in making future business decisions for the JV. The only difference is the process. However, it’s important to provide each partner with a complete reporting of all JV related accounting transactions.

Separate Joint Accounting System

The business model you choose for your JV may predetermine your accounting process. If you and your JV partner have agreed to form a separate entity such as a corporation, LLC, or Limited Partnership, you will need to create a separate bookkeeping system for that entity. This is important not only for profit sharing purposes, but for government reporting for tax purposes as well.

Separate Ledger Account

In many cases, a simple joint venture is created between two business owners and the accounting system can be assimilated into one or both owners’ existing systems. For instance, if your JV is the type that simply cross promotes each others’ business, or sells a package deal of both your products, you can simply keep track of the income and expenses related to the JV in your own accounting system, and share the results with your JV partner at the end of each month.

To do this, you can create two separate temporary accrual ledger accounts called “Joint Venture With X Income” and “Joint Venture With X Expenses”. Within these ledger accounts, you can record all purchases you make on behalf of the joint venture, and record the income you receive from related sales.

At the end of each month or fiscal quarter, you can make adjusting entries to close these accounts. For instance, if you have agreed to split profits 50/50, simply make two closing entries in the “Income” account, one with half the amount going out in a cash transaction to your JV partner, and the other half going to your own sales ledger account. Expenses can be closed the same way.

What Type of Accounting System?

Most businesses use an automated accounting system via computer software. Popular software packages such as Peachtree or QuickBooks offer easy accounting processes and user-friendly ways to create new accounts and even new entities for complete and separate JV bookkeeping.

You could also use a spreadsheet application such as the popular MS Excel to keep track of expenses and revenues. A spreadsheet will allow you to easily make charts and graphs.

However, don’t forget about the age-old handwritten ledger book. If your joint venture is a simple cross-promotional type of agreement, the way to keep track of bookkeeping may be to simply make manual entries in a ledger book. This method has worked for thousands of years and you can make it work for you too.

Accounting is important for the financial reporting of a JV business. Keep in mind accounting methods when you form your joint venture entity, and make sure you have a way to keep each JV partner fully informed of all financial transactions.

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.

3 Psychological Secrets of JV Marketing

What causes a joint venture to fail? Usually it is due to the lack of enthusiasm on one or both parts of the partners. However, many times it will fail because the JV partners simply didn’t market or promote their product or service properly.

What is your JV product or service? Tell your customers! But how do you tell them in a way that will get them to try your product or service? Try these promotional secrets that utilize the psychology of the customer who want to indulge themselves.

1. Pricing

How do you price your JV product? Does your service run an even $400? The psychology of pricing can make a big difference in how many sales you make. It has been proven that the pricing method of your product can determine its success.

Take, for instance, your $400 service package. Do you think customers will find it a bargain at $395? Pay no attention to the lost $5 and do take note of how many more sales you will make.

Try pricing in bulk as well. One item may cost $20, but try offering 3 for $50. You will sell more and your profits will prove it.

2. Not All Is Lost

What do your customers stand to lose by NOT using your product? One way to create demand for your product is not to emphasize the benefits, but to let a potential customer know what is lost by not using it. Think of all the side-by-side tests found on TV commercials. Your bathtub will remain dirty with mildew if you fail to use Product X. Your dishes will have spots unless Product Z is placed in your dishwasher. Don’t just promote the benefits, but emphasize what will be lost if your product or service isn’t in use.

3. The Picture That Sells

And speaking of promoting the benefits of your product, are you doing it correctly? Of course, it’s easy to say, “our product will help you by doing A, B, C…” etc. But a list of features is boring and monotonous. Instead, put your features into a colorful description, or better yet, a photograph. Would you rather buy a hamburger, or “a sizzling, fresh, 100% beef burger charbroiled to perfection, inspired by the warm breezes of the Caribbean?” The use of photos can also bring your product closer to your potential customer. Again on the food theme, have you ever noticed that popular restaurants use menus with tantalizing photos of the food items? A picture can truly be worth a thousand words.

Get your JV out of the doldrums. It doesn’t take but a little bit of creativity and imagination to get your product in the proper promotional mindset. Use the tricks that major corporations have been using for decades and you may find that your JV sales will take off.

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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