There’s a saying, "If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me."  Self reliance and accepting responsibility are good things, but not when they end up creating obstacles to getting something done.  Too often homeprenueurs think that everything that needs to be done, needs to be done by them.  Outsourcing and delegating are valuable resources.  Another is a joint venture.

The concept of a joint venture is that two or more people or organizations have bring something to the table that allows a project to be completed quicker or more easily than if each did it on their own.

For example, lets say I want to put on a seminar.  I have great material and I know I can be effective in the front of a room.  The problem is that I don’t have a mailing list of qualified people who would be interested in my topic.  If I want to do this on my own, I can spend lots of resources developing my list.  I could also hire a salesperson to enroll participants.  Both of those will take some time and may require resources that I don’t have or would be better used some other way.

Instead of doing is all myself, I could find someone who already has a strong mailing list and joint venture with them.  They send a mailing to their dababase and I offer to split the seminar fees with them.  It’s a win/win.  I fill my seats, and they get some income.

Some things to consider before joint venturing:  What is expected from each person?  How will expenses be paid?  How will profits be split?  How will each of you be held accountable to do what you commit to? Is what the other person bringing truly valuable enough and is it the right resource? And finally, is the other person someone you want your name associated with?

A couple years ago, we thought about doing a joint venture with someone who has a 20,000 person mailing list.  He would send a mailing endorsing us and telling people to attend our seminar.  We planned to split the fee.  Before we got very far, we asked him about how many people open his emails.  When he proudly said, "about 2000," we withdrew our offer.  Because he didn’t have an opt in list, we saw his list as 2000, not 20,000.  Big difference.

Joint ventures can be a great way to leverage your resources and that may be just the edge you need to be successful.

Written by Philip Cohen