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When businesses think of team building, business owners usually associate it with building their companys internal workforce into a lean-mean fighting machine. Team building, however, should be extended to include external relationships such as those with other businesses. Enter joint ventures or JVs for short.

Joint ventures generally are business partnerships established between two or more parties (individuals, business groups, companies, corporations) for the purposes of expanding the business and achieving merits by joining forces and working as a team. The parties involved in joint venture agreements complement each other, leverage each others assets assets, compensate each others weaknesses, and at times equally share risks.

Less than 5% of businesses actually use joint ventures effectively and most dont even use it at all. In order to get the most out of joint ventures correctly, multiple factors such as choosing who to partner with, approaching potential partners correctly, negotiating a win-win deal for all parties involved, and having a well-coordinated execution need to be taken into consideration.

There are several types of joint ventures. Big companies may join forces to become even more powerful and thus dominate the market, while small companies may team up to build a stronger presence in their market niche in order to fend off bigger, resource-rich companies. JVs can also be used to gain access into foreign markets. Foreign companies often form joint ventures with indigenous companies that are already present on the market, but lack capital or financing to truly take advantage of the market potential. Foreign companies can bring money, new technologies and competitive strategies into a joint venture deal, while benefiting from the relationships and the brand of the domestic company.

These complementary partnerships benefit all the businesses involved if set up correctly with the right partner. Heres a powerful but simple example of a JV that many businesses can take advantage of to grow their small business fast. It is a highly efficient method of increasing business profits by teaming up with another partner whose business is non-competitive and offers a highly valuable asset, a highly responsive client list that would be interested in your products or services. By tapping into this hidden goldmine, small businesses can save thousands of pounds in marketing expense to reach their target clientele while achieving the goal of boosting the bottom line. The business offering the vehicle in which to reach these clientele, the client list, benefits from offering complementary products and services that it does not sell and makes a cut of the sales generated from marketing to this list.

Here are 5 tips for joint venture success:

- Choose your partners carefully. A joint venture has greater chance of being successful if partners have an excellent reputation. An essential component to good team building is having the right partners. They must be trustworthy and have a high level of integrity.

Joint ventures involve extensive team building effort because it is a relationship between two parties and if the relationship is to last, it must be nurtured and kept going. Both parties must be able to trust each other and deliver on each others promises. To find the right partner, perform solid market research and approach only businesses you would want to do business with long term. If you want to form a partnership with a certain company, make sure that its business practices are in-line with yours. It would be very difficult for you to form a reliable team with people who lack motivation or professionalism, so you should look for well-trained, open-minded potential partners.

- Know what to expect from the beginning of any JV relationship. Know from the start what your goals are, what you want to accomplish, and see if your goals are attuned with the partner. Each company should come up with a marketing plan and clearly specify what is expected from their potential partners.

Plan your strategy ahead of time and make sure you cover all the legal aspects stipulated in your joint venture contract, like resource availability and management, special allocations, mutual gains, deductions and income issues. Stick to the business development plan and establish new priorities and goals as you progress. By efficiently managing resources and by maintaining a good, competitive business policy, you will secure the longevity and the success of your business.

- Draft proposals like mini-sales letters. Compose a professional proposal letter explaining the advantages of the joint venture in a convincing way. Keep it short, clear, concise and coherent while briefly introducing your business and why they should do business with you. Remember to tune in to the radio station your prospective JV partner listens to, WIIFM or Whats In It For Me.

If you want to propose a joint venture to anyone you have to give them a really good reason why they should do it. Otherwise, they will most likely decline your proposal. Big, successful companies receive many joint venture offers so you have to stand out. You should educate them about the advantages and the benefits of choosing you over the others. If this partner happens to be a dream partner, stay persistent as persistence demonstrates sincerity and determination to make it work for the potential JV partner.

- Avoid shooting too high with your offers. If you are a smaller business, do not target your offer to a large company first as it will most likely be thrown away. Instead of aiming too high at this point, establish successful joint ventures with small companies in order to get noticed by the bigger, powerful ones. Establish a reputation as a solid business owner who knows how to turn joint ventures into gold for their partners. Businesses naturally gravitate towards successful businesses. Remember to toot your own horn by announcing JVs through press releases andor articles in trade magazines. As your business expands, the competition will quickly become aware of your presence, and there is a chance that powerful companies might come up with proposals of joining forces with your company.

- Be honest and open with all business transactions always. Once you have negotiated the details of the joint venture, the actual work begins. In order to keep things going, a lot of trust, understanding and expertise are needed for ongoing team building on both sides. Maintain an open dialogue and always address issues upfront before it becomes a bigger problem that threatens to break up the partnership.

These are the basic rules for joint ventures and it is ultimately up to you to see whether a deal will be successful. Learn with each joint venture deal to improve on the next deal. Deals can only be made if you go after them. With lots of hard work, youll develop enough expertise to be a joint venture expert and take your business to the next level.

With the rise of the Internet, there’s never been a better time to launch a home business. Millions of people are choosing to work from home and make money on line, using only their computer and mouse. Millions more are involved in more traditional network marketing, scheduling parties and selling products to their friends, neighbors, and family. If you want to make money on line, how do you know what the best home business opportunity is for you? Read on for five tips to help you choose.

1. Know your options. There are tens of thousands of Internet-based home businesses, if not more. They range from multi level marketing opportunities to ecommerce to intellectual property sales. Your first step should be to find a website that has an overview of the best home business opportunities. This will save you countless hours scouring the Internet in order to find all of the choices available.

2. Know your strengths. Perhaps you’re a great writer, and would enjoy – and profit – from taking public domain books and articles and crafting them into books and articles that you could sell on the Internet. Perhaps you’re an experience network marketer and would do well selling products or online opportunities to others who want to break into the field of network marketing. When reviewing home business opportunities, narrow your field to those that play to your strengths.

3. Know your weaknesses. If you don’t know the first thing about building websites, it doesn’t make sense to choose a home business where you’ll have to build a bunch of websites. Likewise, if you couldn’t sell water to someone in the desert, don’t go into direct sales. Even though you might find an incredible home business opportunity, if it doesn’t dovetail with your talents, it’s not for you. It’s like any other job: there are jobs you’re automatically qualified for, those that you can learn as you go, and others that are beyond your reach. Again, success lies in playing to your strengths.

4. Diversify your revenue streams. Despite what many opportunities claim, your best chances for success come when you bring in revenue from several sources. You may begin with one home business, but over the course of a few months, you should add several others. By doing this, if one revenue stream goes south in any given month, you’ll always have backup sources of revenue.

5. Set goals and meet them. In order to be successful, you need to set goals. The goals you set should include revenue goals, marketing goals, and goals specific to the home businesses you’re engaged in. Once you’ve set your goals, you need to make a plan to reach them. Then, you need to commit to doing whatever it takes to follow your plan.

Having a home business is incredibly rewarding. If you’re a parent, you’ll have more time to spend with your children. If you’re retired, you’ll have additional income. If you’re a student, you can pay for your education. If you simply like the idea of giving up the hassles of a nine-to-five job, a home business will give you the freedom you desire. Just do your research, play to your strengths, diversify your revenue streams, and set and meet your goals, and you’ll experience the satisfaction that being a successful home business owner can bring.

5 Surefire Ways For Teachers To Make Money This Summer

For Teachers, the summer months, although a great vacation, can also be the perfect time to make some extra money and reduce debt.

What are the options for a Teacher to make money during the summer with a short-term business that can end when summer does?

1. Tutoring.
I know it sounds obvious, but tutoring can bring in decent cash. You already have the connections through school, so marketing your tutoring business (and building a customer base) can be fairly easy especially if you let parents know you offer tutoring before the school year ends.

2. Babysitting
If you enjoy working with young children, you can work a few hours each week babysitting. Your hourly pay will be less than if you opt for tutoring, but you can still make a respectable 10 an hour babysitting. As a mom, I know how hard it is to find reliable, trustworthy babysitters, so youd easily be able to get regular sitting jobs.

3. Summer Camp
Hold a summer camp at a local park or even at your own home. Host a week-long camp, and plan activities. Parents will love the break from their kids, especially knowing the kids will be well taken care of and theyll be having a great time.

4. Online Auctions
Take the opportunity to list all your extra treasures on eBay. Youll clean out your home of junk as well as bring in some well-deserved money. If youre feeling ambitious, you can even list other peoples items and take a percentage for the effort.

5. Vacation Helper
Many families go on vacation during the summer. They need reliable people to house sit, water plants, get the mail and sometimes pet-sit as well. Youd be providing a very valuable service with little effort on your part.

These are just a few of the many ways for you to make some extra money during your summer break. The important thing is that it does not take a large amount of cash to start your own business. You can start with just word of mouth and take it from there.

5 Super Wealth-Building Tips Pave the Way to Financial Freedom

There are so many things involved with building wealth that it would take much more than one article to explain it all. So, we’ve put together a simple five-step guide to help you get a great start in building wealth for a lifetime.

Step 1: Set Specific Goals

Goal setting is a task that can be easily put off – especially when you are extremely busy in day-to-day activities. However, goal setting is the first and one of the most important steps you’ll take to achieve wealth. Set both short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals may be daily, weekly and monthly goals. These should reveal where you would like to be financially by a certain time in the near future.

Long-term goals include the amount of wealth you would like to accumulate within a year, two years, or maybe even five or ten years. Both types of goals are necessary to build wealth. Without goals, you are wondering blindly with no care or thought of what’s ahead. This pattern of life is sure to leave you empty-handed!

Step 2: Create a Business Plan

Every successful business from the past and today started with a plan. Your business plan should illustrate where you are now, where you plan to be in the future, and how you’re going to get there. Write these few notes down on paper. Then, fill in the blanks to create a rough business plan. It’s easier than you think.

*Your current income
*Business profits and expenses (if you already own a business)
*Business budget (or personal budget if working for someone else)
*Capital needed upfront to promote and operate business
*Plans to acquire the capital needed (source of capital)
*Spending plan (promotions, supplies, inventory, online expenses, etc.)
*Expectations (What results do you expect from your initial efforts?)

Creating a business plan is a necessary step to build wealth through your own business. Even if you don’t own a business, you should write down a similar plan to reach your personal wealth goals.

Step 3: Avoid Harmful Debt

Debt is the one of the key reasons many people never accumulate wealth. But remember, there are two types of debt: harmful debt and necessary debt. Harmful debt is the debt you create for things you do not need such as excessive shopping, luxury items, expensive cars that you can’t afford, etc. Necessary debt is a debt most people must have to live, such as a mortgage, car loan (affordable), medical, college, etc. These debts are a part of life for most families and will be for many, many years. However, even these types of debts should be kept well within your income limitations. If you can only afford a 250month car loan, then shop around until you find one at this price. Don’t give in to the temptations and pressures to buy the fancier, more expensive car with a 450month payment. It’s not worth the risk!

You may ask, “I thought these steps were for building wealth?”

As it happens, debt is the opposite of wealth. The more debt you have, the less wealth you will accumulate. You can’t save money or invest money that belongs to someone else. If you earn 3,000 in income this month, but owe 2,000 in loans (before everyday living expenses), you can’t possibly have extra money to save. You must either earn more or sell some items to pay off your debt. You should avoid this “debt trap” if you intend on building wealth for the future.

Another type of debt is one for your business. You may take out a small business loan to get things started or to promote your business. If you are uncertain about whether the business will bring profits, try to avoid business debt until you have tested it a while.

Step 4: Develop a Personal Plan

Above, you developed a business plan. Now it’s time to create a personal plan. What tasks will you do daily to build wealth? Put yourself on a schedule and a strict budget. Work toward your goals daily by making a list of things to do and marking off each item on the list as you complete the tasks. In your budgeting, include a set amount of money you will put away in savings (savings account, IRA, stocks, bonds, etc.) If you plan to invest, be sure to diversify your investments. Choose only one or two high-risk investments and several “safer” investments such as mutual funds or bonds.

Step 5: Stay focused on the Goal, not the Circumstances

No matter what circumstances you find yourself in, keep your eyes on the wealth-building goal ahead. Even if sales are down in your business, don’t stop dead in your tracks. Remember, businesses have ups and downs. If you remain steadfast toward your goal during the slow times, the busy times are bound to be much better than ever. Your income will grow and you will have the extra money needed to reach your wealth-building goals.

In a nutshell, building wealth does not happen over night with one get-rich-quick program. It happens with consistent labor toward the goals and tasks you have created. You can build wealth for your future if you do not waver from these basic truths that have worked for millions of others!