Recruiting JV Partners
[private].[/private]To conclude this section of “Recruiting JV Partners”, I’m going to explain how I’ve done it in the past and how I recommend to you to do the same. I’ve explained what a JV really is and I even gave you a true to life example of a JV I participated not too long ago. Now I’m going to describe what has worked for me when trying to get connected with a long term JV partner.
I already mentioned that it’s very important to really know someone before you JV with them. Networking and building a rapport with other entrepreneurs and marketers is paramount to your success and is especially important when you are trying to attract that perfect JV in order to put your project on fast forward.
You should never really approach someone for a joint venture that you really don’t know. The top internet marketers who already have an online reputation are most likely going to ignore JV requests from people they do not know personally unless you really have a lot to offer them and can make the decision almost a no-brainer. Even then they will think long and hard prior to getting on board with an unknown.
If you start networking and meet a few people online, don’t hesitate to take it to the next level by sharing contact information. Include offline contact information such as phone numbers, etc… Nervous about sharing a personal phone number? I don’t blame you.
If you are in the U.S., try getting a free number from http://www.PrivatePhone.com. You can setup the number to even have the same area code you live in. This number will setup a free voice mailbox for you and when people call it you can have them leave you a message. You can actually return calls from Private Phone using your free number as the number displayed in the Caller ID or you can just call from any phone and change your setting to block caller id.
A lot of times these precautions are unnecessary, especially if you are working with honest-to-goodness sincere entrepreneurs and internet marketers, but I can totally understand and empathize with anyone’s desire to maintain their own privacy when going out on a limb to try to meet that perfect JV partner.
Also, share your online contact info such as email addresses, instant messenger IDs, Skype ID, etc… This way, when you propose a JV to someone you recently met, or better yet, someone you already know well, that person will know exactly how to correspond with you.
Here’s some great tips and resources to get free instant messenger accounts that you can use to keep in touch with people online. A lot of internet marketers spend a great deal of time networking using the exact resources I’m about to show you, so make sure you grab an ID or two of your own so you can start networking real time using Skype and instant messengers.
Each of these services have their own software that can be downloaded and installed separately, but I personally use and recommend a software called “Trillian”, which will let you combine your buddy lists from all of the services into one central buddy list. Once you have Trillian all setup, you can log in to just one software program and be connected to all the networks. This is very convenient for people who have messenger IDs across multiple networks, which I also highly recommend! Sign up for all the networks and use Trillian as your contact management solution and medium for communications with your instant messenger ‘buddies.’
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM):
Click Here To Get AOL Instant Messenger
Yahoo Instant Messenger:
Click Here To Get Yahoo Messenger
MSN Messenger:
Click Here To Get MSN Messenger
You can access all of your contacts and buddies across all three services mentioned above by using the Trillian software, which you can get for free (there is a paid version, but I find it unnecessary; the free version works perfectly for our purposes here).
Trillian is affectionately called “The World’s Ultimate Instant Messenger” because of the great convenience created by having all your buddy lists combined into one central location.
Download the Basic Version of Trillian for free:
Another great tool for chatting online using instant messaging and also using your mouth and ears in the good old fashioned way is a program called “Skype”. A lot of marketers use Skype to stay in touch and I love being able to log in to Trillian and Skype and see a great list of contacts who I’ve worked with in the past and who can be ready at a moment’s notice to help me promote something, give me some tips and advice on a marketing strategy I’m cooking up, or just give me their honest opinion of something I’m working on.
Skype:
Networking is a great way to build rapport with possible JV partners and there is no better way to network than to talk to people. Get to know fellow internet marketers on a personal level and you’ll be surrounding yourself with the right people who can collectively help you become a more successful online business person.
