A couple of weeks ago on twitter a friend of mine tweeted me…
Joint Ventures – do you have experience or opinions with these? Ever done one?
And my response: It really depends on the partner & the goals. My friend lives on the east side of the state and wants to do an event on the westside. So as I further suggested, he doesn’t need a joint venture, he just needs some champions to help him promote this event.
And that’s the deal with joint ventures- if two like minded businesses can make life easier for their mutual target market by working together, then let’s do it! But, if what you really need is some help and muscle to get butts in seats, then what you need are good people in your network to help you promote your event.
One of the first things I talk to clients about is identifying referral partners. Who are the 10-ish people that refer business to you? Not potentially could send you business, but DO send you AWESOME clients. Could you have a guest post on their blog? Could you get a blurb in their upcoming newsletter? Could you give their clients a discount code to attend? Could you let your referral partner attend for free as a thank you?
Joint Ventures can be great, but if it’s not a firm and solid relationship where you are both doing the work 50/50 then it’s possible it’ll suck your will to live and make you resent that perfect partner…
Thanks for helping me avoid getting caught up in “sucking someone’s will to live”. I’ve taken your advice and am looking to keep growing my network on the West Side. I was over there last weekend. (Nickle Creek show. Awesome.) And, I realized I have tons of connections over there! But, I never see them. Because they are always stuck in traffic. 🙂
Thanks for the great advice.