Starting your own business is great; working alone, working flexibly around your lifestyle with no one telling you what to do. In fact, what am I saying? It’s not just great it’s bloody fantastic! But at some point in business you need to start thinking outside of your own little bubble; even if that’s just for the sanity element of being around other human beings who ‘get’ this business thing. And sometimes, developing relationships with other humans in the business world can lead you to even more lucrative and satisfying ventures in business. They say in business ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’, and that cannot be more true when it comes to exploring the avenues of joint ventures and partnerships.
These types of collaborations can lead, not only to the promotion of your own products and services, or the sale of other people’s products and services, but also to hugely beneficial alliances that can see you well into the future. Partnerships and joint ventures (JV’s) can be as simple as promoting someone else’s stuff, BUT they can include other, more lucrative and exciting avenues of collusion! Think of affiliate marketing, starting your own affiliate scheme, being a brand ambassador or representative, creating a new product or venture with a partner or collaborative partner. There are so many ways that you can benefit from working with others.
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Affiliate Programmes
Affiliate marketing is something that, when done right, can prove to be massively lucrative for very little return. As human beings, we naturally make recommendations to other human beings; it’s part of our makeup, it’s what we do. Now, by getting paid for those recommendations, we can add an additional revenue stream into our business with as little effort as copying and pasting a website address.
Affiliate marketing is one of the basic forms of partnership that you can create with other people, that can also lead to a bigger brand authority for your own business, and allow you to sell or recommend goods and services that you don’t need to stock yourself. It’s win, win from a brands point of view. The benefits are simple; they are not paying huge amounts of money for random marketing campaigns that may or may not bear fruit. They are however getting exposure through legitimate channels AND only paying when they make a sale. So it really is in a brand’s best interest to provide an exceptional service to their affiliate partners.
And there’s no reason why you can’t emulate this success in your own business; creating your own affiliate programme is definitely something worth considering. Especially when you start to sell digital products and services in your own business. There are numerous platforms, plugins and companies out there to help you set up your own programme and gain massive exposure.
Joint Ventures (JV’s)
Joint Ventures are often the creation of something new with a partner and can be really exciting! I know, I’ve done it! I’ve worked with a phenomenal website developer to create the Passive Platform. Through our shared knowledge and experience we’ve been able to identify a gap in the market and create a product that was very much needed. My knowledge of passive and semi passive income streams, business models and market analysis allowed me to inform my partner who is crazy-creative and innovative of the content and intricacies required in such a product. He took that information and created a pick-up-and-go product that previously wasn’t available. So, that said, working in collaboration with another person who perfectly complements your business is a natural next step for those wanting to work in partnership joint ventures or collaborations!
Have you thought about putting on a webinar or creating some training?
What if you’re a coach; have you considered working with somebody who provides practical advice who could perfectly compliment your coaching style?
If you’re someone who is teaching an art form, perhaps a collaboration with a business coach would allow you to teach how to create an art business from top to bottom?
There’s loads of potential. You just need to look for it.
Brand Reps and Partnerships
To become a brand representative or partner can be really straightforward but it does involve creating and nurturing a relationship with another business. Before you can represent a brand effectively, you need to have that initial relationship before you can go ahead and expand into some sort of formal partnership agreement. This is because each partnership arrangement should have its own do’s and don’ts, its own terms and conditions, and its own idea of what is best for both partners. The essentials are quite easy though; each partner should be receiving some sort of positive outcome, whether that’s financial gain from additional sales or from an exposure point of view, both partners should be benefiting, so it’s important to explore those things in a good relationship first before you move on to more formal arrangements.
Becoming a representative of a brand is a really big deal, but you need to remember that brands are going to be really picky about who they choose to represent them; understandably so. They don’t want some spam artist suddenly splatting their stuff all over websites everywhere or sending phishing emails. Why? Because it gives their brand a bad rep. That’s not what brands want. That’s not what you want either, if you’re associated with the brand.
So, to become a good representative you need to explore that initial relationship first; making sure that you’re a good fit. Look at what works for both you and for the brand, and find a good way to work together.
In conclusion, and, if you take nothing else away from today, READ THE Terms and Conditions of any agreement really carefully! This applies to all partnerships but especially brand representatives and affiliate marketing who already have conditions in place. Any partnership agreement should have a written and signed agreement in place.
Want to do it for yourself but don’t know where to start? Passive Business Academy has agreement templates to get you started and a group of budding business-besties waiting for you to join them!
