The Only Two Reasons Why You Can’t Succeed With Partnering

Picture this.

There are scores of small businesses in your area. Real businesses with real revenue, employees, and office space. And the owners of these businesses are scared.

They don’t know what’s going to happen with the economy. Will it get worse from here? No one knows for sure.

So the first thing these business owners do is cut their marketing and advertising budgets. That’s usually the worse thing they can do, but in this case, the traditional marketing methods are not bringing in as much business as before, and there’s no way to measure what’s actually working.

These people know that their prospects and customers are going online to find what they need. The problem is that most small business people are still completely clueless about online marketing. Oh sure, they’ve got a website, but it never seems to produce anything, and your average small business owner is way too busy to figure out why or what needs to be done.

You, on the other hand, are an online marketing expert compared to the average small business owner. You don’t need to be a “guru� or a top blogger to produce results if you actually have something people want to buy and a small organization to back you up.

Why not approach one of these business owners and offer to help? They won’t want to pay you a consulting fee, which is a blessing in disguise.

Why?

Because you can make much more money by transferring risk to yourself and negotiating a cut of the business you bring in from online marketing. I’ve done it, and it can be truly lucrative.

“But why should I take all the risk and work for free?� you ask.

If you’re blogging now and not making any money, aren’t you already working for free?

What you need is a partner with something unique you can promote, and that’s what this particular partnering approach is all about.

The First Reason You Might Not Succeed with Partnering

There are at least four more broad partnering models other than that one, and countless variations within each model. These ideas get your brain spinning in high gear, but then the inevitable questions pop up.

• How do I spot these opportunities?
• How do I approach potential partners?
• What will I need to provide them so they trust me?
• How do I negotiate?
• What do I need to legally protect myself?
• What if something goes wrong?
• And on and on…

So the first thing that can keep you from succeeding is a lack of knowledge. You need to understand the tactics, strategies and indicators that make the difference between successful partnering and wasted time and money. And you need to know how to use them.

That’s easy to fix… as long as you turn to the right people for guidance.

The Only Other Reason You Won’t Succeed With Partnering

The only other reason you won’t succeed is if you don’t take action.

I know, because for years I found countless reasons why I couldn’t do the things I knew needed doing. I even started successful businesses that I hated, because I didn’t think I could do the things I wanted.

I got over that, but let me tell you a story about Copyblogger Associate Editor Jon Morrow that guarantees I won’t let it happen again.

Jon put together commercial real estate investment groups during the first half of this decade. These groups are essentially joint ventures between one or more developers and various private investors, and involve millions of dollars.

It’s not for the faint at heart, but the partnering principles Jon used are universal. They can be applied in any context, as long as you understand how to apply them, of course.

Starting in 2006, the real estate boom started to bust, resulting in the global financial mess we’re dealing with today. By late 2007, Jon saw hundreds of thousands of dollars of his equity trapped in properties that won’t sell until we turn the corner towards recovery.

Rather than crying over spilled milk, Jon turned his attention online. After dabbling with a couple of fairly successful blogs, Jon decided to accelerate his earnings by using his partnering skills instead… mostly on me. In addition to writing for Copyblogger, Jon has been collaborating with me on various projects behind the scenes.

But that’s not the remarkable part of the story.

How Jon Morrow Proves it Can be Done

The amazing thing about Jon is that he’s paralyzed from the neck down. Jon has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a motor neuron disease that debilitates the proximal muscles that allow us to move.

In a sense, Jon is lucky. Type I SMA typically results in death as a tiny infant. Jon has Type II SMA, but he’s already outlived his life expectancy… and trust me, he’s still going strong.

So, the amazing thing is that Jon is a prolific writer. All the content he creates is produced with voice recognition software (when you hear Jon speak, you’ll understand why he’s hoarse). Everything we do with computers, such as instant messaging, Twitter, opening and closing applications… everything we take for granted… he does without being able to move.

And then there’s the rest of life. Even meeting someone for lunch or coffee is challenging.

I didn’t tell you this so you could pity Jon. He doesn’t want or need pity. In fact, Jon has done more in his young life than many fully-able people ever accomplish.

Jon’s story provides me with a valuable lesson and strong motivation. If I say I can’t do something, I’d better have a really good reason.

It’s been tough lately to find one of those.

Here’s What Jon Has Been Up to Lately…

Back during the summer while working on another project, Jon and I started comparing partnering stories. We obviously both consider partnering to be a critical online business skill, and we both know that if you took everything away from either of us today, we’d be back in business somehow within weeks thanks to partnering.

Our talks turned into an extensive outline, but we weren’t sure what to do with it. There’s a definite need for this type of training, especially since so much of the “Get Rich With JVs� nonsense was so often complete junk.

Jon took the outline and started writing in September. Two months later, he had a 150-page partnering manual. Meanwhile, I started putting together a teleclass curriculum that would bring the foundational information in the manual to life.

We call it Partnering Profits.

About the Author: Brian Clark is the founding editor of Copyblogger, and co-founder of DIY Themes and Lateral Action. Get more from Brian on Twitter.