Learn From Others So You Can Do A Better Job Of Pursuing Your Goal(s)

Take a look back at the rapid advancements in development across the world, especially in the area of technology, and one thing becomes obvious. Virtually every breakthrough recorded in order to make the latest advancement has been achieved by BUILDING on previous work done in various fields.

In discussing this subject, I often like to start by asking this question: What would be the point of repeating other people’s mistakes when you still have plenty of your own unique ones to make - through which you can contribute usefully to the existing body of knowledge?

Then I challenge the thoughts of my listeners/readers to think about the people with whom they interact daily. I ask them to think about how each of such persons, has a unique blend of knowledge, skills and experiences that could potentially benefit others - IF they were to be shared with those who need them. It is here that I then point out that the problem is that many of us fail to “tap” from other people’s experiences for our own benefit. And this causes us to go through needless/avoidable pains in order to achieve our goals.

Now, in the society I grew up in and currently live/work, not many people are comfortable with the idea of sharing what they know with others(for reasons beyond the scope of this article). That in itself makes it difficult to avoid making this mistake out here. Having said that, it is quite possible to seek out and interact with those who would be willing to help you shorten your learning curve(I have done/am doing so currently, and successfully). This way, you would make less costly mistakes, and progress faster, with less effort, in your pursuit of business success.

So, who are these people who can help you avoid the mistake of re-inventing the wheel? Well, some are your friends, relatives, colleagues etc. Others could be highly placed persons - probably well known/celebrity types you might not have easy access to. Some of them probably have knowledge or expertise in a particular area you wish to engage in towards furthering your business interest. You will need to start looking at these kinds of people differently from now onwards, and decide which ones amongst them you need to get close to, in order to learn something that will help you better work towards achieving your goal(s).

But how do you go about meeting such highly placed people who can help you, you might ask?

Remove the "blocks" from your thinking. Stop thinking you cannot get to see such an important person. Start thinking like this: “He or she is only human - flesh and blood - just like me, so it can’t be that difficult”. In fact if s/he were to try making you feel inferior, that (in my opinion) might be cause for you to exercise caution in your dealings with him/her.

Specific Steps You Can Follow

What is needed firstly is for you to find out who can help you. Decide exactly what it is s/he can help you with, and then develop an action plan for reaching out to him/her. Make sure you are clear in your mind about the reason(s) why you think s/he can help you. Then be prepared to be relentless in pursuing the person. You are the one who needs help, so you must be ready to accept whatever they tell you about their availability.

Put your thoughts together upfront. Prepare and rehearse the key opening points (write them down if you can’t keep them in mind), and use those to set the tone of the meeting. The way you come across when they give you their attention, can determine if they’ll want to meet with you subsequently. So, be careful how you “sell” yourself. Be open, candid, and very sincere - and let it show through. I don’t need to tell you that your dressing/physical appearance also matters a lot - but then I just did. :-)

STEP 1 : Strategic Partnerships Can Help You Start-Up Your Business Faster

Forming Strategic Partnerships with the right individual or organisation can really take the work out of your start-up effort i.e. if you go about it correctly. Among other things, forming strategic partnerships can help you source as much as 100% of the capital you need to start-up and speedily achieve delivery of your product/service to the right market place.

A lot of well established companies today have had money-spinning subsidiaries(which operate as independent companies to a large extent) started by an individual who had a business idea the parent company's decision makers saw an opportunity in, and bought into. Basically, they brought him/her in as the head of the new business, provided needed funds, and more importantly ready access to the parent company's established infrastructure, sales and marketing networks etc.

With the extra advantage of considerable freedom to implement his/her unique vision with their support s/he would go on to build them a successful new company, in an areas where they did not have in-house expertise, and would have had to spend much more, with less chances of success, if they had tried to build a new team by recruiting required hands. For the individual with the business idea, s/he would benefit most significantly in terms of access to much needed financial backing, support from an experienced business management team, and a much quicker entry into the market place via the parent company's established outlets.

Depending on your needs or objectives, you may seek to establish a strategic partnership with a large company as described above, or team up with an individual like yourself. What is most important is for you to present - in a manner that is convincing - a clear proposal of your ideas that shows how the coming together of both parties will yield mutually beneficial results. In doing so, you will need to indicate the nature of involvement you seek, and how long you propose for it to last. For instance, you could request some level of equity investment, with technical input, and in return offer a percentage return on investment over a certain period, possibly with an exit strategy to allow the partner withdraw - if or when s/he chooses to.

You might want to do a search on the net, or better still, talk to a qualified professional, to learn more about how to go about doing the above. It's very likely to be a worthwhile investment of your time, effort and/or money.

STEP 2 : Joint Venture(JV) Partnerships Can Make Your Business Marketing Easier/More Successful

Let me illustrate how powerful this strategy can be, using the following example:

Assume an netpreneur, "Sam"(not real person), publishes a weekly e-zine that reaches over 50,000 subscribers weekly via email. In JV marketing partnership formation, what typically happens is that an individual or group(who have specific areas of business expertise relevant to the potential needs of his subscribers), could approach Sam about the possibility of making, say, a concessionary sales offer to his subscribers. He would evaluate their product, service or special offering, for authenticity, and potential usefulness to his subscribers - who his proposed partners consider a "pre-qualified target audience".

Note the italicised reference to “his” subscribers in the above paragraph. Sam is the publisher of the e-zine, and it is his subscribers who will be recipients of the promotional sales offer being proposed by his prospective partners.

So, for the prospective partners, who are looking for an easier and quicker way to make more sales, the difficult business of advertising to reach their target audience has been taken out of their hands and made quite easy. Since Sam's e-zine readers are mostly people who already fit the profile of the type of customers that his prospective partners seek, they are assured that the right people will be reading the special offer that will be circulated in the e-zine, and so will likely be interested in taking up the sales offer, or at least making contact to get more details.

If he agrees to their proposal, Sam would, in effect, be “endorsing” the partners to his list of trusting readers who “believe” that anything/anyone they read about in his e-zine is likely to be useful(plus "tested, proven and trusted"). In exchange for his willingness to take the "risk" of sharing advertising access to his readers, the partners would give a percentage of their earnings from sales recorded through Sam's e-zine channel to him.

According to Marc Goldman, who calls this technique "The Most Powerful Marketing Method Ever Invented”, the norm in terms of percentage of the profits one could expect for doing something similar to what Sam does is 50%. But he adds that the owner of the e-zine or other marketing channel to be used, has the right to request as much of the takings from this first interaction with his subscribers as s/he wants. This is because the partners will be gaining direct access to his/her subscribers, who will after this first contact go on to make future purchases from Sam's JV partners, that Sam will never know about, or benefit from! Goldman therefore advices a subscriber list owner - like Sam - to "capitalize on the profits made now.”

Just in case you’re already challenging what Marc said above, let me quickly help make the point even clearer. Without Sam allowing you to advertise to his readers through his e-zine, where would you find so many people that are most likely to be interested in buying your products/services all in one place? And even if you did find a medium like Sam’s e-zine, would the readers readily hand over their hard earned money to someone they do not know - and have no reason to trust? A subscriber list owner, like Sam, confers on you the “unfair advantage” of instant credibility before the readers of your advertisement. That’s one of the benefits you’ll pay for, by giving up as much as 50% of what you make through him - the first time.

If you can find someone to work with in a Joint-Venture arrangement, you are likely to boost your sales/marketing efforts tremendously. It would make you quickly gain good ground and acceptability in the market place with your product and/or service. Also, and depending on the kind of business you go into, you will find that at a point, you will be able to offer another person access to YOUR own customer/subscriber list, and in the process make good extra income for yourself, almost without lifting a finger!

To learn more about Joint Venture Marketing, find and read Marc Goldman’s article titled “The Most Powerful Marketing Method Ever Invented”.