Patrick Giesbrecht's posterous

Joint Ventures in business

Does Personal Development Training Really Pay Off? That's Up to You!!!

I am a big believer in training. That may sound self serving to some of you, as I have been involved in the corporate training and personal development field for a few years and as such I help host and facilitate seminars and workshops across Canada.

 

The point must be made, however, that I started out as an attendee to one such event back in early 2004. Attending that event got me started on a life changing journey that has drastically changed how I live life today. Simply said, I wouldn't be where I am today without deciding to enlarge my context and challenge some of my closely held beliefs on money, success, and relationships.

 

I'm sure a lot of you have your own version of the same story. So my question is, why don't more people take the time to improve their futures by investing some time in personal or professional development? I believe the reason is apathy and fear of leaving the "comfort zone". I had someone very close to me tell me years ago that he wasn't prepared to look into personal development because he was scared of what he would be forced to confront in his past. Talk about sacrificing your future just to remain numb in the present!!

 

The other side of the coin is these people who run from seminar to seminar and guru to guru never taking the time to apply what they have learned or implementing the systems they have been taught once they leave the warm confines of the seminar room. They continue to look for someone who will "make it happen for them" and continue to avoid personal responsibility.

 

My position is this: I attend events I know I can learn from, and then I leave and do my best to put some the the things I learned into practice by taking massive action. Do I make mistakes? Tonnes of them!! Does everything I try work? Not a chance! But I have noticed incremental improvement over the years that I have committed myself to this process. And the incremental improvement has a way of compounding until 6 years later I barely recognize the person I was back in 2004.

 

So back to the present; I have taken the best of what I have learned and put into a 2 day course that sells for $1497 per person; you can attend for FREE, if you meet some simple criteria. I will be facilitating this course in the Greater Vancouver area a few times this fall; along with my principal business mentor. For more info on how you can be approved to attend for NO COST email me at patrick@pacificnorthmarketing.com

 

Remember, a doctor or pharmacist goes to school for 6 or 7 years to learn what they need to know to be successful. Why wouldn't you take the time to see if you can attend a life changing event for free? If you don't take action on this you need to take a serious look in the mirror and accept you will continue to get what you've been getting so far.

 

All the best to you and yours!

 

Patrick Giesbrecht

DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor

www.pacificnorthmarketing.com    

Deal With the Problem People in Your Business to Flourish.... or Risk Extinction!!

Have you ever had a supplier, employee, or partner that really annoyed you? I sure have! Sometimes it's a supplier that takes your business for granted; sometimes it's a key employee or one of the leaders in your business. As long as you are doing business with people you will have these challenges. The question today is, how do you deal with this? Do you run home at night and bury your head under your pillow wishing the problem would go away? Do you ever get the feeling that your hands are tied and you are powerless to make changes?
 
Don't believe those lies. You ALWAYS have other options. I, personally, don't like conflict, and find confronting people and problems a challenge. The biggest factor in helping me get over that was the state of mind I found myself in AFTER the confrontation was over. It's amazing how the things I was afraid would happen; never did!! Nobody died; nobody beat me up; and 9 times out of 10 my business' bottom line also improved!! Usually I was also a much happier person as well, because the source of iritation was finally gone.
 
And that's my message today; every so often someone needs to get the message that you don't need them in your business with the bad attitude they are displaying. Suppliers need to remember that you write them a cheque every month, and they need to treat you with respect. Partners and employees need to realize they are not entitled to a free ride by sharing in the success you have created with your discipline and hard work. As Ayn Rand says in her book "Atlas Shrugged" sometimes Atlas "shrugs" and someone gets the rude awakening they so richly deserve when you reveal to them there is no free lunch!

In the distant past I have had to end traditional partnerships by selling out or walking away from a business. This is NOT fun; but oh, so necessary sometimes. The same goes for key people in my business. More recently, I have had people who were making great money working with me that developed a "taker" mentality; meaning that they now expected me to pay them just for being around; not for producing something new. As much as I felt I needed those pople for certain things I simply "shrugged" and made the necessary changes. Invariably, I came through those situations stronger (and my business more profitable) than before. The other people around me in the business also took notice and improved their productivity, and regained some lost respect for me; as they had the problem figured out long before I did, and wondered why it took me so long to act!
 
Remember, the people who helped bring your business this far, may not have the skills necessary to take it to where you want to go. This doesn't mean you kick them out because of it; but most likely changes need to be made. I have found that some great people have participated in my Joint Venture business for a season, but were unwilling to grow along with me, or lost their motivation to participate. Or worst of all, got arrogant from their first taste of success and refused to take direction or instruction anymore. These people must be (and are) removed from my business ASAP in order for the rest to survive; and flourish.
 
Don't be scared to make the tough choices. You will respect YOURSELF more after the fact; and your self confidence will go through the roof! Keep it clean and you will attract more winners into your business. Losers will not feel comfortable there; and that's the ultimate goal in your quest for business profits!
 
Patrick Giesbrecht

A 4 Hour Work Week???

As I am writing this, I am sitting in my bedroom looking out the window reflecting on Tim Ferris' book The Four Hour Work Week. Tim refers to the New Rich as the current entrepreneurs who are not satisfied with working their butts off all year just to enjoy 2 weeks of holidays a year. In his book he describes exactly how to systemize and declutter your life so you can work as little as 4 hours per week, and travel the world.  Of course most of us are saying "Nice thought, but not possible. How do you run a business and travel the world at the same time?"

 

Well my friend and mentor Robin J Elliott does that. He is a master Joint Venture Broker and can run his business in one hour a day from nywhere in the world. I also spend less than one hour a day on my current Joint Ventures and they make me more than I need to live on month to month. I am busy by choice, though, with my wife and kids and always working on the next deal to add to the income. Also, with kids in school I limit the travel time to 4-8 weeks per year as it is simply impractical to be gone all the time with a family.

 

The key Tim makes very well in his book is that we can do whatever we want, when we want, whith whom we want, as long as we set it up that way. Joint Ventures are the best way I know to accomplish this. As I sit here I am counting the number of people that actually work for me making me profit. (many of them don't even know who I am) The number I am coming up with is over 50. I have no employees and yet over 50 people are working diligently making me profit every month. (Not MLM) To understand more about Joint Ventures check out www.jointventuresunlimited.com and download a free e-book Joint Adventures written by Robin J Elliott.

 

If you want to know more about how this kind of business works email me at patrick@pacificnorthmarketing.com and tell me about you and your business. Perhaps I can give you a few ideas on how to detach yourself from the 9-5 rat race.

 

To our mutual success!

 

Patrick Giesbrecht

Joint Venture Broker

The Value of Working With The Right People

Hello again! Its great to be back in the saddle after 2 and a half weeks of holidays. I took my wife and 2 sons across the Canadian prairies visiting family, doing some RV'ing, and some fishing. At the end of it all I am happy to be back home doing what I love; helping other businesses grow by referring them business.
 
Earlier this summer my wife had a medical condition that kept her in the hospital for a few days. Needless to say it was a major distraction for our family and I got very little business done for over a weeks time. Here is the point I want to make today. My business kept right on rolling because my joint ventures kept bringing in money despite my circumstances. I have great joint venture partners that are reliable, and dependable in everything they do. I was reminded again that the key to a great business is great people.
 
My joint venture partner Robin Elliott and I were scheduled to host another week of Certified Business Mentor training just as my wife ended up in emergency. All it took was a phone call and I was told to take all the time I needed with the family. I lost no income because of my absence that week. How many small business operators can leave the business on short notice for a week and not have it affect their bottom line? I have owned a traditional small business with a sales and operational staff. I can tell you from experience that this would have been a nightmare. True freedom or flexibility is much harder to maintain in that environment. 
 
The great news is my wife has pretty much recovered her health and our business didn't miss a beat. I want to once again thank all of my joint venture partners for stepping in and covering for me where needed during this trying time. It is a testament to your character and the strength of our relationships.
 
To the rest of you; don't compromise your standards and do business with someone who doesn't meet your criteria. Most of the time these people will only let you down when you need them the most. Also, make sure you treat the people around you the way you want to be treated. I can tell you the pay-off is immense!
 
Patrick Giesbrecht
Joint Venture Broker

What Else Are Your Customers Buying? (And You're NOT Getting A Piece!!)

All of us will agree that getting a new customer is not only a lot of work, it is often much more costly than maintaining a strong relationship with our current ones. A good quality hardcopy newsletter with great content can go a long way in accomplishing this, by the way. We all know that, but very few companies do it. (I've got a great source for that service if you're interested)
 
I am always looking over the list of people that I do the most business with, strategizing how I can leverage that strong relationship and solve more of their problems. My clients buy many things. One of my cIients has an information marketing business. I supply him with certain marketing tools to help drive his campaigns. I am always looking at what he is doing; trying to identify other products I could source for him to help build his business, or simply to make life easier. Of course, I don't buy the software, or the needed equipment to fulfill these new services, I find great Joint Venture partners to handle that for me; and earn a percentage of all on-going business.
 
As my Joint Venture Mentor Robin J Elliott has said many times; "Imagine if Save-On Foods decided they were just going to focus on selling bread and milk". This would be disasterous for them. (check out his blog at www.robinjelliott.com ) Our customers typically have many more problems that need to be solved than our service or product will address. And yet, we do little or nothing to fix those problems if it doesn't involve our specific product. This of course, can be addressed by implementing some simple Joint Venture strategies in your business. We don't need to carry more products, we don't need to learn new technical skills or get educated in providing new services. We simply need to find good JV partners, learn how to refer them effectively, and give the customer a reason to take action and try them out.
 
I'll give you an example; I have a landscaping client who wants me to show him how to increase his bottom line profit without actually spending more time doing landscaping. He meets with homeowners every day that buy his excellent service. In the past he has seen them as landscaping customers; people with lawns to mow. Of course they are much more than that. They buy a lot of stuff. Most people that hire a landscaper to mow their lawn and trim their hedges every week have disposable income, and more expensive tastes. Now my client sees himself as a problem solver. He is starting to ask his customers questions like, "What else are you doing around the yard this year?" or "Are you doing any home improvement projects this summer?" Depending on the answers, opportunities will arise to refer other people's businesses to them.
 
Within a few days we had a small handful of JV partners that he could begin referring. A painter, a real estate agent, an interior designer, etc. All of these partners will pay my client an ongoing commission of 10-20% of the gross business they do; on any business he refers them. They are all supplying him with gift certificates, offering samples of their services, etc, that he can give his clients; giving them a no risk way to try them out. Over the next year or two, this could lead to a LOT of extra profit to my clients bottom line.
 
Have a look at your business and identify services your clients need that you can refer them to; and profit from. Contact me for a free, no-obligation phone consultation on how to add JV profit to your bottom line.
 
Patrick Giesbrecht
Joint Venture Broker

Ultimate Leverage- And A Real Life Example That You Can Use to Make Cashflow With Zero Cost!!

If you understand leverage, you understand how to get rich. Some people leverage other people (employee's) time. Others understand how to leverage money to create more wealth. Joint Venture brokers understand how to leverage other people's time, money, credit, reputations, and on and on. For example, I work closely with a person who is very well known, and indeed a celebrity, in certain circles. By building a relationship and creating overlap (check out previous articles to see what that is) I continue to leverage his status; in so doing building my profile and rapport within his circle of influence much faster than by working on my own.

 

Have you seen speakers endorse someone else from the stage at certain seminars or events? This is a powerful form of leverage. What if a business with a large loyal database endorsed your business to their whole group of clients? This can very quickly drive massive profit to your bottom line. This can create leverage on a massive scale. One of my mentors, www.robinjelliott.com, many years ago, had his business grow from $4000 per month to $20,000 per month in revenue; in ONLY 4 DAYS; using this strategy.

 

One of the best forms of leverage I know of is accomplished by a closely trusted Joint Venture partner of mine. Clients of his borrow money from the bank at 2-5% and lend it to him for 12%!! The best part about this is the rate is fixed and is paid out as monthly cashflow of 1% per month; actually putting cash in your pocket every month after any interest costs. Imagine the amount of real estate equity, intro credit card rates, cash, etc, etc, that could be leveraged this way! I have been doing this personally for nearly 2 years now; and every month this JV puts cash into my bank account. Talk about leverage! I am making money on the banks money; instead of the other way around. (Did you know that you are actually going backwards when you accept 3% interest on your savings?)

 

The opportunity above is only available by personal referral. I can put you in touch with my contact if you like. I use this strategy to park any cash, credit or equity I am not using at the moment; because I can get it back in 30 days notice; after the first 6 months.

 

The key to getting ahead of the money game is leverage. We all have the same amount of hours in the day; and yet some people make far more money than others. Why is that? Self employed people are either leveraging knowledge, special skills, or time. None of those three will make you truly rich; unless you are a movie star or an athlete, perhaps. Your average "Joe" can get rich if he understands leverage, using the power of Joint Ventures.

 

Remember to download a free E-book on the power of Joint Ventures at www.jointventuresunlimited.com/freeoffer Now please, go forth and Joint Venture!!

 

Patrick Giesbrecht

Joint Venture Broker

www.jointventuresunlimited.com

More Customers Than You Can Handle! -How Is That Possible In Today's Economic Climate??

Having more customers than you can handle is a pretty rare thing these days. Businesses that focussed on building effective marketing during the good times are doing better than most; but businesses than managed to put together multiple prospect “feeders” using Joint Ventures are doing the best of all. The best marketing tools of all are ones that work without you there, and you only pay for when you get results. I’m not talking about going to networking meetings and handing out business cards; or begging people to send you business because you’re a nice person. I’m talking about setting up referral SYSTEMS!

For a referral system to work well it needs to be set up correctly. That means you also need to consider the needs and desires  (see Hot Button) of the person who is supposed to send you business! So many of us forget that. We automatically assume that the other party already has our best interests in mind. Of course they don’t. They are busy worrying about getting their needs meet. For a great article on how to establish someone’s Hot Button read DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor, Chris Hiller’s blog at http://chrishiller.posterous.com

Here is one simple referral system. Let’s say you find someone who calls on the very same businesses that you are looking sell your product to. Once you discover what she REALLY wants; you can put together a plan to help her get that, by working with you. Suppose she would like to go on a trip to Mexico. And suppose the trip in question costs $2000.

Now let’s say that you can pay a $200 commission per sale you make. Here is what you do. Ask your contact how soon she would like to be sent on a trip at no cost to her. She says in 10 weeks time. That means you need to close 1 sale per week from leads she sends you to pay for her trip. Make a deal with her whereby she sends you at least 5 QUALIFIED leads every Friday afternoon at 2:35 pm. These leads should be expecting your call and have a legitimate need your service. (The set-up is key) The following week you visit the leads and close at least 1 out of 5, and send your referrer a cheque for $200.

Now, how many of these referrers could you set up? 10? 50? You would never have to cold call again! Does that sound like a good deal? You only call on people who actually want to talk to you and are interested in your service. Everyone wins.

Remember to get a free e-book at www.jointventuresunlimited.com/freeoffer

Patrick Giesbrecht

Joint Venture Broker

www.jointventuresunlimited.com

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Create Distribution for an Existing Company Using Joint Ventures

The headline may not be too catchy; but when I show you how to do this with no cost and no risk I think I will get your attention! I have a client (my wife!) who was selling a product as a commissioned sales agent, working from home. The product is a line of Whole Body Vibration machines www.tzoneusa.com and she sold these part time at tradeshows and to people referred from friends and happy clients, in the usual way. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you will understand that I immediately saw the need to increase the leverage in this business model. It's not that she wasn't making good money; she was. It's just that there are only so many hours in the day. We have two young boys who require a lot of our time, and to really crank up her net profit they would pay the price in lost time with their mom.

I found out who owned the manufacturing company and had my wife make the introduction. I had her introduce, in very vague terms, what I wanted to talk about so he was friendly and receptive when we made contact. To make a long story short I asked him the following: "If I could bring you distributors in markets that you are not currently in, at no cost to you (upfront) would you pay me a percentage of each unit my team of distributors moves?" Now, having learned how to position this by one of the best; Mr. DollarMaker himself, www.robinjelliott.com, I was pleased to get an enthusiastic "Yes!" on the other end of the phone.

Of course I told him about the extra value we would be bringing; like training the new distributors how to build their businesses with no money and no risk; how to add value to the end-user at no cost to them, etc, etc. The final package we agreed to offer our new distributors looked something like this:

No inventory to purchase. Distributors pay for their machines as they are sold.
A No cost, No risk marketing plan based on tried and tested Joint Venture principles, provided by me.
Support through regular conference calls, provided by our team.

Of course this sounded great but we had no team members yet! The first thing we did was put the word out about our new opportunity to all of our contacts. Next, we offered a select few of my wife's clients the chance to participate. Her second distributor saw the huge opportunity and agreed to come aboard on a full commissioned basis. We simply shared a portion of the volume over-ride we recieved from the parent company with her, based on her production. A few months later we had 8 distributors in 6 different states and provinces. This month alone, with the orders placed so far from our team of distributors, we have generated just over $100,000 of business for them. And it's only the 18th day of the month!

The manufacturing company I negotiated this deal with is happier than ever as we have opened states and provinces they had no presence in at all. And it cost them NOTHING! We are happy as we have built another stream of income that grows every month; and it cost us NOTHING! 

Now, here is the great part! If you would like to participate in this business and learn how to make $$ every month by participating as a distributor email pegiesbrecht@shaw.ca If you know of someone who wants to start a No Money-No Risk business; email the same address and learn how you can make $$ every month based on their volume! Passive income is a wonderful thing!!

So, how hard was that? Once I had learned how to approach the manufacturing business and found out what they wanted, this deal was a slam dunk. Contact me if you want help setting up a similar deal yourself, with another company. My email is patrick@dollarmakers.com

This is the kind of Joint Venture that gets me very excited. Pretty much anybody can do this with the right training and support. Talk to you soon!

Patrick Giesbrecht
Joint Venture Broker