The outcome of my entire day is determined by that very first hour. When it goes well (and it almost always does), I have more energy all day long. I’m more productive. And, frankly, I am a lot more pleasant to be around.

All due to my simple morning workout.

Monday through Friday, I’m waiting for the gym doors to open at 4:55 a.m. And I am not alone. I wait outside with my fellow “regulars.” We exchange pleasantries and chat about major news items. But when the doors open at 5:00 a.m., we can be mid-sentence and the conversation stops. We all focus on our fitness goals.

At least that’s how it goes 99 out of 100 times. But once in a while, “stuff happens.”

A few weeks ago, I was up with Delaine (my 4-year-old) at 1:00 a.m. because her tummy hurt. I knew my morning workout was in jeopardy. As I crawled into bed at 1:30, I nudged my husband and said, “I can’t believe I have to get up in three hours.”

Don’t do it,” he said. “Get some sleep.”

I responded with “My day will be shot if I don’t get my workout in!”

In need of sleep himself, he suggested that I set the alarm for 6:30. That would get me to the gym before 7:00 and in the office by 9:00. That, I could live with.

But here’s the funny part. Walking into the same gym at 7:00 a.m. was like walking into a foreign country! The music was loud. The cafe was open and crowded. People were standing by the stairs and by the weights and by the exercise equipment, talking and laughing.

I was a little taken aback. But I decided to just go with it. After all, in business I am constantly reminded how important change is to overall success.

So after an abbreviated version of my weight training, I headed to the third floor to find my favorite elliptical machine waiting for me.

Soon I was in my zone, drowning everything else out. It was just Bono and me, and he was telling me it was a beautiful day.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman approaching. She was smiling at me. I knew she was going to try to engage me in conversation.

I had to think fast to preserve the only “alone” time in my entire day.

But before I could come up with something that didn’t sound crazy or mean, she was standing right in front of me. Against my better judgment, I put Bono on pause and took off my earphones.

“Liz” started off by complimenting me. She said I looked like I owned the machine, because I made it look so easy. Then she told me she had joined the gym recently, a few months after giving birth to her first child.

She said she was embarrassed by the size of her thighs, but most of the machines intimidated her. All she’d been doing were modest workouts on the treadmill.

Having been a new mom not once but three times, I understand how it feels to want to lose the extra weight after giving birth. So I decided to turn Bono off and help her get started on the elliptical.

Within minutes, Liz was doing fine on the machine, and we were having a pleasant conversation.

***

“Show Me the Money!”

You asked, now we deliver!

This November, a dozen Internet legends (who have started & grown 41+ businesses with combined sales of over $1.12 billion) will respond to this brazen challenge. Each pledges to reveal at least one idea that could generate a minimum of $10,000 cash in the next 6 months…

Their “pledges” taken together could help you pocket $120,000 (and maybe much more) in cold hard cash by May 10, 2010!

PLUS: One of them (”Mr. X”, sworn to secrecy) will finally reveal the shocking, proprietary $5 million+ secret that stands to revolutionize the online marketing world… (Michael Masterson calls this “a world-class game changer”!)

And that’s not all you’ll get… not by a long shot. Act before midnight Monday August 3, and you’ll also receive free…

An individually customized 3-part business acceleration plan…

One dozen additional “Mastermind Conferences” all throughout 2010…

Plus…

A $500 discount if you act before 5 PM Eastern Friday, August 28th!

Get all the exciting details right here.

***

She told me that before having the baby she was a marketing director with a large advertising agency in Miami. She loved marketing. But said that, with a newborn, there was no way she could handle the long commute and demands of the job. And though her attorney husband had a good income, she knew that, with the new addition to the family, her salary would be sorely missed.

And then Liz said the magic words that were music to my ears.

She wanted to start an online business!

Liz had already enlisted a friend to help build her site. But she felt like the site was going in the wrong direction, and that it was too complicated.

Well, of course I jumped right in with advice. Here’s what I told her:

Building the Website That’s Right for Your Business

There are basically three marketing reasons to have a website. So before you start building yours, make sure you understand which one is best for your business:

1. To provide information about a product or company in order to establish a presence on the World Wide Web

2. To stimulate sales through direct marketing

3. To develop a list of prospective buyers

Each of these reasons is valid. Each dictates a different sort of website.

• The Information Site

A site built to provide information about a product or company — and, thus, add to its credibility — must be comprehensive, beneficial, and easy to navigate. It should be rich in useful free content: articles, photos, videos, news, and advice.

• The Direct-Response-Driven Site

A website built for marketing purposes must have all the important elements of a direct-response promotion. That includes a strongly defined look and message, free content, and a call to action. The call to action could be in the form of an offer or a subscription sign-up box. It’s best to have two sign-up opportunities on EVERY page — one in the upper right hand corner and one centered at the bottom. The site should also be constructed to gain high rankings on search engines like Google. Our site, EarlyToRise.com, is a good example of a direct-response-driven site.

• The List-Building Site

A website built to develop a list of prospective buyers must be engaging, interactive, and constantly changing — with a prominent, easy-to-fill-in e-mail sign-up box. It should also offer a free bonus, such as an e-report or e-book, in exchange for signing up. A good example is expert info publisher/copywriter Bob Bly’s list-building site Bly.com.

Each of these websites is different. Each requires different copy, graphics, and technology. But all of them should have plenty of free, useful content. And all should load quickly and be accessible to people with older computers and slower Internet connections.

After I explained all of this to Liz, she said she was happy she’d had the courage to talk to me. She said she was going to go home and call her Web designer immediately.

I have to admit that Liz was not the only one who learned something that morning. I walked away with a few valuable lessons myself. For one thing, this experience reconfirmed that change is good. By getting to the gym at a different time, I not only made a new business contact but a new friend as well. Plus, it reminded me not to judge a book by its cover. When I saw Liz approaching that morning, I assumed I was in for some inane small talk. But it turned out she is a smart, well spoken, and interesting person who has added something to my life.

Are you opposed to change? Do you make negative assumptions that keep you from having something good happen in your life?

If, for example, you’ve thought about attending a business-building conference but convinced yourself that it would not help, I have an opportunity for you.

Join me, our elite lineup — which includes industry thought leaders like Clayton Makepeace, Rich Schefren, Joe Polish, and ETR’s founder Michael Masterson — and other determined and successful fellow ETRers at Bootcamp this November.  But come only if you want to grow your business and learn cutting-edge marketing techniques. And only if you want to be in the 1 percent of people who really understand the inside secrets of the world’s most successful info marketers.

Remember, if you want to change your life … change your actions!

***

90% of the Billionaire’s Living in America Weren’t Born Rich - They became rich because they had the “Billionaire Mindset.” This is the observation of Bob Cox, a gifted success mentor who had the rare privilege of working with four of the richest men in the world. If you want to learn how billionaires really think just listen to Bob.  Read on…

More from Masterson…

“Forced” to Start a Business

This is no time to start a new business, the “experts” say.

But a recent New York Times article indicates that many are ignoring that advice. (Thanks to Don Hauptman for this tip.) The Kauffman Foundation’s latest numbers show more businesses started in 2008 than 2007. Driving that trend are the unemployed.

“You have the time. Why not focus your energy on something, rather than just trolling Craigslist and sitting and watching TV?” Lisa Marie Grillos says.

Grillos has been selling handcrafted bike bags online since she was laid off in January. She says business is getting better.

Good for her. And good for every other unemployed person who is starting an Internet-based business. They are easy to start. They are cheap to fund. And they have unlimited potential.

And history proves that tough economic times can be good times to start businesses. Fact: More than half the companies in the Fortune 500 were founded during recessions. These include FedEx and Microsoft. Same goes for the small-business-focused Inc. Magazine 500.

***

Eliminate “Overwhelm” for Good… – Sidestep all the information about Internet marketing out there that’s confusing, frustrating, and often COMPLETELY BOGUS. Let a Rogue Marketing Genius show you his $275 million dollars worth of secrets – in just seven minutes a day. Read on…

***

Has the FDA Been Bribed by the Mercury Merchants?

The FDA recently declared that the mercury in dental fillings is not harmful. Not even for children and pregnant women.

That’s not true, according to Melanie Segala, Editor of Total Health Breakthroughs. She says mercury is dangerous — even a small amount. If you have lots of fillings, the danger is greater.

Mercury can cause brain damage. It can also retard development. You can ingest a good deal of mercury, experts say, by eating fish. That’s why doctors recommend limiting fish intake to once or twice a week.

But mercury in the teeth? Is that really a threat? The FDA says no. Its position is based on a “comprehensive review of scientific studies.” But Melanie Segala doesn’t trust the FDA’s conclusion. “Many of those studies were industry-funded,” she told me. “If you look at the independent studies, the facts are clear.”

***

Before You Risk Money Testing Your Marketing Plan in the Market… – Come to our Info-Marketing Bootcamp in November and our crackerjack marketing experts will tell you what we think of your plans. We will help you fly right through the “trial and error” phase of starting a business so you can leave confidently knowing your plan is based on proven, money-making techniques we’ve used ourselves. Read on…

If you’re advertising Nike footwear or Coca-Cola, you want this kind of reach. But if your product is more specialized, the huge expense of network TV exposure becomes an exorbitant bet.

For most businesses, television advertising should be a supplemental endeavor restricted by a limited budget. Focus on smaller audiences, especially targeted ones – TV channels and programs that concentrate on market niches such as investing, real estate, pets, home shopping, building wealth, and so on.

With the growth of cable and regional TV, it’s easier to find channels and programs that cater to the prospects you want to reach. If you spend some time looking at the growth of targeted and local advertising on these new cable stations, you will understand how viable this type of market can be.

All these channels need advertising revenue to remain on the air. And because the industry is bigger and more competitive now, many stations are offering very affordable rate packages, within easy reach of even small businesses and organizations.

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]

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So how do you get your company and/or product mentioned on television and in the newspapers? You start by understanding what they are looking for. Generally speaking, they are looking for two things:

• News about subjects their readers are already interested in (i.e., Britney Spears – not you).
• Captivating and/or curious tidbits to fill in the gaps.

It is only into this second category of “news” coverage that you can hope to find a welcome place for your public relations campaigns.

It’s unlikely that the media will be interested in any sort of news about your business. Yes you may be able to get news about your company published in an industry trade journal, but what good is that? Your customers aren’t reading trade journals. They are watching TV and reading USA Today.

So begin with this: What you won’t do. You won’t waste your time and resources sending out press releases to the national media about company news. And if you do announce corporate news in industry periodicals, it will not be with any hope that it will boost your sales.

What you will do is figure out, first and foremost, which news media you want to be in, and then figure out how to create curious and captivating stories that relate to your business.

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]

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Most television advertising is rubbish. And Super Bowl commercials are the worst kind of rubbish – expensive, self-absorbed, and impotent. They are, for the most part, elaborately produced mini-movies, with action-packed plot lines and famous actors and beautiful scenery. We laugh at them. We cry at them. We hold our breath in anticipation. We do everything we do at the movies. But we don’t run out afterward and buy the advertised products. In many cases, we don’t even know what the products are.

This has been confirmed by recent studies. University of Tampa researchers, working with ad agency Brain on Brand, found that a year after watching Super Bowl commercials, most viewers couldn’t remember what products had been promoted. This held true even for those much-talked-about commercials heralded at the time for their originality. In fact, in one case, many subjects thought an ad for FedEx was actually for UPS.

There’s some great buying and selling that occurs in the television industry, but it’s not the selling that’s supposed to take place: between the advertiser and the viewing public. Instead, it’s the buying and selling that occurs between the ad agency and the advertiser.

Super Bowl XLIII is just a few weeks away. How many commercials do you remember from Super Bowl XLII?

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]

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When I told her I did not, and was happy he’d called, her jaw dropped even further. 

We were talking about a business colleague of mine. “Larry” had called to ask me if I could speak with his mastermind group on a teleconference later that week. 

He wanted me to speak to the group about accelerating their businesses growth via multi-channel marketing. Given the fact that his attendee list included people like Alex Mandossian, Tony Robbins, and John Carlton – people I personally considered my mentors – I was honored to accept. 

When I tried explaining this to my sister-in-law, she just waved her hand and said, “In my day, when you left the office at 5:00, you were done until 9:00 the next morning.” 

I thought about dropping the subject, but I couldn’t resist the challenge. 

She opted for early retirement about six years ago – but I asked her if, during her working years, she’d ever left the office to pick up a sick kid from school, go to a dentist appointment, or meet the cable man at her house. 

When she begrudgingly nodded her head yes, I knew I had her attention. And I hope I have yours as well. If you think that your work life exists only between 9:00 and 5:00 … and that your home and social life exist only between 5:00 and 9:00, you need to make a change.

I recommend that you resolve, right here and now, to make your life better, more rewarding, and more balanced. And I’m going to help you do it.

Who am I to talk about balance? Well, I’m a happily married mother of three who runs a 25-person business. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten pretty good at managing all the different aspects of my life in a way that makes me feel happy and proud.

The very first step to creating a happier, healthier lifestyle is to realize that “9:00 to 5:00″ no longer applies. By giving yourself the flexibility to do business at all hours of the day or night, you are actually better able to enjoy both your work and your family even more.

This may sound counter-intuitive but by taking the following five simple steps, you will be able to break free of the 9:00 to 5:00 shackles.

Creating Balance Step One: Define what a balanced life means to you.

Many people think that having a balanced life means spending the same number of hours on work as you do on personal activities. This is a big mistake, because most of the time it just is not realistic.

To define what will work for you, you need to take into consideration that life is constantly changing. And the right balance for you today may not be the right balance for you tomorrow or next week or next month, because over time your priorities change. The one constant in knowing you have a balanced life is the feeling of accomplishment and happiness you enjoy every day.

Creating Balance Step Two: Create Boundaries

Some people may agree with my sister-in-law that receiving a business call at 9:00 at night is inappropriate. But the way I look at it is that Larry is someone who is good for my organization and good for my career. Besides, when I met him at a conference earlier this year, he asked me for the best way to reach me. I gave him my e-mail address and my cell number. So why shouldn’t he call?

And keep in mind that I made the decision to take his call that night – I created the boundary. It happened to be a good time to talk. However, if he’d made the call 90 minutes earlier – when I was decorating the Christmas tree with my kids and my husband – I would have let it go to voice mail and called him back when it was convenient for me.

Later that week, I was the keynote speaker on the mastermind teleconference Larry had invited me to. Many of the attendees learned a great deal. In fact, I got several e-mails from attendees saying they’d purchased the book on multi-channel marketing that I co-authored with Michael Masterson. Others called or e-mailed to ask if they could promote the book to their in-house list. 

Had I adopted the attitude that I would do business only from 9:00 to 5:00, I may have lost out on a wonderful opportunity that proved to be valuable both to ETR and to me personally.

Because I advocate balance, I support the efforts my team members make in striving for balance in their own lives. Some of them work in the evening and/or on the weekends. So I have no problem with it if they need to leave to take care of something personal. I truly believe that your accomplishments aren’t dependent on how much time you spend in the office.

Creating Balance Step Three: Learn how to say “No.”

No one wants to say no to their boss, their spouse, their employees, their friends, or their kids. But to achieve balance, you are going to have to do it once in a while.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. And we cannot possibly do everything that we want to do AND everything that everyone else wants us to do. So a big part of leading a more balanced life is to cut down on unnecessary tasks and protect your priorities.

When requests or conflicts are set before you, ask yourself: “Is this going to give me a feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of happiness?” 

Almost four years ago, a good friend of mine – “Rita” – wanted my husband and me to meet her new boyfriend. He was “the one” as she put it. So we made dinner plans for the following evening. 

But when our two-month-old baby Delanie woke up in the morning, she had a fever. I called Rita and apologized, but told her we would have to cancel. I just did not feel right about leaving the baby with a sitter. 

Rita was irate. She said I was overreacting, and asked how I could possibly feel that way given that Delanie was our third child. 

As I held Delanie though the day and night, I knew I had made the right decision. But I was saddened by Rita’s anger – and her anger lasted for weeks.

Then, about five weeks after the infamous missed dinner, Rita called to say that “the one” had dumped her. This time it was her turn to apologize, saying that now she realized I had made the right decision. 

Social decisions are one thing, but work decisions can be more difficult. You must learn that sometimes you have to choose your family, your health, or even your social life over work. And you’ll also have to make some hard decisions to put work first.

For instance, I take my health seriously. But last week, a doctor’s appointment conflicted with a last-minute visit from one of Agora’s top executives. The only chance I had to see him was during the time I’d reserved for my appointment. Since I wasn’t sick and the appointment was for a simple check up, I didn’t think twice about rescheduling.

Creating Balance Step Four: Keep a journal.

The only way to make your life better is to understand what you’re doing, what’s working, and what isn’t. And there are far too many things going on in our lives to try to keep it all in our heads.

So keep a journal. Write down what you spend time on – everything from the meetings you attend to how many times you go to the gym.

Keeping a journal will help you see if you are spending your time in the most productive way – and it will make you accountable for your actions. It will help you accomplish your professional and personal goals, and will make you proud of those accomplishments.

Creating Balance Step Five: Understand that you’re not a superhero.

Having a balanced life means being realistic. Realistic about the fact that some things are just not going to get done. And you have to be okay with that.

When my husband and I got married 12 year ago, we both had busy careers. But we still enjoyed spending time decorating and upgrading our home with art and new furniture. After a busy day, we loved coming home to our immaculate sanctuary. 

Well… once we had kids, things started looking a lot different. Instead of the beautiful vase I picked up in Mexico on the coffee table – there was a stuffed Elmo. Soon our Tiffany picture frames were replaced by toy trains. And many days, while we’re making dinner, the kids have all the pots and pans on the floor. 

But instead of spending my time cleaning up and trying to make my house look perfect, I would much rather play with the kids, banging on the pots and pans with them and playing with trains. 

There are always things out of place in my house – but that is exactly the way it should be. Because when I come home to my family, I absolutely have a feeling of great accomplishment and happiness! 

This goes for work, too. You may have a dozen projects on your plate, and only so much time to complete them. Don’t get down on yourself for letting one of them slide so you can spend more time on marketing, or so you can care for your ailing grandmother, or so you can spend an hour at the gym.

Following the other guidelines I’ve recommended – figuring out what kind of balance is right for you, creating boundaries, picking priorities, and knowing what’s working and what isn’t – will help you feel confident that your accomplishments are enough… even if you have more goals you want to achieve.

[Ed. Note: One of the best ways to strike a good balance between work and home? Start your own Internet business. You can operate it on your own time, from your back bedroom. And it can help you achieve the financial security and satisfaction you've always dreamed of. Get a step-by-step guide to starting your own Internet business right here. But hurry - space is limited.]

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MaryEllen has a super quick but powerful technique for deciding when to say “yes” and when to say “no.”

[Ed. Note: What's your favorite thing about the holiday season? Let us know right here.]

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Do not, however, make the mistake of thinking that if a specific channel does not meet the return on investment (ROI) goal for your overall multi-channel marketing campaign it should be disregarded.

Take a look at the chart below: 

In this example, you are selling your product for $100. You had $85,000 to spend and your goal was to make $1.25 for every dollar you spent, or a return on investment of 125 percent. 

You had tremendous success with your online efforts (endorsed e-mails, banner ads, and PPC campaigns). 

On your teleconference, your marketing efforts yielded a 90 percent ROI and lost $500.

And on your direct-mail campaign, you produced only an 80 percent ROI, losing a whopping $10,000. 

Since two of your five channels lost a total of $10,500, are you going to cut them from your multi-channel campaign? Of course not. Those two channels brought in nearly 42 percent of your new customers. Customers you now have the opportunity to bond with and sell more products to. It has been our experience that customers who come in as a result of direct-mail efforts have a higher lifetime value. This means that the 400 new customers from your direct-mail campaign will most likely become your best customers. On top of all this, you’ve met your goal of 125 percent ROI on your overall campaign.

The idea is to subsidize some channels with the channels that have greater ROIs to produce incremental orders that can bring in additional revenues.

[Ed. Note: The above article was adapted from Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, the brand-new best-seller by MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson. This book combines 60+ years of marketing and business-building experience from two marketing superstars - and you can apply each and every strategy to the business you own or the company you work for. Buy your copy here.]

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As I cleared the table, my husband offered to do the dishes. It was obvious to him that I was itching to know how the book was doing.

“Why don’t you go check on the book?” he said.

I’d peeked at how sales were going a few times during the afternoon … but the book’s status hadn’t budged in the race to beat Buffett. (Meaning the book about Warren Buffett by Alice Schroeder.)

So I left Patrick to do the dishes and headed to my computer. And there it was – #1 on Amazon.com’s list of Business and Investing best-sellers!

Not only that, it had climbed all the way to #10 on Amazon’s list of overall best-sellers. (The next morning, Jason Holland told me that it hit #8 later that night.)

I can’t say how proud I am of all the ETR folks – and how thankful I am to our readers for pushing the book up to the top.

Our rapid climb past authors like Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, and Seth Godin is solely due to your taking the time to buy Changing the Channel. I sincerely hope you are being delighted by the book – and that it will help you boost your income, achieve a higher position in your business, or finally get your own business off the ground.

In the meantime, if you’re one of the readers who bought the book as soon as it was launched, I promised that I would give you a bonus that would knock your socks off. I think you’ll agree that this fits the bill!

I’m going to be hosting a special webinar exclusively for book buyers. I’ll be answering some of your toughest questions about marketing, business building, managing a team, and – of course – Changing the Channel. To sign up for this no-holds-barred conversation, simply enter your name, e-mail address, and receipt number from your Amazon.com order here.

Thanks again for helping drive Changing the Channel to #1.

[Ed. Note: MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson have combined their 60+ years of business-building and marketing experience in one easy-to-read book. Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business reveals 12 profit-acceleration secrets that can help YOU boost your company’s revenues… and skyrocket your own career. If you don’t already have a copy, get yours here.

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Now, nine years later, we have figured all of that out… and much more.

Along the way, one of the best and most profitable marketing techniques we’ve employed has been joint ventures (JVs).

Joint ventures may be the best way to stimulate growth when, for whatever reason, you have limited resources and skills that you are willing to devote to a particular channel of marketing. Joint venture marketing deals should be a part of the thinking of every executive who wants fast, impressive growth.

Agora Inc. – ETR’s parent company – skyrocketed its growth by combining direct marketing on the Internet with multi-channel marketing. That happened in the late 1990s. But it wasn’t the first time Agora dabbled in multi-channel marketing.

Way back in the early 1980s, when the company was just starting out, it achieved fast growth by combining direct-mail advertising with joint venture marketing.

From about 1980 to 1995, for example, Agora grew its investment newsletter business from $1 million to $60 million, primarily through joint venture marketing deals. The proposition was pretty simple.

Agora was very good at direct-mail marketing, but its employees had very little investment expertise. Rather than attempt to develop financial gurus in-house, Agora went out into the media marketplace and found investment writers who had newsletters with a small number of subscribers.

Agora’s proposal to them was as follows: They would form a joint venture, with both sides as 50 percent partners. The partner would continue to own his subscribers and his editorial product, and would continue to have all the fulfillment obligations. The partner would hire Agora to act as his newsletter’s marketing agent. Agora would take all the risk with the marketing efforts and keep the revenue stream. The partner would get the new subscribers risk free. In turn, the partner had to ensure that the deal worked for Agora, as well.

For a financial writer with limited marketing resources, it was a no-risk, all-reward proposition – an impossible deal to refuse. For Agora, it was an efficient way to attract first-rate writing talent – some with established reputations and great track records. If Agora’s marketing worked, both partners would be very happy. If it failed to work, the joint venture could be dissolved, and both partners would then be free to go back to what they were doing before.

Agora used this joint venture strategy to develop more than a dozen newsletter franchises during the first 15 years of its existence. In that time, it saw revenues climb from $1 million to more than $60 million.

“I don’t think we could have grown that much so quickly without these partnerships,” Bill Bonner, Agora’s founder, said. “They allowed us to market some of the best people in the investment advisory business then, which gave us an advantage our competitors lacked. As our company grew, we developed in-house editorial expertise. Most of our writers nowadays are employees or freelancers under contract. So we don’t use that kind of joint venture deal anymore. But we do employ joint venture agreements on the Internet marketing side – and these are proving very valuable in terms of growth.”

In 2001, Katie Yeakle, president of American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI), decided she wanted to sell her products in Germany. One option was to set up a branch office in Bonn and hire a local manager who would then hire translators and find service bureaus to publish AWAI’s products in that country. The other option was to locate a German publisher who was already marketing to the kind of customers AWAI favored and make a joint venture deal.

She chose the latter option. AWAI entered a joint venture with Germany’s largest direct-response publisher. Because the publisher already had an existing operation, they were able to take on the new project without adding extra personnel or office space. Costs were thus reduced. And profits were increased dramatically, because the publishing company was able to market to its own list of buyers. Perhaps most important, AWAI and its German partner could combine their skills and knowledge to take full advantage of the German market quickly, thus avoiding any concern that another enterprising business would fill the gap.

To make matters simple, the contract established AWAI as owner of its product line, established the publisher as the line’s sole marketer in German and Germany, and stipulated a fixed royalty (a percentage of the sales) for AWAI.

Had Katie decided to make a go of the German operation herself, AWAI might have made more money, since it would have kept 100 percent of the profits. But it would surely have taken many years and would have had a greater chance of failure. By going with a joint venture, the German business was up and running in less than a year, and was very profitable in less than two years.

Perfect for Start-Ups and Small Businesses

Many small-business owners don’t like joint ventures. They don’t like the idea of splitting revenues. They like selling their own products because they get to keep 100 percent of the revenues.

This sort of thinking simply misses the mark. When a joint venture is executed properly, it doesn’t subtract from a business, it adds to it.

There are many ways to do joint ventures. But for a growing small business, the most lucrative type of joint venture usually involves at least two of three key elements: a product, a promotion, and a market.

Yanik Silver, [link to: http://www.earlytorise.com/author/yanik-silver] an Internet marketing specialist who regularly writes for Early to Rise, says that joint ventures have been “very, very good” to him. He suggests that small businesses should consider not only JV deals but also all the ways there are of selling products and making money that they aren’t already doing:

• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
• Direct mail
• Direct e-mail
• Print advertising
• Website advertising
• Telemarketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

One of the best ways to expand your marketing base is by adding on new marketing channels… and one of the fastest and most efficient ways of doing that is to form joint ventures with colleagues and competitors who have expertise that you lack.

Yanik talks about one information marketer who entered a joint venture with a telemarketer. He paid the telemarketer a large percentage of sales for events and other high-end products he was producing. This joint venture brought in millions of dollars in extra revenue, Yanik says. And it did so without “the headache of babysitting and training a bunch of telemarketers.”

Instead of hiring employees and running a mail shop himself, Yanik gets all his direct-mail marketing done on a joint venture basis. “My partner does all the little things necessary to get a direct-mail piece out,” he explains. “He’s also a good copywriter, so he writes envelope teasers, lift notes, and so on, too. I pay him based on the results of each mailing. We are both in it together. If I do well, so does he.”

One of the key secrets to joint ventures, Yanik says, is not to be greedy. “I give all my partners a fair percentage of the sales they help me make. It has to be significant. I want them to be happy.”

He also recommends getting the joint venture agreement in writing, “even if you are best friends with your partner. Memories fail, but a simple written agreement (which could be nothing more than an e-mail outlining key points) will clarify any discrepancies or misunderstandings that might crop up in the future.”

Strategies for Successful Joint Ventures

Joint venture marketing relationships can be extremely valuable. Every ambitious entrepreneur and marketing director should be open to them. Making them work, however, does take time and consume resources. And because you don’t have unlimited time and resources, it makes sense to be strategic in selecting your joint venture partners.

• Look for strong partners – businesses that have significant skills and/or resources that you lack.

• Make sure that your contribution to the deal is equal to your partner’s. An unbalanced partnership is not good for either party.

• Avoid partners you don’t trust.

• If possible, limit the scope of the venture in the beginning and extend it as trust increases.

• Make agreements simple, but put them in writing.

• To avoid costly misunderstandings after the venture has begun, identify the value of each partner’s contributions at the outset. These should include skills, intellectual resources, marketing resources, capital, and so on.

• In determining the value of those contributions, remember that fairness is not an exact number, but a range. Try to be flexible – and favor partners who demonstrate the same flexibility.

• Establish clear protocols at the beginning for amending or unwinding the relationship if it fails to meet expectations.

• Goodwill is essential for success. Goodwill means that you want your partner to benefit from the relationship as much as you do.

The idea is to develop joint venture relationships that are easy to maintain, financially profitable, intellectually rewarding, and long-lasting. After a necessary period of negotiation and implementation, you want the relationship to grow well and quickly and painlessly.

If you pick a weak or untrustworthy partner, the joint venture will eventually fail. If your partner sees you as weak or untrustworthy, the venture will also fail. If, on the other hand, you develop a reputation for being a good, trustworthy partner, good people will come to you and be happy with the terms you suggest.

[Ed. Note: The joint venture is just one marketing channel that can help speed your business to profitability. Now, you can discover 11 other powerful, profit-accelerating marketing channels that can take your business to new levels of success. All you have to do is pick up the Amazon.com best-selling book by Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby: Changing the Channel. You can get a crash course in 12 money-making secrets... and how they can turn you into a cash producer for any company you work for. Learn more right here.

The above article was adapted from Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, published with permission from John Wiley & Sons. Get your copy today.]

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