I’d been doing joint ventures (JV) for over a decade before I had a major aha moment that forever changed the way I partner with other entrepreneurs.

A joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more parties, usually businesses, form a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets, knowledge, and, of course, profits. – Valerie Orsoni-Vauthey, Happy About Joint Venturing

There are many creative ways to partner with other people and businesses to boost your list size, increase sales, bring forth new products and sales, and add value to what your business already offers.

I’ve always found JVs to be fun, and when they put extra cash in my pocket or send me awesome clients… all the better.

But here’s what changed everything…

My mastermind buds told me about a great event they attended for JV partnering.
I was very pregnant at the time and was doing as little travel as possible. The event was specifically for coaches and experts who support entrepreneurs in building their businesses. I made the event a priority, and I’m so glad I did.

I realized that up to that point, I’d just been “squeezing” in promotions, supporting people I liked, and doing projects with people who had great insights.

I’d also been sending out swipe copy for my affiliates every month, letting them know which projects of mine they could support.

Nothing wrong with any of these actions, but I hadn’t been intentional. Gasp!

Everything I was doing was more like a punch list item to be a “good” business owner, but I wasn’t strategic about the outcomes of those actions and practices… at all!

Can you believe it?! I couldn’t.

Here I was spending my time and energy, along with my team, and not really producing results from my JV actions.

I was just making the minimum amount of effort to do what needed to be done. Heck, I was giving more thought to pruning my roses every month than I was to all my JV partners.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t for lack of enthusiasm. I really do love every person I’d partnered with… but I’d never sat down and asked myself the most important questions:

• What is the desired impact on my business from doing this JV?
• What is the desired outcome I want for the JV partner/s I’m promoting and their business?
• How will I connect with them during the JV for maximum ease, fun, and profit?
• Who do I need to be and what do I need to do to have this JV experience be for the highest good of all?

I’d always been intentional about who I’d partnered with but not how I moved forward with them.

I’d lost lots of money and time on several JVs because I was focused mostly on what needed to be done to make it happen and not enough on how we could best serve each other in the partnership.

My lack of intention created lackluster results for my team, the partner, and myself.

After my big aha about JVs, I’ve been super intentional, and it’s turned into a multiple six figures a year from partnerships.

If I can’t say HELL YES to giving my partners 100% focus, then I have to say NO.