10: Joint Ventures

Establishing joint ventures with like-minded business owners is one of the fastest ways to scale your animal-based business! Joint venture collaborations can allow YOUR business entrance to new markets AND new potential customers, access to specialized staff and equipment, and create an opportunity for problem solving that transcends what you may have ever thought possible.

Our Big 3 Takeaways

Joint ventures are high octane fuel for building your customer base.

A joint venture with the right business can allow you, and your business, entrance into new markets with a like-minded target audience of new potential customers. Joint ventures provide opportunity for cross promotion and bring greater value to your existing client base and online audience.

Doing things with a joint venture partner means you can split the labor of an event, promotion, or project.

Joint ventures provide access to new knowledge, trained staff, specialized technology and expensive equipment. Each business can bring different skill sets, perspectives and strength to the collaboration. With any good joint venture, expenses and risk should be shared by both parties.

Be strategic about who you choose as a joint venture partner.

When selecting a business to create a joint venture, look for businesses that are complementary and brand aligned with your business.

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Show Notes

On this episode of The Business Animal Podcast, Kim and Cara discuss some of the things to consider before pursuing a joint venture with another business, and why joint ventures are high octane fuel for scaling pet, equine and animal businesses. We share our BIG 3 things to consider before forming a joint venture with another business including the criteria that every joint venture must have in order to be successful for both parties.

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Transcript

Transcript

Transcripts are autogenerated and may contain typographical and grammar errors. This transcript is copyright©2021 Kimberly Beer and Cara Taylor Swift. DO NOT COPY in whole or part without written permission.

Open the Transcript
Jaz 0:01
Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. saddle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts, Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift

Kimberly Beer 0:24
Hi there, everyone and welcome to The Business Animal podcast. My name is Kimberly Beer with Be More Business.

Cara Taylor Swift 0:29
And I’m Cara Taylor Swift with Fast Horse Photography. What are we talking about today? Kim?

Kimberly Beer 0:34
we are talking about joint ventures. So we have been on our own little personal joint venture

Cara Taylor Swift 0:40
We Sure have

Kimberly Beer 0:41
with The Business Animal podcast, and joint ventures are a great way to grow your business. So before we even get into our big three, let’s define what a joint venture is. Because

Cara Taylor Swift 0:52
that’s right, we said we were going to do a better job about defining our podcasts at the beginning before we jump into our big three. So let’s get it

Kimberly Beer 0:59
let’s get it right right from the beginning. So our What is it? Which I guess is a new segment on the podcast? What is it that we’re talking about? We’re talking about combining your efforts with like minded complementary businesses. So you both can succeed faster and easier. So now that we know what joint ventures are Cara, do you want to share the big three for this episode?

Cara Taylor Swift 1:23
I sure do. I’m so proud of us being so efficient today. Yeah, so let’s talk about the big three for joint ventures. Okay, first of all, number one, joint ventures or high octane fuel for building your customer base, Big Three. Number two, doing things with a joint venture partner means you can split the labor at an event, a promotion or for a project. And number three, be strategic about who you choose as a joint venture partner. So let’s dig in.

Kimberly Beer 1:48
Yeah, absolutely. So a little more qualification on what makes a good joint venture because you can get a little lost in this between what’s a joint venture and what is a collaboration. So the criteria that you’re going to judge on that you’re creating a joint venture with another person is that you’re both sharing expenses and profits in whatever the endeavor happens to be. In other words, you’re not paying that person or they’re not paying you, that kind of bridges over into something that’s more along a sponsorship. And that’s not what we’re talking about, we’re talking about things where you’re going to split these things, 50/50, you’re both going to put in work, you’re both going to put in money, when you’re both going to take a profit out of it. Another criteria is that you both need to have assets. So everybody needs to bring something to the table in a joint venture. Now that can be different, right? These are joint ventures and we’re going to talk about this more in depth in a minute can be a great way for you to get your business off the ground if you’re just in a launching phase. So that means you could joint venture with somebody with a bigger list. But you need to bring your unique set of skills or a unique product or a unique perspective to that relationship that benefits the other person in an equally important way as the number of people. So for some of you, what you bring to the table is all of that and work and effort that you’ve created or done around creating your database in your contacts and your customer network. for others of you. It’s going to be bringing your time and your talent into that relationship or some some other unique asset.

Cara Taylor Swift 3:28
Or maybe you have a great location. Yeah, great. Yeah, maybe you have a great location that one of the partners in the joint venture wants to have access to, that hasn’t been able to get access to it. So even a location can be an asset.

Kimberly Beer 3:40
Absolutely. So assets are important, and they should be as equal as possible in value, not just like both of you have a location would make sense, but equal in value. So if you have a great location, and the person you’re joint venturing with has a really big database of customers with a tight network that makes for a good joint venture partner, you also need to share a like minded target market. The goal here is to utilize each other to bring both of you more business. And when you go about that it needs to be somebody who would be appropriate for both businesses. And both businesses need to be able to benefit from that cross promotion, right. So we’ve got to have a like minded target market and finally that your businesses are complementary and brand aligned. That piece is super important. Because you want your customers that are going to be experiencing this other business. You want them to feel like that’s a very seamless experience for them. Like it really integrates with who they are, who they know you are. And that is something complimentary to their experience with whatever they’re doing with you. So we have a couple of examples. samples that we would like to bring up. One is our very own podcast right here.

Cara Taylor Swift 5:04
That’s right. Our podcast is a great example of just a way that we’ve collaborated together in a joint venture. And we both have, you know, we do two different things, but we serve a similar audience. So it made sense for us to come together.

Kimberly Beer 5:17
Absolutely. And we both have expertise in certain areas, like I had a lot of expertise in website development. So that brought something very valuable to the relationship. Cara has a great background at being able to research things, which I don’t do so well. So that means that we have fuller, richer episodes. So we both brought something kind of from our own businesses and our own personal expertise into the relationship. And then we both also, we split the expenses for this project, and we we both have to devote time to it. And when you find a good joint venture partner, there are people who show up. And I’m very happy to say that for both of us, I feel like we’re both showing up for the podcast and each other. And we’ve developed a really beautiful, deeper friendship out of this experience as well. And we’re seeing new ways to collaborate with each other. And that’s where joint venture partnerships get so important, right?

Cara Taylor Swift 6:16
The goal is you want to grow both of your businesses and your mindset and your skill set. Hopefully, absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. Some other examples that we’ve seen, in terms of collaborations are a doggy daycare that collaborates with a groomer to provide an elevated level of service to both clients giving the groomer access to animals that they might not have been able to get access to prior and building their clientele base as well.

Kimberly Beer 6:41
Yeah, and the doggy daycare in that instance, they can provide a concierge service to their customers that further endears them. And that’s just again, beneficial, they can send each other business when the groomers grooming the dogs that aren’t in the doggy daycare, they can say hey, I have this great doggy daycare I work with in that case, there might be a little bit of a kickback for every customer that they bring, or maybe the groomer, because they have so many dogs in one spot to be able to groom it the daycare, they offer a discounted rate. And then the daycare can keep that or pass it on to their customers depending on what they want to do. Another one we talked about was the feed store and the horse trainer may be holding a virtual event where the horse trainer provides maybe a clinic or a round pen demonstration with a giveaway. And then the feed store gets the expertise of the horse trainer and the horse trainer gets access to the feed stores connection of network within the community. And that happens a lot

Cara Taylor Swift 7:47
or the feed store gives an educational seminar around nutrition and product and that sort of thing. We’ve seen some of that here in our area. And it’s been a it’s been really beneficial to their mutual clients to be able to have access to both of those resources at the same place.

Kimberly Beer 8:01
Yeah, and there’s a big example of this probably in your neighborhood, if you want to take a look. And that’s the Purina how seminars, their horse owner workshops, seminars, there’s a lot of those, I don’t know, do you have those in your area? Cara? We have a lot of them here,

Cara Taylor Swift 8:16
I don’t know that we do, I’m gonna have to look now I don’t know that we do.

Kimberly Beer 8:19
They used to be a lot more prevalent. They had an actual team, I don’t know if they still do that or not. They have years and years ago, I used to photograph their team for the Purina expert, yeah, I got to meet some great horse celebrities. That way I’ve got to meet. Chris Cox was one of them for a while. And I got to know him. And I don’t know if he’s still in the teams. But that’s an example of how you can create a synergy between two businesses. And large corporations do use this on a frequent basis because it gives them ability to borrow benefit of the trust the customers have in that particular feed store or in that particular service provider. And then they bring in talent. And then the talent is able to also build a business off of it as well. So joint ventures can be super small, like the one between Cara and I on the podcast, or they can be huge with corporations involved and really expand your business on a level that you weren’t even aware that you could accomplish.

Cara Taylor Swift 9:23
Yeah, so there are lots of benefits to joint ventures as well. I think sometimes in the animal world, we are on our and I know I say this all the time, we’re on our little island, we’re doing our little thing. And we forget that there’s other businesses out there that are sharing an audience that could also benefit from our business. They’re not in competition with us, but it’s a way to work together to bring greater value to the industry. So there are a lot of benefits to that within that. So one example is access to new markets and new potential clients or consumers that are out there looking for your service. It can really help you grow your business a lot faster and you can cross promote with In each other’s networks, that’s what I think is so important when we go back to the business that you choose to collaborate with needs to be complimentary and aligned with your brand. Because to some extent, when you work together, you’re representing each other in a way, and you are aligned. And so if you team up with somebody that has really different values than you than your business, then your customers might be different, or you might start to be perceived as similar to that business. So take your time, you know, in selecting and get to know a little bit and spend some time with the company that you know, the other business that you want to venture up with, also sharing the risks in your collaboration and then sharing the costs that could potentially come through. And that can look differently you may be some people may be bringing product to the table, or you know, bringing that skill set or that expertise. But if there are costs associated with it, you know, thinking about how to do that in a way that works for both parties. Another benefit is just the general access to new knowledge or specialized staff that are trained in certain areas, you know, I’m an equine photographer. So if I collaborate with someone, there is a skill set that I’m bringing, that is not a skill set that just everyone has. And it’s the same when you’re working with, you know, if I work with a veterinarian’s office, or if I work with some kind of horse trainer, I mean, they’re bringing a skill set that I don’t have to the table. And then you know, of course, there’s different perspectives and strengths, and it’s just such a benefit. Additionally, access to new equipment or technology, having access to maybe gear that you wouldn’t normally have access to, or technology that is really pricey. And if the two of you guys can team up together, I mean, we do that with the podcast, a lot like pulling in each other’s resources to get the job done. The problem solving side of a collaboration is huge. I think you cannot underestimate that when you bring anytime you bring people together to sit down and solve a problem or to get something done or to reach a common goal, you’re bringing in those new viewpoints that maybe you didn’t consider, or your team hadn’t since considered. But just having that outside knowledge can make all the difference. And a lot of times, you’re not just solving the problem, but you’re taking it to the next level, you know, you’re transcending what you originally thought was even possible, when you first got started. And I think, you know, with our podcast, you know, we had original idea of what we were going to do, and then the things that are coming from that in terms of you know, listener feedback, the things that we have learned together, is moving us to that next place,

Kimberly Beer 12:30
that is so much better than where we thought we would end up it’s just so much better. Yeah, but that’s another part of this. Another huge benefit that you can get out of joint ventures is that you can lift each other up being entrepreneur, as we have stated many times on this podcast, and you all very well know, it’s not always an easy road. And there are days when you can get super frustrated, there are days that you just want to give up. And when you have a good joint venture partner, it just makes it all that much easier to stay focused, because that energy can get shared and you can kind of bounce off of each other and, and be able to lift each other up and have that mindset shift that’s going to make the difference of you being positive or getting into a negative space. That’s an important part of this process too. And I do love the sharing of costs aspect to joint ventures because to me, if you can do it, you know, like if you can afford to do an advertising campaign, if you got somebody who’s willing to match funds with you, you can do two times as much. So both of you get that big benefit off of it, the sharing of costs and the sharing of time and effort and bringing your own expertise to the table. I think that there’s so many reasons to do this. And it’s an important piece of what you need to shop for in your network when you’re meeting people is you need to ascertain would that person make a good joint venture partner and then how can we further explore that possibility so that it can benefit both of us and and I like living in a world where that’s the way we do business is that we lift each other up, we help each other we manifest more when we manifested to gather.

Jaz 14:21
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Cara Taylor Swift 14:54
Sometimes I sit down and I think that I have an idea and this is what I want to do and this is how it’s gonna work but you know, just Having those outside thinkers sitting down at the table with you, I mean, it really is amazing where those ideas can go. Because we really can have sometimes a limited mindset around what’s possible. And having other people sit down with you and bring their ideas to the table has just been, it’s been pretty incredible.

Kimberly Beer 15:17
I agree. And as somebody else may know how to visibly step by step, do something that maybe you know where you want to go. But you don’t know exactly what you need to do to get there. And the joint venture partner appealing, Hey, I got this, I know those steps. I’ve done them before, I can either kind of help you figure that out, and you go do that part. Or I can take that and then you can use your specific your special set of skills, to be able to do what you need to do to bring this joint venture to fruition, I do want to make sure that I emphasize that that’s why it’s so important to be choosy about who you create joint ventures with. Because if you do get someone who is the all about me, and you need to kind of do things for me, it doesn’t work out as well, there’s not as good of a relationship. And if one partner in a joint venture partner feels like they’re pulling all of the work and the other person is kind of skating by that joint venture is going to fail. And both of you are going to be unhappy with each other. So make sure that you set good expectations with each other. And that you do a lot of interviewing and talking about what ifs What if this happens? What if that happens? How are we going to handle that situation? How do we how do you proceed with that? And I think that leads us beautifully into our next topic, which is creating that clarity around joint ventures. So you want me to talk about the smart plan?

Cara Taylor Swift 16:45
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, how much I love a smart plan.

Kimberly Beer 16:50
So if you haven’t heard of this before, you might want to grab a pen. But chances are though, if you’ve been around business, any kind of business coach or consulting for any length of time, somewhere in there, you have encountered the amazing smart plan. So smart, of course, is an acronym. And the actual meaning of the acronym can change a little bit if you Google it, but for our terms, we’re going to use smart as specific, measurable, actionable reason, and then timeline. So that’s the that’s the way that I talk about smart plans. That’s my acronym meanings. And basically what this does is it allows you to sit down with yourself or with another individual around a specific project, and come up with a really good plan for being able to create that in and manifest it. The first thing you’re going to do is you’re going to get really specific a new joint venture situation, you’re going to say, this is specifically what we’re aiming to do. So for us for the podcast, it would be to create a podcast that serves pet bassed, equine, and agribusiness, then we’re going to look at what’s the measurable results of that? Where do we know how do we know we have been successful with this? And for Cara, I, specifically the measurable part of this and in a year we did commit to a full year of this is to say at the end of that year, did we add either financial gain, which is something I think from the podcast itself, which is one of those things that I don’t think that we saw at the beginning of this process? Or did we add customers to our business that offset what we have invested in time and and financial investment into the podcast, that’s going to be what our measurable results are, the action plan is what do we need to do. And for this, we had to modify this a couple of times in our world, because we got in over our head a little bit when we first started, you know, podcasting is not as easy as it sounds.

So we had to hire someone to help us because we wanted to do this, right, we wanted to do something that was going to be beneficial. That’s where the brand alignment. That’s where the personal asset alignment really is critical is because you want to look at it as you have this common goal and you want to produce a product with the same expectations of quality. So in the action plan, we ended up hiring a consultant to help us with that we needed to be able to produce a show schedule. I mean, it’s all the little minutia things, the show schedule, how are we going to format our show notes? What’s the website going to look like? What are the graphics going to be? What’s the logo? I mean, there was a ton of little steps in that action plan. And then we had to really examine our why and that’s where the AR comes in with the reason why for me is because I like to make a difference for business owners out there. And I think that Cara agrees with that. That’s a common

Common aligned value that we share. And the feedback that we’re getting from the podcast is yes, it’s beneficial. It’s helping people it’s it’s making a difference for them. And then T is timeline. So when are we going to have these things done by and who’s going to be responsible for them who’s responsible for putting together the shownotes, who’s responsible for putting this stuff up on the syndication networks. So that’s just a quick little rundown example of what a smart plan is. And I’ll repeat that, and oh, that Better yet, you can come to the website, because I’m going to put up a worksheet that you can have that you can download that has this on it. And if you don’t want to do that, you just Google it, but we’d rather you come to the site, because there’s interesting things on there.

Cara Taylor Swift 20:44
Absolutely. And you can download it get started, you can do your own planning, you can start forming your own collaborations with that piece on there. But the big thing is, you’ve got to think about like Kim said, You’ve got your you know, the smart plan is just a fancy way to say, you know, you’ve got to have common objectives, you’ve got to have a plan to communicate, you’ve got to have realistic and conjoined expectations about what the outcome is going to be. And you’ve got to have a plan for the ultimate investment in the workload expectations if you’re going to be successful together. And finally, how long are you going to be doing this together? Is this a short term collaboration? Or is it a longer term one, you know, Kim and I, we committed to a length of time, and we’ll go from there, this smart plan is a fancy way to say all of that, and it’s used widely and or something like this, it’s a great tool. So we will make sure that we’ve got one that’s real easy for you guys to download put to work.

Kimberly Beer 21:33
Absolutely. And I’m just gonna run over the acronym one more time for the SMART stands for specific, measurable, actionable, reason, and then timeline. And if you just write those things down, even if it’s a quick collaboration, just sitting over coffee, and writing down the acronym, and then discussing each one of those topics, and then how you would put it together, I always recommend writing, if you write it down, even if it’s just in an email later and sending it to that person to say, here’s what we talked about, then you do have a lot of that clarity, so you don’t miss communicate with someone. And I think that’s where some joint venture projects maybe go wrong is that one person’s like, Oh, I understood this was how it was going to be in the other person’s like, No, we decided on this. So when you put it in writing, it doesn’t have to be a contract or anything like that, just an email that restates what you talked about so that you both can look at it and go, Okay, this is we’re both on the same page. This is what I understand this is my responsibility. This is your responsibility. And this is what our expectations are and our common goal, then it keeps everybody in alignment with that and it avoids problems. Now you can formalize a joint venture relationship, if it gets to be a tight relationship. And there’s a lot of money involved. Having a contractor or an attorney is an advisable situation. But for the basic, you know, hey, we’re going to do this event together, just having it clearly written down and emailed back and forth to each other is usually pretty good. That’s, that’s enough to suffice.

Cara Taylor Swift 23:09
So where do you look for a possible joint venture? Like, where are these opportunities for your business? Because I think there’s probably a lot of people that are listening, and they’re, you know, working their business, and they’re thinking, Okay, well, I’ve thought about doing this, but like, Where do I find these people? Right? I mean, yeah, I’ve asked myself that question for sure.

So we put together a list for you guys of places to get you started for when you’re out there thinking about Okay, so I know what my goal is. I’ve got my ability to do a smart plan when I finally meet with them. But where do I find these people that might be great candidates.

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Cara Taylor Swift 24:28
So first of all, I usually recommend looking for businesses that you utilize yourself that you respect that you enjoy interacting with already and of course that you share common goals and values

Kimberly Beer 24:42
Absolutely. Look to your already existing network to the people that you utilize so many of us in the pet industry, equine industry agribusiness, we tend to gravitate to businesses that have like minded audiences to our own, because we tend to all have animals, right. That’s our common

thread. And you know, you, you probably already have a feed store that you work with or a pet supply store that you work with for your own needs. And if you respect that business and like them, because they align with your values and your ideals and your your vision of how that particular business should be, then that might be a good partner for you to approach as a joint venture partner.

Cara Taylor Swift 25:27
Absolutely. And then you can also look at the connections that you already have, or networks that you already are linked into, if you’re already part of a club or a council. Or if you’re in a circuit of like a horse show circuit or something or part of a some kind of membership organization. Those are great places, you just have to do the legwork and get out there and actually attend the events and jump on the meeting calls and do some of that stuff. Because you’re those are networks that you’re already perhaps known in. So the legwork is already done on that part. So I think that’s a great place to start.

Kimberly Beer 26:00
You just exhausted all of the introverts, by the way, I know it just all went

Cara Taylor Swift 26:06
Trust me, I know I’m one of them, I totally get it. I totally get

Kimberly Beer 26:10
It’s okay, just make just

Cara Taylor Swift 26:11
so go back to that episode, which was number one, I don’t want to listen to that.

Kimberly Beer 26:18
But just to reiterate, to go back and listen to the whole episode, if you were there before, set a goal for yourself of I’m going to make a phone call today and talk to this person or invite them to have a zoom coffee with me or in and now face to face coffees are back on maybe a face to face coffee and and discuss a joint venture partnership, you know, and when you’re if you’re hesitating about approaching someone, remember this is going to benefit them too. And you’ve thought that through enough that you know you’ve done this early approach this is you’re going to have to sell them on the idea. I don’t think that’s necessary. But remember, this is going to be a benefit to their business as well. If it’s a good joint venture, it’s going to benefit them. So you’re offering them an opportunity that is a benefit for their business. And most people are really anxious to do that all of us entrepreneurs, we’re in the same situation of wanting more customers and to get better marketing. And anytime somebody approaches you and says, Hey, this is an opportunity to grow your business, you’re usually all up in that.

Cara Taylor Swift 27:22
Absolutely. You can also look to your existing customers, I have found some of the best relationships through people that I’ve already worked with, because we already have kind of established and initial relationship. So in terms of joint ventures being able to look to your existing clients, your existing customers, and where are their centers of influence? You know, if they’re a small another small business owner, is there a way that your businesses can work together? I think that’s a great place and then also who do they know because a lot of times they may have connections and can do the introduction that’s needed to get you in front of the person that you’d really like to have the joint venture with.

Kimberly Beer 28:01
Absolutely

Cara Taylor Swift 28:02
and then of course you know, you’ve we’ve already mentioned but you’ve got to get out there and attend those events where your shared audience is so if you’ve got someone you’re thinking about doing a joint venture with and they’ve got an event happening go to their event and say hello pick up the watermelon and follow them you know, whatever you’ve got to do to get in get in the door.

Lend a hand

Kimberly Beer 28:24
whatever you got to do to get into the door, okay, pick up the watermelon that has to be a dirty dancing. That was my dirty dancing reference. Yes, your dirty dancing reference. Yeah, so be baby pick up the watermelon. That’s right, I love and adore dancing.

So looking to your mentors is another space that you might go to those people who are in your sustainability squad which if you want to build a better one, go back and listen to that episode on sustainability squad, but your mentors your sponsors, other people in your network heck even your advisors sometimes would make really good Joint Venture Partners because they probably have an expertise that maybe your your target market might be interested in hearing more about so maybe you could have an insurance person in to talk about insurance and and then you can cross collaborate with them for for that. So you’ve got a lot of opportunity within your own network and then to start to look outside your network

Cara Taylor Swift 29:28
especially if you’re new business you might not feel like you have the power behind you to make you know certain caliber connections so looking to people that you’re really comfortable with like your mentor might be a great place to start if you’re a newbie and you know a new business owner and then we you know I always like to tell people social media last but I social media and Facebook groups. Those are a great place to to meet like minded people. I always like to caution that with you know, we’re online, we’re dealing with people online, but I have to say I’ve met some amazing business owners for the first

Time through their social media and you can follow their feeds, and you can listen to their stories and you can read their content and really get an idea of at least what their mission is. And if you have brand alignment, it’s a great place to start. And then you can reach out in the DMs and start making, you know, that coffee date or the zoom call to set up a time to actually chat further.

Kimberly Beer 30:20
Absolutely. The bottom line to this is they are everywhere joint venture partners are, there’s possibilities just Everywhere you look, and the world is very rich with them, there shouldn’t be any hesitation for you to reach out to a lot of them. And there’s also no bad feelings if they say no, that’s not for me, don’t take that as a personal rejection, take that as No, it’s not for them and move on to the next one on the list. Because there’s not a shortage out there either. pretty much anywhere you find people that share the common thing of whatever it is you do, there’s gonna be a joint venture partner in that area. And just making sure that you find the right one is probably the biggest piece of advice.

Cara Taylor Swift 31:04
And if they if someone does say no, if it’s not the right time for them, don’t be weird about it, don’t be, you know, upset about just the right time for them. Don’t be weird, you know that it’s not free time for them right now. But, but at some point, you know, if you don’t burn that bridge up in flames, when you’re walking away, you know that there is going to be another opportunity down the line. And maybe they just need to get to know you a little more, maybe they need to snoop your brands, maybe they need to, you know, ask some people who have worked with you before they’re willing to commit to that interview or that face to face meeting, I mean, leave that door open and in a happy place. And at some point, maybe that connection will happen. So always don’t be offended. You know, don’t be Don’t be always I feel like I have to reiterate, because there are, you know, I think sometimes people have a tendency to be offended that my business isn’t good enough. And the truth of the matter is, is they probably just need more information right now, or it’s not a good time for them,

Kimberly Beer 31:58
or you’re not being clear. In other words, if you approach a business that doesn’t know you doesn’t know your business and and you’re approaching them kind of cold at an event or you like show up at their business and want to talk to the owner to talk about a joint business venture, and you kind of hit them out of the blue with it. If you’re doing that kind of a cold pitch, you need to have something really clear to offer them like let’s say you want to approach your feed store about having an educational event, let’s say you have knowledge that you want to want to hold like a like a horse owner workshop at a certain feed store. So you you don’t know the owner per se, and you go in and you just walk up to them and say, Hey, I would like to do a joint venture with you, they’re probably going to be pretty resistant or look at you like you’ve maybe lost your mind a little bit. But if you walk up to them and say, I have this really good idea that I think could benefit us both. And it involves us hosting a event at your location, and I have blah, blah, blah asset that I can bring to that. Would you maybe like to go discuss it some more? Or would you be open to talking about that? And then then they can say, Yeah, I would or let me think about it or not right now, rather than just saying no. So have clarity in your idea when you’re approaching to them have have an idea of what it is that you want to do, and what the benefit would be to them and what you would bring to the table in that relationship. And then you can start negotiating the rest of it from there. I think clarity sometimes is the most important piece of that conversation. And it gets people in the right mindset rather than feeling like they’ve been blindsided by this concept that they didn’t they hadn’t been thinking about. I mean, they’ve been they’ve been worried about restocking the back shelves, worked. They were thinking along those lines, right.

Cara Taylor Swift 33:59
And when you blindside somebody to you’re going to set them up for an initial no if they don’t have space to think about it a little bit and and digest the content that you’re giving them. So yeah, that makes that makes a lot of sense.

Kimberly Beer 34:11
Yeah, that resistance can happen fast. Yes.

Cara Taylor Swift 34:15
Yes. So okay, so I think that’s all we have for you guys today. Kim, do you want to go over the big three again?

Kimberly Beer 34:22
I do. So let’s go over the Big Three One more time. Number one joint ventures are high octane fuel for building your customer base. If you’re a new business or an existing business and you’re looking to expand and grow. Joint ventures are a great way for you to be able to do that doing things with a joint venture partner means you can split the labor, the promotion, the costs, a lot of them the work of expertise of the project that you’re on. So you don’t have to be out there by yourself that’s that shared everything and when you share, there’s a benefit that comes to that of you can lift each other up, you can fill in the gaps and

You both end up in a better place. And then finally, our three of the big three is to be strategic about who you choose as a joint venture partner. Because it’s such an important piece of your business in such a great business building tool, you do need to be mindful of who you’re picking, making sure that they’re brand aligned, making sure that they’re going to hold up their end of the bargain and that their business really is a good complement to your business and to your customers.

Cara Taylor Swift 35:29
Okay, guys, so it’s your turn. We want to hear about your successful joint ventures. We want to get some ideas from you guys, what are you doing that you have loved? Who are the people that you love working beside to, you know, on a project, we want to hear about it? So let us know over on Instagram or on Facebook and the you know, locations that we are. The other thing we want you guys to do is hop over to the website and download that easily usable, ready to go smart plan so you can put it to work when you guys set up your meetings with your potential joint venture.

Kimberly Beer 36:01
Absolutely. Everybody have a great week, and we’ll see you next Tuesday. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you learn something today, leave us a review. To learn more. Find us at The Business animal.com we’d love to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well trained with The Business Animal

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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