I met Gary Vaynerchuk
… and he’s an awesome guy. Check out his ridiculous (in a great way) internet tv program winelibrarytv.com.
A couple people have asked me… “is he THAT energetic in person?”
Yes.
Recommended Book: Awaken the Giant Within
Want 2008 to be the best year ever? Start by reading this book.
Already finished it once? Read it again.
Joint Ventures And Egyptians? (JVs are not a pyramid scheme)
This evening at dinner Joint Ventures were brought up because of recent events in my own businesses. The first comment from the person across the table was “that’s a pyramid scheme”. The next remark was comparing my strategies with Amway.
Some have told me that they’ve discovered people who view JVs as ‘pyramid tactics’, but this was my first time to hear the comment.
I’m going to be honest: I’ve never dealt with an MLM company. It hasn’t really been an interest of mine because I have my own projects and choose to remain focused on those.
Regardless,
The moment you pay somebody a commission or “finder’s fee” have you begun a downline?
My answer is does it really matter?
I look for JV partners in order to make money and build strong relationships in the target niche. Paying good commissions (I never go below 20%) will make most people want to work with you. If not, there’s over 20 different Joint Venture techniques that will create win-win situations, many capable of operating without using cash as the ultimatum.
To learn more, visit Joint Venture Tools.
Say Please And Thank-You
I was discussing Rich Schefren’s coaching group with somebody on the Warrior Forum a couple weeks ago, and he mentioned that a lot of what Rich is teaching can be found in Dan Sullivan’s materials.
I didn’t have anything by Sullivan, so I picked up one of his low-end products, How the Best Get Better, and it was actually fabulous. I was sincerely impressed and recommend that you get it if you want some insights on things that nobody else is talking about. (If you’re an entrepreneur, you should not have a desk… for example.)
But there was one section, titled Referability habits, where Sullivan talks about the four basic things you absolutely must do to get anywhere as a professional (or as a person, if you ask me).
- Be on time
- Do what you say you’ll do
- Finish what you start
- Say please and thank-you
That last one, Say please and thank-you, reminded me of a recent occurrence with a company that I sent a referral to.
It was the beginning of an outsourcing project for me and things were going well-enough to recommend their services to a friend. That friend turned out to be worth $5,000+ to the company for her first project (who knows what could happen down the road).
The company knows me… they also have my phone numbers, e-mail address and home address… do you think they sent me a letter saying Thank You For The Referral?
If you gave another professional $5,000 would you like to hear “thank-you”?
I would too!
But guess what… NOT A WORD HAS BEEN SAID. I even spoke with the CEO of the company on the phone a few weeks later and we talked about my friend’s project for several minutes… and again, a simple thank-you was nowhere to be found.
When doing Joint Ventures or simple Referrals to other companies, you should expect to be thanked. And I tell this story for two reasons:
I believe that the company in error will read this message and hopefully get a clue.
I hope that as a professional, you’ll remember to be thankful for what people do for you. Taking a moment out of the day to send an e-mail, make a phone call… or go the extra-mile and send a letter… will do wonders for the relationships with your clients and friends.
