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Don’t Bogart That Joint, My Friend
Copyright © 2002. Dan Levy. All rights reserved, unless specifically granted.
NOTE: This article is part of the free eBook, "I Am Falling, And You Can’t Make Me Get Up."

Joint Ventures: What Are They?

There’s a popular concept in online marketing now - joint ventures. This type of business arrangement has been around in the offline world every since business began. It has been in the online world since the invented the Internet began. After all, the Internet itself is a joint venture.

So, you ask, what is a joint venture?

It is a cooperative arrangement between two or more people (or companies) who do not normally do business together on a regular basis.

Here’s a hypothetical example. My business is that of making a plain bran cereal, and your business is growing grapes and making raisins out of them. What if one of us suggested that we get together, put raisins in the plain bran cereal, and create a new cereal that we would market together.

That would be two businesses coming together for a one-time project - a joint venture. Now, what would you name that cereal?

Another example might be when a group of small, neighboring cities come together on a project for the benefit of them all. Examples might be a shared convention center, a regional business district, or an airport. Each project might be too large to do individually, but not as a group. And these ‘joint venture’ projects would benefit each city.

Here’s one last example, a very common one. Most of us buy books. If you have children, you buy children’s books. These books have many illustrations in them that tell the story as much as the words tell the story. Most of the authors do not do the illustrations. So, the author and the illustrator come together to create the book - a joint venture.

But, what about on the online world?

Joint ventures work the same way. Lets say you are an author. You write children’s’ books. You are not very well known because you have just started. You get an idea about a website.

You will create a special book for the website every month or two. This book will be given away free. Then on the website, you will also sell other work you have done. If the people like the free one, maybe they will order the others. Just one problem, you don’t have a clue how to do it. And, you don’t have the money to pay someone.

But someone you know is a web site developer. You approach him with an idea for a website. You tell this friend what you want. He/she will create and maintain the website. You will provide all the content. You will split the profits 50-50. You are creating something new together. This is a joint venture.

There are other types of online joint ventures. Most common these days are when several people, or groups of people, all contribute to an electronic book, or ebook. Each will contribute a chapter or two, and split the profits.

What is joint venture not a joint venture?

Recently, in the online world, I have noticed a trend.

This trend is people creating an affiliate program and calling it a joint venture. Now, an affiliate program is where you and you alone create a product. Then, you recruit other people to sell the product for you. In return for selling the product, you pay these affiliates a commission.

If you had nothing to do with creating the product, you are not in a joint venture. If all you are doing is selling the product, you are a salesperson. To be in a joint venture, you must have a hand in creating the product.

Until next time,