Here’s a new look at your future Internet business endeavors. Think in terms of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Rather than compete with other similar Internet businesses, you can join them as partners, escalating your business more than you ever imagined. :-)
In other words, Internet business doesn’t have to be about being “better than the competition” but can be about doing some business together and therefore growing together.
As an Internet business owner, you are likely searching out ways to increase your reach within your market, breaking down barriers and rocketing your revenues. And of course, you want to do this in a short amount of time!
In recent years, so many Internet businesses have united to augment their survival odds. It becomes necessary, I suppose, with many small businesses failing (or quitting) within the first five years.
So you hear more and more through various means that work-at-home parents and entrepreneurs have been looking into the possibility of working together with those who were competitors, thus becoming more successful in their endeavors.
Yes, many marketplaces these days are highly competitive. Of that there is no doubt. But when you look long and hard, you can find ways of overcoming. That’s why I wanted to include this topic for you to read about Competition Versus Joint Venture. It’s something to consider in your Internet business.
Taking part in a joint venture is basically teaming up with others (one person, a group or a business entity) in order to expand your business influence and to create a powerful market presence. It’s important, if you are going to do this, to do it soon… because otherwise your competitors may beat you to it!
Formally speaking, in a joint venture, an entity is formed between two parties (or more) to take part in economic activity together. They both contribute equity and share in the expenses and in the control of the business. It can be for only one project or be a continuing relationship.
So much to the formal stuff… ;-)
In a joint venture, you won’t be transferring ownership in any way. It’s not a merger, just a sharing. So what do you share with a partner?
You can share markets, assets, or knowledge, and of course, you can share (higher) profits!
For example, a large company may decide to start a joint venture with a small company to get some intellectual property not available to them otherwise, or to obtain hard-to-come-by resources.
Or a small business person with a Web site and hundreds or thousands of visitors per day shares the traffic with another webmaster who is in the same market but with eventually a slightly different audience (not necessary though!). Both have excellent products or services and share their excitement by recommending each others products. As a result, each of their audiences get more of what they want and improve their lives, so it’s a true win-win-win situation.
The advantages are great! It’s possible to expand into foreign markets, lower production costs, increase sales, etc. Collaborating with others definitely has pluses.
Bottom line, rather than invest large amounts of resources to enter into new areas of the marketplace, you can join forces with others who have identical products or services. And you will possibly find yourself able to compete (together with your partner) against some of your larger competitors—or even joint venture with THEM later, too!
So, before talking about “that competitor” again, why not shift your mindset from Competition to Joint Venture?
—Marcus Hochstadt
Like this article? Please consider sharing it! :-)
Its funny. I approached a competitor about 9 months ago about us setting up a JV. We both served the same target market, but brought two distinctly different skill sets. And this was at a time that he was really struggling. He was cordial, but refused my offer. We’re still facing somewhat of a tug-o-war for customers in a very tight market and suffering for it.
It seems to me that Internet Marketers in general are very individualistic and proud. Your not likely to see very many JVs. More big fish, little fish, same old same.
I have been doing this at Vacation Ranking. Giving freelance journalists, retired travelers, and area specific travel websites/blogs an opportunity to have their work published on my site. I link their pages back to their website or offer to put business contact info at the end of their articles.
Everything started out great getting 10 sign ups in a week. I’m trying to learn html code and such so I have been working very hard at getting things to flow just right.
I built many “About Me” pages for some of these sign ups and there were emails back and forth…. All but 3 have followed through with anything. So I just changed the Application form to say write an “About Me” and “Your First Review” in the box provided.
On the brighter side I spent many hours messing with tweaking and changing things on the website so I did learn some things during that process.
I have also found some new friends/partners on the net. I provide a chance for them to leave some of their business cards so to say, they provide me with articles that will one day help a reader at my site.
Link Exchange on Steroids I like to say.
Good article and good luck to you,
Josh
actually, i like joint venture. but i have nothing to share. :)
The big danger in joint ventures is that things could go sour. What then? Even if the partnership is rosy and cordial in the beginning, business can turn quickly in unexpected ways. That’s why having solid agreements in place ahead of time is important. Putting things in writing up front can save a huge fight at the tail end of a joint venture.
[…] About Marcus ← Competition Vs. Joint Venture […]
I found out that joint ventures are a win-win-win situation more often that I thought it would be. And up to now, there was no formal contract necessary yet. After all, if something goes wrong the first time, that was also the last time. ;-)
~Marcus
Joint ventures are great I am able to provide articles for your site or placement of your article/post on my site. I f you or anyone would be interested let me know also possible blog roll swap or ad swap I have a internet marketing niche list of 500 and growing.
I think that this is one of the biggest mistakes that people make. Most people look at the other sites in their niche as “competitors” – when, in reality, they should see many potential joint venture partners. That is what I have done in my own business. And, it has worked extremely well.
I assume that the joint venture is a business of two or more companies, each of which have something to offer. If you’re a starter and have nothing to offer, you won’t be taken seriously because the startup capital, whether monetary or intellectual, is needed.
But in general I agree with the idea. The big companies are merging, why not the small ones? The main thing here is always to be and to behave as a professional and solve all the differences in productive discussions, not fights.
I agree with you 100% no dought but when you are in the early stages of your business you do’nt have anything to contribute i.e no product and no list and most of all no identity but having said that being a business owner in the offline world as well i always work and get on well with my competiters.
I agree with you, Marcus. Why engage in breakneck competition when both parties can happily make more money when they unite in a profitable Joint Venture. That’s very true but the big problem is that most people don’t understand that there’s profit in a good joint venture for both parties, so they turn such opportunities down because they fear that they will lose customers to the other party. Well said, once again, Marcus… thanks for sharing.
Yes, joint ventures are a great way to take advantage of economies of scale and reach a whole new level of growth. But, (and i see this happen all too much with people trying to do these joint ventures) is that you must bring something to the table. Too many times you see one internet marketer with no list or anything else of substance, go to a high level marketer with vast experience and ask that high level marketer to market his “product” for him. It doesn’t work that way, but most guru’s teach people to do it that way. You need to earn your stripes before you seek joint ventures so you have something to offer.