As you know, there are two and ONLY two things that can ever be done to make money on the internet. You can drive traffic and you can convert traffic. That’s it. Everything else you could possibly do on the internet to make money must fall into those two categories.

But who said YOU had to do either of them? Today we’re going to spend some time together and learn about a little something called Joint Venture Brokering.

What is JV (Joint Venture) Brokering?

Well first, what’s a joint venture? We already know that a broker is someone who “puts things together”, so the trick here is understanding exactly WHAT they are putting together. Have you ever seen a joint venture in action? Well, let’s think about it.

When was the last time you went to your local grocery store? As you walked through the isles, did you ever wonder where those fresh yummy strawberries came from? For some grocery stores, the answer is their own backyard, they did all the work themselves :). For the rest of ’em, they partnered up with a farmer who grew the strawberries and then sold them to the grocery store who then turned around and sells them to the end buyer. That’s called a joint venture!

That grocery store is a way of driving traffic. Those strawberries are a way of converting that traffic into a sale! Without all the food, the grocery store wouldn’t have much to sell and all its traffic would be next to useless. Without the grocery store, the farmers would have a tough time selling their food!

Now.. in order for these partnerships to work out, someone has to put them together! Who do you suppose that is? Yup! You guessed it..

The individual who puts joint ventures together is called a joint venture broker!

They act as the intermediary. They find the traffic and hook them up with a product, service, idea, or anything else, that leads to conversion!

So now that we know what a JV (Joint Venture) Broker is, we’re going to move ahead together and learn about the paths a JV Broker take towards creating a successful and sustainable joint venture. And keep in mind that “sustainable” is very important, a joint venture could make a ton of money selling a product and then end up lasting only a few days. In part 2 of this article, we’ll be talking about the two paths in detail and sharing some of the secrets within ;).

As we wrap up, there’s something important to know about JV Brokers. The goal of a successful JV Broker is to create 4 winners out of each joint venture and in order for that joint venture to be successful AND sustainable, those winners MUST be in the following order:

1. End Buyer – This is the person who, in our example, buys the strawberries. They win because they get fresh, farm-grown strawberries availible to them in the convenience of the nearby grocery store. They may also win because its a good price and value for their money. On top of that it could be their favorite brand of strawberries.. The list goes on and on! The end buyer must always be the big winner or they won’t buy and the joint venture won’t be sustained.
2. Product Owner – In our rather mouth-watering example of our delicious, fresh, juicy, ripe strawberries, the 2nd place winner is the farmer! He put the time and energy into growing and caring for his crop so that they would be of an exceptional quality when it came time to sell. The product owner must be the next big winner after the end buyer because if they’re not, why would they keep providing the product? If they aren’t getting a good return for all their hard work, why should they continue delivering an exceptional product?
3. Promoter (JV Broker) – The JV Broker is the one who, in our example, finds the farmer and connects them with the grocery store, or vice versa! This is the person who does all the research and relationship building. They do their very best to meet the needs of all those involved in their joint venture in order to make it successful and sustainable. They’re a winner in this because they make their money and build business connections without having to provide the product OR the source of traffic! JV Brokers often make their money through 2nd tier affiliate commissions. They join themselves as the 1st tier to the product’s affiliate program and then sign up the traffic provider as the 2nd tier under them, thus collecting a commission on each sale.
4. Traffic Provider – And finally, the source of traffic must be a winner. The grocery store has to make money on those strawberries or they probably wouldn’t sell them. If they were the first place winner they might make a lot of money in the beginning, but eventually buyers would wisen up and shop elsewhere. If they were the second place winner, the buyers might be happy, but eventually the product owner would catch on and take their product elshewhere to get a better deal. If they were the third place winner, where’s the incentive for the JV Broker to set the joint venture in motion and maintain it in the first place? They fit very snugly into fourth and all they ever have to focus on is increasing traffic.

And that’s that! Those are the 4 winners in a joint venture :). In Part 2, we’re going to focus very strongly on the 3rd place winner and learn the paths we can take AS a JV Broker in order to put together a successful joint venture.

Thanks for reading! I welcome your comments, feedback, and suggestions! I look forward to next time! :)

-Jonathan Wold

P.S. At the kind request of a reader I’m adding a small list of Joint Venture Brokering resources here at the bottom of this post. Check out Chris Rempel’s jv-web.com – If any of you have anymore suggestions for good JV related resources, feel free to drop me an email and let me know : ).