I’ve always heard that the best way to get ahead in any business is to have friends in high places. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying – it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know – and that’s the key for success in Affiliate Marketing too. When you develop a product, or even just want to market something, a Joint Venture with just one key person can make all the difference in the world.

But how do you find the people who will do Joint Ventures? The one thing I’ve always been told is to go to trade shows and conferences in your niche and make friends with people with similar products. Then pick their brains and find out if what they’re doing will work for you.

But there’s one problem with this theory (other than it’s quite expensive). You can’t just walk up to someone at a trade show and expect them to be your instant friend. Even if they meet you at the bar for a few drinks, you can’t just attack them with a bunch of questions and expect them to spill all their secrets.

That’s where the JV University can help It’s a site set up specifically for teaching people the proper way to develop friendships, and make lasting relationships that could equal a lot of money – now and in the future. And it’s not JUST all about making friends at trade shows!

The JV University has four separate learning sections:

Basic: This section is for the beginner who doesn’t know a thing about what a Joint Venture is, and/or has never tried to use this concept before. It explains the “”what, where and how”" of Joint Ventures and gives Case Studies for everything so you can easily get up to speed on the entire concept.

Intermediate: This is where it starts to get good. This section goes through more of how to find the EXACT people who will be the biggest benefit to you It also shows you how to get past the Gatekeepers, and get to the people at the top.

JV Sessions: Here’s where you will save the money you might have spent on a trade show. This section includes Hot Seat Sessions from some of the best shows that have been done. Your eyes will be glued to the screen as you watch these videos – and you better have a pen and paper handy for all the ideas you will be getting that will help YOUR business.

Advanced: This is where it all comes together for those who think they know all about Joint Ventures already. I was amazed to see so much information in this section. There’s everything from JV Brokering to Summits and Proposals. I have to say that this is the most complete information on Joint Ventures I’ve ever read.

If you want to have friends in high places, and use their connections for your profits, this is the place to get all the information you need. Check out the JV University today!

Before you start a JV you have to set goals that make sense for your business. Take into consideration your experience, the maturity of your product, and how stable your online income is right now.

If you’re struggling with monthly cash flow and have to scramble to pay bills, it’s not the time to embark on a full-blown JV. You can’t expect a JV to work an overnight financial miracle for you. There are costs associated with planning and executing a JV, and you need to be prepared to bear those costs upfront.

If you are a brand new entrepreneur with no list and no name recognition, you won’t be able to approach the biggest names in the business. You may have to build alliances with list owners who are just a little further along than you are. In fact, your first JV may not be about sales at all – it may be a loss leader to help you build your opt-in list.

Don’t become over-ambitious. We’ll say it again: you can’t hit a dozen targets at once! Keep yourself zeroed in on one or two tightly focused goals.

Set ACHIEVABLE goals. Better to have a goal you know you can reach – such as adding 1000 names to your mailing list while breaking even – than to fail to achieve a million dollar product launch on your first effort. It’s also demoralizing to your JV partners if you talk a big game but sales fall far short. Make the goal challenging – but not so far out of reach that it requires a miracle.

Do your homework. Subscribe to a lot of ezines – as many as you can find in your industry. Take the time to read them and study the offers they send out. Which offers do you find most appealing? Which products do you want to buy right away? Then try to imagine both sides of the deal. What possible attractions did the offer have for the list owner? What kind of offer would have appealed to him or her?

Do some networking before you begin. Make friends with a few list owners who seem open to helping newcomers. Once you have established these relationships, try exchanging notes about the product offers you see every day.

Unless you’re financially independent and dabble in business simply for the fun of it, every JV has to be a win-win. Your partners do need to be rewarded, but YOU need to benefit too.

If you want your JV to have any hope of succeeding, you must know why you’re doing a JV in the first place. Start out by choosing just one or two well-defined business goals. Then, once you have set a goal – stubbornly work toward it.

Affiliate Classroom has worked with about 3,000 affiliates at all levels of experience. The ones who continue to succeed learn to set goals for their affiliate business and stick with the goals until they are achieved. We have seen the most modest, part-time efforts pay off quickly – but only if the affiliate keeps his/her attention on goals that are clear, precise, and limited in number!

If you have fuzzy goals for your JV, you will get fuzzy results. If you have too many goals, you will be spread too thin and probably won’t achieve any of them. You can’t hit a dozen bulls-eyes simultaneously, and your JV partners will be disappointed in the results. So remember: choose just one or two goals, make them specific, and focus!

These questions may help you boil down your goals:

– How much product do you want your JV partners to move?

– How much profit do you want to take home from the JV?

– How much dollar volume do you want to achieve, and in what time frame?

– Do you want a quick, massive influx of cash into your business? How much?

– Are you looking for a more long term increase in sales growth? How much?

– Do you just want to get your foot in the door with some influential marketers?

– Do you want to get your current contacts more active in promoting your business permanently?

– Do you want to increase the size of your own affiliate base? By how much?

– Do you want a reduction in your advertising and customer acquisition costs?

– Do you want a massive increase in your opt-in list?

And finally, the most important question of all..

– What ROI would you like the JV to achieve – and in what time frame?

Remember, these questions are just to help you boil your goals down into something manageable. You don’t need to focus in depth on every single one of them!