By Judith Gilchrist, Joint Venture Specialist

The dictionary defines a joint venture as “the association of two or more people, companies or entities that want to combine their property, resources and expertise to create a business enterprise. Often, they will have joint shares on the company, product or project that they have launched together.”

Sounds a little complex and daunting. I prefer to simplify that definition, at least for online joint ventures:

“Two or more parties collaborating to do something for each other, whether that is selling, marketing, cross-promotion or growing each other’s business lists.”

The key that I’d like to focus on is the “do something for each other” and I wonder if that simple principle has been lost in WIIFM (what’s in it for me?).  In my wanders on the internet, I’ve found all sorts of different types of joint ventures, from offering prizes for the most promotions to bonuses if you buy this now to basically the ‘bigger is better’ style of promotion.  My gut tells me it’s time to change! And as women speakers, we can be that change.

I believe that if we come from a place of service, the rest will take care of itself.  I have noticed that companies are stepping out and explaining how they do business from a place of consciousness. And what else I notice is that the majority of these companies are run by women.  I applaud this approach and its brave step in bringing the perspective of women and conscious business to the traditional business world.

In the joint venture arena, the more communication, the better the relationships and the more creative the joint venture can be.  There simply isn’t a standard cookie-cutter model, though you do have to begin with some basics. What I can’t put my finger on just yet is what the new emerging model or models are going to look like.  I invite comments and ideas to get a discussion going on what we can do for each other that lifts us all up and moves everyone forward in the process.

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As the CEO of JVSpecialistonline.com, Judith Gilchrist works with online marketing companies, and web based entrepreneurs to assist them in exposing their product and/or services to a larger audience.  Judith has brought together many collaborative partners through relationship-building, resource-sharing and database-leveraging. Her work has helped to promote and share important messages, products, and services.