What is your motto for your life? The Elliott Family Crest contains the Motto, “Fortiter Et Rechte” – Bravely and Truly. My person Motto is “Freedom at Any Cost”. Your Motto tells you a lot about yourself, your values, purpose and beliefs, your goals and your philosophy. And using your Motto correctly can empower and revitalize your life. When I come home the first thing I see on the wall is the Elliott Crest and my Father’s ceremonial Air Force dagger. It reminds me of my Warrior mindset, the love and support of my family and my Motto. There are some really motivating and inspiring Mottos out there, especially military Mottos. Look at these:

The Pain is Temporary; The Pride is Forever (Israeli Military)
Who Dares Wins (English SAS)
Through Adversity to the Stars (Canadian Air force)
Fortune Favors the Brave (American 3rd Marine Regiment)

A Motto that is displayed, remembered and honored will help to focus and ground you. How would you feel if you were entering a difficult situation and you repeated your Motto, “Any Time, Anywhere, Any Weather” (USS Salamonie) – would you be more resolute? Would you be more determined? How about, “Do Right, Fear No one” (Norwegian Artillery)? If you were to repeat your Motto on a regular basis, it would undergird and encourage you. What about creating a wall plaque, a desk sign, a banner, a screensaver, an e-mail signature with a strong Motto that really worked for you? It would tell the world a lot about you as well, of course. (When I see some loser wearing a marijuana leaf pendant, I know exactly what his Motto is.) Here are some you might want to consider for yourself:

Can and Will
Deeds not Words
Rise Above the Rest
Yield to None
The Higher I Climb, the More Gallant I Am
Bound to Win
Hard as a Rock

If you’re religious, here’s an opportunity to use your favorite verse, like “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” One of my mentors, whenever you asked him how he was, would reply, “I’m Happy, Healthy and Successful.” Isn’t that great? What you say and believe becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Motto is “Together, we do amazing things.” What do you call yourself? I’m the Prophet of Profit.

Let’s use this powerful motivational tool – it’s free!

Robin J. Elliott http://www.dollrmakers.com/

What separates the truly great from the mediocre, the winners from the losers, the pretenders from the contenders? What is it that spurs certain people on to magnificent achievements while others choke bitterly in their dust? There’s an old and true, military motto, “Si vis pacem, para bellum” from Flavius Vegetius Renatus circa 375 AD: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” When you want something badly enough, you will fight for it. It’s the old, “Live free or die” kind of approach. Watch what people do and you will see their true level of commitment.

Ayn Rand spoke about this kind of bulletproof resolution. “There are two sides to every issue” she said, “one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth…” Fence sitters and cowards exist in a moral fog where they never really commit to anything but their hatred of success. Achievers are prepared to fight to the death. Sidney Sheldon put it best: “The foolish think the Eagle weak, and easy to bring to heel. The Eagle’s wings are silken, but its claws are made of steel.”

Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Winners don’t cut and run. They are in the fight until the end. They stay the course. They know that anything worthwhile will take a bit longer and take some doing. They understand that they will face a few detours, disappointments, and distractions.

They expect the unexpected. They are warriors who realize that war is war. They don’t make excuses or expect the state or mommy to help them. They don’t find the strongest people to blame for their inadequacies, spinelessness and weakness. They bounce back courageously and fight on. They are the “Steel fist in the silken glove” – when you push them, you find out whom you’re really dealing with.

During my years working with entrepreneurs, I’ve learnt an important lesson: You can put a loser into the best business with excellent products and a great market and he will fail miserably. But you can put a winner in a failing business with no hope and he will turn it into a wonderful success story. It has very little to do with your circumstances – winners can turn lemons into lemonade, every time. It’s who they are.
This is the Entrepreneur’s Credo:
I do not choose to be a common man -
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can.
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
Humbled and dulled by having the State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk,
To dream and to build. To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillmentTo the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done.
All this is what it means to be an Entrepreneur.
(Excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine)

If you want peace, prepare for war; prepare to fight for it. And peace will be yours.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

Wrap your mind around this one: If every car that crossed the Port Mann Bridge each gave you just one dollar per MONTH, you would earn $300,000 per month. Every driver could afford one dollar per month, and all you would have to do is give him a reason to pay you. When we look at the amount of potential surrounding us, we realize why some people become fantastically rich, while others battle to merely survive financially. The “Toll Booth” analogy works well when you think of the richest man on earth, Bill Gates – he gets paid on each transaction. Like royalties to recording artists or authors. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do – all you need to do to partake in profuse and proliferate prosperity is to set your tollbooth up. Once you understand the mindset, it’s easier than you might imagine.

First, you need to find traffic – like the cars going over a bridge, a stream of people buying at a certain place, a flow of distribution, (like a river, where you simply divert the flow through your bank account and back into the river again) or a movement or process of business. Then, think of a logical addition of value to that group, product, or process. For example, a thousand cars park all day, every day in the sun while the drivers leap onto a train to go to work in the city. That’s the flow. What do they need / want? How can you add value to them? Perhaps they need those windshield sun protectors so they don’t get into steaming cars and their car interiors are protected. That’s the value.

Next, you need access to those people. For this, we use Joint Ventures. I might want to skip off to the nearest dollar store and buy a few hundred sun protectors and then sell them to the drivers as they head for the train, but I might need permission to talk with them. I could arrange a profit sharing deal with the person who can give me this access / introduce me to the drivers. Then, I need to remove risk, cost and time from the Joint Venture opportunity. I don’t want to be stranded with five hundred sun protectors that I can’t sell! Could I take orders for the sun protectors or get them paid for in advance or get them on consignment? That way, I don’t sell any, I don’t lose anything. I could Joint Venture with the person who owns the dollar store, right? And to remove time, could I have someone else do the actual selling and share the profits with them? This is a simple example, but the principle works with million dollar deals as well as with small businesses.

Finally, how can I add to a successful Joint Venture? I now have a captive audience / database. What else do they want and need? There are millions of dollars and opportunities and underutilized resources just waiting for you to take advantage of them. Once you realize that you can create bridges and set up tollbooths at will, in any area, industry, or situation, with no cost or risk and very little time, you can remove all financial barriers from your life. You can create multiple streams of passive income by understanding the power of Joint Ventures. To find out more, please visit www.dollarmakers.com/ now.
Robin J. Elliott

Two farmers enjoyed the same size of land, the same weather, the same marketplace and opportunities, pricing and labor availability. One was the father of my friend, Louis. One day the neighboring farmer visited Louis’ dad and said to him, “You know, Mr. Boschoff, I don’t understand why I work hard from dawn till dusk, while you spend a lot of time talking with your friends and sitting on the porch smoking your pipe, yet your farm makes you rich and I am close to bankruptcy. Why is that?” According to Louis, his dad replied, “That is because you work too hard. You should be thinking more and working less. I plan and discuss and cooperate with my friends while you are laboring.”

When I applied to immigrate to Canada, I used my training, certification, and credentials in Work Study (Organization and Methods) to qualify for acceptance.
Dictionary: “Work Study noun 1. An investigation of the most efficient way of doing a job, especially with regard to time and effort.”
When people say, “work smarter, not harder”, they remind us that we are no longer laboring in the Industrial Age. In this Information Age, there are literally no limitations on people who use their heads instead of their hands to create value. Laborers and other people who sell their time may as well be slaves. They’re really no better off than prisoners! When you sell your time, you sell pieces of your life that you will never be able to recover. You should only spend time on things you absolutely love doing. If you make money into the bargain, that’s great. But few people get rich by selling time.

By using Joint Ventures to borrow and leverage other peoples’ underutilized time, resources, credit, reputation, services, equipment and products, you don’t recreate the wheel and you Fast Forward your success in a win/win way. Together, we can do amazing things. Successful people and businesses piggyback on distribution, advertising and access, so they alter the time and effort equation. As a Work Study Officer, I found ways to remove entire sections from work processes and still get the same results. When I was asked to do Work Study in a government department, I showed them how to fire 40 people and still get the same results. Unfortunately, government is more interested in politics than profit, so they turned down my proposal. I fired my boss and started my own business. Louis Boschoff gave me a Tony Robbins book as an “Independence Day Gift” and I took my skills into the wonderful world of capitalism instead of bureaucratic collectivism.

When you think more about leverage (the more you learn, the more you earn), you can work less and have more time to play and have fun. Louis Boschoff bought a real estate office (with no money or risk) and became a millionaire in two years. He applied what his farmer father had taught him. This article is dedicated to the memory of that smart man who taught me much. Thanks, Louis. Rest In Peace, my friend.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

When I read a book, I read the words of the author. That means I think the thoughts of the author. If I think those same thoughts enough, I will acquire the same perceptions, beliefs, and expectation as those of the author. Then I will start to evaluate things as the author does, make the same choices and get the same results, right? Repetition is the mother of invention. We learn through spaced repetition. That’s why I feed my brain with input from people whom I admire and emulate. If you want to be a successful Joint Venture Broker, here are some questions that you should automatically apply to all your circumstances and opportunities.

But first, you should realize that you are surrounded by untold wealth, opportunity, and abundance. There is no shortage or scarcity. Every resource you need and want is readily available to you at no cost or risk. Also, when you ask the right questions, your magnificent subconscious mind will help you find the answers. One of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal is your Reticular Activating System (RAS). A simple example of how it works automatically to provide you with all the answers you need is when you buy a new car. Suddenly, your RAS will make you aware of all the other cars that are the same as the one you bought. Try it now. Look around the room you’re in. OK? Now, look for the color red. Do you see how all the red jumps out to you attention?

You program your RAS to find answers by asking the right questions. Here are the thoughts / questions that will make you a successful Joint Venture Broker:

How can I benefit from this situation? Where are the underutilized resources?
How can I create massive value for this person and get paid for it?
What does this person really, really want?
How can this person help me get what I want? What resources does he or she have access to?
How can I get this with no money or risk? Where can I obtain this resource at no cost or risk? Who has it?
How can I remove the cost and risk and leverage this situation / opportunity / resource?
What is the ideal situation here? If there were no barriers, what would I love to happen here? How can I make this happen? Who can make this happen for me? What’s in it for them?
How can I double my income in two months? What would have to happen / change for that to occur? What potential lies in this situation?
What do I really, really want, more than anything else, and WHY do I want it?
Why am I not making at least twice what I make now?
Who do I have to link up with to change my life?
Where will I find the resources I seek?

If you are not yet a Member of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum, join now. Attend a Bootcamp or invest in our Home Study Program and change you life forever.

Robin J. Elliott www.dollarmakers.com/

You have a choice between two meetings. One is a meeting with someone who can add $100,000 to your revenues and the other one can add $10,000. Which meeting will you attend? You can make one of two phone calls. You can allocate time to only one activity at a time. You have a limited amount of time to dole out. Your resources are finite. You can only read one book at a time. You want to leverage and duplicate you efforts. What if you had a checklist that you could use to objectively evaluate the reasonable, potential return on your investment and thereby make better, more lucrative choices regarding the sensible assignment and strategic distribution of your time and capital?

Many people make choices based on guilt, popularity, comfort, convenience, and fear, rather than on practical and logical considerations. Large companies are bottom line oriented and they have shareholders scrutinizing their choices, whereas small business owners can act anonymously, compromise, justify poor decisions, and ignore flawed evaluations. What do the big corporations do differently? They are acutely aware of the cost of their time, equipment, and assets. They report to controllers and accountants who are not emotionally involved and expect to see optimal expediency. So let’s look at some useful, guiding criteria for the expenditure of our irreplaceable time.

Set benchmarks for your expected return on investment. Will you look at any Joint Venture or sales opportunity under $1,000? Does it have to result in repeat sales and therefore passive income? What is the minimum potential you look for and do you choose between two options based on their potential and risk / return equation?

What are your standards for the people with whom you do business? Do you compromise? What values and ethics do you insist on? What disqualifies people from the opportunity of doing business with you? How many lies will you tolerate? How about punctuality, professionalism, and reputation? Do you walk away when you see there’s something fishy going on, or do you turn a blinf eye? Are you a victim of situational ethics, brought on by blatant greed?

What steps will you take to evaluate an opportunity before physically attending a meeting? What organizations / types of business are not qualified to work with you, based on your values and Mission Statement? For example, would you do business with someone involved in pornography or any particular religious cult?

What has to happen for you to turn an opportunity down? Under what circumstances will you walk away from a business relationship?
What standards or measurements do you use to assess opportunities before spending time and money on them?

I personally only do business with Members of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum and if they do not abide by our Code of Ethics, they are fired. I do not get involved with people who are involved in certain types of businesses or certain religious and business cults. Most of my Joint Ventures are “No Money, No Risk” and I pay only for performance. I have a specific period during which I seek real results – after that time we either change tactics or cut bait. Lying, manipulation, and deception disqualifies people from my world. I do not do business with people in certain countries or with socialists, altruists, politicians or collectivists. The more selectively you allocate your resources, the more you value your time and insist on optimal leverage, the higher your standards, and the less you compromise your values, the happier you will be and the more money you will make.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

Watch the Military Channel and you will soon learn the difference between tactical and strategic. Your Strategic Goal is your Vision, your Identity, your Cause or your Big Picture. We have heard, “Lose the battle but win the war” and we know that sometimes we need to change our game plan / battle plan / action plan, in order to reach the major objective or goal we have set. Strategists are like chess players; they think ahead and plan carefully. They are not attached to their tactics but they seldom sacrifice their strategic goals. In marketing, Tactical Marketing is what you do: placing ads, making calls, sending out press releases. Strategic Marketing is what you say, your message, and your image. Tactical is HOW? Strategic is WHY?

When you see an entrepreneur overreacting to short-term challenges, he is tactically involved and focusing on bumps in the road instead of the map. He loses sight of his destination and the detours that he takes can have him ending up a million miles from his objective. Listen to what the American Productivity and Quality Center has to say, “High-level executives need and request specific strategically focused information from the competitive intelligence (CI) function. At the same time, professionals in functional units such as sales and marketing need and request tactical information to assist in business development and customer problem solving.”

No matter how large or small your business is, you need to be aware of this difference. People who have an exciting, specific vision and know why they want what they profess to want, do not easily cut and run when the going gets tough. They get their egos out of the way and remember why they are doing what they’re doing. They carefully build strong relationships with the right people and they don’t mind changing tactics in midstream if that’s what it takes to reach their goals. They have a long-term plan that helps them cope with intermediate irritations. They don’t panic or throw the baby out with the bathwater. Can you imagine General Patton, Montgomery, or Churchill panicking and wringing their hands? I think not. See how Google and Dell partner up to achieve their common goals. Watch Ebay and Yahoo joint venture to work strategically.

True success is built on a powerful vision. Joint Ventures is the most effective means I have found to make your dreams come true. Here is our DollarMakers Vision Statement to reach millions of people:

Vision Statement
DollarMakers will be the natural choice for individuals and owners of small to medium sized businesses worldwide who want to use Joint Ventures to create wealth and success. We will expand our services and network to provide affordable and accessible tools to create wealth to anyone of any background and in any situation, who understands that, by becoming financially free, they can gain, regain and maintain their dignity, self-respect, quality of life, and success. We will help to spread Capitalism and Freedom, and the understanding that every person is responsible for their own choices and success, and that they are able to attain that through Joint Ventures.

Mission Statement
DollarMakers specializes in sharing Joint Venture knowledge, access, and support with individuals and owners of small to medium sized businesses worldwide through our Membership, Meetings, Tools, and Training. Together, we do amazing things and every resource is available through Joint Ventures.

Link up with powerful, motivated individuals whose vision is strongly aligned with you own and Joint Venture together to achieve your common goals a lot faster and with the support any smart strategist creates.

Robin J. Elliott www.dollarmakers.com

People spend a lot of time creating “Sales Scripts” or “Pitches” or “Chassis Plans” to use like a cookie cutter when selling ideas, concepts, products, or services. And of course, they do work. Except when they don’t, and sometimes, they won’t. Because when you’re trying to sell me vitamins, you’re not going to get anywhere. Or tools. Or many other things in which I have no interest. In fact, if you sell tools, you will never sell me any. Guaranteed. So how can you benefit from spending your valuable time with me? How about the six thousand people that I could refer to you? Would that be more valuable to you than a quick buck sale?

Most salespeople are too desperate to think beyond the immediate gratification of a sale. That is why they will never be anything but a salesperson. What would happen if you stopped talking about your products and yourself (nobody is interested, anyway) and started talking about the one subject everyone is VERY interested in - themselves? If you took the time to ask me a lot of questions about my hopes, dreams, fears, vision, challenges and problems, my family, my values and my sore toe, you might find some area that you could contribute to, some problem you could solve, some introductions you could make, that would be very valuable to me. And then you would get my attention and my wish to reciprocate, perhaps by enthusiastically referring you to my entire database.

I regularly get people saying to me, “I want to do Joint Ventures, but I don’t know where to start – I am looking for a Joint Venture.” That simply means they don’t yet understand what a JV is. Can you ask someone open-ended questions about their life and their goals? “If a genie leapt out of this ketchup bottle and offered you three wishes for your life, what would they be? When you say ‘wealth’, what, specifically, do you mean? How much? By when? WHY? What would you do with the money? Why do you want to be healthy? What would constitute success in that area of your life? Could you elaborate? Tell me more…” The more you know about someone, the better you can help him or her by linking them up with solutions and being paid for it – THAT is a Joint Venture. Not trying to force a square peg into a round hole because you need to meet your sales quota. Do you realize that your prospect likes his dog a lot more than he does you? That his dog’s health and happiness may be more important to him than your products or your health? Perhaps you should talk about his dog… smart salespeople do, you know.

Many salespeople are like cult members – they can’t stop trying to force their products down your throat at every opportunity. Their blinders prevent them from taking any interest in you. I know a few cult members, and believe me, they are the most selfish, egotistical people around. They have snake oil to cure headaches, save gas in your car and improve your memory. They want to sell you stuff you don’t need or want, can’t afford and don’t even like. They blindly deny the fact that any other product or service even exists. Instead, they could become your favorite person in a short period by helping you achieve your goals – they could secure your undying love and loyalty instead of selling another bottle of placebo effect or an exciting chance to lose money with the next Enron.

It takes time to understand the unlimited power of Joint Ventures – the opportunity to be well paid for helping people to get what they want – and sadly, some people are so heavily conditioned and desperate that they will never understand the concept. However, those who do, obtain the ultimate leverage available. Give people what they want and you’ll get anything you want. More information: www.DollarMakers.com

Robin J. Elliott

When someone says, “Money isn’t important to me”, or “I don’t do it for the money”, you know they have no money. People who have earned their money and created wealth understand the importance of money. They would never say that money is not important. People who have inherited wealth and live off someone else’s hard work often don’t understand money – they might know how to spend it but not how to make it. Money is what pays for our food, clothing, transport, education, medical care and housing – how could it not be important?

I talked with a man who told me that money is unimportant to him. I asked him who paid for the medical assistance he receives, the clean environment he enjoys, the fire trucks and ambulances and police that will arrive at his door within minutes should he dial 911… He replied that the government paid for it. I reminded him that the government got its money from producers and creators of value wealth in the form of exorbitant taxes. The government does not create wealth. Money is the barometer by which creators measure the value they produce. In a purely capitalist society, we are paid in direct proportion to the value we create. The amount of money earned by a union member has very little to do with the value created by that person. (Try using an airline with unionized employees and see how bad the service is.)

In today’s society, we need to remember what money is all about. Often, the people who are the most greedy and lazy are the same ones that profess disinterest in money. The mystics and academics, bureaucrats and second-handers have successfully foisted their collectivist philosophy on many people who cannot or do not choose to think for themselves. The best description of money and capitalism I have found is in the “Money Speech”, written by Ayn Rand. Here’s an excerpt: “So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?” To read the entire speech online (it’s from Atlas Shrugged), click here: http://www.CapMag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

I wear a small, gold dollar sign on my lapel. It reminds me of my core philosophies of Freedom and Responsibility. I refuse to trade my freedom and dignity by violating my values, and money buys that freedom. I create wealth by creating value. The amount of freedom I enjoy is directly proportionate to my production, innovation, and creativity. I am solely responsible for my life and lifestyle. I will not steal from others or ride on the backs of others. The dollar sign inspires and motivates me, by reminding me how fortunate I am to be in a position to create any amount of value I wish, in a free country. The only limits I face are self-imposed.

Recently, I heard on the radio about a woman in Canada who needed a knee operation. She was on an eighteen-month waiting list. Her physician advised her that the only effective painkiller would cause her to become addicted to it. She had to become a drug addict for eighteen months in order to cope with the acute pain in her knee. After her operation, she went into a drug rehabilitation center for six days. The operation would have cost her $25,000. Tell HER that money is not important.

I encourage people to read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”. It will set you free. I started the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum to help people around the world to become financially free.

Robin J. Elliott www.dollarmakers.com

Imagine if you had ten ladders lined up against a wall. Each ladder is different; each has problems and challenges. For example, one has a few rungs missing. Another has wet paint on it. Yet another is rickety, one sways and one is very narrow. At the top of the wall is a treasure chest. Most people start at ladder number one and they climb a few rungs but then things get difficult – there’s wet paint or a missing rung, for instance, so they get down and rush off to the next ladder. After a few rungs, they get scared because this ladder sways, so they climb back down and rush off to ladder number three. Time is passing, but they keep on trying a new ladder. Suddenly, they realize that they’re fifty years old and still going from ladder to ladder. Meanwhile, their friends stuck to their ladders and arrived at the top a long time ago.

I meet a lot of “seminar junkies” who rush from course to course, seminar to seminar, scheme to scheme, opportunity to opportunity, paying good money every time and never hanging in there long enough to make it work. Up a few rungs and then, when the going gets tough, they go shopping for the next ladder. And of course, they always have multiple excuses why they didn’t hang in there long enough to climb to the top of the ladder. Like the man who chases two rabbits – he doesn’t catch one. Or the woman who tries to ride two bicycles at the same time. Doesn’t work. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none, or FUN, but not a master of success. Sooner or later, we have to decide on the ladder we want to climb to financial success, independence and freedom. Then stick to it. Before you know it, you’ll be counting the treasure.

Every ladder has its problems; not one is perfect. It won’t be easy, but one needs to choose a ladder that is going to work best. I like to choose a ladder that has the greatest potential, the least risk and cost, the most support and the one that is fastest to climb. I like a business that has universal appeal with no limitations or borders and one that I can be very creative with. I want the security of knowing that my risk and time required is minimal. That’s why I chose Joint Ventures. Because with JV’s, I can help and encourage those who are behind me on the ladder, while receiving assistance and advice from those who are ahead of me. The Joint Venture Forum was created with the knowledge that together, we can do amazing things, so we need the guidance and support of others, to keep us on track and teach us how to excel. Join us and let’s get onto the ladder to success: www.DollarMakers.com

Robin J. Elliott

Some common questions that come up for people who are unaccustomed to the Joint Venture mindset can deprive them of the wonderful benefits of this powerful business tool. Preconceived ideas, misconceptions and biases, often the result of collectivist conditioning, about what is ethical and right, deny them access to the potentially exponential value and reciprocity inherent in the JV mindset. This is not surprising, given the fact that most small and medium business owners, and especially employed (and self-employed) people still operate with cumbersome, expensive and risky industrial age business paradigms that limit, tire and frustrate them. Think cold calling, fear of competition, scarcity thinking, risky advertising and marketing, high overhead, selling time and minimally productive “business networking” meetings.

“I can’t ethically refer someone or some product or service if I am receiving compensation for any resulting business.” Yes, you can. In fact, when the service provider pays you for the referred business, thereby radically reducing his risk and acquisition cost, his price and exposure are lower, resulting in a better deal for the referred customer. The vendor is paying to acquire the customer anyway. Instead of risky advertising that often doesn’t work, why should he not pay for results instead of promises and thereby stay in business long enough to provide the on-going service and support he is promising to his customers? The marketing and advertising choices of any vendor have nothing to do with his customers. And in a capitalist society you are allowed to be paid, compensated and rewarded for any value that you create.

“I have to disclose the fact that I am being compensated to the person I am referring.” You don’t. It’s none of his business, any more than your private budget is or Profit and Loss Statement is. When someone is thirsty and you direct them to the water vendor, they don’t care what your relationship with him is. They will be offered a product or service by that vendor and they will decide whether or not to accept it. If they do, you are entitled to be paid by the vendor. He should not hike his prices to accommodate your referral fee / commission, but even if he does, that is between him and his new prospect / customer. People do business by choice. Nobody is being forced or coerced.

“But I have always given people referrals and I never get paid.” That’s fine. Would you like to get paid? You don’t have to, of course. It’s like paying for a $25 meal with a $100 note and being too embarrassed and confused to take your change, or working for your boss for a whole month and then suggesting he keeps your salary to buy his wife a nice gift. Good for socialists and leeches, but not for real entrepreneurs.

“But I have been told I have to focus on my core business and I don’t want to be distracted by doing other business (JV’s)” Joint Venture should be conducted with minimal time, cost and risk. They don’t distract but they do create value and improve relationships, which will automatically decrease your customer attrition rate and increase referrals, goodwill, average transaction amount, and more. In addition, they will create multiple streams of passive income for you at a 100% profit margin, straight to your bottom line. If you learn from dinosaurs you will probably share their lifestyle. Don’t take advice from turkeys an expect to soar with eagles.

I know it’s hard to break free of restrictive, outdated conditioning, so we have created an ongoing support system that will help you shift your mindset and understanding to a place where you work smart and not harder. Consider joining the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum. Don’t get shook up – hook up – with winners: www.dollarmakers.com

Robin J. Elliott

When driving home to our apartment, Rika and I saw a skunk waddling along the sidewalk. We had never seen a skunk before, but we recognized it from pictures and movies we have seen. It was great to see our first skunk! (This is our ninth year in North America.)We parked the car, got into the elevator and smelled something burning. As the elevator rose to our home on the eleventh floor, the smell got stronger. We were convinced there was a fire and surprised that the fire alarm hadn’t sounded. Our Chinese neighbors were outside our apartment and they were worried about their aged parents and the smell of fire. As the smell continued to increase, I decided to call 911. I told the operator I wasn’t sure if it was, indeed, a fire, but they said, “Better safe than sorry. Hit the alarm, sir. We’re coming.”

Three fire trucks arrived within four minutes and as they arrived one of our neighbors rushed up to them, holding his dog, Prince. He told us that the skunk we had seen (or a friend of the skunk we had seen) had sprayed Prince. One of the firemen said, “I know the smell of skunk!” I was really embarrassed but the firemen were very gracious and forgiving – they’re used to dumb immigrants like me! It was a relief and also an education; the smell hung around for days afterwards, even though the skunk never even entered the building. Jennifer Beale told me her dog was sprayed and the smell stayed on him for a month! Poor Prince. But he’ll survive.

Sometimes in life, we interpret a relatively harmless, albeit uncomfortable, skunk smell as a dangerous, life-threatening fire. That happens when we lack information and objectivity. And it could cost us money – what does it cost for three fire trucks to make a call? When you’re scared or emotional, you sometimes leap to confusions as I did. That’s why it’s so important to build a strong support system of smart, successful, positive people in your life and in your business. One phone call can change panic into peace and perspective. Often, we overreact to innocuous irritations. As a great speaker once said, “A lump in the throat is an inconvenience; a lump in the breast is more serious.” Usually, all we need is more information to resolve a sleepless night and sweaty palms. But it’s very important to determine the correct source of that information. When my information was from equally uninformed immigrants, I remained in the dark. You’re richer than you think, and often your mountains are really just molehills. A dangerous fire might just be a wandering skunk.

There are a lot of people out there, offering incorrect information to vulnerable people. We need to make sure that we’re getting appropriate information at all times. When you’re about to strut out onto an icy lake, you might want to first ask a few local yokels if it’s a good idea. When you decide to spend your life savings on the latest get rich quick scheme or a mutual fund, perhaps you should secure the counsel of a trusted third party who understands money and business, not a bank manager. (If your bank manager understood business, he’d have one.) Asking a virgin about childbirth is equally ridiculous. If you asked me about the smell of a skunk two weeks ago, I would give you the wrong information.

The beauty of belonging to the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum is that you have access to hundreds of smart people around the world who understand that “what goes around comes around.” You can develop a balanced and accurate view of your options and opportunities and solutions to your challenges. Joint Ventures can help you solve problems fast by leveraging the existing resources of other Members. And you can reach your goals a lot faster when you work with other winners. Join now: http://www.dollarmakers.com/
Robin J. Elliott

It was soaring high over the Grand River. Coming from British Columbia, where there are many eagles, I automatically assumed it was an eagle. I had the privilege of staying at the lovely River Ridge Bed and Breakfast in Paris, Ontario, recently, while I conducted some seminar and talks on Joint Ventures. When I mentioned the “eagle” to one of the Delegates, who is a wildlife expert, he told me that there were very few eagles there and that what I was looking at was a turkey vulture. Two days later, Member Paul Dawson pointed out a few of these birds waddling around on the side of the road. UGLY! It reminded me of a friend of mine who said of a woman he had been ogling, “Nice from far, but far from nice.”

When business owners are tired of experiencing the ups and downs, “feast or famine” of seasonal business cycles, the pressures of price wars, the ineffectiveness of conventional advertising and the long hours and hard work, they look for alternatives. And that’s when they are vulnerable to the schemes and dreams out there that often look like soaring eagles but are, in fact, turkey vultures. Those appealing and attractive opportunities are often not what they seem to be. But desperate people tend to do desperate things and we see what we want to see. When one is grabbing at straws, one is not entirely objective. And so even more precious cash flow evaporates like the morning dew on a hot, summer day. A downward spiral.

When distinguishing between an eagle and a turkey vulture, remember that turkey vultures hold their wings in a “V” shape and search for dead bodies. They are easy to identify, even at a distance, once you know what to look for. How do you differentiate between an eagle business tool and a turkey vulture option? I think it is important to have some guidelines. First, do your due diligence on the person offering you the deal. Is he actually using the tools or just making money from selling them? Can you contact him? Do you even know what his address is? Did he make his money a while back and now teaches outdated techniques for exorbitant fees? Is the option very expensive? Do you have easy access to others who used the tools so that you can ask them for one-on-one testimonials? Are the followers successful, or are they the usual seminar junkies?

Let us learn from carpenters when selecting new business tools and money-making opportunities: Measure twice, cut once. The scams, like turkey vultures, deal with dead bodies – has-beens – while Joint Ventures is an eagle tool for creating wealth, by opening our minds and allowing us to soar to great heights, with no cost or risk. Judge opportunities by the people who are involved in them, but always use your common sense.
See www.nomoneynorisk.com/ for more information.
Robin J. Elliott