Robin J. Elliott: Joint Ventures with the Prophet of Profit, Training, Strategic Alliances

There’s a story about a kid who claims that elves get into his room at night and steal his underpants. His parents don’t believe him, but he insists, so they agree to hide in his room and await the mischievous elves. Eventually, around midnight, a motley band of elves climbs stealthily through the open window and commences to steal the boy’s underpants out of his bottom drawer.

The father steps up and asks the head elf why they’re stealing the underpants, and the elf replies that it’s a new business that the elves have started. “But how can you make money by stealing underpants?” asks the bewildered dad. “Oh, we have a business plan”, replies the pompous elf, “Step 1 – steal underpants. Step 3 – make a profit.”

This is typical of many entrepreneurs. They discount the second step, which is HOW to make the profit, and they deny the possibility of a few failures along the way. Imagine a girl who gets a brand new, pink bicycle for her ninth birthday. She gets on, falls off, and throws the bike on the garbage dump. Guess what? 65% of the new Joint Ventures you try will fail, and you will fail more often in the beginning, until you learn the ropes. When you fall off the bicycle, get back on, until you learn to ride. Attending a seminar and reading a book is getting the bike. Then you have to implement the steps and learn by doing.

At DollarMakers, we have many support systems in place, including Members Meetings, Bootcamp 202, access to other Members and more. Since the start of Forum two years ago, I have been searching in vain for someone who is capable of providing coaching lessons to Members who have attended one of my Bootcamps, or used the Home Study Program. I interviewed many people who knew more about nuclear physics and the sex life of goldfish than business or Joint Ventures, and most of them are simply posers without any real substance. This I a high trust position and I did a lot of due diligence with each application. You would be shocked at the amount of losers out there masquerading as coaches.

I am elated to tell you, dear Reader, that my patience and uncompromising standards has finally paid off! I have found a fantastic, highly trained and experienced coach, who has designed the ultimate DollarMakers JV Coaching Program. He can describe and present the process better than I can, so I won’t try. Suffice to say I highly recommend and endorse his services. Step TWO is now available and I am very excited about it. Now there is someone to help you ride that bike like the wind. This is a great relief to me because I know those Members who choose to use this program are going to receive excellent support and guidance with a proven system from a true professional. For more information, you can e mail me.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

When people ask me, “Robin, why do you arrange to have all your events, flights, marketing, services and products paid for and financed by people on commission and sponsors?” I reply that, while I can easily afford to pay for these services, this is the ideal way to get leverage and commitment from others. Think about it: if you paid for a speaking venue and costs, and the only way for you to recover your investment was through filling the room with people, would you put a little extra effort in to do that? There is method in my madness.

People need “skin in the game” so that they are motivated to take massive, focused action. The difference between an employee and a commission – only salesperson is commitment. Most employees have a sense of entitlement and do just enough to keep their jobs. New brooms sweep clean. I would never hire an employee if there was any way to avoid it. They want more and more and generally produce less and less. The longer they have the job, the less afraid they are of losing it, and the more they take advantage and cut corners. People appreciate what they pay for. Easy come, easy go. You are more likely to read a book that you buy than a book that someone gives you. Put people on the line, get leverage, give them a generous piece of the action, and make them responsible. It’s called a Joint Venture.

When my son asked me for some money, many years ago, I answered, “You can have as much as you want – all you have to do is earn it.” At the age of fourteen, he was earning more than his teacher. As entrepreneurs who specialize in creating wealth through Joint Ventures, we should practice what we preach. Anyone can buy advertising space and risk money, and it’s the easy way. Sometimes, this is a good way to go. Usually, though, a better way is to get a whole bunch of people seriously committed to helping you achieve a common goal, knowing that you will share the spoils. Together, we accomplish amazing things. Pay for results, not promises. And be generous.

When you ask yourself, “How can I get this product or service ‘for free’?” you force your mind to think in terms of a JV. You push your brain to figure out reciprocity, sharing, common goals, underutilized assets and leverage. By partnering up with people who have a vested interest in the success of any project, you share the load, heighten the possibilities, and expand the resources available to achieve the common goal. You create multiple Mastermind situations and teams and relationships where previously there were none, and you stimulate creative, out-of-the-box thinking. A strategic alliance undergirds a process or an endeavor. Unity is strength. Many hands make light work. Also, the slackers, chancers, and losers will stay away, because they are usually (not always) aware of their slothfulness and impotence. Strong, self-confident people prefer to be paid for results, because they believe in themselves. Those are the ideal JV partners.

Some time ago, an acquaintance of mine told me that he met someone in another country who claims to “know” me, and they agreed that “Robin doesn’t pay for anything.” Their conspiratorial understanding was that “Robin is cheap”. First, if they really knew me, they would know that I am generous and inclusive. Second, they revealed their own lack of understanding, which is evident in their mediocre, stumbling businesses. Thirdly, they exposed their passive aggression, envy and jealousy. If I tell people do business with “No money and no risk” and if I don’t practice what I preach, I am the same as many other seminar leaders, with no congruency and no credibility. I prefer to walk my talk. Follow the tongue in my shoe, not the tongue in my mouth. Do as I do, not as I say. Robinize your business. (See the “Robinize” article on my Blog, www.RobinJElliott.com)

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass.” – Paul J. Meyer.

My son was in high school and it was raining hard. I told him that he could leave his bike at home and I would give him a lift instead. Parents were supposed to drop their sons off at the gate at the bottom of a long and winding road that led up the prestigious old boy’s school, but since it was raining so hard I decided to drive him up, anyway. Along the way, we found our passage blocked by a teacher who was walking his dog up the road. He knew we were stuck behind him, but he purposefully meandered slowly along. I honked the horn loudly at him until he got out of the way.

Later that morning, I received a call from my son, telling me that this teacher had berated and humiliated him in front of the class, asking him, “Who does your father think he is?” I drive to the school and demanded o see the teacher. I was told that he was not available without an appointment. I told the secretary that she should tell the teacher that he had two choices; he could meet me in his office in exactly two minutes, or I would drag him out of his classroom. From my demeanor she realized that I was serious. I went and waited for him in his office.

Our one-sided conversation went something like this: “You want to know who I think I am, so I am going to tell you. I am a successful businessman who cares about my son. Now let me tell you who I think YOU are: You are a male teacher, in other words, a man amongst boys, and a boy amongst men. You can’t handle adults, so you prey on vulnerable kids. You will apologize to my son in front of the class within five minutes. If you do not, I will come back and beat you up. That is who I think I am.” (He did the right thing, not out of decency, I’m afraid, but fear – typical of a bully.)

We need to have a well-defined idea of who we are. Our self-image has to be accurate, crystal clear and positive. If you want others to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself. Confidence, courage, and clarity are essential. Standing up for yourself, your team and your loved ones reflects the way you esteem yourself.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com

Choices have consequences which stay with us and affect our perceptions, self-esteem and circumstances for years – until we make a new choice in a similar context. Two stories will illustrate my point. The first was a time cycles of months, whilst the second has lasted forty-six years so far.

At the age of eleven, I was being bullied at school. Because my Dad was a teacher at the school, I had been warned to stay out of trouble, and when I did misbehave, I received a harder beating from Dad than others to demonstrate that there as no favoritism. Yes, in my day, kids got caned at school, and we were better off for it. The way many kids behave these days is disgusting; they generally have no respect for adults and no values either. No consequences have serious consequences. But, as usual, I am wont to digress. After a few months of this bullying, my Mom sat me down and offered me a dollar to retaliate. “Grab his collar with your left hand”, she advised, “yank him towards you, and hit him as hard as you can on his nose with your right fist.” I hit him, got the dollar, became his best friend and never allowed myself to be bullied again after such a great experience.

Years before, that, at the age of nine, we lived on a farm in South Africa. My Dad and uncle were viciously attacked with by a steel-pipe-bearing farm worker. My Mom urged me to flee to the neighbors with her and my sisters, but I refused and stood on the kitchen table to see the action through the window, helped my uncle into the bathroom and wiped the blood off his face. He had both his arms and wrists broken in several places, a broken jaw and fractured skull, but he still managed to smile his thanks to me, brave man that he was. I returned to the window and threw my Dad my BB gun and a spear to defend himself with. He wouldn’t back off and stood his ground against the savage until the distant sound of police sirens scared the animal away. The fact that I stayed to support my Dad and uncle and the site of his courage in the face of imminent death has stayed with me.

So here’s my little lesson. A bad choice, like allowing yourself to be bullied, with erode your expectations, self-esteem and weltanschauung until you hit back and react differently. You can remedy the consequences in a similar situation with a different choice; it’s not too late. Any bad choice can be turned around if you identify the root and take decisive action (unless the other person is no longer around, of course). We need to evaluate the choices that caused negative consequences and beliefs that we are saddled with and seek to make new choices. Replace the evidence that makes you interpret opportunities in a disempowering way. We will seek evidence to support our dominant beliefs. Had I not struck back at the bully, my belief might be that I am a coward and I would seek evidence and instances to support that belief. Simple, isn’t it? If you’re used to quitting, it doesn’t mean you’re a quitter – it just means that it’s time to stop quitting. You can, you know.

This simple pop psychology actually works. Try it; you’ll like it. A deed once done can often be redone.

Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com