Joint ventures are becoming more and more popular throughout the internet. People are seeing the positives and jumping in both feet first, but is it really the right thing to do? I’m not disputing that participating in join ventures has its advantages, but I think it’s also extremely important to recognise it does have it’s downfalls as well. This article will discuss those negatives, but, don’t worry; I’ll also be talking about the positives, too.
What is a joint venture?
For those that don’t know, a joint venture is where you participate in a project with other people. They’re extremely common in the offline world – for example, I bet there are loads of companies near you that are co-owned, or managed by more than one person (I know there are near me anyway!).
Positives
Let’s jump straight in with the positive side:
- More time – If you have some partners to help you out, you’re going to be able to find a lot more time to either focus on other projects, or make this one an even bigger success.
- Expertise – Usually, each member will bring a certain thing to the project. For example, when I used to be a freelance writer, I was involved in a joint venture where, as a group, we made websites and sold them on. In the team we had designers, marketers and writers. By getting in people who are specialists in their field, you can not only get the job done at a higher standard, but you can also learn from them.
- Long term bonds – By being involved in a group project, the person(s) you’re doing it with will no doubt become one of your friends, or there’ll at least be some sort of bond there. I feel that one of the most important parts of making money online is who you know, so if you can meet some quality business partners, it will serve you well in the future.
Negatives
Did the positives make you interested? I know those three points were the main things that made me want to be involved in group projects, but, as I found out the hard way, there are also negatives to joint ventures:
- Less money – Lets be honest, when it comes to joint ventures we’re all in it for the money. Therefore, if you’re involved in a group project, that money will have to be shared out, hence there being less for you.
- You don’t like them – Now, this is admittedly a fairly rare scenario, but if you don’t like the people you’re doing the project with, it’s almost definitely going to fail. You need to pick the people you work with well as if you don’t get along; you’re unlikely to be very productive.
- Trust – Sticking with the previous point, it’s extremely important that you trust the person you’re doing the project with. There is a risk that at some point, something will go wrong, so make sure you know the person is committed and isn’t going to steal from you.
- Less involvement – Unless you’re going to project manage, you might feel like you aren’t feeling very involved, especially if you like to be in control.
Your opinion?
What do you think of joint ventures? Have you had any experiences of joint ventures? How did they go? As always, I’d love to hear your opinion, so please feel free to leave a comment.
Awesome post
I’ve done 1 joint venture in the past where we launched a website, but we hadn’t really done our research into the niche and it ended up failing. I since went on my own in the same niche and did really well, so I think it’s important to do your research and make sure your partner does, too.
Thanks for the compliment. That’s a shame your JV didn’t work out, because I think that if you can get it right, they’re very rewarding.
The point you made about research is also a very good one as researching is so important, and ideally you need your whole team to know the niche like the back of their hands so that you can all help the project to succeed.
I’ve been in a couple of joint ventures and so far the experience has been positive. All experiences I got from them taught me more about myself and my skills than working all by myself.
Joint ventures can be very enriching experience, even if it doesn’t work out as expected. If you can learn something from it, you already won something.
Very good point you’ve raised there. Thinking about it, if you were a newbie (not you, in general), it may actually be really good to join in a JV. That way, even if you’re just there voluntarily, you can learn for future projects, whether they’re personal or in a group.
Kind of like work experience
I work with people on different aspects of things from time to time, but I’m not really a joint venture person. I’m sociable and such, but when it comes to getting things done, I need the freedom to just go ahead and do it.
I prefer to work on a system of review and consultation. I’m always asking people for their opinions but for the most part I go sole proprietorship all the way.
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Agreed. In a few JVs I’ve been in, it’s actually been counter productive having more than one person on the team as everyone’s waiting for someone else to act.
Another thing you have to watch out for is time zones. I mean, if you’re on the other side of the world, you’re unlikely to be able to connect properly, which is a huge problem.
I’ve been in a couple of joint ventures and so far the experience has been positive. One thing i really like about joint ventures is the fact i have more time to focus on my other projects.
You did a good job in this post stating the negatives of joint ventures that anyone thinking to get into this should think about.
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Thanks for the compliment
Yeah, one of the biggest advantages of JVs is that you have more time. You can then either spend that doing other things, or working even harder/longer on the JV project and getting more done.
Personally I won’t be trusting that much to my partner so that’s good Simon you shared this point, I clicked this post having the trust in my mind and found in negatives section *ouch !*
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Trust is one of the most important parts of any JV as, without it, you’re unlikely to get much done as you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. I would recommend finding someone who you could meet up with in real life, but I’ll discuss that in a future post
Joint ventures can be risky too. Lets face it…not too many people we meet online can be trusted; cyberspace is full of scammers. Even close friends sometimes get greedy and secretly sell the project or take full ownership of it. However, if you create a project with a right group, the returns are really fulfilling.
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Yeah, good point.
One of the things you could do is to both take care of a seperate part. For instance, one person takes care of the domain, and the other of the hosting. That way you can make sure you won’t get stung
Regarding joint ventures I would say each one give you one idea. But you wonder which to implement.
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I agree. Having different people on a project means you get different ideas, as everyone thinks differently. You can then, as a team, pick which one you’d like to go along with.
But isn’t it good to get vote on the all ideas ?
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Yeah, that’s what I meant, sorry if it didn’t come across that way.
I was basically saying that if there are more people, there are more ideas to choose from, and you can therefore decide as a group which one to go with. The basic thing is that you have more choice
I liked that you have more time to do other things because there are two of you but I hate the fact that you’ll make less money.
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I can see why you’d get annoyed at not having the full sum, after all, you’ll probably be in it for the money anyway, but you could also look at it this way:
If you are working with a partner (or partners), you’re more likely to make more money between you. Lets say you can make $100 on your own, if you work properly you could probably make $500 between three of you as you all bring different fields of expertise to the table. Therefore, you’d end up getting $166
BTW, that’s a really cool gravatar
I like joint ventures… The biggest problem I have had is people not fulfilling deadlines and promises and screwing up your own plans…. On the other side I have sometimes been unable to fulfill things that I have said I would do! So JV’s are great if you have a good understanding and some patience.
Yeah, I find that people not doing what they say they will is a big problem. That’s one of the reasons to be a bit more selective about who you do JVs with.
I’m involved in a multi author blog, but unfortuntely, due to all of the authors having other committments, the blog is really suffering
Cool cool post again !
In the positive section, I agree with all of them, speciall with the “more time” para.
In the negative section, I agree with the last two, but the first one regarding less money. I accept its going to be less money at first, but as its a project by a group/team. Everyone is going to work, everyone’s work = work hard, work hard = success. Its just as simple as, success takes time to come ! also work !
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Thanks, Enk
Glad you enjoyed the post.
About your last point, check out my reply to ‘NFL Rumours’ a few comments up. I agree that, overall, you’ll probably make the same (if not more) money, but the point I was making in my article was that you won’t get all the money from the project. Sorry for not making that clearer
Got your point dude..now its really worth saying again “Cool Post ! ” lol..
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I have not done too much collaboration at this point but am looking into an opportunity to get more chances. I think the biggest challenge with jv’s are the communication factors.
You always need a trusted manager of the project to get communication from everyone and make decisions. Then everyone can play their part and get involved with what “they” need to do.
Otherwise it seems there would be just too much confusion. Also, a partnership would seem to be better then a larger group.
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Hmm, it really depends on the project.
If, as I was, you’re involved in a project that needs different fields of expertise (writing, designing, coding, marketing etc), you will have to work in a big group to get things done effeciently. In this case I think it’s best to get someone to manage the project and organise everyone so that there’s no confusion and you can get the job done better.
On a smaller group of maybe two or three people, though, I don’t think it’s worth it. I find it’s best to just go for it alone in these sort of projects.
I actually like that idea it is just not easy to find a good partner. It is not easy to find a person that your trust and at the time share the same passion with you
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Yeah, I think trust and passion are actually the two most important factors in a JV partner. I mean, if you can’t trust the person you’re working with, not only will you risk losing the project (if your suspicions are proved correct), but you’ll also get a lot less done if you’re constantly looking over your shoulder, or so to speak.
Regarding passion, I think lack of passion is at the root of most JV failures. If one person (or even both) isn’t passionaite, they’re unlikely to work anywhere near as hard (if at all!)
I would never enter a partnership no way, it always ends in a dispute of some sort.
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I joint ventured with the man I was going to marry. My friend died, I knew of the properties did all the negoations with the probate department and title Co. He put up the money. both names were on the Real Esatate contracts as buyers…… He ended up putting them in his trust and name only. I sold them again did all the work as I am a broker.
He took all the profits Over $200,000.00 on an investment of $25,000.00. We married aand he KEPT all the profits. Refused to share any with me. Any possibility for me to gain my share. it was verbale and I tursted him……..