Here's what most barbers do. Open their
doors, put a sign in the window and wait
for the customers to come in the door. Here's what most coffee shops do. Open their
doors, put out tables and chairs and wait
for customers to come in the door. Maybe
they could advertise but how do you
advertise a coffee shop and a barber to
get people excited and in the door. Unless
you have an incredible x-factor, nothing
much is going to happen. This is a long,
hard way to build a business. Waiting
for your customers to find you, refer you
and hopefully come back, would you agree?
I'm right because I observe the
behaviors of businesses each day and they
all do the same thing as everyone else
and all hope they get a different answer.
Here's a great joint venture story I
hope will inspire you to think
differently about building a business in
a smarter and easier way. I recently
discovered a barber Jake in a shopping
center near me. He has a little shop
tucked around the corner, way down in
the back we're not even the moths
frequent. 
I found out he has been there 13 years.
13 years, yes and I've never been there in the 13 years I've lived here and he is in
the same shopping centre I go to and I've
never been to him ever.  I do however visit
a coffee shop in the same center as Jake. The coffee shop is positioned right
outside the busy supermarket. So here's
what I suggested to Jake. Do a joint
venture with the coffee shop. Here's how
it works.
You (Jake) tell the coffee shop owner if
you simply refer any of your customers
to me, I will offer them a 25% discount
off their haircut and I will give them a
free coffee voucher which I will
purchase from you. In return you place my
business cards at your cash register
with a sign that says "Want a free coffee
and a 25% discount see Jake the barber
25
metres down the lane". Additionally I
will refer all my loyal customers to
your coffee shop with a free coffee
voucher. The win for Jake the barber -
people are now suddenly aware he exists
just 25 meters away from a busy coffee
shop, so he gets a constant stream of new customers.
He is just tapping into this already
existing stream.His loyal customers also
feel special as they get a free coffee. 
Smart.
How many barbers or hairdressers do that for their customers. None that I know of.
The cost to Jake - a cup of coffee cost
five dollars for example. A haircut costs
$30. A 25% discount is $7.50, so he still
makes $17.50 profit. But here is the real
smart thinking that most people do not
get. That $17.50 is money he would
never have had in the first place. His joint venture set this up and
remember that was their first cut. The
next time the customer comes back to
Jake's they will pay full price. So for
the cost of a cup
of coffee and a small discount he now
has a customer for life. The win for
the coffee shop - they get a stream of
Jake's loyal customers coming to them
rather than going to another coffee shop. Even though the voucher is worth $5,
customers will always spend more money
. They will bring a friend or buy a
muffin or salad etc, so their spend is 
way higher than $5. This is great
business for a coffee shop. In this joint
venture there is no additional risk or
no additional overheads. Just smart thinking. Now the real power of this is that this
thinking doesn't have to stop there. The
coffee shop could do deals with the
local florist,  the butcher, the dentist, the spice shop etc, and so could
Jake. This is smart business. This is the
power of joint ventures.Far better than
sitting, waiting for your customers to
find you.
