A JV partnership is a joint venture where two different businesses join up to work on a particular project together. They do not become one business entity; rather they stay separate through the JV experience and after.

There are many advantages in having a JV partnership. At the same time, here are some common mistakes that you’ll definitely want to avoid.

* Not Having a Contract – So many people get involved with JVs without a contract and this is a huge mistake. If you have no control over the purse, the domain, or the intellectual property, you could end up being left out from the profit too.

* Not Having a Clear Delineation of Duties – Each partner in the relationship should have some type of duty or responsibility. There are cases of silent partnerships where one gives their name, their list, or some funding in exchange for a split of the profits, but everything should be spelled out specifically. If you want one person to deliver a specific amount of work each month, say so.

* Giving Up Too Much Control of Your Brand – In a joint venture, sometimes one person is in control and in charge. However, you want to keep an eye on your brand so that you don’t give up too much control over it.

* Unrealistic Expectations – It’s easy to get excited about a joint venture, but don’t place all your hopes and dreams into a single venture. You never know what can happen, but you need to have contingency plans.

* Entering into Partnership with a Competitor – It’s a bad idea to enter into a JV partnership with someone who is a direct competitor. Instead, try to find people to work with who market complementary goods and services to your audience.

* Not Planning an Exit Strategy – Most JV partnerships don’t last forever. Therefore, you should write into the contract how long the relationship will last and how it will end. Planning everything in advance usually works better than just letting it dissolve on its own due to potentially having different expectations.

* Not Offering Something Valuable to the Partnership – If everyone is to be satisfied in the partnership then each person needs to contribute value to the partnership. Everyone will feel better and it will cut down on resentment.

* Trying to Hook Up With Someone in the Wrong Niche – It’s hard sometimes to differentiate between working with someone who offers complementary products in your niche and someone who is in an entirely different niche. But you need to stick to what you know and only enter JV partnerships within your niche.

When you enter into a partnership, it’s more important than ever to cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s. Don’t be afraid to ask for a better contract or better terms when working out the initial phases of the JV relationship. If you’re setting it up, don’t have a “me first” attitude about the situation. Instead, find a way to make the JV a win-win association for everyone involved so that everybody can contribute talents and benefit as equally as possible.

Joint ventures are when two or more people / business owners decide to enter into a particular project together for a limited time to combine resources in terms of talent, funds, and tools. Doing this well requires some understanding and knowledge of how JVs work and what the best practices are.

* Chose a Strategic Partner – You want to JV with people who offer complementary products to your audience and who also have complementary skills to yours. You need to search for “ying and yang” so that you complement each other rather than work against each other.

* Don’t JV Core Capabilities – You don’t want to JV anything that is your core income, because if you do you could lose your main business. Instead, JV side projects or test out projects with side partnerships. Don’t risk your main income ability with a JV.

* Spell Out Detailed Plans – Before you get started, both parties should spell out detailed plans for how they want the JV partnership to proceed. This information can then be negotiated upon in order to come up with a final plan of action.

* Implement a Contract – Don’t enter into a JV partnership that requires a large input of time, money and effort without an iron-clad contract. Having that contract can protect you both from any misunderstandings and outright disagreements.

* Share Responsibilities – Ensure that the contract spells out what each person is supposed to do. Which resources are being used in terms of monetary, technical and human capital? Understanding these answers can help make the JV partnership work more smoothly.

* Choose a Leader – No project can be successful without a strong leader or project manager. Hiring a launch manager and or a project manager will help keep everything in order and working on time like a well-oiled machine.

* Check Up Periodically – The partnership should have a meeting periodically to discuss the goals, metrics and progress of what is happening with the JV partnership, and whether or not the partnership is successful.

* Do It Again – When something works, you should always find a way to repeat it. As you embark on joint ventures, you will discover some partnerships work better than others. Be sure to analyze why a particular situation worked and why it did not, so that you can repeat the successes and not the failures.

Remember that JV partnerships are most appropriate for short- to long-term projects that are not permanent, and between complementary entities rather than competing entities. You want share resources and not compete for them. This ensures that you both experience success in the joint venture that will add to both of your bottom lines.

A joint venture partnership is made between two or more individuals or business owners to work together on a particular project, product, or event. The companies do not become one; instead they maintain their separate individual entities while working on a particular goal together. The purpose of a joint venture is to combine resources to maximize efficiencies of each entity for the particular project.

Limited Time Span

While some JVs do last a long time, most of them are temporary until the completion of the project. Many businesses find themselves entering into several consecutive JVs due to the success of others.

Clearly Defined Objective

Another thing that denotes a JV partnership is that they usually have a very clearly defined objective or reason for being put into place. Each entity involved knows their place and what is expected, as well as the goal.

Degree of Involvement Is Obviously Defined

Each part of the JV alliance has a particular thing that they are supposed to do, and this is clearly spelled out in an obvious manner. Each partner knows what is expected, what to do and when to do their part.

Spelled-Out Financial Contributions

Since the business entity isn’t going to be formed in a JV, the financial responsibilities of each member must be expressed. Sometimes one person is responsible for the finances, will deduct expenses from income and then distribute the profits as spelled out in the contract.

Plans Spelled Out for Problems or Disputes

In a JV that is temporary in nature, there can still be issues and disputes that arise. The contract usually spells out what to do and who will be the final say in any dispute – typically an unbiased arbitrator or in some cases the person with the main financial input gets the final say.

Termination of JV Arrangement Detailed

Since a JV agreement is not permanent, usually the contract spells out exactly when and how the arrangement will end and what will happen to the intellectual property when the arrangement is complete.

Non-Disclosure Information

Most of the time both parties require some sort of non-disclosure information to keep trade secrets, contact lists, financial and other information private, since some of them will necessarily be revealed during the JV partnership.

Other Legal Information

It’s important to check with your state and country about various terms and issues that should be covered in your JV agreement. Together with your JV partners, you may want to determine which of your locations will have the final say on any legal issues that should arise.

A joint venture partnership is a great way to expand your reach because you get to use each other’s contacts, resources, and skill set. But, it’s important to understand what a JV is and what it’s not. It’s not combining two businesses permanently and it’s usually a temporary joining of forces.

Joining together in a joint venture (JV) agreement with another person or business entity is a common way to join forces without changing the structure of either business. When you join with another business temporarily, you can share resources in terms of people, technology and finances. This can make the combination stronger than each individual business.

* Grow Your Business – By having access to your partner’s connections, you can get your business known by new people and new connections that you wouldn’t have access to as quickly otherwise.

* Expand Your Brand – When you want more people to know about your brand, having someone else mention you, and you mentioning them, can create a discussion that helps expand awareness of both of your brands.

* Build Your Email List – By giving each other access to your individual lists, telling your lists about the other, some of the people will cross over to become members of both lists. This is a great way to build your list with targeted individuals as long as you chose a partner who sells complementary goods to yours, to the same audience.

* Enter a New Market – There are often several markets for one service or product. Finding a JV partner who deals with a portion of your audience that you’ve never dealt with before is a great way to get your foot in the door to the new market.

* Develop a New Product – Sometimes two entities can come together using all their resources and create a brand-new product that neither business could accomplish on their own. This is a wonderful reason to form a joint venture partnership. For example, two business owners could come together to create a live event which is recorded to become a new information product.

* Improve a Current Product – If you both already have similar products but both products are lacking, you could combine the good from each product or service to make a brand-new product or service that provides more benefits.

* Bring in Skills You’re Lacking – If you are lacking in a skill and don’t want to outsource it, find a JV partner who has the skill that you don’t have. Then you can each do what you do best to contribute to the JV partnership.

* Improve Your Authority Level – When you hang around other smart people, you become one of those smart people just by association. Surround yourself with really smart people in a JV partnership and you’ll achieve more than you thought.

There are many reasons to enter a JV agreement with the right person. But, before you get started, know why you want to do it so that you understand, based on your goals, who you should work with. Remember – join with someone who has a complementary business to yours, not your direct competition, and not when it has to do with your main source of bread and butter.