I wouldn’t worry too much about reputation.

I would worry about doing what I do, in the best way I can do it.

But there are differences in cultural settings though for example I know that the western world don’t buy that “we are unequal crap”. A lot of westerners believe in the 50 – 50 module. period

Now to my point. I understand the concept behind building joint venture relationship.In fact that is one of the things my business does(connect two parties together with the goal of making sure that both benefit handsomely)

Building strategic alliance, I think the danger there-in is that if party A betray your trust(Human nature), it is going to have a grave effect on your business though.

I trust you agree with me, don’t you?

In that case, how do you rectify such a malady? I am sure you know how serious it is once your reputaion online get tainted.

What sayeth thou?

This is RICH!! Thank you!

You can advertise and drive people to your business. Or you can have others get people to drive people to your business. When Red Bull launched their product, they didn’t advertise. They sought out strategic alliances. They sought out the most influential groups in universities, and gave them cases of free Red Bull for these University parties.

And the less influential saw the more influential drinking Red Bull (because you don’t just drink it at a party), and so everyone started catching on.

But Red Bull wasn’t a big brand. No one knew of Red Bull. One student in one university group, had more influence than Red Bull. But Red Bull found a way in.

The way we’ve gotten in to others is through creating top-class information. Not just information, but really good stuff that people would pay for. And then we’ve approached individuals (just like Red Bull approached the University groups). And then we’ve played the dating game. One date, second date, third date, fourth date.

If the person keeps responding.
If they keep asking for more.
You’re building up a relationship.
You’re building respect.
And when you build respect, you’re no longer unequal. You’re treated as an equal.

And that’s the short story of how you build strategic alliances.

Take a husband and wife for instance.
That’s an alliance of sorts.
They don’t get together for financial gain. You may argue that they get together for sexual gain, or for other sorts of gains, but in fact, you’ll notice that the ‘best couples’ are mirror-opposites of each other.

One takes over the cooking.
The other takes over the fixing.
One takes over the accounts.
The other takes care of the decor.

They’re two individuals that by themselves, are completely lost (in a way). But they work out a deal between themselves and away they go.

So how do you align yourself with someone who’s not quite the equal? How do you align yourself with a Tiger Woods? Tiger Woods has no need for your money. Or fame. But a five year old kid could get Tiger’s attention. But how?

Here’s how.

The kid gets Tiger’s respect. He does so through his tenacity, through his ability, through whatever. The key is respect. When a person has respect for your abilities and perseverance, they don’t behave like they’re bigger and you’re smaller. They treat you like someone they respect. And hence recommend you to others.

Ok, go to go to the next installment of this answer (see below)

They’re able to build snowmen faster.
They’re able to go downhill faster on the toboggan.
They’re able to do stuff they could only do so much of, if they were individuals.

In real life, you have a graphic designer. And a copywriter. And they’re like Calvin and Hobbes. On their own, they can do their bit, but if the designer constantly refers clients to the copywriter, and the copywriter refers clients to the designer, then there’s an alliance at play. In many cases, there’s no financial gain (so there’s no money exchanged as commissions, and there’s no measurement quota of how many referrals go back and forth).

So if there’s no money, why bother?

You bother because of the concept of Calvin and Hobbes. Together you have far more growth potential.

So with that question out of the way, let me answer the next one: How does one get started creating them with those who already are way ahead of you in terms of business development?

I am having a hard time understanding what a strategic alliance is all about – please define it.

I understand that a joint venture is basically a shared project for the financial benefit of the parties involved, but then just what is a strategic alliance, and how does one get started creating them with those who already are way ahead of you in terms of business development?

If on the other hand, I gave you my strategic alliances list, it would be pretty useless to you. Because the list would work on respect and trust, and not money. So you could steal a list from us, and it would be useless to you.

To have a source that drives hundreds, even thousands of visitors each year, and have the information out in the open, is kinda nice.

The downsides to Joint Ventures, I can list by the dozen. The essential problem with joint ventures is money. When the money dries up, so does the motivation. But it’s also an upside. I don’t know. Call me crazy. I prefer alliances over joint ventures.