By Monique MacKinnon and Patricia Weber, Collaboration Strategists

One of the things that is almost critical for business success today is being willing and able to collaborate. Whether it’s being a guest blogger or co-hosting a telesummit with a dozen guest speakers, I have a track record of both failure and success. A most successful and rewarding collaboration I partnered in with Patricia Weber of Professional Strategies, Inc. subsequently led us to co-author eBooks about how to successfully joint venture. Here is the first sneak peak of the eBook, Entrepreneurial Joint Ventures: Psychology + Soul, and a series of posts intended to give you an insider’s tips of knowing how to select who you collaborate with in a project where everyone benefits.

According to Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel, authors of the Ebook Secrets Exposed, people’s Top 3 (out of 10) most powerful motivators are:

(1) Make money
(2) Save money
(3) Save time

Here, I mix and match the six types of entrepreneurial profiles with the six types of commitment issues. Take a good look at the brief descriptions below and determine which one best describes you, and how you can attract more JV Dynamos instead of JV Duds to your beautiful blossoming business.

1. The Adventurer: You’re a natural risk taker who is very adept at exploring new ideas and markets.

Attract JV Duds: Your habit of being in overdrive and thinking about the future can at times impair your creativity and judgment about who a good match would be for you. Since you enjoy being on an adrenalin high, you tend to spring for partners who are unavailable, overly dramatic, or inappropriate. This habit keeps you stuck in the cycle of attracting short-term partnerships that over time suck the life out of you and your business. Plus, because you prize your personal freedom, you fear losing it. Even just the thought of living a boxed-in life makes you gag. Why else did you become self-employed anyways? What does freedom mean, specifically working solo… that you have liberties that partnerships do not themselves offer? Ah yes, that may be so. However, the grass can be greener – and that includes financially more prosperous – on the other… the JV partnership side. JV partnerships can give you freedom from financial insecurity and worrying about having to do it (your business) all alone. They also allow you to contribute to your target market in a bigger and better way: a perk that the corporate world doesn’t offer. A word of caution, though, this financial security comes only when you first feel emotionally secure… alone, before even venturing into partnerships. The reality is, a healthy and prosperous JV relationship ensues when both parties come together to create an exponentially powerful outcome. It’s not like the Jerry Macguire movie, where Renee Zellweger romantically reveals the following to Tom Cruise: “You complete me.”

Does The Adventurer sound like you? If it does, you’ll want to stay tuned for the part about Attracting JV Dynamos to complete this style.

If you are an Adventurer, what do you do to attract the more successful collaboration partners?

By Monique MacKinnon & Patricia Weber, Collaboration Strategists

When my American joint venture partner Patricia Weber and I met over a year ago, we each had an intention of working collaboratively. She’s an introvert and I’m a borderline extrovert. So, we have a good balance in our teamwork. I’m just not sure either of us envisioned where our meeting would take us. The collaboration lessons we’ve learned have been numerous. Still, they have been well worth it!

There’s no doubt that business collaborations are a hugely successful way for an entrepreneur or small business to grow. But, you can either curse or celebrate collaborations. Here are the top ten reasons you may be avoiding them and/or fearing that you will step on your collaboration partner’s toes.

1. Previous collaborations have failed you. One of the biggest fears comes from what you may have already experienced in collaborating. It’s similar to how people answer my workshop question, “When you think of salesperson, what comes to mind?” The words captured on the easel are in line with sleazy, high-pressure, dishonest, and the list goes on. Why? Previous experiences are on the top of mind.

2. It means working toward clearer communication. A great number of collaboration efforts are initiated online. Email is a primary mode of communication but don’t rely it. An email that asks, “Do you get this blog?” might be answered, “No, I don’t get it.” Misinterpretation can be rampant with assumptions, poor word choice, and poor listening leading the way.

3. Online it can begin to seem 140 characters is enough. Successful collaborations because you have tens of thousands of followers do not create a magic carpet ride flowing along the 140-character stream.

4. Nothing can replace an in-person meeting. You lose the ability for understanding the full message without including the distinct advantage of meeting in person. And yet, the latter may not be financially feasible for you if you live far away from your collaboration partner.

5. Agreements will take more time than on your own. Collaboration is time consuming. Instead of just one company or one person creating and delivering, there are now two or more coming together to create something new. The timeline is suddenly stretched out.

6. Access to collaboration tools may be required. Working across international borders and time zones, without places to share documents or ideas momentum, can slow down progress.

7. You must be ready for personal growth on many levels. Collaborating to create takes two, and generally slows down processes. If you are uncomfortable with delay, you may add resistance, which will further impede your progress.

8. You’ll need to be a change leader. Buzzards, bats and bumblebees can each struggle and die when they find themselves with limited movement in any kind of container or space. If you are more of a follower to change, collaboration will beat you down like a limited container does to buzzards, bats and bumblebees.

9. Disagreements are highly likely. Squabbles happen. You will not agree on every thing and with greater dependence on email communication over conversation, this raises the bar for more disagreement.

10. Lack of organization and little flexibility are part of your daily agenda. The expression “Life happens!” when you are in collaboration has an echo effect of “”Life happens, happens, happens!” Things are going to come up for the each party that are unavoidable and can put your collaboration conversation on hold or even stop it.

Is stepping on your partner’s toes unavoidable with most collaborations? The likelihood of this happening can certainly be minimized. You can take actions, shift beliefs, and find better ways of being to have more collaborations gracefully flow more like the dancing you see in the top 3 finalists of Dancing with the Stars!

Collaboration Strategists Monique MacKinnon and Patricia Weber help you discover the secrets to the process of how to land success instead of flops when taking the collaboration plunge. How To Find Your Best-Fit Joint Venture Partner With Less Time And Energy plus Entrepreneurial Joint Ventures: Psychology + Soul guarantee your collaborations become successful. Email questions@entrepreneurialtelesummits.com to receive these two excerpts… for free.