We have launched a partnership and affiliate programs.
In doing our due diligence, we recently spoke with Paul Miltonberger, Founder of Partnering Academy and an expert in the field.
We learned so much from our initial conversation with him that we decided to interview him to share his knowledge with our clients and friends!
Paul Miltonberger
Paul is a highly acclaimed, international speaker, trainer and coach. As the Founder of Partnering Academy he trains, coaches and teaches business owners, non profits and executives in transition how to use joint ventures, referrals, endorsements and other partnering strategies so that they can accomplish more in their life and make more in their business.
Q: Paul, what led you to start Partnering Academy?
A: Over the years, I’ve had the privilege to have worked with thousands and to have personally coached hundreds of people from a dozen countries in more than 50 industries who own their own business or want to own their own business.
Time and time again, regardless of the size or type of business, I saw some businesses succeed and flourish while others struggled. Everyone was working hard but there was a clear difference in results between those who had mastered partnering and those who had not. Too often, I saw businesses that were stuck because they lacked the resources they needed to get to where they wanted to go. The problem, however, was not that they had limited resources, everyone does. The problem was that they didn’t know how to partner to get what they lacked and needed.
Profitable businesses partner all the time in many different ways. They combine and leverage their assets and resources with the assets and resources of others. I founded Partnering Academy to teach businesses how to partner and how to partner right. I am convinced that if we all learn how to partner better than we do, small and medium sized businesses will be the vehicle that drives us to a sustained, economic recovery.
Q: Based on your experience, what are the top benefits of partnering?
A: Partnering empowers everyone and any business with truly unlimited potential, ability and capacity. When you learn how to partner and learn how to partner right, you can accomplish more, faster and easier and with less cost or risk, than you can ever possibly hope to accomplish on your own.
If you had all the resources you needed to get to where you wanted to go, you’d already be there. But you’re not. Blocking your path on your way to where you want to go, no matter how you define your Point B; is a wall, maybe two.
Trying to get to the other side of your wall without partnering is like trying to get to the other side of the wall by pushing against it, alone, in the dark. You will never succeed. It does not matter how many more hours you push today than you did yesterday. It does not matter how much harder you decide to push tomorrow than you did today. You will never get to the other side of the wall pushing against it, alone, in the dark. You simply don’t have the resources you need to accomplish your goal.
You only succeed after you “adopt a partnering mindset.” It starts when you ask, “Does anyone know how to get to the other side of this wall?” Instantly, someone turns on the light. Options are immediately visible; a door, a person with the key for the door, a person with a ladder, the end of the wall, a person with a shovel.
Someone has what you need; find them, partner with them. No matter your goal, someone has the resources you lack; find them, partner with them.
Perhaps best of all, partnering provides enormous upside to any business with little if any downside. The partnering strategies we teach our clients are fast, easy, low or no cost and low or no risk.
So, you can learn how to partner and get not only to Point B, but beyond, or you can continue pushing against the wall, alone, in the dark. Our clients prefer the profits they find in the light.
Q: What types of businesses can use the partnering strategies you teach?
A: No matter who you are, what you do or where or how you do it, no matter if you are a solopreneur in a home based business or own a business doing $10 million in annual revenue; you can and must make partnering a core, foundational part of your business.
Q: Some have experienced and all of us have heard of “bad” partner stories. Isn’t partnering risky?
A: Not when you learn how to partner right. We provide our clients with our famous, Partnering Checklist. Using the checklist, they position themselves as an attractive partner. They also use the checklist to identify and properly evaluate potential partners.
Most “bad” partnerships are doomed from the start. People simply didn’t learn how to partner right. They chased money. They did not consider whether there was an alignment of interests. One of our training lessons we call, “Partnering Right: The Art of the Deal.” It’s our 10 step guide to picking the right partners, creating profitable joint ventures and protecting yourself from getting into bad deals.
I should also add that “business partnerships,” where you have shared equity in a single company, and which provide most of the “bad” partner stories, represent a very small percentage of what we call, “partnering.”
Q: What are the partnering strategies you teach at Partnering Academy?
A: I broke partnering down into 5 proven, easy to consider, strategies: Business partners, Joint Venture partners, Marketing partners, Referral partners and Endorsement partners. We explain them in detail and walk our clients through the right way to create and maintain these partnering relationships.
Q: Can you share some partnering success stories with us?
A: Absolutely, thanks for asking.
– Four firemen combined their assets and distinct, different talents and opened a new business that none of them could have or would have done alone. They expect a 75-100% annual return on their money as early as the first year.
– A restaurant owner uses marketing partnerships to drive more than 1,000 new customers to his two restaurants every year.
– A consultant formed a joint venture and generated more than $349,000 in his first year.
– One client leveraged her relationships and got connected with Billionaire Sir Richard Branson who played and loved her financial education board game.
– One client made $2,500 in pure profit by making a single referral.
Partnering works for everyone and any business. Partnering provides you with truly unlimited resources. You can accomplish more and make more when you learn how to partner and how to partner right.
Q: What is the next step for people who want to learn more?
A: Visit PartneringAcademy.com and take advantage of our FREE three part video training series. I packed this free video series with killer content and ideas that people can put to use immediately.
Go to PartneringAcademy.com and sign up for our FREE video training series.
And most importantly, stop pushing against the wall, alone, in the dark. Instead, Adopt a Partnering Mindset, Now!
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