Flip the shark tank, and what have you got? Water running everywhere and soaking into everything. That’s a great analogy for what a US entrepreneur-fest, the JV Insider Circle (JVIC), is doing this month. The entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily fishing for funds; they’re hungry for ‘influence investment’ to soak through. Come again?
“The key thing is generally participants aren’t after monetary investment. They want an investment of influence because all of the ‘sharks’ are considered to be social influencers of note who have reached degrees of success,” says Dr. Tony Pennells.
He’s got a ringside seat for the September 6-8 event at Newport Beach, California as the first authority outside of the US to be invited onto the Shark Tank Panel of joint venture partners and businesses. Dr. Tony will be one of about eight sharks there and have his work cut out for him for up to three hours on the Shark Tank Panel.
That panel is the highlight of an exclusive business conference that attracts more than 300 people. This year is the fifth annual event. Past ‘sharks’ and VIP guests have included notables Lisa Sasevich, Justin Livingston, Jeanna Gabellini, Christian Mikelsen, Eva Gregory, Loral Langemeier, Melinda Cohan and Marisa Murgatroyd.
Joint Venture Insider Circle
JVIC draws top players in the coaching, speaking and info-marketing worlds. Joint-venture ready entrepreneurs take part in high-octane networking events, get to test their product idea in niche circles receiving immediate feedback from coaches and experts in their field. They also speed date joint venturers. It’s about live coaching, not lecturing. And networking to spark synergies to create new products or programs. There’s also a JV community of 500-plus members who keep collaborating and partnering year-round.
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Author, speaker, and business/lifestyle coach Rich German has run more than 17,000 coaching sessions since 1999. (You can check out his thoughts on MindShift.money here) He set up JVIC with Milana Leshinsky in 2013, buying her out a few years later. German, a former real estate agent, wrote Monetize Your Passion and hosts the popular video blog, Rich in Life. He also runs the philanthropic Project O to protect the ocean and marine life. And, by the way, that German doesn’t appear to have a LinkedIn profile isn’t harming his influence.
Nothing Like It In Australia
Dr. Tony came across German’s JVIC two years ago and soon after attended an event.
“There’s nothing like it in Australia. I was very much the student learning everything about them and over time developed a relationship with them. They’ve been watching what we’re doing with MindShift.money and recognize it’s a powerhouse that can give value to North American attendees.
“Rich [German} and his business partner, Kelly Jo Murphy, have given us the Guernsey saying ‘you guys are equal – our people can learn and benefit from you’,” says Dr. Tony.
MindShift.money has more than 26,000 members in over 30 countries creating a powerful social media influence. The platform’s focus is to raise financial literacy to 20 million people initially in western countries.
MindShift.money: An Australian Gateway
Dr. Tony says: “We’re a gateway into the Australian marketplace as well. [Being part of the JVIC Shark Tank Panel] is a validation of the Aussie market and it’s awesome to bring something to the North Americans, not the other way,” he says.
North America is a leader in turbo-boosting business growth and a major trend is collaboration rather than competition. The way ahead is much more than just referral marketing.
“It’s a very deliberate process. The online digital marketing work has reached levels of sophistication in North America that very few people understand in Australia. For example, we had 130 joint venture partners promote us when we launched MindShift.money and that wasn’t just social media sharing. We had people inviting us to podcasts and to their club. We had people doing interviews with us that went onto YouTube and they’d promote it to their email list, in some cases reaching hundreds of thousands of people. Incredibly, we had the privilege of half a dozen people putting a few hundred dollars aside to pay for sponsored Facebook posts to promote their third party advertising of us. That’s unheard of in Australia,” says Dr. Tony.
“In Australia, often what pervades small business is ‘I can’t share my secrets with you’, but effectively other businesses are moving far ahead in a collaborative spirit. If you can get third party endorsement from a high authority, it can launch a business, a valuable product or service. It can also accelerate it far quicker than if that business was trying to promote itself.”
Social Influence Boosts Authority
But self-declaring you’re an authority or expert won’t wash. Consumers constantly look to what others have had to say about a business, product or service, not the promoters. You build your authority from a solid foundation of expertise and collaborate to attract social validation and endorsement to make that authority stick. Third-party high-authority validation is on an exponential rise, says Dr. Tony.
He’s making it happen more locally with the launch in October of an Australian-themed JVIC called Aussie Rise.
“We want to bring the Australian community together to uplift and uplevel it. Online space is not just about marketing. More businesses are looking to the online space to market their products and services beyond their geographical locations to future proof themselves against the local economy’s ups and downs. Collaboration is vitally important in this space, particularly as more people are disenfranchised with the traditional job market and becoming digital nomads.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MindShift.money.
image credit: Bigstock/R_Tavani
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Margaret specializes in connecting businesses and publications with their customers and readers by writing great content. As an award-winning former Fairfax writer, she has written for national, metro, suburban and regional titles across Victoria and NSW. Her byline has appeared in 100+ online and print publications.
Dr Tony is an incredible sharer – so am sure will be bringing back vital information for us