"The Benefits of Co-operative Partnering"
By Gary Christensen

Co-operative Partnering can be described as 2 or more persons pooling their time, energy, talents and/or money, and working together to accomplish a mutually agreed upon goal. Your City operates because it's residents pool their collective resources each month, to help pay for the water; the electricity, the collection of garbage, the running of the local government, etc.

State Governments and the entire Government of our Country continues to function through the co-operative support of ALL of it's citizens. Many Multi-Level Companies are started and maintained though the co-operative partnership of its many member-owners.

My own business, or parts of it, began and continues to operate even today, because of the support of my Dealers and Customers. Allow me to give you a few examples:

One day I had a new flyer that I wanted to get printed & distributed to new customers, but, I didn't have any money to pay for the printing and the postage!! I contacted some friends and a few other business owners I knew, and offered to place THEIR ads on the BACK SIDE of my flyer, for a small advertising fee. Those 10 advertisers each paid $5.00 for their ad to be on ONE side, brought in enough money to pay for BOTH sides to be printed & mailed! My flyer got printed and mailed, PLUS the 10 advertisers got their ads printed & circulated to my customers! We all worked together; one of us did the paste-ups, the printing & mailing, while the others each paid a fee to be a cooperative partner!

Another example: I wanted to place a large ad in a nationally distributed magazine. The cost for the ad was way out of my reach. I contacted others whom I thought might want to "join with me" in my ad,.. and each provided their "few lines" to be a part of the whole ad. Each partner paid $15.00 to have their lines included in the large ad. All of those $15.00 fees helped to pay for the cost of that entire ad. All of us also shared in the results of that one ad!

One more example: I used to mail a Package of my Articles, once a month, to a list of Publishers I knew, who were good about publishing my writings. It cost me upwards of $50.00 per month to send out each mailing. I wrote to several other freelance writers and offered them the chance to "join with me" in my monthly mailing effort. Each writer provided his latest Article; Column or News Release to me, with a $25. fee. Their fees helped to pay for the copies of each article that I made, to go into each envelope; part of it helped to pay for the 9 x 12 envelopes; the labels and the Postage to send out the packages to all the Publishers on my list. All of our articles get distributed each month; All of our Articles arrived, together in one package, at the first of each month; No longer did each of us have to do this separately; We still continue to Co-operate together as Partners, each month, to accomplish this task!

I must admit, I have used this Co-operative Partnering idea for several years, on several different projects, as it always helps to bring in the money to get a new project off the ground. YOU can do the same!

When you come up with an idea, and don't have the funds to make it work, see if there is some way you can involve others; With each person helping by paying a portion of the overall costs; Determine what the benefits are to each participant and point out those benefits to each one.

This idea can work well with Lottery Clubs (each member paying a portion of entire number of tickets purchased); With a Newsletter, you're able to publish issue after issue, because of the financial support of your advertisers,... (Many Magazines on the stands pay for the printing & distribution of each issue out of the money received from the sale of every copy; and from Advertising & Subscription orders.) Most daily Newspapers are supported and continue to be printed each day, because of the money received from their many readers; advertisers and subscribers!

As you enlist other business people and involve them in your organization, help them to see that everyone is working together to accomplish a greater goal. As people see the bigger picture and get excited about being a part of "something special" which can help to touch, and make better, the lives of many others, they might be less likely to drop out or get discouraged and quit.

Always try to figure out how you can involve others in your projects. Make use of silent partners; other business people; relatives; friends; neighbors, etc., and you'll never again have to work alone, or ever have to pay any bill all by yourself!

(Gary Christensen is a Freelance Writer and Self-Published Author of 8 Books and over 100 Original Reports. Gary's newest Report, "How to Triple the Response Rate of all your ads" is completely FREE for the asking at: Garch6@aol.com. (Or send him your request by regular mail. A 32c stamped, return envelope is appreciated, but not required.) (An entire set of Gary's 100+ Reports are yours for just $28.00) Gary will include any 2 page Article or Release in his next Publisher Pak mailing, for just $28.00, mailed on the 26th, monthly, to 90+ Publishers. Mail to: Gary Christensen, PO Box 2411, Corvallis, OR 97339)