What about making your own podcast for your own business or website? That's not exactly rocket science. Get some sound recording software (Audacity or WavePad, for example) and a microphone. Then record some MP3 files yourself.

All that's left is to get them up on web somewhere and have them formatted into RSS. Some blogging software and services allow you to attach audio to a blog post. There's even free programs you can use.

For example, you could open a Producer account at:

www.podblaze.com

You can start with free account, which lets you store up to 40MB of MP3 files on their server. It's enough for about four half-hour shows.

That's an easy and risk-free way to try out podcasting. They also have paid accounts for people who want to do more than experiment with this new media.

Now why would you want to podcast? I can think of many good reasons. Here's a few: Put some recordings of your band up and maybe you'll get a recording contract. Sweet!

If you did a teleseminar, make it available to world. Position yourself as an expert and people will take you more seriously.

Maybe you know about news items that local and national media won't pick up. Podcasting gives your story a chance to be heard. Maybe you just want to share something personal with world.

Whatever your reason for wanting to put your music or voice on web, podcasting is an easy and inexpensive way to do it. So pick up that microphone and record your thoughts. I'm waiting to hear it.

============================================================ Steve Humphrey is a programmer, web designer and author of 2 ebooks on programming. His latest project is making podcast technology easy enough for anyone to use. Visit these sites: and ============================================================

6.Create an action plan and implement it

Once you’ve listed your potential partners, create an action plan. This should detail steps you’ll take to approach them and implement your joint venture project e.g. “I’ll contact Joe Bloggs of XYZ Corporation on July 15th.” To keep you focused, refer to your goals when creating and implementing your action plan. Also note that details of your action plan will change depending on pace at which project goes. 7.Contact your partners and open door for discussions

Make initial contact with your potential partners and set up a meeting. You can contact them by phone, snail mail or email, but phone remains best contact method. At meeting, keep your eyes and ears open to make sure market fit is as good as you initially thought. Also, ensure that “chemistry” is good between you and your prospective partners. Emphasize benefits of your proposal.

8.Decide on either a contract or a hand shake deal

If you choose a contract, ensure that it specifies terms for review, and doesn’t lock you into any long term arrangement without specific criteria for profitability being met. If you choose a hand shake deal, be sure you trust your partner!

9.Launch your joint venture and test results

Start small by doing a test run first. Write, print and send endorsement letter and implement tracking system. Make sure you’re equipped to handle flood of new clients once you’ve set joint venture into motion.

These steps are simple and easy to execute. If you follow them appropriately, you can look forward to having profitable, win-win joint venture projects! As with any marketing strategy, remember to test, tweak, track and review results until you find best fit.

Copyright © 2005 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.

Note: You are welcome to republish this article as long as resource box at end is included fully and unaltered.