If you actively work a lot of joint venture deals, or are planning to do joint ventures in the future, then it’s just a matter of time before someone tries to cheat you out of money one way or another.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do joint ventures, but fact is if you do enough of them, with enough different people, it’s only a matter of time. Especially when big money is involved and people start acting differently.

And if you think people aren’t going to act differently when big money is involved you’re kidding yourself. It happens all the time. Even to people who most of us would think are immune to such forces.

But, there is a way to almost completely avoid getting cheated out of money with a joint venture partner that is actually pretty simple. So simple, almost nobody I know does this, and yet, it will help you sleep like a baby at night knowing you have your bases covered.

What you do is get people you do joint ventures with in a habit where you are reviewing their books with them on at least a monthly basis.

And…you want to start doing that upfront, before you sign any agreements or contracts.

That way, if they have that expectation where they know you’re going to be combing the books with them every month, the chances of them trying to “cook the books” go way down.

In fact, in order to pull off cheating you, they will have to get real creative with the books and will most likely not be worth the time, effort and risk.