I often tell people you can start a home based marketing consulting business -- or any home business for that matter -- with little money or, sometimes, even no money at all.

When I say this people either get really excited or really skeptical. And the skeptical ones demand how in the world it is possible to start and market a home business for little or no money.

But the fact is -- and this happens every single day in all kinds of home businesses all over the world -- the best way to market your home business without any money is finding alliances and partnerships -- or what is sometimes called "joint ventures."

What's a joint venture?

A joint venture is when you and another business (or group of businesses) "team up" and leverage off each other's skills, customer list or finances. There are dozens of ways of doing this and you can build a thriving home business overnight doing just one or two strategic joint ventures with the right people.

For example:

Let's say you are just starting out and you sell business to business products and services. You can go to the local accountant, the local attorney, the local web designer -- anyone with small businesses as customers and contacts -- and ask them to endorse you to their customer list in exchange for you giving them a cut of the first fee or sale.

Another example is, once you get clients, you exchange leads and prospects with each other. Or, you can team up with another business and offer joint services for a big fee and split the profits.

Like I said, there are dozens of ways of doing these joint ventures. And you can do them anywhere, at any time and with anyone.

The key is to find alliances and partnerships that can lead you to customers that you want and use and leverage that relationship.

That