Why have a business partner?
Delegation
More work can get done:
- tackling the same issue from different angles
- the same issue from the same angle
- multiple issues at the same time
Perspective
Everyone thinks differently. Having a business partner puts another set of eyes on an issue or circumstance. If you're feeling stuck on a problem it's great to call up your partner or message them and have someone just as interested in the success of the business as you are be right there to talk to you.
Strength
A business partner will have different strengths than you. Your partner will be able to bring their strength in alternative areas. Areas where you aren't as strong. This allows you to synergise your strengths together to further build up the business in a faster amount of time.
What makes a good business partner?
This is more than just what a good business partner makes... A question that must first be answered is this. Why should someone partner with you?
What do you bring to the table? What are your offerings? What makes your offerings so good?
What value do you bring and how do you best demonstrate that value?
All these questions must be answered by you unequivocally. Only after all these questions are answered first by you will you be in an amazing position to perceive a good business partner when you come across them.
Skills, Talents, Abilities Doth Not a Good Partner Make
The above discusses skills, talents, and abilities but none of that matters if your personalities don't mix.
A good business partner must be emotionally and mentally compatible with you. The partner relationship must be compatible or else the business will fail.
Does the partner have the same vision for the business and future? Are you both going in the same direction?
Do you both see yourselves working together for many years to come?
Don't be quick to partner with someone just because they tick all the boxes.
To really get to know someone well it takes at least 2 years. 2 years should be long enough to find out where your potential partner stands on most issues regarding business, life direction etc.,
How to find a good business partner?
First you have to make sure you are doing well in your own life on your own.
If you're a nervous wreck or have emotional mental problems you're not in the proper frame of mind to make business decisions especially one as important as seeking a partner.
Emotional advice is beyond the scope of this article. Maybe I will write more about this but honestly if you have mental or emotional problems it could take years to fix. Living in this world is not easy and emotional scars have a tendency to accumulate over time.
Let's say everything is good on the emotional/mental front. Awesome you are in a great position to look for a partner.
Look at people in your own life. How many of them are going in the same direction as you? How many of them are pursuing business, contracting, freelancing, independent side work?
Anything that is demonstrating independence from working for someone else for a living.
Don't have anyone like that? Don't know anyone like that?
It's time to set your comfort zone on fire and expand your social circle by talking to way more people.
It's the only way, if everyone you know is not pursuing anything business related.
The only way** how to find a partner** is to talk to people who are going in the same direction as you are.
Don't know how to talk to people? Learn how to do it. Don't know where to go to talk to people?
Facebook groups are a good resource. There are Facebook groups for everything under the sun. Join as many groups as you can that features the theme of whatever business you are looking into.
The real truth is in addition to Facebook groups, anywhere people are is a place where you have the opportunity to connect with someone that you could partner with.
Facebook is one of an infinite number of places you could look. Obviously depending on your personality type, your business theme, your business niche, your personal likes and dislikes the places you would enjoy searching will be 100% unique to you.
Talk to people show value by giving to people. You don't have to give for free. But if you show expertise competency smarts and a happy and healthy confident attitude you won't have a problem.
The better your social skills the easier it is. The better talker and communicator you are the easier it is.
You make yourself available by having a welcoming attitude.
If you don't know how to talk to people how to communicate how to socialize in a relaxed way in a business or corporate setting then skip the bullshit and pay someone to teach you.
There is no shame paying someone to coach you in your social skills. Does an Olympic athlete feel shame that he or she hires coaches to train? No. Why should you?
If for whatever reason you did not learn how to socialize when a young child then your only other option is to either: learn on your own after many months or years of trial and error or skip that and pay and follow someone else's teachings.
Or if you just need some tips and some guidance then pay just for that.
Or if you just need to make your LinkedIn profile top notch quality just pay for that.
If you don't have enough time to post all over social media pay someone for that.
All these things are cheap enough and definitely worth it if you know you really want a business partner.
As a business owner or potential business owner. There's three things you have to learn about yourself.
- Things you can learn without paying
- Things you can learn with paying
- Things you should just save your time and pay someone to do for you
If you were not born with this ability it's just a matter of learning the skill.
Anyone can learn the skill if they do the work.
Do you actually need a business partner?
You might not necessarily need or even want a business partner.
With a partner you cede a certain percentage of ownership.
If you want to fully own your own businesses 100% then a partner is not for you.
If you have a certain way about you that doesn't like compromise or changing certain things about the way you do business then a partner is not for you.
If you already have everything you need to start up and run the business then why not do it yourself?
If you have all the tools knowledge and resources to implement your business then what more are you waiting for to start?
What more are you waiting for?
If you have an:
- Idea for your business
- Plan to get there
- Smarts to implement it
- Resources to see it to through
Then why do you need a partner? A partner should be able to fill in a gap in at least one of those 4 areas.
Partner VS Workers
You might not need a partner at this point you might just need workers. If the business is set up in such a way where you need workers then you need to hire workers or change the way the business is set up to not require them.
In such a case you have a different problem. One of scale, automation and outsourcing.
If you don't want workers then restructure your business to not require them by:
- Eliminating the position all together as redundant
- Automating it with computer systems
- Outsourcing it to a more cost effective third party
If you can't do that then the only way is to hire workers.
If you don't want to go about doing it yourself then hire a business consultant to go over your business top to bottom to see where the inefficiencies lie.
Then in a systematic way eliminate redundant processes and automate any left over process.
Any process that cannot be currently automated can be outsourced and only after that should hiring take place.
This is not 10 or 20 years ago you do not need to immediately hire someone. Efficiency and optimization should be baked into your operation. If not why not? There are so many automation tools available for an outstanding price. Of course this is 100% dependent on the type of business your running and certain business requires in house solutions.
But if you own one of the many types of businesses that does not require something in house then why not outsource it for a better price? In particular non-customer facing positions.
This was slightly off topic but I believe it should be said.
Labor cost is not getting cheaper.
There will be a drastic increase in minimum wage laws across the country in the US. Expect $15 dollars an hour minimum wage in many cities as the years go by.
Business that depend on minimum wage work I don't see many of them surviving unless they are a conglomerate. I don't see many small businesses surviving the minimum wage hike that is coming to the US.
Why not be ahead of the curve and eliminate, automate, and outsource so that your business can survive well into the future?