With this economy, businesses are becoming more complex and so competitive that it’s important to have a strong and reliable business partner who can help you deal with emotional stress and baggage.
It doesn’t matter how good you and your team are. In order for your business to grow and thrive, you’re going to have to build partnerships. These partnerships will increase what you can offer your clients, make your team more efficient, and even send potential clients your way.
Get one with complementary abilities to your own, which will significantly alleviate the burden of doing things alone, helping you handle things more efficiently without burning out.
When you become a parent, you make long-term investments without much proof of return or that they are effective over a 20–30-year period. You won’t truly know how well you’ve done until your kids start having kids of their own and you get to see them raise their own kids. Only then will you be able to predict whether a positive cycle will continue and whether more prosperous generations will descend from you. That’s how partnerships works.
Bringing on a business partner isn’t something you take lightly. There’s a lot of research, planning and due diligence that must be performed. Hence, I highlighted some characteristics to look out for in a business partner:
- Trustworthiness
A business partner is nothing without trust. If you can’t trust your partner, everything else is just noise. The challenge lies in trying to determine someone’s level of trustworthiness when you don’t have a pre-existing relationship.
2. Complementary skills
While compatibility is crucial, you shouldn’t hire a business partner whose skill set is the same as yours. For your company, this won’t make much of a difference. Finding someone with complementary skills is ideal. For instance, if you excel in product development and innovation, you might prefer a partner with more experience in sales and marketing. Ideally, you and your business partner will both oversee separate parts of the business. This allows you to each specialize in an area and avoid micromanaging the other one
3. Compatibility
You’ll be with your business partner a lot of the time. You don’t have to be the best of friends, but you must get along. There must be a positive relationship between you two that enables collaboration for the benefit of the company. It often boils down to a gut instinct when assessing potential compatibility.
4. Quality Network
A vital component of starting and expanding a business is networking. You rely heavily on your network in the beginning to establish partnerships and spread the news about your new business. Your network will also help you find new possibilities as you develop.
Despite the fact that you already have a strong network of your own, you desire a partner. You or the company now have immediate access to hundreds or thousands of additional connections. Your network’s potential will immediately grow when combined with theirs.
5. Creativity
A person cannot learn creativity. It’s possible to place someone in a situation that brings out their finest creative abilities, but it’s not as though you can educate someone how to be creative. Ask your partner questions on various concepts, ideas, and chances to see how they approach issues when you work with them. This will provide you with a very clear sense of their level of creativity.
With this partner playing a vital role, it helps you focus on your vision, priorities, and goals. The partner can also help in building the right team with great people so they can all work together to WIN (What Is Noteworthy)