The Last Two Lessons In Business Partnerships — Should I Or Shouldn’t I?

Has anyone ever told you that you’re “just too nice”? Have you remained silent because you were fearful of a negative reaction from someone important to you? Do you avoid confrontation at all costs?

If you answer yes to any of these questions and you want to enter into a business partnership, then you better hope that you have a lot of luck on your side. The only other way you can enhance your chances of creating a successful business partnership is by doing your due diligence. In fact, this is so important, I devote three chapters to this topic and provide a process to guide you through it, in my book, “Creating Great Business Partnerships. A Workbook for Success”.

If you are afraid to tell your potential partner that you don’t think her contribution of “sweat equity” is equal to your intellectual property contribution because you don’t want to hurt her feelings, understand that through your silence you are communicating just the opposite. You will be the partner that calls me three years later for partnership intervention services because your business partner is not worth the “50% of the company you gave her” and now you resent it.

If you are too embarrassed to tell your prospective partner that your credit rating is poor or that your spouse will not co-sign on any loans; you are deliberately omitting critical information that your partner deserves to have in order for them to make the best decision for themselves. You will be establishing a relationship built on something less than the truth…a very shaky foundation…and setting your business partnership and business up for failure at worst, poor communications at best and most probably, a very strained relationship with your partner.

If in the process of doing your exploration you conclude that the partnership will not work because there are too many crucial differences between you, should you walk away even though you have invested so much time and energy? Of course! To not do so would be like the bride or groom who is too afraid to cancel the wedding because the invitations have already gone out. Divorce is usually just around the corner.

Lesson #5: Be courageous! Ask the probing questions, address the tough topics, share your true concerns and expectations and….know when to walk away.

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down”. – Oprah Winfrey

I love that quote! It really says it all when it comes to business partnerships. The question is…how can you be sure you are getting the kind of partner who will take the bus with you?

Of course there are no guarantees, but there certainly are ways to increase your chance for success in selecting the right business partner. Lessons 1 through 5 covered in previous blogs will help. The last lesson of “Should I or Shouldn’t I?” that I want to cover is one in which, if you played sports or a musical instrument growing up, you are already familiar with. Practice.

That’s it…practice. This is just one of the many recommendations along with the tools and how-to instructions contained in, “Creating Great Business Partnerships. A Workbook For Success”.

I am an advocate for finding ways to “test drive” the partnership. The only way to be confident that you will work well together and are aligned in your core values is to actually work together in a real-world circumstance similar to what will happen in your business partnership.

Work on a project or two together by creating a strategic alliance for a specific, yet narrow purpose. Be clear on the goals, financial investment and returns, expectations for performance and roles and responsibilities…most of the same things you need to do in legalizing a business partnership. The difference here is if it doesn’t work, the impact is limited to one project, client or product. Because both parties are clear that the purpose is to try the partnership out, an unsuccessful trial will usually end amicably.

If the trial run is successful, chances are you’ve learned more about each other than you could have in hours of conversation, will probably tweak some things based on your real world experience together to make it better, and you’re much more prepared to take the more permanent step of entering into a Partnership Agreement.

Lesson #6: Practice by taking your business partnership for a test drive!

By: Barri Carian

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Author of "Creating New Business Partnerships - A Workbook for Success," Barri Carian has over 17 years of expertise on what it takes to create a sustainable business partnership, from choosing wisely to feeding and nurturing the relationship. Most of this knowledge has come from conducting dozens of what Barri calls "partnership interventions", all in an effort to save the relationship, partnership and thus the business. For More Info, Visit www.NewBusinessPartnership.com