Some quick and easy lessons about striking up a successful business partnership

Making 1+1=3

Let’s face it. No matter how much we’d like to be, none of us are good at everything.

In the world of business—increasing competition, bottom-line implications, time=money, never-ending pressure for “better, faster, cheaper” services and products—things can get pretty hectic.

So, it’s nice to be able to build a business together with someone who respects your talents, and who can complement yours with their own.

Michael Dell comes to mind here. In his book, Direct from Dell, he talks about several occasions throughout the early years of his business, when he realized that he needed to hire someone whose talents and expertise complemented and built up from his own. In fact, he says, he absolutely could not have grown the business or taken it to the next level repeatedly without their partnership.

So, the lesson here is this: Know your strengths, know what you lack, then find what’s missing in the form of a partner

Know your strengths

What are you good at? Are you good at marketing, got a great idea, but don’t quite know how to execute it and build a business from it?

Or, maybe you’re great at building start-ups, but not especially good at managing them day to day once they’ve grown and require a structure and management of employees?

Identify what you’re good at, and be honest about what you can bring to a new business. Learn about what makes for a great entrepreneur, and honestly assess your talents. Just because you might not have everything on the list, doesn’t mean you can’t start a business. You can; you just might need some help. Perhaps, a partner?

Know what you lack

Honestly considering where you may be lacking in the successful entrepreneur profile can help you determine what characteristics, skills, and attributes you should look for in a partner.

Interview people who might fit the bill, and inquire about past examples that demonstrate the talents and characteristics you’ll need.

Say, Howdy Partner!

Once you’ve found someone interested and willing, and fitting the bill, then how should you proceed?

Any successful partnership requires three things:

1. Clear agreement of roles: Who will contribute what, how often, how much, along what criteria, and for what return?

2. Clear agreement on mission: What are you working towards? What’s going to make your service or product differentiate itself from everything else out there?

3. Honesty and integrity: Is this the kind of person you can trust and share any kind of information with? A friend of mine in a partnership once said to me, “I sometimes feel like I’m more married to my partner than to my husband.”

Growing a business can be hard, but challenging work.

It’s even better if you can find a like-minded individual to share in the work and reward.

Setting clear expectations, creating a fair exchange of value, and building a shared vision together can pave the way to some of the most rewarding realities of a shared entrepreneurial venture.