Tips on Having a Business Partner

           Running a business alone can be very,very  challenging( in the eye of a  Small and Medium scale business). A sole entrepreneur responsibilities are most of the time overwhelming.
          You having to find your clients, doing your marketing, sales, networking, social media marketing, then you will be checking on the quality of your production, human resourcing, not to mention personal concerns of your workers , management and having to deal with accounting, tax payment, financing, mortgage, insurance and the list going on and on and on. 
          Now you thought of bringing in a business partner who have something that can help your business reach your goal or sometimes it's just a good idea to bring in a friend.  Before you that consider this:

Types of Business Partner



1. Equity Partner Investor

           - this is a partner who only invest his money and expect income from your performance in running your business. Most of the time they can pressure you to give them their income a.s.a.p. They will demand a speedy return on their investment if not they will ask you to return their money and leave you hanging.

2. Product Partner

           - a type of partner who will either manufacture for you or supply and your job is to run the business, the marketing, the funding, the works.

3.  Executive with Financial Responsibilities

           - this could be a board member who can help you finance your production and initial capital for your business. They get dividends from your business.

4. Different Department Partner

            - basic department in a business are Marketing,Operations and Finance. Now, you can have partners who can be in any department also known as division of labor.

5.  Vendors/ Consultant

            -This can be a per project basis, they get a share of your income from a completed projects. This can be a sales consultant that gets a share, percentage or commission from a closed sales. This can be an Architect or Project Manager who will see thru your projects and get a share from the Net profit of the project.

Consequences of Choosing the WRONG  Business Partner

1.Divorces
      If you are married  and having an attractive-beautiful-too friendly partner.  A bomb waiting to explode.  Sooner or later it can breed trouble with a jealous spouse. that situation can be so stressful. Another situation is when having your spouse as your business partner,        The other spouse could be so driven and find the other as weak and lazy or not to creative. It will be difficult for them not to discuss business matters at home, worse, fight over it.
2. Cheating

      Your partner can be enthusiastic at first until they see you having better things or seeing themselves working harder than you. They will start looking for ways in getting more for themselves. It could be getting your clients to deal with him and derail them to their secret company. 

      Another situation on cheating. This partner offers you a 50/50 deal so that you will work your ass off to get a client and after closing a sale they will tell you that you will get your       " Fair-share" because they are the ones who will take care and facilitate your client, they will make you feel that you don't deserve your 50% because what you did was too easy.   

3. Stealing

       You can have a partner who will use your company's tools or machines or workers for his own projects. This  partner can steal your clients, suppliers and main men as he preps-up for his own business that will eventually compete with you. So be cautious. 

4. Lying

     Close relative of Cheating and Stealing. Your partner can lie to you by giving you high hopes on the project they are working on, he asks you budget for representation, that he needs to treat certain decision makers and ending up no sale. 

5. Mismanagement

    Starting off great by hiring the right people, setting up rules and regulations, having a system in place, Along the way employees starts to overlooked the system of production and apply their own way and your operations manager is not saying or doing anything about it. your clients starts to disgust on the poor quality you are delivering and this could start the downfall of your business.

6.Not Fulfilling Roles

    Your business partner who is in-charge of sales and marketing gets him/herself busy giggling over the phone with who knows who. Spending much of her time on social media, chatting about his/her vacation and where to go next holiday. 

7. Bad Personal Habit

     Going to work habitually late. Always finds an excuse for not getting things done for your customers. 

8. Lawsuits

    You can get lawsuits from your client or suppliers with your partners incompetence. 

9. Reputation

    You can ruin your reputation or your company's integrity just because of your partners negligence.

12 Key Points Before Closing a Business Partnership

1. Non-negotiables
2. Common Long Term Vision
3. Values
4. Opposing Strengths
5. Clear Roles
6. Who gets credit
7. Financial Status
8. Purpose
9. Schedule
10. Track Record
11. Meet the Family
12. Business Prenup
13. Control of Finances
14. Sweat equity
15. Exit Strategy

Acknowledgement

Valuetainment/youtube/Patrick Bet David

Marie Forleo/youtube/businesspartners

Startupbuilder/youtube