How to Find the Right Business Partner
Does one truly have the guts to venture the roller coaster ride in the business world? Probably, but you can’t deny that few can really do it on their own. So why not get one more person on the train who wants to share in your business venture? You only have to look at the best business partnerships in history (Procter & Gamble, anyone?) to know that turning your startup company into something bigger than you have dreamed of, is not entirely impossible. And if you’re looking to employ better strategies in growing your business by finding the right partner, this article is for you.
How to Find the Right Business Partner
What Makes Business Partnerships so Special?
From Henry Wells and William Fargo (Wells Fargo) to Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (HP), the best partnerships in America’s economic history played a significant role in inspiring the success of other brands known the world over. If these people banked on chance meetings and waited for a stroke of luck that wouldn’t show, they wouldn’t be successful. It is one thing to have the right mind for business. It is an entirely different story to make that mind work with another person who may or may not understand the direction you want your business to take.
Collective efforts are necessary to achieve bigger goals. Your team sports are the best example. And hoarding all the glory is farfetched when the ball goes through every hand in the game. So before basking on the idea of success, think of the people who want to be with you along the journey. Partners are essential, especially when reaching the goal is a top priority. And finding the right one seems a little bit difficult, but it is worth the try.
Teaming Up for Success
Business is a continuous human activity since it is one way to survive. Profits, income, and productivity will ensure that food will be served on the table. Since almost everybody is doing business, it becomes a competition, and many exerted efforts to avert getting eaten. Part of the effort is forging the right alliances. Opening your arms for a partner who is willing to play the game is strategic leverage. And they too will let you know that you are not alone in your venture for profit and eventual market domination.
The right business partners can finance your business. They can give you extra fuel for a critical start or an extra lift in desperate times. Partnership business plans become part of the board meetings, as the other’s assistance is indispensable. Modifications such as vendor partnership will become a possible deal between honest business enthusiasts. With the right partner, the business will have a new game face. Keeping each other’s backs while respecting agreed on privacy terms and surviving the market hustles will be a collaborative effort.
Do remember that you are not alone. There are also business people out there who are also in need of the right partner either for full cooperation or a limited partnership. Thus, the survival of the fittest through individual might and collective effort is possible. Swimming the tides will be easy if you find the right partner.
What Qualities Should You Look for in a Business Partner?
As with personal relationships, business partnerships aren’t easy, as finding the right person is often elusive. Marriages start first with proposals, and to acquire partnerships within the business world needs partnership proposals. The process is complex as building bridges is not that easy, and a lot of considerations have to be on the table before pursuing the bond. And among those considerations are the qualities of the right business partner.
Below are items fit for a partnership checklist of several characteristics to look for in a business partner to help grow our business. Do take note that bonds in business are not random romantic flicks. You cannot place the business’s fate and many people, along with it through imprudent, impulsive, and imbecilic.
Transparent
Openness is a crucial trait to have since secrecy leads to suspicion within a partnership. Imagine that your business partners will not reveal crucial information or intentionally omit something. Thus, the right partner always shows their cards to you. However, through partnership agreements, concerned parties can highlight confidential areas. But as much as possible, the commitment to be transparent is a much-needed characteristic.
Trusting
Transparency always opens the door to trust. One trusts the other with crucial information and even to the point that non-disclosure agreements are present within partnership contracts. As you are about to engage with potential partners, entrusting tasks, and other matters are inevitable. Since you want to get the job done, knowing that the other can do it forges a productive bond.
Considerate
Maximizing cooperation means knowing other strengths and weaknesses. Squeezing your partners to create immediate outputs or changes without understanding the situation can create rifts between the relationship. Although avoiding errors and going beyond limitations are key assets, being considerate when needed allows room for building each other. Inasmuch as you want the partner to be considerate, they too should see you exercise the same trait.
Critical
No need for sugarcoating and euphemisms when it comes to doing business. Although being considerate is a much-needed interpersonal skill, it should not substitute frankness and criticisms. Badmouthing is different from actually making a point on the discussion table. And being critical means that each got each other’s backs as they look for possible loopholes, misgivings, and inadequacies.
Inevitably, partners envision business plans together, and without a critical mindset, ideas and suggestions will be half-baked or devoid of rigor. Healthy discussions, argumentations, and debates are part of the deliberative process. And as partners, you need both to work things out for the best of both.
Diligent
Hard work will always pay off, and placing your trust in a diligent partner means having a smooth business. Every business asks its workers their diligence to help make a company successful. And the same level of commitment is what you also need from a partner. And there is nothing like having a great feeling when you reap the fruits of your labor.
Professional
Even though you may consider your partner as a family member, professionalism should still reign supreme. Managing businesses together still has formalities to observe. Under the table, negotiations, slander, and conspiracies should not take place. Thus, potential business partners are those you can meet eye to eye with a strong observance of standards.
Collaborative
No man is an island. And the architectural wonders are not the result of one person. When a partner is diligent but not a team player, then it can compromise productivity and efficiency. Business is not a lone venture, and you need people to come along and figure things out. With many brains working together, reaching the target will be a cinch. And just like a good football game, team play adds to the beauty of the win.
Resourceful
Knowing the way around within a tight situation is a mark of a resourceful person. Desperate situations call for strategic approaches, so a resourceful partner is useful when the going gets tough. And do remember that being a cheapskate is different from a person who knows quality and costs in a balanced manner. It would be a privilege to work with a creative and resourceful partner.
Integrity
Above all else, a partner with integrity is undeniably the best one to work with. Most often, the business sector has a lot of profit-seeking opportunists. However, those who know how to respect people, seek justice, protect the environment, and uplift living standards, standards are worth the collaboration. Business partners who advocate causes, and lawful yet ethical are priceless. There is nothing like putting a heart to a profit-making machine. And there is no one like a partner with a heart.
How to Find the Right Business Partner
Searching for a black cat in a dark room can still give hope because you know you are looking for that black cat. Once you know what partner you are looking for, doing the hunt is quite the challenge, but you know what you need. So let the search begin by trying out the different ways below.
Establish a Good Business Reputation
Finding them by letting them find you first is a tactical approach, although this strategy is best for those who already have a business. When your business is well up and running smoothly, words fly fast, and many people can get the news. And just like a person trying to attract a mate through one’s scent, the aroma should reach the farthest distance. Let your satisfied clients echo your reputation. Make them tell the stories of quality services, ethical approaches, cozy accommodations, and competent actions.
Sometimes, the best way to hunt is to treat yourself as an irresistible bait. Getting the right partners means you are also right for them.
Socialize
An updated calendar with business conventions on the dates is one way to start. Events and conferences are a few of the avenues you can meet like minds and similar interests. Who knows? You will randomly chat with a chap over for a bottle of champagne and such conversations can go in so many directions.
Hop a table or two, go by the corridor, and give an inviting smile. Talk casually until you see a chance of proposing to each other a deal as the conversations deepen. It will even be a boon if somebody promises to hand out a partner manager resume. Expand your horizons and make some friends.
Assess Industry Compatibility
Business partnerships are not random. The right partner is one, but would it be the right business? Do take note that there are industries that can link together to make a formidable alliance. They could also team up to support each other with their logistics. Again, your partners’ business matters, and they think the same as well.
Apart from socializing within conventions, make sure you are within the right gathering. You do want to hand out your business card as an invitation. Thus, take time to look at your potential partners’ industries if they are the perfect complement.
Get to Know their Business Reputation
Aside from making your reputation known, doing extensive background checks is necessary. You do want to avoid complications like engaging with illegal business and problematic ethical practices. More so, engaging with corrupt companies who are untrustworthy could mean the demise in your industry. You cannot trust a notorious company with funds, documents, decisions, and the future as you cannot trust inconsistencies shown of a possible partner in life.
The reputation of business also covers the bright side of humanity. You would only want to team up with companies (and individuals) who also advocate social and corporate responsibility because that’s what would make your partnerships more fulfilling. These are businesses that are not only for profit but use business as an instrument in making lives better. Profit and expansion is not the only concern for businesses with a heart.
Finding the right business partner takes more than waiting for the fish to get the bait. Today’s technological world can help you optimize networking through websites, but it is still crucial to have a keen eye to get the right find. The business world is for those who are willing to take risks. More so, it is for those who are strong enough to stand and team up with others. A blend of “survival of the fittest” and “no man is an island” is the fitting framework that business alliances should pursue.
Knowledge is power, and knowing what to find makes the how worth doing. Thus, the search is never over when the right one does not come. And one partner is not enough if there are bigger goals to achieve. Do remember that you are not alone. Gaining profit, achieving success, and expanding enterprises are business targets. However, human development and fighting for causes are noble goals that business partners can also achieve.
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