Partnering up to start a business most times affords the most convenient way to run said business. But first, you need to choose the right partner for you and for the business. We have put together five tips to help guide your choice of a suitable business partner.
- Right business partner # Interest and Hobby of the Prospect
This is perhaps the most basic thing to look out for before choosing a partner for your venture. Here, you need to be on the lookout for similar or complementing interests and fancies. This means you should pick someone who is into the same things as you. Someone who holds the same principles and subscribes to the same ideologies as you do. This is important because if you choose a partner that has the same interests and goals as you do, you both will always conveniently agree and easily make decisions for the growth of the business. Picking someone with an opposing view does not necessarily mean the business will not grow; it just means you both may not agree on a lot of things.
- Right business partner # Reliability and Mutual Trust
Yes, the first point talks about choosing someone with the same interests as you. It still does not mean just anyone of your friends or acquaintances is qualified, A business is a big deal, one wrong step and all your hard work comes crashing down. A business relationship should be treated as important as every other kind of relationship. It also needs qualities like trust to flourish, so pick someone you absolutely trust. Choose someone who you can confidently leave every aspect of the business with and be sure they will deliver as much quality as you would. You should also know that trust is not enough, you need someone that is not just trustworthy but reliable. Reliability in this context means someone that is capable of delivering the kind of quality needed to push the business forward. The person should be willing to be make himself readily available. It is always safer to go for a connection that was not manually built.
Most young entrepreneurs overlook the idea of building, or more appropriately discovering the reliability and trustworthiness of their prospective partners. I prefer to use the key word “discover” because people w ho tend to naturally connect thrive easily than those who have mechanically built their connection. What this means, if you have to talk yourselves into being trustworthy and reliable from time to time, then you’re probably not supposed to be in that partnership.
It is not enough to do draft a Memorandum of Association (MoA) and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or a partnership agreement, in a bid to clearly draw the lines. A natural trust and reliability has to exude from the both of you. It’ll be a lot easier that way. One of the major characteristics of a good business partner is trustworthiness, so keep an eye out for it.
- Right business partner # Accessibility of the Prospect
This means the said partner should be accessible or available. You can’t partner up with someone in Lagos to run a business in Enugu. Pick someone who is close to you and who is not too tied down or busy with other engagements. The person should also be easily accessible. It should not be someone who is hard to reach or who you always have to cross hurdles to get across to. The idea of partnership is that there is an uninterrupted connection and cooperation between the both of you. When that connection begins to weaken, it will invariably affect the business negatively. Whether or not this person will always be accessible is definitely one of the things to consider when entering into a business partnership with them.
- Right business partner # Prospect’s Financial Capacity
This is also very important. A partner who is bringing in little money to the table might just be an anchor pulling you down and sapping you of your resources. Choose someone who is financially buoyant enough to not only contribute significantly to the start up of the business but also to its day to day operations. Running a business is expensive, the point of partnering up at it is to reduce the cost.
- Right business partner # Competence and Skill of the Prospect
The competence and skill that you lack is definitely what to look out for in a business partner. Your partner should also have some sort of experience or skill that will push the business forward or at least help it operate. It takes more than just money to keep a business running and successful. Your partner should bring some sort of skill or knowledge to the table that will also be helpful to the business. This means for a person to qualify to be your partner, he or she should have some business skills. It could be marketing skills, or just some sort of knowledge on producing the product or service that your business is about.
A partner for your business can be a blessing or a curse. It all depends on who you choose. At the very least make up a list of the criteria for choosing business partners you want to work with and let it guide you.
