Taking in a partner can be a great way to grow your business; it could give you instant access to greater capital; you could benefit from this person’s particular set of expertise or experience,and you also have cases where the partner has some valuable connection in the field and could help your organization flourish.
However, all partnerships aren’t as successful, and some can turn sour because of mistakes that could’ve been avoided. This is why you should know what the implications of forming a partnership are, and what you should be prepared for. Here are some of the things you should consider before entering into a business partnership.
The Partner’s Experience
At the end of the day, you want the partner to become a resource, not dead weight. While money is always nice, experience can sometimes be much more valuable. Another reason why you want to work with someone who has experience in the field is that you need them to be able to run the business in case you can’t. Entering a partnership shouldn’t be about one doing the work and the other one being a financier. Ideally, both should be able to hold their weight and be co-owners.
You also want to work with someone who has a set of expertise and skills that can complement yours. If you’re more reserved and aren’t great at public speaking or presentations, you want to work with someone who’s the total opposite. Or, maybe you are lacking when it comes to accounting, law, or management. These are all areas where a skilled partner could help.
Do You Actually Know Who They Are?
You also have to make sure that you know exactly who you're dealing with. You might’ve been introduced by someone in some event or through someone you know. While having someone who can vouch for them is a nice thing, you can’t stop there. You have to make sure that you can actually trust them, and you have to know if they have some sort of criminal history as well.
So, before you consider working with someone, we strongly suggest you check out court records on publicrecordsreviews.com. You’ll be able to see things like arrest records, for instance. You could see if they were accused of a financial crime, or crimes that could become issues later on. This is the only way to truly know who the person is, and know if they could become a liability.
Reliability
This is one of those factors that can be difficult to judge earlier on. If this is someone you’ve been dealing with for a while, you might have a better idea about their work ethic. However, someone you don’t know very well could show genuine interest at first, only for them to start slowly fading out after a while. Now, you’re finding yourself with a smaller piece of the pie while having to carry all the load.
You also have to be able to trust them to pick up the slack if you aren't there. They have to be able to run a team. You also have to check how good they are at meeting obligations and finishing projects. If you see someone as being unreliable or inconsistent, there is really no justifiable reason to partner up with them.
Think Twice About Partnering with Friends
Starting a business with friends is something many people will advise against, and that’s perfectly understandable. On the surface, starting a business with someone you naturally mesh with might sound like a perfect idea, but it comes with all sorts of challenges.
For one, having chemistry as friends is nothing like having chemistry as partners. If you notice that your friend has no work ethic and is lazy, you will quickly regret this. Not only that, but you could end up ruining your relationship by calling them out.
This is why you have to be ready to face the challenges of running a business together and know that you might lose your friendship as a result. The worst is that you will still need to work with them as a team after, which can be difficult to deal with.
Another issue with starting a business with a friend is that establishing clear roles can be difficult. Friendships usually come naturally, but business structures need to be clearly defined. As such, one could be taking more of a decisional role, which can irritate the other partner. Over time, this is another thing that might start chipping away at your friendship and lead to inefficiencies.
Business partnerships can be advantageous to both parties when approached correctly, though it’s not always the case. This is why it's important that you pick your partner wisely, and know exactly what actual partnerships are all about.
