Choosing your partners in business
Put God first, get an exit strategy before starting, work with passion, and determine if what your partner brings to the table is what is needed the most at that moment.
Have you ever heard of any successful partnership and wished it for yourself? Definitely, we all must have heard of successful partnerships, good examples are: the Jumia friends, the Google boys etc. Its only Nigerian music partnerships I know that barely lasts; even twin brothers ended their business partnership.
A partnership can be a good thing, and a disastrous thing. Just as we all know of successful partnerships, we might have probably heard of the disastrous partnerships; even marriage partnerships turn out terribly wrong at times. A partnership would only be great if you have the fundamentals played out right.
Since we are specializing on business partnerships, I would expatiate on building a successful business partnership.
For a business partnership to be successful, certain things have to be set in place, some questions have to be answered and some consultations need to be made.
Ask yourself these questions-
* Why do I want a partner?
* What kind of partner do I want?
* What will be the terms of the partnership?
* How long would do the partnership last?
Before answering these questions, you should understand yourself, which is probably the most important thing.
Answering these questions entails, whether you need a partner for intellectual capital, financial capital or you need an assistant, if the latter is the case, you should probably get a PA, sometimes, pressure and stress make us think we need partners. You should do this to forecast the future of the business and your partnership, from your point of view as well as your partners'.
You also need to understand yourself first before you can understand your partner, you should be frank with yourself to know if you're a good team worker, if you're not, your partnership would definitely have an expiry date.
Expiry dates in partnership isn't actually a bad thing.
Before you start a partnership in the first place, you should legally spell out the terms of the partnership which should entail an exit strategy (this could serve as the expiry date) should in case the partnership doesn't work out. That's similar to stating the terms for a divorce before marriage commitment. The terms should also contain other details such as revenue contribution and profit sharing ratios, duties of each partner and the rules and regulations binding the partnership. Many of us overlook having doing the legal work for various things we put our hands into, which is why 10years hard work and sustained partnership can become a death threat within days.
The legal backing stands as your insurance in a partnership.
Most importantly, understanding yourself first would help you determine the partner you want, who should definitely share the same passion you have for the success of the business. If one partner has passion and can commit all for the success of the business while the other can't, one party begins to feel cheated, jealousy sets in, bitterness takes over and disagreement isn't inevitable—funny enough, someone may land in the doctor's care.
You should also understand the personality type of your partner. To be accurate on this, it’s advisable to have known your supposed partner for a while before going into any business together. If you're not compatible, ‘put your slippers on your head and run’.
Lastly, a partnership isn't something you should exempt God from, after all, God is the best partner you can have in a business, He takes care of everything, demands 10% profit and allows you to keep 90%; isn't that a great partner? Involve God through prayers before you begin that partnership.
I hope to hear of more successful partnerships in Nigeria. Partnership could either accelerate your success or give your success a flat tire.
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