What Do You Look for in a business partner?

Wed, 21 May 2008 01:06:43 -0400

Each Monday (well actually Sunday night) we send you a page or two that we hope will offer a needed pointer or inspire you for the new week. It also lets you know there are many others in care delivery who think just like you do. Knowing you are in the care delivery business in some form (home care, adult day care, medical equipment distribution, mental health, assisted living, medical transportation, in-home physician services or some compatible discipline) we know that Mondays can present the greatest challenges.
This week’s focus: The business week beginning Monday May 19th, 2008 we talk about making sure you know how to select a business partner. I know there are numerous situations where a business partner can be helpful. In some cases they are the financial arm, in other cases they bring some special talent or technical expertise and in some cases they might bring the salesmanship that you, as the creator or inventor, lack. Yet regardless of the reason you feel a business partner is warranted, I believe based upon my own experiences that you need to be careful in your selection. Ultimately your own gut feeling will determine what affects your decision in this regard but maybe what I impart here can help you establish the right formula for selection. Past Successes: I believe that any partner should bring a track record of some success. If you have concluded that this person will bring some special insight to your operations, on what are you basing this? What have they operated or managed successfully in their previous or current career that causes you to conclude they would be an asset to you now? What special relationships have they developed that would be useful to your business? If you are dealing with someone perhaps in their mid 50’s who has floated from one opportunity to the other over the course of their entire working life - and who now needs a place to land for continued income - then it might be necessary to ask whether or not they may end up being baggage, and not an asset. This is not always the case but it is something for you to be on the look out for. I have found in some cases that when you attach yourself to a certain type the one who consumed their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s making bad life decisions and all of a sudden are available to you - there could be a struggle for control and you could end up trying to work everyday with someone who would spend most of their working time being envious of you and your accomplishments. This will spill over into relationships with clients and will be hard for you to hide. With some it is just second nature for them to embrace insecurity. This is especially true if they have been kicked out of previous especially long-term employment. Your every move will have them focused on how they can survive maybe even around you and this could destroy any possibility of sincere teamwork. The sad part about this is that some of these have the potential to be really quality people. But insecurity is a real personality disease that has the potential to totally destroy good relationships. I have met some who have spent years in respectable employment but when I force them to obvious why perhaps a younger generation pushed them out of previous opportunities. Some became too comfortable in previous positions and as a result did not apply themselves to new skills or self-development while others never committed to self improvement as manifested in items as simplistic as bad spelling so they could never be trusted with important, professional business communications. What this really amounts to is that when you bring them on as a partner, you need a couple of years to polish them before they can be of any real value. That is if they have the humility to be trained and are not focused on their lengthy experience and are blinded to the need for continued personal growth. Another point I need to make is likely familiar to many. When you allow a partner to invest and there is no requirement for them to be involved in the actual physical operations of the business, you could be accused by your state attorney general of selling unregistered business opportunities. You will need to check with your state to determine what laws might apply but I would hate for you to get tangled up in a regulatory mess. My mind goes back to The Friendly Villa. I loved that building and the assisted living and respite programs we operated. One partner, after only 2 months of operation asked me, “how much are you taking out of here? Well I did not take any salary at the time but his question made me see I was dealing with a potential loose cannon. Subsequently I learned he had been fired from a local public school system for drug use and had failed several drug tests needed to get his job back. His had been a life of one fast move after another. As a result of his lifestyle and the environment he had chosen for himself, he was deeply insecure, having spent his life around and with untrustworthy people. I bought him out and kicked him out! Any prospective partner also needs to demonstrate a legitimate interest in how the business operates and what is required of management to get the job done. They should be reading about what you do, researching and simply not impressed to the point of wanting to invest as a result of looking at your lifestyle. There should be repeated questions and a hunger for better understanding of what their role needs to be in order to help the operation to remain successful. Without that you should be suspicious with regard to whether or not they just need a place to land. I have met people who look me in my face and call themselves a team player but really had no clue what teamwork was; everything was completely all about them.

What Do You Look for in a Business Partner?

What Do You Look for in a business partner?