Partners are for Dancing or How to Make the Right Choice for Who You Take on In Your Business

Many clients have come to me, (especially in the startup of their businesses) and asked me what I thought about them taking on a partner. The story is always very similar. The partner is bringing money, the partner is bringing a great skill set, and he or she can take a lot of pressure off. My favorite is “I need someone to bounce things off of”. They always ask me, “Rob, what do you think”. I always tell them the same thing my grandfather told me, “Partners, are for Dancing”.

Most of the time when I deal with a partnership, it has already been in existence for some time. I meet with both partners and I listen to their hopes and dreams. Normally, in the first meeting I can feel the tension in the air. Many times, I have found that the partners have a total disrespect for one another, to the point it gets uncomfortable. When I look at the books of the partnership, I see the results of the disrespect. The business is losing money or floundering at best. When I dig a little deeper I find out that each partner is miserable, each feels that he or she is doing the bulk of the work and their partner is a lazy slug. If both partners feel they are working so hard, why is the business doing so badly?

Simple, a business is not a democracy. Two people, two personalities, two different directions, until the business is being pulled apart. This is a formula for disaster. There is a cottage industry arising in the psychology business. They call themselves, “business psychologists”. You and your partner meet with the business psychologist so you can work out your problems, mostly by forcing you to “listen”. The psychologist spends a lot of time answering direct questions by saying “I don’t know, what do you think?” Splitting up the business is just like getting divorced, no fun what so ever.

Businesses that are successful have one plan, one idea and one leader. Since they are not bogged down with the constant bickering and second guessing, they can move forward rapidly. Many entrepreneurs can live with their mistakes at the end of the day, what they can’t live with, is other peoples mistakes which impact their business. You want someone to bounce ideas off of, hire a consultant. If you don’t like their ideas, fire them. It’s very difficult to fire your partner.

By the way, I do have a few partnerships that have been successful. One in particular, especially in the beginning, I spent many hours working with each of them individually, telling them why they should not blow up the business. Thank G-d they listened, they built themselves a beautiful business. The truth is, as the business grew they were able to insulate themselves from one another. Its funny now, but looking back at it, the less interaction the two of them had with each other, the better the business became. Success is best business psychologist!