Is A Partnership Right For My Business Right Now?
How do I know if a partnership is the right thing for my business right now?
A partnership does one of two things: gives you access to skills, expertise, resources and experience you don’t have and shares the commitment to what you’re doing in your business with someone else who believes in it as much as you do. You can have a business partnership OR you can have a project partnership, which is what I generally advocate. All too often entrepreneurs are focused on getting a partner as a way to stave off their own fears rather than showing up all the way for themselves and their businesses. To get around that, a specific project partnership (like a joint venture) can work very well.
If you decide to move forward with a business partnership, I recommend that you have some serious conversations before you move ahead. Ask things like: what happens when one of us is having a bad day? How do we point out that the other isn’t following through on commitments? What is the exit strategy for our partnership? How will we know when to call it quits? And then document it… it doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to be in writing so your operating guidelines for the partnership are clear in advance.
Lastly, you’ll know if partnership is the right thing if you cannot see yourself moving forward in your business without a partner AND you believe in your business. If it feels right, follow that… and give yourself permission to see what internal insecurities are being filled by an external person.