Welcome to our video series “quick marketing and business tips” where we’re giving you actionable advice, tips, and recommendations, to grow your business today.

This is episode #42.

Let’s dive right in!

Episode 42: Should you run your company with a partner?

We discuss entrepreneurship non-stop on the blog, and we also discussed partnerships many times, but yesterday, as I was filming a section for the “7 Ideals” methodology – the upcoming beta group, at some point where I share the story of the method and how I got here, I refer to the partnerships I formed throughout the years…and I have to tell you, partnerships are the ultimate weapon in business but have in mind, that the vast majority of partnerships are doomed to fail.

I formed successful partnerships but I’ve had my share of failures as well.

Now, let’s get back to the initial question, should you run your company with a partner?

This specific kind of partnership needs a lot of attention because it comes with numerous benefits but there are disadvantages that may be proved devastating for all the parties involved.

So, let’s discuss the benefits and the disadvantages a little bit, and then I’ll share my experiences and point of view, trying to draw a conclusion.

When you decide the share the management of your company with someone else, when you run your company with a partner, you do that primarily in order to tap into their skills and their strengths, their talents, their experiences, their know-how, their knowledge, and these are complementary skills to your skills and they can really make a big difference and can give you momentum in your business.

And you also share the costs and if it’s a startup, it’s essential to share the costs so you can enter the market dynamically…we all know that when there is not enough capital, companies struggle and eventually they fail.

So, when you share the costs, there is more capital, so there is money flow – all the operations in your business can be run smoothly, this is essential…

And you also share the risks and the responsibilities, so there’s a helping hand, you know that there is someone else that cares about the business the same you do…

And you also share the labor, you share tasks and workload, so there is more flexibility in your business…

and there are also more ideas in your business, more partners, more ideas, and that can help your business grow…

and there is support, there is encouragement, you get motivated, you get inspired by your partners…

but there are also disadvantages that we should not overlook by any means.

Now let’s discuss the disadvantages and the most common problem is that the level of commitment between members varies…

and in that case, you may feel, you may think that your partner is not doing their best, although you do! and this can lead to problems, this creates a sense of dissatisfaction, it creates negativity and distance, and may lead to bigger problems as well…

And what happens with periods of low revenue or with periods of losses, when your customers are not satisfied, when there are problems with the production and the deliveries?

These problems create conflicts, issues, and challenges that need to be solved right away before you move on…

And at some point, your partner’s goals may change, and they may not be in alliance with your goals, in the long run, and this can lead to unwanted situations.

And when you experience someone, when you interact and work with them, maybe daily or very often, you get to know them better, you really get to understand them on a deep level, this is when you realize that may be a different personality of you, and this is a problem that may lead to bigger issues in the future as well…

And at some point, you may not approve your partner’s practices, they may bring something new to the table that you don’t approve, you don’t accept, and this is a very serious problem as well…

And at some point, you may lose trust in your partners, because of their actions in and out of the business, when you get to know them better, you may lose trust, this is a very very serious problem as well…

And in my experience…

I’ve seen so many times big problems with businesses – families can break up, friendships might get destroyed.

What happens in this case?

What happens if your partner is a family member?

What if he’s a good friend? a very close friend? what happens in this case?

And I’ve shared a story of a friend on the blog many years ago – his father and his father’s brother, 2 brothers were running a family business…and the business was successful, it was doing OK for decades, but at some point, something changed, something happened, and now these 2 brothers don’t speak each other, and my friend doesn’t speak to his cousins…

and these are problems that last for a lifetime.

This is all due to business because money changes everything – when you partner up with someone else…there is money in the middle, and this changes everything.

And there are other permanent consequences…

And I may get too far but you may experience depression, and other psychological issues and problems.

These are disadvantages that we need to consider very very carefully before we decide to share the management of our company with someone else.

OK, we discussed the benefits and the disadvantages, now what?

As I promised, I will share my experience and my point of view…

Throughout my career, I’ve seen so many cases where families broke apart, friendships got destroyed, and I’ve had my share of problems as well…

with my sister, with other relatives, with friends, close friends, and although in most cases, our relationships recovered, you don’t always recover – you almost never recover fully 100%, because the glass is broken, it can not be fixed…

So, as a rule of thumb…

I always recommend that you don’t PARTNER UP WITH ANOTHER, don’t run your company with a partner…

Instead…

Build your company, take all the risk, all the responsibility, run your company on your own, and then form external partnerships with companies that offer complimentary products or you may partner up with a competitor, why not?

External partnerships are more flexible and although they may cause problems, they don’t cause the size of the problems that are associated with internal partnerships.

So, build your company, run it on your own, and form external partnerships.

These kinds of partnerships are the ones that we recommend and that we discuss in the “7 Ideals” methodology – the 7th phase, the last phase of the method, the “7 IDols”…is devoted to partnerships.

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