No matter how skilled you are, your business would seem more of a drag if those you are running your business with aren’t the right people you should be working with. There are a lot of factors you have to put into consideration if you really want to experience satisfaction with your partner(s).
1. Strengths and weaknesses
You don’t really need to fret over your partner’s weaknesses, that’s of course if you cannot tolerate theirs deep down of you. The question should really be “What are my strengths? And can they cover up for the weaknesses I possess?” Who are the best people that working collectively, could cover up for each other’s weaknesses, not neglecting the big picture as to what your business really needs in terms of talent or skill?
2. Trust
You need to be able to trust your partner. Trust is something earned and if your prospective partners don’t show that they can be trusted, you better start looking elsewhere. You want to save valuable time in the business NOT watching your back.
3. Be Open to criticism
You should never go into business with a partner who doesn’t really take criticisms well. Criticisms are like the bedrock of growth, as every great improvement stems from it. Make sure you’re open to criticisms as well. Do not forget that it’s teamwork. Let there be better ways and more conducive environments to pour out your minds, develop on each other’s ideas and improve on the method of operation on any aspect of your business that isn’t really functioning.
4. Friendship
You also need a friend! This is way beyond trust now. You need someone who not only works great with you ON your business but also OFF your business. You need someone who is genuinely interested in your well-being and development. Someone who isn’t just working with you because business brought you guys together, but someone who can genuinely rub minds with you, shares your dreams, goals and vision for your individual lives and also acting as a form of support for each other. Having a business partner that you can trust is really great, but having a friend is PRICELESS.
5. Strong work ethic
You need a strong worker as your partner. Someone who is willing to sacrifice nights without rest to get a job done. While I’m in no way talking down on smart work. I believe our generation has been tricked into believing that “smart work” is so important that hard workers are just wasting their time. This makes people lazier as they want to always look for the quick fixes and shortcuts rather than grind it out. It also breeds people who give up easily on things because they simply don’t have the stomach for seeing something through. Never forget this, smart work always stems from hard work over a period of time, while asking this question consistently, “why not…?”
Why not this? Could I be doing it better? Am I depriving other things adequate attention? How can I make up and get more work done? But all these aspects may not still be easy to accomplish if you come up with answers. It still requires a huge level of hard work to see them into fruition.
Here you have major things to put into consideration before you decide on who you really want to work with. The first on the list is really important as you have to praise your partners’ strengths and also be willing to accept each other’s weaknesses, while also complementing and making up for each other’s flaws. Teamwork wouldn’t have been necessary if all parties of the team could individually get the work done.