Tweet

Four Business Partnering Ideas for Colossal Expansion

Written by: Melanie Benson Strick

Article Overview: A partnership is a way to balance your strengths with someone else's in order to get more done - without losing your mind! Entrepreneurs as a whole tend to thrive in their creativity but don't enjoy managing their business. That's where a partner can come in handy. A partnership is often the leverage strategy a CEO chooses when its time to expand. There are some real tricks to having a partnership that works. I've seen many situations blow up because the keys to having a profitable partnership aren't in place.

Four Business Partnering Ideas for Colossal Expansion

John is a highly creative person who loves to do one thing - write. And he makes a really great living at it. But when it comes to running a business and dealing with the operations John would pretty much prefer to get a root canal in the middle of the Sahara desert. He doesn't quite understand what leadership is all about yet.

Dan is a brilliant marketing strategist who grossed 7 figures for years doing what he does best - selling from stage and writing award winning sales copy. But it was a lot of work on his own. In the last seven years his 7 figure solo-business exploded into a massive multi-million dollar empire.

Michele is extraordinarily creative and has a huge vision of how to grow her agency into a mid-seven figure empire. Figuring out how to get everything done has just bogged her down. But lately she's found a way to handle all the details without losing her creativity.

So what do these people have in common?

Partnerships.

A partnership is a way to balance your strengths with someone else's in order to get more done - without losing your mind! Entrepreneurs as a whole tend to thrive in their creativity but don't enjoy managing their business. That's where a partner can come in handy. A partnership is often the leverage strategy a CEO chooses when its time to expand.

There are some real tricks to having a partnership that works. I've seen many situations blow up because the keys to having a profitable partnership aren't in place.

I'll cover four ideas for partnerships in this article and get to the keys for a profitable, thriving partnership in the next one.

1. Marriage partner.

Don't balk yet...it's a new trend. Especially with women who have found their passion and a lucrative business that needs managing so they can focus on their creativity. Typically once the business gets to a certain level of revenue; it can be far more profitable for both spouses to work together than to outsource the operations to someone else. Two examples of marriage partners working together successfully are Adam & Bo Urbanski and Fabienne & Derek Frederickson.

2. Other family member.

Sometimes a powerful partnership comes from another family member such as a parent, sibling or extended family member. When the partnership is based on "balanced strengths" a family member can be a perfect partnership. The Sloan Brothers of StartupNation Radio are brothers who found a great niche in business startups.

3. Friend or Associate.

Whether you partner on a project or in the entire business, collaborating with a friend can bring massive growth potential to the table. John Carlton partnered with long-time friend Stan Dahl. Dan Kennedy partnered with former client Bill Glazer. Both of those partnerships allowed the creative force in the business to focus while the "day to day" is handled by someone who excels.

4. Investor

Another route is to align with someone who can fund the business growth and bring their years of expertise to your business while you continue to focus on yours. This person typically buys into the business and the potential revenue growth. Two examples (which I can't reveal names for privacy reasons) are a well known internet marketer who had a partner buy in once they got to $2 million in revenue and a world-renown personal growth expert who funded their initial growth with an investor.

A couple of things to keep in mind as you explore taking on a partner.

What is the purpose for the partnership?

More free time for you? Better collaborative energy? Are you just exhausted and need help? Do you need more growth capital? Do they have expertise in business growth that you don't? Being clear on this point will help you identify the right person.

How will you split up your responsibilities?

Ah, we are getting into the keys for a profitable partnership here...but you really want to start thinking about this so you both don't end up having the same strengths.

Stay tuned and we'll cover these concepts and more in the keys to a thriving partnership.

Related Articles
  Power of Partnerships
  Developing Telemarketing Success – The Importance of Partnering
  Fuel for your Entrepreneurial Mind
  Marketing Partnerships A Cost Effective Selling Strategy
  Self-Coaching Tip: Partner With Your Emotions

Article Tags: award winning sales, brilliant marketing, ceo, creative person, creativity, dollar empire, leverage strategy, losing your mind, lucrative business, marketing strategist, marriage partner, michele, new trend, partnerships, profitable partnership, root canal, running a business, sahara desert, seven years, solo business



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Ideas For Business - Hello Lucy, you may consider this list for Ideas for Business: (Top 23 list) Rank Company 1 Google 2 Genentech 3 Wegmans Food Markets 4 Container Store 5 Whole Foods Market 6 Network Appliance 7 S.C. Johnson & Son 8 Boston Consulting Grp. 9 Methodist Hospital Sys. 10 W.L. Gore & Associates 11 Cisco Systems 12 David Weekley Homes 13 Nugget Market 14 Qualcomm 15 American Century Invest. 16 Starbucks Coffee 17 Quicken Loans 18 Station Casinos 19 Alston & Bird 20 QuikTrip 21 Griffin Hospital 22 Valero Energy 23 Vision Service Plan
Different types of funding - Business Relationship Funding This is another source of funds that can be overlooked. It may be possible to introduce potential alliances to add value to both parties. It may produce an ultimate exit route in the medium to long term. Joint Ventures: Requires a legal agreement embodying the deal and another company Partnerships: Two companies collaborate with possible funding. Joint working relationships: These are an informal partnership which may be more project specific where the parties can share resources. Agencies: These can be geographical or product specific and generally incorporates a payment for the right to the agency. Distributors: Very like an agency but may not necessarily involve up front payment. Alliances: These do not require a separate company and can be embodied by a legal agreement to work together. Trade investors: Otherwise known as Corporate Partnering. This can be a good way to involve a much larger company in the business with a view to possible trade sale further down the line. Associates: This can be a loose arrangement with no fundamental commitments either way, rather like a preferred supplier. Equity Swop: Two companies exchange shares to a similar value to develop both businesses. Franchises: This can allow the business to grow without further direct investment. Licensing: This involves licensing a product or service to enable others to sell it. This requires you to own the intellectual property.
Partnering for the wrong reasons - Well I guess the 2 biggest fears/mistakes are: 1.) Partnering with someone just because you trust them (i.e. a close family member or friend) and more importantly, need his/her money to implement YOUR unique idea. 2.) Giving away too much (in terms of company shares) too soon. For instance, let's say you gave away 50% of your company shares to a friend who was mainly just an investor who paid for more than 70% of the initial startup costs. You do more than 70% of the work, and the company becomes successful and you're able to repay all of your debts. Then going forward, you're stuck doing the majority of the work still, while you investor friend has been repaid in full and sits on his/her laurels because of the initial written agreement didn't require him/her to help out as much. What would you do then?
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Improve Your Time Management

Are You Listening?

Induction – your first management job

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.