You want to start your own business, but you’re well aware that you don’t want to do it on your own. You would like to go into business with a partner and see if the two of you can work together to have success.
While many people in your situation may already have a friend, family member or co-worker that they’re planning to work with, you may be looking into all of your options and trying to find the perfect business partner. You know that that will have a dramatic impact on the success of your business. So what should you be looking for?
They must be open and honest
You need someone that you can trust. They need to be open with you and they need to be honest at all times. You need to feel like you can have conversations and work your way through differences of opinion.
They need to be passionate about the business
You need someone who shares your level of passion for this new enterprise, who wants it to succeed as much as you do. You don’t want to pick a business partner who is just in it for the money or someone who is willing to invest a small percentage of their time, leaving you to do most of the work.
They should have other skills that you don’t
Many people make the mistake of choosing a business partner who is almost exactly like themselves, meaning that most of their skills overlap. You may get along with this person, but your business may not be as strong because you still are lacking some skills that may help it operate at a higher level. If you find a business partner who has skills that you don’t, and who lacks skills that you have, that may be better for the business as an entity.
You share the same end goal
The end goal for your business may shift and change as it grows, but you need to start out with roughly the same idea of what you would like. If you have very different goals and a very different vision, you can run into a lot of conflicts and you may feel like you and your business partner are working against each other toward different ends. Ideally, you will have a business partner who is trying to take the business to the same place you are.
If you have already chosen your business partner, or after you do, then take the time to look into the legal steps to form your business and begin working.