Don’t try to be a hero with strategic partnerships.
When starting a business, any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur will face numerous challenges. If you have the knowledge and skills to work through these challenges, you can either avoid them or easily get around them. The issue is that the majority of individual entrepreneurs will not possess all of the necessary knowledge and skill sets to ensure their business’s maximum success. This is where it can be extremely beneficial to any business to strategically partner with someone or multiple people who complement your own background and skill set.
There will always be some aspect of a business that requires additional assistance, regardless of the individual. It is possible to attempt to figure out this business aspect on an individual basis, but doing so can be costly in terms of time, resources, and money. There are external resources and individuals who can assist an entrepreneur in building the business, including accounting, technology, marketing, and legal services, among others. Strategically partnering with someone whose skills complement your own will accelerate a company’s growth and can be a significant factor in determining its success.
Bringing in a partner or additional help has some drawbacks. You might not be able to keep as much equity in your business as you had hoped when you added a new partner. This is a concept that many business owners struggle with because they believe they have the right to control everything. Understanding that a strategic partner can make the difference between success and failure is essential for entrepreneurs. Owning a portion of a successful business is preferable to owning the entire entity. Bringing someone on board will at least incur a cost in the form of paying an additional salary, even if there is no surrender of equity. Choosing an employee based on the knowledge and skills that will most benefit the business is critical. Make these choices based on your knowledge and skills, not your feelings.
When entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs do form partnerships, it is typically with a person with whom they share an emotional connection, such as a family member, friend, or former coworker. In addition to the personal issues that can arise emotionally when hiring someone in any business setting, this individual may not always be the most knowledgeable about the aspects that are most needed or that complement your own skill set as much. Partnering with and hiring the best candidates is critical. You need to collaborate with the best of the best if you want to be the best in your industry.
When it comes to your company, don’t try to be someone else’s hero. If you want your business to be successful, it’s alright and smart to hire more help. Any business can greatly benefit from the knowledge, skill sets, capital, and social capital that additional partners or employees can bring to the table. When starting a business, you have to be strategic in everything you do; When it comes to forming partnerships and hiring employees for your business, it is the same.
