The fact remains that there will always be that urge to achieve whatever your goals alone and take all the glory that comes from it. After all, self-preservation remains the number one human instinct. But it does not always augur well with us when we try to do everything alone, especially when it comes to entrepreneurial moves. There will always be that urge to come off as self-made and to say ‘I did’ it at the end of the day. But the business journey could be tougher than we envisage. That is why going into partnership is one of the best ways to start and run a business.
Below are the three most important reasons why you should go into partnership whenever you are starting a new business.
1. Synergies
One of the major recipes for success in a startup includes the synergy that working with another person or other people brings. Whenever you are starting a new business, you will discover that the amount of skills needed to succeed is not something you can provide alone. We are gifted differently, and these different gifts have roles to play in building a business. That is why the partnership is needed. You may have heard about some people who build businesses alone. But if you check, you will discover that these are very rare exceptions. In most cases, they were able to succeed because they had the wherewithal to hire or buy the skills they lacked.
Another benefit of the synergy is the number of resources that will always be available. Of course, with you alone, there will be limited resources. But when you have partners, things like contacts that will lead to purchasing the rightful equipment, getting the right advice and mentorship and accessing enough funds will be much easier. With concerted efforts, the number of places to find help, funds and other things will increase. You may not even have to source for funds again, because the partners may be able to join what they have together and start.
2. Investors Trust
Of course, everyone believes that two good heads are always better than one. There is always this rule for investors to invest more in team efforts than individual solo projects. They believe that the risk of investing in an idea that hangs on a solo founder is bigger. A look at most of the successful startups of today will show you that most of them have co-founders of about three-five people. Investors will always have the confidence to invest in such ideas. There are some cases where the investors will spell it out boldly that having a co-founding team is one of the criteria for getting funding from them. However, one thing to note is that having a partner does not guarantee success. There are also some cases where partnership businesses fail. What you need to do is to make sure you are selecting the best partners. They should be people who buy into your ideas and those bringing something tangible to the table so that they won’t turn disastrous for you. Some businesses have also failed because of co-founder issues.
3. Sharing the Gains and Losses
Some won’t see the sense behind this. But the real truth is that it makes a whole lot of sense. When you get involved in a partnership, the fact that you will share everything in equal proportion will alleviate a lot of things. Yes, it will reduce the amount you will be gaining. But the losses are always more during the early days, and sharing the losses will mean that the impact on each partner will be reduced. There is an amount of loss you will incur as a businessman and you will be tempted to quit. But when this is shared, you will not feel much of the pain.
The partnership also makes it possible to share the risks and responsibilities. When it comes to the ideas, everyone is tasked with providing what he or she has, and this makes thinking and initiating solutions easier. Jobs are divided, and people are made to concentrate on theirs.
One thing to gain from this is the ability to achieve more because there will be more time on your hands. When you are left to do everything alone, you will feel chocked at some point and this will also affect productivity negatively. This also takes us to the issue of checks and balances. Of course, there will always be that tendency to go astray in some things. In most cases, it will come in form of innocent mistakes made not out of bad will. But entrepreneurs make them because there is no other person to scrutinize and say if it is wrong or right. The partnership brings the people to offer this critique, and because they are also deeply invested in the business, they will always do this job well.
Again, there is always a time when an entrepreneur will feel emotionally down. There is a need for someone on the inside to be the shoulder to lean on. When you start a business with partners, they will always be there to uplift each other whenever the rainy days are around. It comes mostly in those times when they have tried or experimented many ideas and it seems that none of them is working out. To keep going, partners will encourage each other. Such will not be the case with a sole owner.
About the Author
Nika Goddard – Psychologist, writer-freelancer, traveler and just creative person, lover of world cultures, languages, food, wild spaces and urban places by nature. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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