Business Partnerships Are Built On Common Objectives

Starting a business, is simple. All you need is an idea and a go-get-em attitude. Starting a successful business, well that usually involves a few more steps. Part of the difficulty of making a business – successful, is providing value to your target audience that’s better than any other offerings out there.

A lot of entrepreneurs then, including ourselves, turn to partnerships as a means to create standout businesses. From a financial point-of-view, partnerships are an opportunity to increase a business’ share of capital, but really they’re much more than just money. It’s a relationship where both diverse and shared thinking is promoted, where passion and enthusiasm can grow, rather than fizzle out – which is more likely for an individual. There are many other specific benefits, but you need only to think of the ‘two heads are better than one’ adage to recognise those.

Conversely, different opinions can also lead to interrelationship turmoil, which can ground a project to a halt. Likewise, the project could continue to roll on, though there may be an imbalance of power throughout the business’ trajectory, that could influence one or more persons to resent the others in the partnership. To avoid these circumstances from happening, unfortunately there’s no step-by-step answer sheet to follow, as every situation and personalities involved are unique.

There is however, always the opportunity at the beginning of every venture, for partners to hold open conversations. The is a platform that allows each individual to highlight exactly what they want from the business. In our eyes, this has two major benefits.

The first, is it’s your first big clue as to what the person you’re going into business with will really be like. You might say, well I’ve known this person for years, I know their personality, plus their hopes and dreams in life. It’s not until you ask them what they’re really willing to contribute, and importantly sacrifice, that you’ll have a clearer understanding of whether joining them in business is wise.

The second benefit of holding an open conversation, is that it allows all involved to have a clear say on the objectives of the venture. Of course, objectives shift throughout a business’ lifetime, but taking the time to outline major and minor targets before a single sale is made is your best opportunity to direct operations, talk about marketing and whatever else without any external influences distracting.

In our ventures at Hustle, we’ve found the open conversation stage to be a crucial step in the process. We’ve found that the gained clarity on our objectives additionally highlights what skills we’re lacking or jobs that we don’t have the time to facilitate, as such informing us whether we need to onboard others. We’re fortunate that within our agency team, we have a diverse team with various skills and experience. So we often dip into that talent pool before looking for external help. In a fair exchange, our team is compensated for their efforts in this work outside of their salaries through bonuses, assuming that their involvement leads to their personal objectives being achieved.