Choose Your Business Partners As If You Are Marrying Them.
One wrong decision and we suffer tremendously.
I have made a ton of mistakes in this area of business. I would be wowed by a potential partner’s ability to charm, welcome them in, and then watch the company’s cash balance dwindle without any increase in revenue or profits.
I speak from personal experience. I got burnt by charming characters many times, and every incident of divorce leaves a terrible aftertaste in my mouth.
Over time, I learned to accept that finding compatible business partners is a highly individual experience. Everyone has different perspectives about success. Shared values and life tempo make all the difference.
Saying it differently, all girls are good and pretty. Some girls are attractive to my friends, some attract me. It is the same for the business we deal with and the same for business partners we work with.
Compatibility matters.
And compatibility (for me) comes in the form of shared values and life tempo.
It is often difficult to work with people with different shared values. Being different has nothing to do with worthiness. You might believe in giving back to society, and I do not, but that does not make giving back an unworthy cause. It is, and I am not the person for it.
Many people who crossed my path often tell me that they are desperate for an alternative in life beyond their current employment.
They hate to be stuck at their jobs. I often resonate because I have been through that, and there is always a chance that I have to get back when the business earnings cannot pay the bills. They convince me that they will work hard to get the business up and flying if I am willing to give them a try.
I believe in working with different people, and because of that, I brought disaster upon the business. I used to work with a business partner who routinely influences the team (he is a charmer) in terms of work ethics. He used pantry talk to educate them about having a life and not commit to the business as if their life depends on it.
While that might be true at the individual level, it is an absolute falsehood for a start-up. Every start-up works hard for their survival because they are up against every market they are competing with. No competitors owe them a living.
Sink or swim, buddy. You have to learn survival swimming on day 1.
And so, I terminated that charmer before his influence takes root. Culture takes a long time to develop. It also takes a long time to destroy bad habits and mentality. Like marijuana, avoiding it beats rehabilitation.
Life tempo matters too. In a marathon, the professional elites run in a pack. They can move fast and together because they share the same race tempo. When the fast runs with the slow, the fast suffers because he has to slow down. The slow suffers because he/she cannot keep up. It applies to a business. Never force a union of people with different life tempo. The entire team suffers.
I prefer to work with people who are desperate for success and willing to pay the price for it. 15, 16, 18-hour days become a joy working along with these hardball asses because we can push ourselves harder without pushing others to work harder. That positive loop reinforces itself.
When everyone in the team commits to a 16-hour day together for the good of the business, willingly and accepting sacrifice along the way, it goes far faster than we think.
Sure, we have to attend to life issues as it pops up. That said, it does not happen daily, and we do not have to watch television or drink beer daily for hours without end.
Once we figured out what we want to pursue in life and that our business becomes a vehicle for that purpose, distractions become a waste of our time.
And for that to happen, we have to choose our business partner wisely, just like how we have to choose our spouse wisely.
A great spouse puts our minds at ease.
The other kind wrecks our mental peace.
Choose Wisely.
Aldric
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