Taking on a Business Partner
Sorry to those of you who have been regularly following me. I have had some problems with my WordPress software which is helping me create this blog. I have been spending some time figuring that out. With a little help from a friend I am back up running at full speed. Also….
I recently embarked into a partnership with a friend of mine. We are working towards a service involving podcast transcription and have been very excited about the possibilities. The project is evolving as we go along and opening a lot of dialogue between the two of us. We both have great ideas for services and business models and both come into the partnership with different ways of conveying our ideas.
At first I was put off by some of our exchanges. I am not saying I am not open to teamwork. I have played on teams my whole life, worked at team oriented jobs, and started other “projects” which I guess you could call businesses with others. I have of course had team members that I didn’t see eye to eye with, and definitely members that I couldn’t stand working with. But in a team setting with more than two people I was able to turn to the others to help and tune the bad apple out. When you form a partnership, two members, that’s all there is. You can’t turn to the next guy for some sympathy.
This type of situation forces you to adapt and learn. If you don’t your project or business will deteriorate into nothing. Now sometimes the partner you are working with will be just unbearable and you won’t be able to work out a dynamic no matter how hard you try. If you feel you have done all you can don’t be afraid to move on. New opportunities will arise even if you feel this was the one, don’t waste your time. Other times you will come across a business partner that is open to free exchange of dialogue even if you yourself are the difficult one.
This is the case with my current business partner. At first I was not too into the open dialogue thing. I am one of those people who gets really excited about an idea and then just go, go, goes. I figure I’ll work out the details as I go along and mistakes are just minor bumps in the road. My partner on the other hand is someone who thinks through things in a way that sees a lot of the problem areas before they occur. To me it felt like he was shooting down my ideas. This obviously frustrated me a bit. The problem was I was getting too defensive and not seeing the comments for what they were, good ‘ole fashion product development.
Not wanting to give up on the idea we kept talking things out. This is a key step, if both parties are still excited about the venture keep the dialogue going even if it creates more tension. We did this and eventually my issues with the situation were brought onto the table. Really it wasn’t a big deal but it was a huge step in my learning to develop close business partnerships. My friend pointed out that we just didn’t have a good business dynamic yet because we were still learning each others styles. This was spot on. I tended to be overly enthusiastic to the point where I could have made a turd in a box look like a saleable item, whereas my partner was looking at each crazy idea we were developing with an open mind, thinking of both the positives and the negatives.
Once I was able to see that these idea exchange conversations were leading to more concrete and realistic ideas specific to what the market needed I then realized this type of business partnership had great potential. We have since been able to explore several business models related to podcast transcription as well as several general service models within this realm. We are both hopeful for our business. We also feel the same way about using it as a learning experience even if it fails miserably.
Conclusion
What I really want to get across is that with any team or partnership you start, not just businesses, you need to step back and see what each member is contributing to the team. Once you do this you can then see how each person’s styles have the ability to complement yours and those around you. From here idea exchanges will not be tense situations but rather rapid brainstorms which compound to more brainstorms and so on and so forth. Only progress can come from these situations, be it successful or unsuccessful.
Stay tuned for more on the podcast transcription service. We are close to a launch date and will have more information soon.