How to Find Business Partners That Align with Your Standards
Samantha Higgins
Whether you’re looking for someone to bounce business ideas off, help you solve one or more administrative issues, or simply handle a business aspect that you have no experience in, finding the right business partner is essential.
Having the right partner not only gives you an extra set of hands to keep your business in top gear but also the extra skills and experience you need to overcome every challenge you face. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to find someone that aligns with your business standards, but that’s why I’m here.
Keep reading to discover the top tips on how to find business partners that align with your business standards today!
Check your network
One of the best ways to find a suitable business partner is to check your connections. Reach out to your professional network to find someone who is trusted by your fellow professionals. You can also receive valuable opinions from people within your professional network regarding certain people you consider to be viable candidates. Just make sure you evaluate any new referrals and the people making the referrals before consenting.
Look into your pool of past and present co-workers
It’s always convenient to look for someone you’ve worked with before or someone you’re currently working with to be your partner. This is because you’re likely to know such people better than the people you haven’t worked with yet. More precisely, you’d be more likely to understand their qualities, such as how reliable, honest, and hard-working they are. Choosing someone you’ve worked with before will give you a greater idea of how well you can expect to cooperate with them compared to someone you’re just getting to know. That can save you countless unforeseen issues and heartache in the long run.
Attend more training events within your industry or niche
It’s also a great idea to keep an eye out for potential partners in professional training events within your industry. As many successful entrepreneurs will tell you, many great partnerships have started at business development courses and other similar events. Among other things, such places provide the rare opportunity to find people who’re both interested in the same aspects of business and willing to grow their knowledge and skills within your field or niche.
Use partner discovery technology
Today, there are amazing tools that entrepreneurs are using to discover partners effortlessly. These tools enable people to tap into communities that would otherwise be impossible to reach within their specific industries. For instance, the Impact tool allows business owners to conduct simple but thorough online searches by brand to discover the people who are driving traffic for their competitors, target influencers through social listening and target searches, and so on. For instance, if you want to find someone who is accomplished in the field of content creation, the partner discovery tech tools can point you towards individuals who are great content creators based on online search rankings.
If you think about it, this method not only saves you time but also helps you become more efficient at getting the right fit.
Pick someone with complementary skills and traits from your friends or family members
You can also get a great candidate from your family and friends, as long as you make sure they possess a complementary set of traits and skills. According to a report published in the Gallup Management Journal, partnerships need complementary skills, as one partner’s strengths can cancel out the other’s weaknesses. When you and your partner have different strengths and weaknesses, you’d be more likely to have a more “complete” partnership that can provide your company the experience, skills, and knowledge it requires to thrive. Ideally, the best candidates should be the ones with the broadest range of skills. In the end, you want to have a partnership comprising a good administrator or manager; that is, the one who plans, organizes, and brings predictability, the entrepreneur or the creative visionary, and the technician, who crafts, and solves issues as they emerge.
There’s no doubt that partnership is crucial to any business; in any case, businesses grow faster when there’s a rich supply of diverse talents and skills. Follow the tips above to get the right fit, and increase your chances of having a successful business.
About the Author: Samantha Higgins is a professional writer with a passion for research, observation, and innovation. She is nurturing a growing family of twin boys in Portland, Oregon with her husband. She loves kayaking and reading creative non-fiction.
