Dear FutureMoneyTrends.com Member,
Just like a marriage, each partner will have different roles. In a home, for example, I am a loving husband, father, teacher, executive, writer, investor and, hopefully one day, little league baseball coach.
Business partners will also wear many different hats; especially when you are close friends or family with yours, which in all likelihood will be the case.
Ernest Doud and Lee Hausner in their book, “Hats Off to You,” have a great story that everyone needs to understand prior to getting in a partnership.
It starts off with a son and father. The son works for the father in the family business. One day, the father calls the son over for lunch. The son anticipates a new promotion and raise. The father, sitting down by the pool, has two hats: one says boss, the other says dad. After welcoming his son to sit down, he puts on his boss hat and says, “son, you’re fired.” The father immediately takes off his boss hat and puts on his dad hat, putting his arm around his son’s shoulders saying, “son, your mother and I are deeply concerned that you are unemployed. How can we help you?”
My interpretation in this story is that business partners need to accept and respect their multiple roles in a relationship that extend to money and income. Business partners who are family, for example, need to be able to have a disagreement about finance during work hours and still make it home in time for the family BBQ.
Failed partnerships, like marriages, often turn into war. This is totally unnecessary. The same goes for firing an employee or leaving an organization, like a church or club. Be honest about the tough stuff and never go through hard times in your partnership.
Leadership in a Partnership
Without question, having a good leader in the group who not only hears everyone out – but treats his own opinions as opinions – is helpful to any business relationship. Ultimately, someone may have to make the call, but no one likes being in a relationship with someone who wants to cram something down their throats. So if you are a micro-manager, perfectionist or a “tough boss,” I would recommend you avoid getting into any partnership.
Investment Partnerships
Just as with a business, there are many advantages to partnering with others for investments:
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- Ability to raise capital expands Networking
- Increase in combined knowledge & experiences
- Money talks
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The last one, “money talks,” simply means that with more capital you can demand better pricing and terms. For example, rather than buying a stock on the open market, with more capital you can focus your investments on private placements, receiving both shares and stock options. This can result in doubling your exposure, while at the same time reducing your risk since you have partners.
In real estate, you may be able to buy investment properties for cash, closing quickly and reducing expenses since you don’t have any mortgage or borrowing costs.
Remember, in any relationship there are going to be down days, disagreements and frustration, so if you get into a business or investment partnership, accept these experiences as normal and have a long and successful partnership.
Best Regards,
Daniel Ameduri
President, FutureMoneyTrends.com
