January 2006

As much as we'd like to think that we are superhuman and can do all things ourselves, sometimes we need to take a serious look at our capabilities and ask ourselves if we'd be better off asking for some help.

I'm not talking about the menial tasks that you would normally hire employees for, but the big stuff that you might want to consider bringing on a partner for.

Running a business requires many different skills, and to experience the highest level of success, you want to have people with top level skills at the helm.

Are you a good manager? Do you have the technical skills required to run an internet based business? How are your financial skills? Legal knowledge? The list goes on and on. I'm not saying that you should consider a partner for each required skill set, but if you find that one aspect of your business is holding you back, you should consider looking for a partner to help hold you up.

Indeed, it has often been said that the greatest asset you receive from attending a school of business is not the bachelor's or master's degree, but the network of friends and fellow businessmen and women that you create during your attendance. The business world is fraught with college drop outs that partnered with someone they met while attending college.

The main issue that stops people from getting a partner is that they don't like the idea of sharing profits with anybody else, nor do they want to have anybody around that might tell them "no."

Personally, looking back at the many businesses I've founded and watched plunder into the depths of failure, I realize that the one business that reached what I would call "semi-success" was a computer retail business in which I partnered with a college buddy of mine. The failure part happened when I broke off the partnership because I got tired of him providing ideas for the business that I didn't like. That's when I realized that having someone around to tell you "no" isn't such a bad thing. When both of us agreed on something, that increased the odds of it being the proper choice.

When searching for a partner, you'll want to be aware of potential partners who's main interest is in themselves, rather than the growth of your company.

1. Learn the necessary skills
2. Find a partner that already has the necessary skills

Of course, this applies to any skills you might be lacking, not just the technical aspect. Wholesale Marketer is a perfect example of how this idea of bringing on partners for the greater good worked. Wholesale Marketer was founded by three different individuals. One with extraordinary computer skills, another with great negotiation skills, and another with management and financial skills. Additionally, they served to motivate each other and keep hope alive when times looked grim.

All three served a very important part in creating and building Wholesale Marketer. Without the skills of any one of them, the other two would have found a much more difficult road ahead of them, and individually, they would have found it much easier to simply give up and quit.

All three left very good jobs and risked a lot to commit (commitment being another very important part of running a business) to this new business venture.

Remember, there are those who managed to build a business to amazing heights all alone, but there are far more examples of partners becoming millionaires by working together and combining their skill sets.

In the previous article, we talked about the two main methods of adding skills to your company: Learning the new skills yourself, or bringing on a partner. Since we talked about the benefits of bringing on a partner in the previous article, we'll talk about learning needed skills on your own.

Our training modules can be found in the Education of the member's area.

In college, I majored in Computer Science. There were a couple of business classes that I was required to take for my major, but these were very basic, not nearly sufficient to provide me with the knowledge I needed to successfully manage my own business.

As such, when I started a business I began attending several business classes taught by my local Small Business Association (SBA) office. You can learn more about the SBA and their purpose, as well as find a local SBA office in your area, by visiting the SBA website at www.sba.gov. Give them a call and find what what classes they offer. I found my classes to be very helpful, and the information more immediately useful for my business than would be a typical college course.

College, naturally, would be another option. Doing the work required to earn a college degree in business management will provide you with an incredible wealth of knowledge that will help you understand the hows and whys of starting and running a successful business.

Finally, there are the consultants. This is the most expensive, and potentially risky option. Good consultants do not come cheap. You might ask, "If consultants know so much about making money, then why are they telling their secrets to other people?" Get a quote from one and you'll quickly find out why. These are people that get paid for simply imparting their knowledge. Hardly what you would call back-breaking labor.

But if you find the right consultant, they are typically worth every penny... assuming you take their advice and implement their tactics. Back in 1999 when I co-owned my computer retail business, my partner and I were paying a marketing consultant $300 per hour (comparatively cheap) for marketing advice. He once told me that some of his most faithful clients kept coming back because they loved his advice, but almost always failed to implement any of it.

Remember, whatever route you take to gain knowledge, implementing that knowledge to improve and grow your business is going to require work. Be sure you're ready to commit to what it takes to succeed.

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