Part Two

In Part One: The Secret To A Successful Partnership, I revealed that your partnership is in essence a marriage bond. How much and how well you know a person is vital to the success of your partnership prior to entering into the agreement. In addition to the 5 STAGES, I presented you with 15 Questions for homework. Consider reevaluating those questions regularly to keep an open line of communication.

Whether you learned it in school or through life experience the implication that there are no emotions in business is pervasive. That is NOT TRUE. All of those schools left out some of the most important lessons. The first lesson, you already know is that a business partnership is like a marriage and there are plenty of emotions in all relationships between humans. If you are in the first stage of your partnership, anticipation, some fear and excitement are at the top of the list...Those are emotions.

But there are many words and concepts related to business that are experienced every day and all of them conjure up emotions. Here are some of them: success, stress, overwhelm, risk, money pressures, spending, win, investing, planning, decisions, disagreements, achievement, who does what, family involvement, hiring and firing, reward, fairness, personal styles and the list goes on to include even the smallest of annoyances.

By pretending that emotions aren't connected to these events and trying to ignore them you will actually be avoiding the honest and open communications that will keep you viable.

A business plan is crucial to the relationship and in fact, if you don't have a detailed one, you can't consider your commitment to the business and the partnership on firm ground yet. The reason is that the business plan will include the very crucial details about finance, risk, and the day to day processes of managing and marketing the business. It will also include in detail who does what. If these elements are not fully discussed and in writing, then the commitment each partner makes will not be to something that is firm and clearly understood.

Many people avoid a business plan because they think it is too difficult to write. In fact, a business plan is not written in stone. It should be a fluid document that is
readily reviewed and changed. However, you have to start somewhere. Discussions between partners, with and without the help of experts are necessary. Plans can be simple, to the point, covering the various areas or they can be much
more elaborate. One of the necessities of writing a business plan beyond defining the business for yourselves, is to acquire funding. A funder will require certain
information, such as product information and a marketing study to know that it is a viable idea.

A business plan should include:

Who is this company?
What are its principles?
How long has it been in existence or is it a startup?
What is the product or service?
Who is the target market?
How will you or do you reach that market?
Who is the competition?
How does or will it compete?
How will you produce your product or execute your service?
How will your management team be constructed and function
What the businesses financial projections?
What are risks in this business and what plans do you have
to mitigate them?
If the purpose of this plan is to acquire financing, explain
details of what you are looking for.

If you haven't done it yet, start simply. Write the basics and continue to discuss the details. You may even want to talk into a recording device that you have transcribed or certainly write your thoughts as they come up.

The partnership agreement is another document you should have, but contrary to needing the business plan immediately, the agreement you can take more time with. You don't want a boilerplate it. The agreement is far more important to
talk through all the details including a variety of exit strategies and "what if" scenarios before you write it. It should reflect the uniqueness of each of you, as well as, your vision of the business.

HOMEWORK:

If you have not written a business plan, it's time NOW.

If you and your partner have written a business plan it's a good thing to review regularly.

* How does the day to day function match up with what is written?

* What changes would either or both of you like to make?

* What in your personal life is affecting the way you work or your commitment, financial or time wise to the business?

* What about your job description is making you happy and what is making you unhappy?

* Do you want an adjustment?

* What changes do you foresee the market requiring?

If you have a partnership agreement, take another look at it. If you don't have one yet, don't rush. Begin to talk about the difficult decisions, such as how to handle disagreements, as many exit strategies as you can envision and every "what if" scenario you can think of.

Part Three: Boost Your Communication Skills will be along in 3 days. Be sure to watch for it as Communication is the key ingredient to any GREAT partnership!

Your questions and comments are always welcome.

I wish you success,

Dorene Lehavi, PhD
Business Partnership Coach
www.coachingforyournextlevel.com
support@businesspartnershipsolutions.com
323-931-7204

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