Choosing Business Partners
From Report 103:
"Today, more than ever, small businesses are based on partnerships. Partnerships are a great way to bring new skills to your business activities without hiring staff. Partnerships allow you to add
products and services without investing in their development. Partnerships share the risks and the rewards. Partnerships allow small companies to complete with big companies on projects. Moreover, the Internet has not only made it easier to communicate with partners around the world, it has also made it easier to find new partners.
The most creative partnerships, I have found, are opposites. And that makes sense. Creative ideas come from bringing together two seemingly unconnected concepts in a way that works. Creative partnerships likewise come from bringing together two people or small firms that have very different strengths and weaknesses.
Such partnerships can be extremely creative, even if one or both partners are not particularly creative on their own. That's because when working together, each partner brings different concepts into the partnership and bringing those concepts together results in creative new ideas.
So, when choosing business partners, choose people or firms that are different to you. If you are a creative thinker with lots of ideas, but poor organisational skills, partner with a methodical thinker who is good at getting things done. If you are an extrovert with a massive personal network of contacts who is weak on planning, partner with an introvert who loves planing things in intricate detail.
You will almost certainly be impressed with the results."
