How to pick the right home business partner

Making your home business stronger

Today’s guest post from Duedil looks at ways of making sure you choose the right partner for your home business:

In an ideal world, a home business partnership can only make you stronger. More assets to utilise, more experience to draw from; even down to practical issues like holiday cover and extra support, having someone else on board can make a real difference.

However, it’s also true that an ill-judged collaboration can be much more destructive than simply staying solo. When you take that decision to join forces with someone else, how do you make sure it has a positive impact?

Whatever measures you take to find the right person to fill that gap, there’s naturally an element of risk. We’re talking about resources, time and energy spent building a home business from the ground. Sharing this with a third party is no small undertaking so make sure you validate any potential collaborators thoroughly.

With free online tools like Duedil, there’s really no excuse not to perform a company check; find out at this stage what a partner’s reputation, financial history and strengths are and you could save yourself any unexpected surprises down the line.

Once you’ve researched how others see a prospective partner, it’s time to find out how they match your own expectations. When you do meet, it’s good to lay down what you want out of the relationship and be honest about your values and ambitions. This is the time to find out if you share a similar world-view, have the same work ethics and get an instinctive idea of a person’s character.

This is also a good opportunity to assess how open they are to differing opinions and suggestions, as well as assessing those abilities in yourself. For those who have a home business and have perhaps worked alone from the outset, this stage is crucial in making sure that you can work in a team on a practical level.

That said, it makes sense to look for a partner who can bring something new to your home business. Do you wish to expand, needing someone with networking prowess, good at making contacts and meeting clients? Or do you fall short on the finances side, and require someone to take charge of auditing?

Whether it’s lack of man-power, expertise or just the prospect of added value which has led you to seek a home business partner, ensure you find someone who has the know-how to complete your skillset. Too much in common can be a bad thing here, especially if you end up arguing over – or avoiding – the same tasks.

Above all, home business relationships must be built on trust. Once you enter the agreement, both of your reputations are entwined, and responsibility for any action taken on part of the business must be shared between two.

But as long as you proceed with caution, joining forces can be a major step forward. Rely on your resources and your instinct, and you could find a partner who’ll maximise what you already have and allow you to achieve even more.