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Business Partners - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5

Published 01/11/2008

Taking your partnership to a place of productivity is crucial as the business will always be short of time, space and energy. Partners in business should deliver double the amount of energy but if this energy is wasted or directed in the wrong way the business and all within it will suffer. Ask yourself how much energy you have wasted over recent weeks, months and in some cases, years. Many whom I have trained tell me that they wish they had gained a better insight into effective working practices earlier as all have been too unproductive. Some have been treading water for so long that they have forgotten how to behave or function in the business.

There are a few easy answers and there are a few approaches that are far more long term to introduce to reach a much better position when in business together. If you are in business with another think about in which areas you have differing opinions. Is it the service you deliver, money concerns, operations or photography generally? Isolate the problem areas and think about why you disagree here, not who is right or wrong. One of the greatest challenges we face is our passion for the business.

Being passionate has real advantages but it also has disadvantages too, as passion can trigger a fiery reaction to a situation which requires calm and a level head.

Think about how you function in the business, about your working style and day-today practices. If someone were to describe you and your business management, what would they say? How are you helping the business and how are you damaging the business? These are hard questions to ask and certainly very difficult questions to address if in partnership with a loved one, as the personal relationship and all of the emotion that accompanies it can often confuse the situation.

If I had a pound for every time the husband or wife of a business partnership said to me, "I have told them they should do this or that a thousand times. You tell them and all of a sudden not only is it a great idea, they actually do it too", I would be a very wealthy lady! In fact this very week a woman in a seminar of mine told me that as she sat listening to me she realised that I was reiterating a suggestion that her husband had made to her previously. She noted that she loved hearing it from me and was inspired to make changes and act upon my words but if her husband had mentioned the same thing one more time she was in danger of killing him! This is such a common eventuality in business partnerships. So why listen to an outsider but not a loved one? Not for me to answer today...

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1st Published 01/11/2008
last update 21/07/2022 08:46:23

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