According to Wikipedia a business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. Simply put a business partner is one or people with whom you share ownership of a firm or organization. They are those individuals that share in the profits or losses of a company. It is a relationship that is legally binding using an agreement reached by all parties involved. The term business partner may also be used loosely to include anyone, company, firm or group of persons with whom you transact business.

The need for a business partner.

• Finance/funding: partners are a great source for financing a business. Perhaps your startup capital is not enough to meet the expenses or to bring the company up to a standard you have in mind. A partner could be very useful in helping to raise or generate funds.

• Expertise/knowledge: Where you lack the needed expertise, a partner could make up for that. The mistake many people make is to assume that expertise or knowledge equals effort or input. Beware that this is not always the case if you're looking to have a partner that is an expert.

• Expansion: partners help to increase business opportunities. You do not just partner with an individual, you also partner with their network of people and connections. These are key ingredients to drive expansion.

Difficult business partners.

No relationship is easy including business partnerships. Some partners are more difficult to deal with than others. What kind of partners do we refer to as difficult partners? Difficult partners are those partners who make it a great challenge to run the business. They could prove to be difficult in ways such as;

• Lacking zeal or enthusiasm.

• Entitled mentality

• Uncooperative/unwilling to compromise

• Uncommunicative which makes it hard to know what they think and it's almost as if you're running the business yourself

• Change in priorities

• Close-minded/conservative

• Indecisiveness. Some people are indecisive and this could pose a big problem when such persons are your business partners. There is help for indecisive people.

https ://smartsmssolutions.com/blog/120-sms-marketing/personal-development/1548-how-to-become-less-indecisive

How to deal with difficult business partners.

Prevention, they say, is better than cure. Here are a couple of things you could do to avoid having to be in a difficult business partnership;

• Draft an agreement at the start. The agreement should be comprehensive and cover all eventualities such as the death of one partner or the loss of a partner's license or permit to practice/own a business.

• Do background checks before going into any form of partnership. Here are some tips on how to conduct comprehensive background checks.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-vetting-17883.html

Doing the above would minimize the risk of your partnership turning sour but does not eliminate the chances. Deciding on the right person or people have as partners can be overwhelming. There is help on how to make good decisions. https ://smartsmssolutions.com/blog/120-sms-marketing/personal-development/1506-how-to-make-good-decisions

Below are ways to effectively deal with a difficult business partner:

1. Have open and honest communication with your partner. Both sides should listen actively to the other

2. Be sure to remind your partner of the consequences of their actions and inactions.

3. Be proactive - you already have a good idea of your partner's response or attitude to certain issues or situations. It would be in your favour to prepare constructive meaningful counterarguments. This would also help to stop disagreements or fights before they even begin.

4. Know the content of the signed agreement thoroughly. This would help you to be firm and resolute when you are right and it's easier for you to point out to your partner that their actions could be a breach of contract or a failure to live up to the terms agreement.

5. From the start, have an exit plan. When all else fails, the exit plan comes into play. You can choose to buy your partner out or sell your part and be free of trouble. Just be sure to have a favourable exit plan from the start.

Having business partners can be great for your business. Dealing with business partners on the other hand is a great task. People often look great from the start, but as time goes by, we begin to know sides to them that we never met at the initial stages of our dealings with them. Working with people, in general, can be tasking, check out ways to deal with difficult people. (How to deal with difficult people)

Weigh the pros and cons of having a partner before choosing to have one or not.

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