The entrepreneurial journey can be lonely one and it can be a lot lonelier when you partner with the wrong people. Having helped raise about 200k in the last 4 months for 3 different projects just to be kicked out shortly after, I know how hard it can be to push past bad partnerships and dissonant relationships. There’s always a lot be learned in these situations. Here are 5 ways I’ve become better and bigger than the bad partnerships I’ve gotten involved in.
- Remember every situation is temporary! Yes even though; losing out on income, wasting your time energy and effort, and being taken advantage of is never fun. What’s worse is realizing you’ve spent hours ruminating over another individual’s actions instead of strategizing, creating a blueprint and moving past onto new things. At an event last year I heard a quote, “You’re either building your legacy or your destroying it…” It’s not easy to forgive and move on. It’s not easy to shift from blame and disgust, to refocussing on your own mission and vision. Especially if you need to create a whole new vision because the last one was so heavily involved in the failed partnership. The bottom line is, the more time you spend hating the less time you are spending recovering from the lost time, energy and effort. Chin up and eyes forward, there’s always a lesson in pain or “failure”
- Often times the resistance or feelings of injustice unfold after a breakdown in communication. Expectations aren’t met and someone gets hurt… Make sure your expectations are clearly and concisely articulated from the beginning of the partnership. Remember that communication is the basis of all relationships and if someone is getting hurt in a business relationship, it’s because the expectations weren’t clearly defined. Take this time to figure out where expectations weren’t communicated and agreed upon. Take time to look at the necessity of a better paper trail or the power of commitment upfront. I know I’ve had a lot of
- Remember everyone is doing the best with what they’ve got. When you Vilify another individual no matter how bad what they’ve done is, you don’t know what lead that person to that decision. It comes back to this idea of focussing on yourself and what you need to do next. Giving them the kindness and compassion to understand that there is a reason why they did it. Whether you agree with it or not, it’s important to remember that they do have a reason. Understanding will always lead to less stress and less fixation on the idea. Just remember understanding doesn’t have to be more than giving people the grace and understanding that they’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got.
- It can teach you to qualify leads and partners better. Although you may feel out time energy and money like we talked about above… when you find yourself angry or not feeling reciprocity think about what expectations you put on the relationship that were communicated or not. We talked about paper trails and un-communicated expectations. What questions can you ask of potential business partners to qualify their nature before committing to a partnership. What are the necessary ingredients for a great partnership? What are the qualities in a business partner you want them to exhibit?
- Remember you have a voice and value to add to the world, no matter who sees it or doesn’t, you are worthy of feeling like you’re enough because you are. Sometimes it’s really easy to feel like your self worth is attached to a relationship or business idea. For some people they’re so caught up in the business world that their self identity and self worth are wrapped up in the idea of what they do and who they associate with. Everyone knows that networking is a key to success, but do you really want to network with the type of people that don’t value your human side? Ones that only value your business attributes? Make sure your ideals and principles are clearly defined and use your voice to speak your truth. Some may not agree with what you stand for, in fact a lot won’t, but if you model what you want in a business relationship, more than likely you’ll find it sooner rather than later.
No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey make sure you are thinking about the types of relationships you’d like to be forming and what needs to happen to get you there. Success is best shared with people you can resonate with, ones who share the same ideals for family life, helping human kind and ones who care about you more than just as a business entity.