New Venture 101 – Choosing the Right Partners and Creating Loyalty (second of two part series).

by Gia Machlin, Founder of EcoPlum

Back in July, I wrote about how one defines success in business New Venture 101 – Defining Success. That seems like a lifetime ago – things have certainly taken quite an interesting turn since then, haven’t they?

In this economic environment, starting a new business can be quite challenging. Funding sources have dried up and many entrepreneurs are looking to build partnerships and alliances to help get off the ground without a large capital outlay. Choosing the right partners can mean the difference between success and failure.

Know yourself - how much of a control freak are you? What’s important to you and what would you never sacrifice? I learned the hard way that I need to be in control. It is probably the single most exciting thing for me – knowing that this latest venture is my baby and I can make the decisions. Yet I have brought on board some minority partners who are phenomenal and without whom I could not do this. Know what your weaknesses are and find people who complement you.

My current partners are smart (genius is a word I sometimes use), honest, care deeply about the company, and have the utmost integrity. I love working with them and I think they feel the same about me (chime in here guys, this is a blog). Interestingly, they are all people I met through my kids – parents at my son’s school, friends of parents at my daughter’s school. They understand when I have to miss a call for a pediatrician’s appointment. And did I mention they care deeply about the company? Which brings me to my next point – loyalty.

One critical ingredient to running a successful company is loyalty – by your staff, vendors, interns, and clients. It seems simple, but it’s not always easy to carry through. Treat your employees exactly how you would want to be treated as an employee. Your employees and partners are your biggest assets. Without them your company can be easily replaced. Keep them happy and they will be your biggest advocates.

Be transparent with your clients. Nowadays everybody is talking about transparency, but there is still a hell of a lot going on behind the scenes at many companies. I can’t tell you how many times early in my career I was called naïve or “too honest.” Sure there were times when I got caught up in “spin” fever (I’m not talking about spinning on a bike – you know what kind of spin I mean), but for the most part I always favored the straight talk. So now that we have bloggers and tweeters and all kinds of people making a career out of outing the spin doctors, who’s laughing now? Again, it’s all about respect and treating others how you would want to be treated.

Nothing too earth shattering in here – it’s all common sense. Yet I have seen so much of the opposite behavior – the Us and Them mentality with employees, the “what they don’t know won’t hurt them” mentality with clients, and even worse, the cover ups and blatant lies – it all comes back to bite you in the end. So, do what you love, be true to yourself, and success will follow.

Oh, one last thing – if you are not an obsessively compulsive organization freak like I am, you may want to bring in some folks who are. Every successful company needs one (or two or three) of those.

Gia Machlin is the Founder of EcoPlum, Where it Pays to Buy Green™. EcoPlum is a company that provides incentives and information for the purchase of environmentally sound products. Gia’s previous ventures include Plan Data Management and the Machlin Consulting Group.

Comments

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Choosing the rights partners is an important part of doing business. You don't want to get stuck with someone that you really wished you hadn't.