Pick Partners
You have to decide who you want your business partners to be, if anyone.
Some say, “don’t do business with friends or family,” which makes sense because all the stress in business could harm personal relationships. Conversely, who else can you trust with money and important decisions if not your family or friends? There is no right answer to this dilemma. Whether or not family and friends, the best bet is to have partners with great track records, and preferably deep pockets, and/or extensive skills to bring to the table.
One way to avoid having family and friends as business associates is to be part of a network where you will get exposure to potential partners for business deals. You may discover prospective partners when doing the informal personal network building that is necessary for your marketing and other business purposes.
There are many ways to expose yourself, so you can meet the right types of people to try to partner with for your new business: join associations, online interest groups, leads groups, Chambers of Commerce, country clubs, gyms in affluent areas, online special interest groups, and so on.
