The Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnership in Business

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably familiar with the harrowing statistic that nine out of every ten businesses fail.

What can you do in order to ensure that you make it to that coveted ten percent?

Sometimes, it’s all about your ability to admit that you can’t – or just don’t want to – go into business on your own.

There are countless benefits of a partnership when it comes to the business partnership lifestyle. However, as with anything, going into business with someone else isn’t without its own set of drawbacks.

Ready to decide whether partnerships in business are the right move for your personality and goals?

Then keep on reading this post.

In it, we’re breaking down the advantages and disadvantages of partnership in business. By the end, we know that you’ll be ready to make the correct choice for your company – and for yourself.

The Advantages of Partnership

So, what are the benefits of a partnership when it comes to your business?

It turns out, there are likely more than you might have initially thought.

Though it’s important to have the right personality – and the ability to admit when someone else’s idea is better than your own – if you can pull off a partnership, you’ll enjoy many advantages.

Let’s take a look at just a few of them now.

Serious Financial Benefits

We know that money talks – and one of the main advantages of partnership is that you’ll have the opportunity to save on operating expenses and potentially bring in more revenue at the same time.

Especially if you’ve taken on a fairly heavy amount of debt to fund your business, this can be invaluable.

First of all, you’ll have someone to split the initial cost of opening up your business with. You won’t need to fund the cost of your office space, employee salaries, supplies, business fees and licensing, and your advertising budget on your own.

Plus, you may even be able to get approved for a higher initial business loan because of your partnership.

Additionally, you can make more by taking advantage of the connections within your industry that a partner has that perhaps you don’t. Maybe they know more venture capitalists and investors. Perhaps they know the big players in your industry or have connections with the kinds of people you’re looking to hire for your team.

Better Conflict Resolution

It’s an inevitable moment in any business: eventually, you’re going to encounter a serious problem or roadblock.

Maybe your current advertising campaign isn’t working as well as you’d hoped. Maybe your pitches aren’t giving you the kinds of results you expected.

Maybe office morale is low, a product isn’t functioning properly, or a client is seriously unhappy.

If you work on your own, you’ll only have your own perspective to pull from – and anyone who wants to give you advice for free (which is unlikely). In addition to helping you to solve problems, one of the advantages of partnership is that it can also prevent them from happening in the first place.

Your partner has a different skill set than you do, and they’ll likely be able to see things you’ve probably missed out on (and vice versa).

You’ll solve problems more quickly, be able to stop them before they start, and face them head-on.

Read more about how branching out from a solo entrepreneur career to partnering with over 80 other professionals has helped companies like Eli Global to expand their perspectives and get more clients.

Mental Health Benefits

This may seem silly at first, but mental health and the chance to take a break when you need it is one of the biggest partnership advantages.

No matter how much steam you have at the beginning of a project or in your initial startup phrase, you’re going to eventually lose momentum.

And when you do, it’s very possible you’ll need to take a few days off to regroup in order to get your mind together. However, you don’t want this to have serious consequences on productivity or client relations.

Your partner will also definitely be in need of a break at some point.

However, because there’s more than one of you, you can stagger your vacations or just “mental health days” so that someone in a leadership position is there to answer questions or handle a potential crisis.

Plus, another one of the biggest partnership advantages is that you’ll always have someone who is there for moral support.

They’ll know exactly how you feel or what you’re going through because they’ve been with you every step of the way. This makes dealing with those tough clients or facing a huge loss a lot easier to deal with.

It’s also awesome to have someone who can help you to share in your success and recognize your achievements – and vice versa.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnership: Things to Keep in Mind

We know there are advantages and disadvantages of partnership.

However, we hope that the partnership advantages and disadvantages of partnership outlined in this post so far have helped you to make an informed decision about whether or not to fly solo.

Remember that, above all, it’s the quality of the partner you choose that will make all of the difference. When you want to find a business partner, look for people who come from similar educational and experiential backgrounds as you do.

Also, look for partners with your same drive. If you get stuck doing all of the work, things will start to go downhill fast.

Additionally, always make sure that you take the time to create a clear and collaborative communication style. This is especially true when you run into inevitable disagreements and conflicts down the line.

Know your own strengths, and look for a business partner that will fill in the gaps when it comes to your weaknesses. Sometimes, you’ll take the lead, and other times, you’ll need to be able to fall back.

Above all, remember that a partnership is just that: a partnership.

It’s not a hierarchy where you get to put in all the face time and accept the glory while leaving your partner to do the grunt work.

Together, you and your partners should share in the profits, the defeats, and most of all, your successes together.

The Disadvantages of a Partnership

Now that you’re more familiar with the partnership advantages, it’s time to take a hard look at the other side.

Not everyone is suited to go into business with someone else.

If you have trouble giving up creative or executive control, then a business partnership might not be the right choice for you. The same goes if you struggle with delegating tasks and trusting other people to complete them according to their vision – not just your own.

Of course, if your partner does something unethical, or simply makes a poor business decision, you’ll have to share in the liability for their choices.

This means that you’ll need to be financially stable enough – and mentally tough enough – to withstand potential lawsuits and setbacks. This is true even if they weren’t your own fault.

If you plan on selling your company down the line, be prepared to deal with some potential conflicts in the process if you have a partner. They may not want to part with the company.

They may also feel that they’re entitled to more of the profits than you are. To avoid these conflicts down the line, interview partners seriously beforehand.

Also, draw up contracts that protect you both.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnership: Wrapping Things Up

We hope this post has helped you to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of partnership.

Above all, it’s all about finding the right kind of people to work with you in a partnership.

Of course, finding a business partner isn’t the only thing that you need to think about when you’re in the process of starting a business.

You’ll also need to create an advertising plan, hire any services you need when it comes to graphic design, and even potentially work with a recruiting agency to find the right team members.

We want to help you to get your business off on the right foot.

Spend some time on our business database to connect with the best minds in your industry.

Check out our blog to access more tips and tricks you need to succeed.

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