Probably. And that’s coming from a guy who likes to be left alone, is a control freak, can’t stand answering to anyone, hates giving up equity, and knows most partnerships will never last.
So why do I say that? Well. Because.
If I look back on the last 11 years I’ve been doing this sh*t? It’s pretty clear: most of my money was made with partners.
The reasons are obvious: there’s too much to do; and you and I, awesome as we are, aren’t good at everything; plus, there’ll be times when you need a shoulder to cry on or someone to get sh*t-faced with who understands what you’re going through.
So, assuming you pick the right business spouse(s) – with lucrative skills you don’t have – you’re almost sure to pocket more… even though you gotta cough up complete ownership.
But it ain’t all sunshine and sangria.
In fact, getting along with partners, in my experience, is the single hardest thing in business.
So much drama, so much pettiness, so much back-and-forth about scaling, expenses, messaging and so on.
And who’s working more hours? And which one of you is most valuable? And who’s fault is it when sh*t goes south?
Ya know? It’s tough.
But I do think it’s almost a necessary evil.
The only exception would be if you’re really good at finding, hiring, managing, and leading talented people – where you can get ’em to help you grow revenue as employees or, even better, independent contractors. Then you keep 100% equity and obviously make more as you scale up.
Even then, it’s iffy.
Just look at the hundreds of quotes articles we’ve done. The large majority of these millionaires and billionaires are co-founders. Probably something to that.
Anyways. Thems the simple pros and cons.
Now some fun facts:
1, most of my online business partnerships have lasted 2-3 years, tops.
2, I did every one of ’em on a handshake – no contracts.
3, only once did I meet a partner in person before teaming up.
4, never have I caught a partner straight-up stealing.
5, every deal ended fairly, professionally – no animosity, no hard feelings.
Takeaways:
1, if you’re not making as much as you’d like to make, partner up with other peeps who’re strong where you’re weak.
2, try to find partners who share the same worldviews and who have a similar work ethic and “speed” at which they execute.
3, unless you’re a sh*tty judge of character, it’s unlikely your partner(s) will screw you over – contrary to what most people think.
4, it’s much more likely you’ll fight about stupid, insignificant sh*t.
5, know this going in, and try not to sweat the small stuff.
6, never communicate when you’re emotional – it always ends bad.
7, keep the main thing the main thing; ask: am I makin’ more money with ’em? (If so, who-the-f*ck cares if their last PM was low-key passive aggressive?)
8, again, unless you’re a poor picker of people or very unlucky, it probably won’t be your partners who cause you to peace out, but rather boredom or lifestyle or a new project you’re feelin’ even more.
9, try to be so f*cking epic at your part of the biz that they feel lucky to be on your team – that’s how you make the sh*t work.
10, what I’m doin’ here – blogging – is the one internet business where you can fly solo… yet another reason it’s my fave. But for almost any other digital biz I can think of, at some point, you’ll probably at least wanna consider partnering up.
