Best Way to Create and Grow Your Business: Alone or with Partners

Among the most mind-boggling decisions to make; is whether to start a business alone or to have partners. There are merits as well as, in equal measure, downsides to both sides of the coin. Various people have different reasons for starting and running businesses as solo enterprises or working with other people.

Starting and growing a business on your own means that you are entirely responsible for everything about the business. You have total control, and you can, therefore, impose your vision and strategy without outside influence.

In such a case, when the business performs well, you will enjoy the outputs alone. However, you are equally responsible for any form of a downturn to the business. Starting and growing your business with partners come with some extra boost.

There is a vast source of capital, there is an opportunity to strengthen the decision-making process, and the collective starting and running of the business add some security to the life and operation of the business. Therefore, whether it is a solo mission or you are working with partners, there are varying degrees of upsides and negatives that come with both approaches.

However, worth noting is the fact that you are better off going in with partners than going in solo. There is a whole array of advantages that will accrue to you and the business when you are working with people who have different life experiences and have different educational backgrounds.

The advantages that come with starting and growing your business with partners include:

• Broader expertise
• Working with partners widens the scope for raising capital
• Comprehensive decision-making
• Sense of responsibility
• Risk diversification

Broader Expertise

It is highly likely that the people you are planning to partner within the business come from different educational fields. Therefore, these people have different expertise than you have. The upside here is the aspect of diversification since there will be different people within the business with different skill-sets.

A broader pool of expertise means that you will save on costs that you would have otherwise incurred in outsourcing had you gone in solo. Further, diversified skills mean that you can start and run your business with expanded horizons. This is so because you get to tap the capabilities of the partners.

This could be for the overall gain of the business. Your partners in the business could have the same skill-set as yours, but then this is also a great advantage. In such a scenario, there are opportunities to share the workload. This could be for your benefit and the business.

Working With Partners Widens the Scope for Raising Capital

You can only raise as much capital. However, the whole landscape changes when you work with other people. Partners have networks that you can leverage when it comes to raising funds. Further, seeking out funds as a group is easier compared to seeking them alone, as there is the aspect of collectivism and security.

Further, individuals and institutions are highly likely to consider a group of people to finance due to entrenched perceptions. Some sources of capital require guarantees and guarantors, and you cannot guarantee yourself. In such cases, having a partner or set of partners could help to ease the situation.

Partners could come as guarantors and thus making the process seamless. For this reason, you are better off penning your business plan factoring in a number of business partners. If you are going to work with partners, then you need to draw up an elaborate business plan.

The level of clarity and accuracy that comes with business plan writing requires a unique set of skills, especially writing skills and planning skills.

Business plan writing also requires the use of tools and resources like enloop and Bplans which can help provide the strategic direction in business plan formulation.

Comprehensive Decision-making

In life and business, it is all about execution. Execution is all about decision making. All businesses have social media marketing decisions to make, finance, expansion, and sales decisions. When you start and grow a business solo, it means the weight of all these decisions rests with you, and you consequently bear all responsibility and consequences for your actions. The business world is a bit complex and, at times, needs proper and sound decisions to navigate.

When you work with partners, it means that you have people to brainstorm with. It means that you can get the assistance you need as well as the advice and input you need in going about various business processes.

Therefore, you might be better at operating your business when you have partners by your side, willing to help you in decision-making as well as execution. “The decision-making process becomes easier when you have partners since there is expanded room for consultation,” expounds John White, a writer at BestEssay Education.

Sense of Responsibility

With the sole power over almost every other facet of the business, you might not be able to control what you do or check your excesses. This is because you have a lot of latitude and leeway in a solo outfit. You do not answer to anyone, which could be a source of the downfall for your business.

However, starting and growing your business with partners changes everything. It means that there is somewhat a system of checks and balances. Partners in the business will be there to give you feedback on actions that you and the business pursue. In some cases, they will ‘hold’ you responsible for your actions.

Therefore, the chances that you will draw out of the box here are very minimal. Accountability is good for business growth since it helps to check excesses and ensures that all goes according to plan. The overall effect here is business progress, growth, and success.

Risk Diversification

In business, risk diversification is a central pillar and will remain to be so for years to come. Diversification helps to reduce risk and preserve value. There is a certain level of security that comes when working with partners.

Since there is equally a good chance of your business going bust as there are in it succeeding, working with partners helps to reduce that risk substantially. Working with partners means that you do not have to plow in 100% of the resources.

It also means that you do not have to invest all your time in the business. These are some of the advantages that come with working with others since you reduce the surface area, which could take a hit in the event of the occurrence of negative events.

In summary, there is a whole world of difference when it comes to starting a business with individuals or as a solo effort. The advantages that come with working with partners outweigh those that come from working alone.

From a sense of security and risk diversification to expanded sources of capital and broader expertise, starting a business with partners makes the whole process fool-proof, seamless, and reassuring.