Really common question I get all the time..
“Kale, how do I find a great business partner?”
I think it’s a REALLY bad question.
First and foremost, let’s just put this out there…
You probably don’t need one.
Here’s some things business partners do (negatively).
Take a percentage of your equity away = less profits for you
Cause everything to be twice as slow, minimum (each decision has to run through them)
Bring ALL of their CRAP directly into YOUR LIFE (it’s pretty much like getting married)
Yikes. Now that I’ve thrown cold water on all of you that want to get the first business partner you see… :)
You’re probably thinking…
“But Kale, you and Taylor have CRUSHED IT! Why can’t I just be like you?”
For those of you that don’t know, this is me and Taylor.
He’s the short guy.
I’m the tall guy.
I bent down so we could look cool in the same picture haha.
Now I want to make something very clear.
We got EXTREMELY LUCKY (or blessed). We did everything WRONG.
Going into this partnership, I had zero idea what to look for in a business partner.
Honestly, I didn’t even want one!
Taylor saw me crushing it selling Cornhole lights on Amazon.
So he invited me to dinner to try to convince me to let him partner with me…
He literally said, I quote…
"So, do you need a business partner?”
To which I responded, instantly.
“Nope.”
And THEN he said…
“well, do you need an investment?”
to which my broke butt said…
“yes…”
So I gave up a percentage of my company in exchange for much needed money from mr money bags, Taylor Hiott :)
His wife, Brooke, thought he was absolutely crazy…
That was the money they had saved as a downpayment for a house…
Here’s what happened next.
We launched 5 products immediately.
ALL of his 20k investment was GONE.
Whoosh.
Out the door.
We might as well have lit that money on fire…
The next day, after Taylor had signed the papers, my two bestselling products got removed off Amazon.
The cornhole lights due to a patent claim
And these baby pillows because they were unsafe for babies…
no joke.
This right here is why you don’t just rush into a business partnership.
Taylor SHOULD have…
1) Screamed at me for an hour or so
2) Threatened to sue me if I didn’t give his money back
3) Actually sue me for not being able to give his money back
And I’ve heard many stories of that exact same thing happening to real people.
I’m serious.
We were NOT friends going into this.
The fact that Taylor and I weathered THAT storm, AND all the subsequent storms (of which there were hundreds) AND became best friends AND created multi-million dollar empires?
= Literally a .0000000000001% chance of that actually being successful, considering I didn’t even know the guy before I signed the papers.
But hey, here we are.
The takeaways from this are…
1) DON’T JUMP INTO A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP UNLESS YOU ARE CRAZY LUCKY OR CRAZY BLESSED LIKE US.
Doing it with your best friend will likely drive a wedge between you because it’s hard and serious stuff.
Like I said above but I will say again, you are basically MARRYING this person.
If they are 1% lazy you are screwed.
If they have family issues come up and can’t work hard? You’re screwed.
If they are at all influenced by money they will take quick profits and tank your business.
If you can’t trust them to jump in front of a bullet for you, it won’t work. No joke.
2) God has ACTUALLY had an influence. At least in THIS situation.
I can’t write this letter and lie to your face.
Whether you believe it or not, I KNOW it to be true.
None of this would have ever happened, not even remotely, if it wasn’t for God’s hand on it.
So, I won’t get too cheesy, but if you are getting into business, I would recommend some PRAYER first… :)
Here’s a video I made about this, I think you’ll enjoy it ->
Anyway, that’s what I’ve got for you today.
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Have a great weekend, talk to you subscribers on Monday.
Kale
Get a business partner you can trust (or don't have one at all)