How do you find the best business partners?

Finding a good business partner (outside partner, such as an alliance) requires an amount of due diligence. This simply means you will need to look at all aspects of the other person's business and sometimes a bit of their personal life. You will need to find a common thread with the potential partner and then spend time developing the relationship before embarking on any kind of partnership that will tie you financially. I have heard so often that partnerships do not work. When I dig into the reason, each of the parties liked each other and decided to create the relationship on an emotional level. A partnership will very rarely fall apart so readily if you have done your homework. You should know about the financial background of the individual in business and at home. Credit ratings will often tell a great deal about an individual.

I have a business relationship with a person that only hires people that have a credit rating over 650. To him, this number indicates that the person he is hiring respects his rating, and will likely not take advantage of the company. He also said that a person with a good credit rating will tend to be more loyal to the job as they do not need to seek other employment or do side deals to make up the difference between their salary and what they owe.

There are many other ways you can determine who makes the best business partner besides a credit rating. You can also see what community activities they are involved in and what other organizations they have joined. A person that helps others is more than likely going to help the partnership.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com