Short post today (due to some pressing things here at work), but I wanted to make a very important point about entrepreneurship.

The point is a simple one: No one ever got rich alone. 

What prompted me to make this point is a telephone call I received a little while ago.  About three months ago, I met with a recruiter who put me in touch with another lawyer who had a mindset similar to mine.  He had an entrepreneurial bent and had some business ideas.  We eventually spoke over the telephone and met in person to discuss our ideas and how we could join forces in pursuing these ideas.

The meeting was encouraging, and decided to pursue two ideas (one his and one mine).  My idea involves a website that offers a specific service to a sports-related niche.  I’ve had the idea for a while now but could not gather myself to get it off the ground due to lack of time and my pursuit of other short-term projects (like BANS).

However, by aligning myself with someone with a similar mindset, I’ve almost doubled my motivation.  Whereas before, I only had myself to answer to when I hadn’t pursued an idea, now I have someone else to answer to.

To put it more concretely, we met in person about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and we agreed to follow up with a telephone call to figure out which idea we’d put into action.  However, I had been away last weekend, and work, etc., had kept me busy this past week.  In other words, I hadn’t really done much to take that next step.  

But then, this morning, he called me with some ideas on how to get this website up, the name of a designer, a time frame for meeting with this designer, how to pitch the idea to him, and some other suggestions regarding the website’s layout. 

BAM!  I was pumped.  I wanted to get down and get started.

The lesson I learned is that entrepreneurs need to find like-minded people to partner with to pursue their ideas.  Business partners offer two valuable resources, one obvious and one not so obvious. 

First, they offer you a different set of skills.  What you don’t have, they will, and vice verse.  Two heads are better than one.

Second, and less obvious: a business partner offers you an additional source of motivation.  Each person expects the other to operate with the same level of energy and persistence.  If one person gets down and sidetracked, the other will pull him/her out of it.

That’s what happened to me today.  I was sidetracked a bit with work and other issues.  That phone today pulled me out of that rut and put me back on the right path.

Don’t be shy about partnering with like-minded individuals.  Successful entrepreneurs never got rich alone.     

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