58: Working with partners

David doesn't work more than 3-4 hours a day BUT he spends a lot of time hanging out socially with other people. Some of these people are business related some of them are just friends. This is so important to nourish your relationships even more so now in the Covid lockdown situation. It is also very important to nourish the relationship with your children.

David and Erik both like working with partners in business but they come with problems, they come with baggage. Also you need to realize when you are in the way of progress and remove yourself from the business.

Erik puts it even more firm: if you are not aligned with your partners you need to leave the partnership but you need to remember that nobody is perfect and you need to manage your partnership. It is very important is to find out what values your (potential) partner has.

David feels that culture changes once a company grows beyond a certain level of revenue. When things become more corporate David is no longer a good fit. In that case you need a predefined exit strategy for a partnership. We speak about doing business with family members and the pro's and cons of it.

David speaks about how wife/husbands/lifepartners can mess up a business relationship. David thinks it is best to not share too much of the (negative) news of your dealings with your business partner. You can talk about the good things of your business relationship with your life partner.