A lawyer colleague of mine, George Bischof, is part of a networking group that encourages you to end your elevator pitch with a tagline. Being a trusts & estates specialist, his is something like, “You will die,” or “Because death is inevitable.” George is not a morbid guy by any means — he’s just trying to impress upon people the need to do planning now because you never know exactly when your time will come.
And yes, as you’re asking, this is relevant to business partnerships. In fact, it was Rush Nigut, in his Rush on Business blog, who sparked this train of thought for me in his post on Partnership Agreements. Rush noted that “reality dictates that it is not a matter of IF your partnership will end, but rather WHEN your partnership will end.”
And it will. Whether its death that parts you, or a radical change in your life circumstances (47 and pregnant with twins!), or you simply grow into wanting different strategic directions for your company and career (as was the case with my business partner) . . . your mutual ownership of the company will end. Somehow.
So give your company a fighting chance by reducing the potential for fighting. Put together your partnership agreement while you’re both alive and cooperative.
