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Where is best place to find a business partner?

by Djman77
15 replies
I am looking for a business partner who specializes in SEO. Where is the best place to look?
#business #find #partner #place
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    I'd advise against a business partner; no end of troubles.
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    • Profile picture of the author seekdefo
      Originally Posted by Get Rich Methods View Post

      I'd advise against a business partner; no end of troubles.
      What kind of troubles did you face-- money issue?
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
        Originally Posted by seekdefo View Post

        What kind of troubles did you face-- money issue?
        No, nothing like that. Clashes of opinions mostly, but that can be a real pain in the butt on a daily basis. These days, I go it alone.
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        • Profile picture of the author perryny
          The best place to find a business partner would be in your own social or professional circles.

          If you are going to partner with someone, it should be someone you know, trust, can communicate with and shares the same work ethic as you do (assuming you have a strong work ethic).

          There's money involved and there's a high level of responsibilities placed on the shoulders of all members involved. There's a lot at stake.

          What do you feel the odds are that two strangers coming together online will both live up to the others expectations?

          From my experience with hiring outsourced help (not so different than partnering with someone), chances are extremely high that one member of the relationship won't live up to the other's expectations.

          Fortunately with outsourcing, the relationship is easy to end. Not so much with a partnership gone south.
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    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by Get Rich Methods View Post

      I'd advise against a business partner; no end of troubles.
      Sorry, not great advice.

      I invite you to go and look at the most successful people online and I will guarantee you majority of them are working with a partner or partners.

      Going it alone has a LOT of downsides also.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
        Originally Posted by WillR View Post

        Sorry, not great advice.

        I invite you to go and look at the most successful people online and I will guarantee you majority of them are working with a partner or partners.

        Going it alone has a LOT of downsides also.
        I'd invite you to spend 20 years working online and see the businesses, finances, lives, and families destroyed by partnerships.

        Thing is, the man is looking to find a partner. This means, assuming he does find one, he'll be finding a person he's just met. Many of those great partnerships you reference were not founded on meeting for the first time on a forum and then going into business.

        If you're going to have a partner, make sure you know them in real life, and that's at the very least.
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        • Profile picture of the author WillR
          Originally Posted by Get Rich Methods View Post

          I'd invite you to spend 20 years working online and see the businesses, finances, lives, and families destroyed by partnerships.

          Thing is, the man is looking to find a partner. This means, assuming he does find one, he'll be finding a person he's just met. Many of those great partnerships you reference were not founded on meeting for the first time on a forum and then going into business.

          If you're going to have a partner, make sure you know them in real life, and that's at the very least.
          I've been working online for 10+ years now and have had many partnerships over the years -- all of them very profitable for me. In many cases I could not have accomplished the end result without the other partner. That is the whole point of partnerships. Not someone to talk to in the office each day but someone who brings skills to the table that you are lacking.

          It's kind of like people saying don't buy WSO's because they are all crap. No. All it means is your experience with partnerships has not been great but that's not to say partnerships are a bad idea since my experience (and many others) have been to the contrary.

          Horses for courses. Do what works best for you.
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          • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
            Originally Posted by WillR View Post

            I've been working online for 10+ years now and have had many partnerships over the years -- all of them very profitable for me. In many cases I could not have accomplished the end result without the other partner. That is the whole point of partnerships. Not someone to talk to in the office each day but someone who brings skills to the table that you are lacking.

            It's kind of like people saying don't buy WSO's because they are all crap. No. All it means is your experience with partnerships has not been great but that's not to say partnerships are a bad idea since my experience (and many others) have been to the contrary.
            Thank you for the education, Will. What with you, a BA, an MBA, and 2 decades in the business, I feel I finally grasp the benefits of a business partnership.

            My views on the matter are not clouded, let it be known, by a bad experience. I've actually had more good experiences in partnerships than bad. My views are based on this particular situation and - again, let it be known - basic commonsense.

            And now - in an effort to end the silliness - let me make one point perfectly clear:

            Advising a man to come onto a forum, meet on that forum a person he didn't know yesterday, and talk about going into business with him tomorrow, is - I am sorry to say - poor advice.

            I would never dream of giving away part of my business, part of my finances, and part of my time to an endeavour founded on such a partnership. No one else should, either.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    Are you sure you want to give up a portion of your business when you can jsut pay someone a whole lot less do just do SEO for you?

    And are you even sure you want to do SEO, it's like building a house on quicksand?
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  • Profile picture of the author JJ Road To Success
    If your looking fr a business partner then you should have a little knowledge in the subject already, if not do a little studying.

    What you want to do know is ask yourself what is the outcome of the {enter your gig here} you want your leads, prospects, clients to achieve. What do you want to achieve, what portion do you want your partner to complete.

    Now that you know the final outcome you want to make a list of what your partner needs to know to complete the tasks needed. Turn them into questions, and use them to interview potential partners.

    Now do some recon and search out people that would make a good fit, study them, introduce yourself and pop the question (build a relationship first f course)

    Social media is a good place to get to know people, as well as forums.
    Just ask questions more related to the outcome of your goals.

    Happy hunting
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  • Profile picture of the author Victor Edson
    I agree with Get Rich on this one. Finding a business partner who specializes in SEO doesn't sound like a good idea, but maybe there's more to the story than what we're seeing.

    Why are you looking for someone who does SEO? Are you trying to sell SEO services (then it MIGHT be a good idea) or are you trying to have them rank your sites (then it's a bad idea and something that wouldn't make sense for either party).

    So I'd really need more information to help you here, but if it does make sense for you (probably doesn't though) I'd recommend finding someone who offers SEO services and trying them out for a while first to see if A. they get sites ranked B. how they treat their customers.

    You can find loads of service providers here on the Warrior for Hire Section, SEO Clerks, Elance, Odesk and even Fiverr. Look for someone with a good reputation and consider what you're looking for wisely before giving away a portion of your business.

    Even if you want to sell services, it still makes more sense to charge clients $47 and pay the pro $10 than giving away more profits AND having to deal with the headache of creative differences.

    But then again, you might not be looking for a true business partner, but someone to align yourself with... so if you could give a little more information it might be easier to help you, if what you've read here wasn't enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author abq
    I am looking for a true business partner. Someone who will hold interest or equity in the business. I am looking for someone because the site is built with no SEO what so ever. I am not comfortable with hiring off of Fiverr or Odesk because there seems to be lots of blackhat methods. If I found someone who would be interested in putting in 4 hours or so a week to help drive traffic to a site and rank it, that would be great. Everyone wins in the situation because all will share in profits and ultimately a big chunk if and when the site is acquired.

    Another reason is we are a start up and dont have the money to pay thousands a month on this. We have programmers already a part of the business as well as marketing people but no SEOers.

    I know its a gamble for everyone involved but I am not asking for someone to give up their life, job or present clients.

    To have someone on board that is confident in their abilities and their skills is ideal!
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  • Profile picture of the author Nate King
    To know him personally.
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  • Profile picture of the author trendier
    I would recommend you find some groups on Meetup.com in your area, and go a few times. Once you meet some people near you who may be good at SEO, you can consider bringing them in on your project. It's better than not knowing who's on the other side if you did it all online.
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  • Profile picture of the author abq
    But we are talking technology right. You can do this anywhere, so in this sector is it important if you meet the person or not? The proof is in the pudding. If the person lives elsewhere but is really great at SEO why not give that person a shot.

    Meetup is a good option, I like that suggestion.
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