Partner issues?

Hello DG'ers,

I don't like to complain, but I've come across this problem so many times here and in other areas of my business and personal life...I have to say something about it.

Folks, if you plan on working with someone, or "Partnering" with them...however you want to call it...Be consistent, upfront, and don't break communication with that person for any abnormal length of time unless you've specified you'll be unreachable and a reason. I will partner with someone, or so I think, and a week, two weeks, maybe one month goes by (usually not that long) and they will drop off the face of the earth. Everything is going great in conversations and moving forward previous to this. I follow up with numerous attempts to restart communication, giving about a week between attempts or longer. I see they read my emails here, and I know they get my text messages and chats in gmail chat. So what went wrong? Got me. The environment for working together couldn't have been better before the loss of communication. But I can tell you this...your reputation will get around in how you represent yourself and treat others in this, and other businesses. You do that to one, or too many other people, or the wrong people and you'll find yourself having trouble working with people in the future. They won't touch you because of your actions. People know people, and you're likely going to do this to a few that know each other that talk. No excuse you make will make a difference, because you had the chances to correct your mistakes before the effects of your actions started turning against you.

Be safe. Stick to the Golden Rule of life, in your business as well. If any person you tried to do business with you does this to you, every time, 1.) how would you feel and 2.) how do you think business will be for you? I can tell you it has been extremely frustrating for me, and I think "what's wrong with these people?!". I don't think what's wrong with me, because I've taken every measure to re-establish communication with them in a peaceably manner. I have also done nothing prior to this issue to cause them to stray from our verbal agreement.

To ensure a good partnership and business, and to prevent any potential communication pitfalls on your end, communicate effectively, when needed, and when you've been prompted to respond within a "reasonable" amount of time. If you are working with someone in a partnership, keep good communication with that person. If you are busy, then work out a good schedule to communicate with them on a weekly/semi-weekly basis (or more) if doing it by phone depending on how often you need to chat. If by email, text or chat programs like so many are doing (like I do) on your smartphone...then you can basically communicate with your partner any time it is convenient for you between your busy moments...preferably when you aren't driving (had to throw it in).

I won't name any names, but the last 2 people I tried partnering with (excluding the one I am doing great with now), really burned me up inside. There was a lot of potential to be had, and could have made great partnerships in this business with the knowledge each of us had. They chose to drop out of communication, for no reason, and deliberately ignore my communication attempts. Their loss.

Just keep these things in mind before you decide you want to partner with someone. There should be an expectation of excellence from that person, and they should deliver.

Be excellent in everything you do, and anything is possible.

God Bless,

Jason