Christopher V. Flett

There are millions of people to do business with, but it can feel like you can’t get into the bigger game sometimes. The guys that are making money seem to only partner with other guys making money. There’s a reason for this…they know how to talk to each other. I had a young protege from years ago who I recently reconnected with. He’s a go-getter and after a discussion, we talked about me helping him with some ideas. Then I threw him the curve ball: “What’s in it for me?” The line went silent and then he started throwing out ideas. I put him on the spot (which I love to do to people) but I wanted to share with him an important lesson. When you are hunting big game, make sure you loaded the gun.

Before you start any discussion with a prospective business partner, already have thought about how you can make money together. This is the important word…together. Once someone has their shit together in business and knows how to get things done, others will come out of the woodwork looking to learn how to duplicate the results. This isn’t bad as long as the pace setter is getting something out of it as well. I get the whole mentorship piece, but the reason why mentorship doesn’t work is that no one talks about the ‘selfish interests’ of all involved. We know what the person getting mentored wants, but what about the mentor? What do they get. Warm and fuzzies? A feeling of giving back? No, they are looking for something selfish or they lose interest. I’m sorry to burst the rainbow and butterflies of business, but folks, it’s all about the money in partnerships.

For me, I like business models that:

• have immediate cashflow
• are not investment intensive
• can be run by the partner
• have an obvious market
• can be licensed
• have a connection with something else I’m already involved in.

Aside from those points, I’m open to hearing any business ideas, but as I said in “What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business“, I need to hear how it benefits me in the first 30 seconds or I lose interest. It needs to be clear with how we both benefit, what i’ll do, what you’ll do, and what the numbers look like. Easy…yes?