The title of this post is a catchphrase from an upcoming site I’ll share with you at a later time as it’s still under construction. The site I’m talking about promises to be very exciting. I am proud to say I had a part in its birth, albeit a very “small” part. However, this post will focus on business.
If you’ve ever worked in a large corporation like fortune 500 companies and above you already know how corporate politics are. You know that the little guy means nothing even though they tell you your opinion counts and you mean everything to them. Ever see the “suggestion box” in the break room? Take it from me and countless others who have been laid off from their workplace. Or worse yet, when you’re replaced by cheaper overseas outsourcing companies. Sure you mean everything to them as long as they’re using your ass!
The truth is you’re expendable and if their bottom dollar warrants it you are just a cut away from being jobless. That’s happened to me twice in my lifetime. But no worries I always said “I can find another job”. The last time around it wasn’t so easy. I was able to find work but it did not fall in my salary requirements. I didn’t accept the lower salary as I was holding out for my “real” job. Yeah right! The problem is my professional experience is limited to the broadband industry and telephonic companies at that. Drilling down even further my “experience” leads me routers and provisioning software. So, as you can imagine my resume is only attractive to a limited number of hiring IT managers.
I decided it was time for me to take the quantum leap into self-employment. The idea sounds great and can be even greater than it sounds if you know what you’re doing. I’ve made some nice pocket change from time to time doing my own thing. But beware “All lies lead to the truth” doesn’t just apply to corporate politics.
Twice I’ve been laid off from big corporations and twice I’ve been burned by individual proprietors that I’ve attempted to go into business with. There are three rules to remember when going into business with another individual.
Rule #1 Don’t fall in love with your business partner and worse yet don’t sleep with your business partner!
Rule #2 Communicate everything. Be open, honest and forthright. Most of all do not bite off more than you can chew. Even if you think you can accomplish your part all on your own, you might find yourself getting choked. Equally as important, expect honesty from your partner. If you notice changes without viable explanation especially if you were not consulted first it’s probably time to pull out.
Rule #3 Be sure to get everything in writing. If your potential business partner evades putting the particulars in writing and signing off on it you are best to steer clear no matter how promising the venture sounds.
I know there are certainly a lot more rules to go by. But those are the ones I’ve had bad experiences with and are most important to me to avoid the next time I say “yes”.
I know, I know! If you’ve read this far I’m sure you’re thinking something like; “Ok, dumb-ass! If you wouldn’t have said ‘yes’ to rule #1 then you wouldn’t get burned so often”. Or maybe, you’re thinking; “Just what kinda business are you in anyway?”
I promise it’s not that simple. But if you do want to know the rest of the story, stay tuned. You might want to subscribe to this post so you’ll get a nice little reminder when I tell all in a few days 
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