Prais said:
Mr. Goat said, "I went through too much of life and opportunity before I realized I was not cut out to be totally a "lone wolf" and that I needed collaboration and maybe partnership."
ME TOO! Then I realized what a conniving cowardly thief my business partner was - and finally go the balls to do things myself - and it worked out ALOT better. I had lots of mentors, including 2 old radio bosses - who were quite thrilled to help me.
I had heard a lot of stories like your own where partners turned out to be scoundrels so very early on I became determined to do it on my own, and to learn as much about every "talent" or skill one needs to make a business run. I can say as one of my mentors used to say in "mock humility".... "I'm no accountant, but I am a pretty fair country store bookkeeper." And when I saw what some bull-headed engineers did to station owners I got my First Phone and enough technical smarts to hold my own in conversation with the best of station engineers.
But here is what I learned from one of my own offspring.... in an observation about architects, planners, consulting engineers and maybe law firms. Look how many dominant firms have, or had THREE FOUNDING PARTNERS. There will be typically three names that make up the firm name, even if they have grown to the point where they now have a dozen, three dozen or twelve dozen "principals" in the firm. You need a finder, a minder and a grinder. There are a couple of other versions of this tale, but in the end it boils down to: 1. someone who can bring in the business. (In law firms I think the affectionate description is a "rainmaker".) 2. someone who can sweat blood, yell and shout (sometimes including profanities) and bring the project in on-time and on-budget. 3. someone who can be the administrator, the one who enforces some discipline, see that files are filed, taxes are paid correctly and on time, and the laws and regulations are known and followed closely enough to avoid law suits and jail time.
In small radio station it is often a husband and wife that give the stool two of those legs with one of those functions in the hands of an outside partner or maybe a son-in-law.
But those, who like yourself are able to move forward as a one-person shop, need to keep balance on these three legs of the stool.
