Business Relationships

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Critical to real success in business is an appreciation of the fact that business is about people first and foremost, not simply things. Which business relationships are so critical you might ask? Those which you can rely on for the exchange of ideas and value from people such as your advisors, and administrators, suppliers, distributors and subcontractors if you have any, your employees, your customers, your neighborhood businesses, your family and perhaps the most important of all, the one you have with yourself.

I’d like to cover at least two forms of business relationships here today that can have a significant impact on your success. Let’s begin with advisors, especially such as your accountant. Perhaps the primary reason you have connected with them is that you know for tax purposes you have to be able to identify your true income, expenses and profits. Please understand however that they are not responsible for managing the sources of those numbers; you are!

As a small business consultant I learned this particular relationship that was not fully appreciated by the owners and not always fully explained by the accountant. All too often the business owners felt these business relationships were a form of mandatory criticism and did only what they thought they had to do. If from the outset, an outside accountant would explain the nature of the challenges the owner would face and how open discussions on such issues could help both side could benefit. That’s a perfect example of why business relationships are so important.

Teamwork is also a very is far more important approach to business success than many small business owners simply don’t understand. A lack or ignorance of it is also something which limits the owner’s self-esteem and thus has an impact on the business’s growth and profits.

The biggest challenge faced by management is so thoroughly misunderstood that the true meaning of teamwork is frequently ignored and thus never properly implemented. However, it doesn’t end there either. When you as a business owner properly apply your respect to this particular business relationship you are opening the gates to an increase in your employees’ self-esteem. When you can offer them a full appreciation of the challenge you face on any number of issues and allow them to help you develop a solution, not only will you find an increase in the value of your solutions but their self-esteem as well.

So where do you go from here? How about starting with a similar solution we spoke about regarding “Defining Relationships” where we talked about developing a design pattern for dealing with future challenges and commit to using it, in conjunction with whomever else will be involved. This could truly have a definitive outcome on you and your employees’ self-esteem resulting in an improved business.