Partnerships are an Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapons

Being a solopreneur is overrated. Why burn yourself out in areas that aren’t your expertise, when you could save yourself all that time and struggle by finding a partner with strengths that complement your own? A partnership is mutually beneficial for every party involved. Your skills and knowledge should fill in the gaps for your partner/s, just as their experience will benefit your own projects.  

 Samson Jagoras has spent his career fostering all-star partnerships, and his business is thriving because of it. During his interview on the Making Bank Podcast, Samson shares how he graduated with a Physiology degree but then became a Futures and Commodities Broker because his father-in-law mentored and coached him.

Then, in 2008, he pivoted to a new venture along with a crew of hand-picked teammates to start Madwire, and ended up serving as their Chief Strategy Officer for nine years. Recently, he walked away from Madwire to begin his own entrepreneurial endeavor helping investors learn how to put their money to work in real estate.  

 During the episode, Samson emphasizes the importance of having good mentors and partners in any business. From the marketing world to the real estate world, making success into a collaborative team effort is always going to yield better results because it allows everyone to stay in their own particular zones of genius.  

Balancing Idealism and Pragmatism 

The first key partnership Samson discusses is a classic yin-yang situation. He says, “The best entrepreneurs that I know are pragmatic idealists.” In general, it’s great for every entrepreneur to have a grasp on actionable specifics as well as the ability to generate new ideas and visualize the big picture.

However, most of us will naturally gravitate to one end of the spectrum: idealist or pragmatist. Samson says it’s crucial to find a partner with the opposite tendency as yourself. An idealist type should seek out a pragmatic partner to help bring their ideas to life, and a pragmatic type should find an idealist partner to connect their actions into a grand vision to lead the company toward a goal.  

A happy marriage of both philosophies is key; too many idealists will generate incredible futuristic visions and concepts, but won’t have the execution muscles to get to their own targets.

Too many pragmatic types will run themselves in circles carrying out tasks and actions without having a clear picture of where they’re going. Identify where your own strengths lie, and then look for other accomplished people to fill in the gaps where you need them. 

The Five Skills Needed in a Real Estate Deal 

 At the end of the episode, Samson lists the five “players” in any real estate deal: someone who finds the deal or opportunity, someone who makes it viable, someone who gets the deal over the line, someone who brings the money, and someone to sell it on the backend.

These five players make up the “pie” of the equity, even if one person is playing multiple roles. Using this philosophy allows you to stick to your own strengths while still getting a fair slice of equity pie.  

For example, if you’re great at finding the deals but don’t have the other skills (especially if you’re just getting into investing in commercial real estate), you’re still entitled to 20% of that pie, you just need to find the other players with the necessary skills to help carry out the rest of the deal.  

Doing everything yourself is almost never the best approach because you’re just not equipped to do it all. Plus, time is money, and wouldn’t you rather be spending your time where you can get the maximum return on the skills you already have?

You don’t have to be a jack of all trades when there are plenty of other people in your field that would be happy to offer their skills in partnership with you. “Too many people try to be solopreneurs,” Samson adds. Play to your strengths, and seek out capable partners to help project you toward success.