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6 Ways To Spot A Bad Business Partner—Before Things Start To Go Wrong

Nicolas Cole
6 min readOct 14, 2020

The mentors I have had in the business world have this phrase they use when dealing with partnerships, acquisitions, mergers, or even just standard clients:

How about we go on a few “dates” before we “jump into bed” with each other?

Simply put, before you go running to grab the whiteboard and write big fancy titles above everyone’s names and before you start brainstorming a name for your company-in-the-making, take a step back.

How much do you really know about the person you are about to do business with?

What is he or she truly bringing to the table?

And most importantly, will you feel the same way you feel right now in five years?

Here are six ways to spot a bad business partner from the beginning — and how you can potentially make more educated decisions about how you want to move forward.

1. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Somebody told me this a long, long time ago, but of course it took me learning it the hard way (several times) before I understood what it meant.

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Nicolas Cole
Nicolas Cole

Written by Nicolas Cole

100M+ Views | 5x Author | Co-founder of Ship 30 for 30 | Want to start writing online? Get the Ultimate Guide: https://startwritingonline.com

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