Davis John - Partnering for Success: Steps to Starting Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Business

Partnering for Success

Steps to Starting Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Business

JOHN J. DAVIS, DSL

CHARLES A. DURHAM, DSL

Partnering for Success

Steps to Starting Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Business

JOHN J. DAVIS, DSL
CHARLES A. DURHAM, DSL

Copyright 2016 by John Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-1-365-02377-4

John Davis

Partnering for Success: Steps to Starting Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Business

Contents

Acknowledgments

It is a great opportunity for us to write about Partnering for Success. At the time of preparing this book, our company was developing new products and services.

We acknowledge with gratitude all of our partners, in life and business.

We are indebted to you all. Without each of you supporting our vision, we would not have the success we have today.

Thanks to our teammates to have contributed to our projects with their invaluable opinions and suggestions.

Lastly, thanks to our advisors, lawyers, and accountants who ensured we built our company the right way.

About The Authors

Charles and John began their partnership after becoming United States Army Commissioned Warrant Officers. They have served in Iraq and Afghanistan earning numerous awards. With over four decades of Military experience and two decades of Department of Defense contracting OCONUS in a combat zone, it was time for them to look towards the future. The result was the founding of DDIM, LLC.

DDIM, LLC partners with businesses, State, and Federal agencies to build long-term relationships with organizations that can benefit from its unique abilities.

After the success of DDIM, LLC, Charles and John decided they wanted a platform to share their experiences to help others fulfill their dreams. By working shoulder to shoulder, they crafted multiple books, to change lives, one person at a time.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success. Henry Ford

Introduction

The biggest question I hear from young entrepreneurs, small business owners, and sometimes seasoned business owners of large companies is usually: How can I start, maintain or grow a business?

Unfortunately, thousands of business owners or potential business owners struggle with that same question. Therefore, we decided to share our model for success.

This book will help you start, develop and maintain a healthy business.

We decided to keep it simple and concise to jumpstart your efforts. Good luck, see you at the top.

Partnering

Just one great partnership with the right person can have an incredible impact on your business success. Janine Ogg & Jo Foster

The partnership is defined by the dictionary as the association of two or more people to achieve a particular aim. However, in the context of this book, we could define it as an association to conduct business. The partnership is crucial to business as it is to man. Human existence itself rests on association and socialization. A popular saying says, "No man is an island." Moreover, that is why not only humans live in communities but also why every individual seeks a sense of belonging.

In the same vein, at the start of every business, it is important to understand the advantage of strategic partnership. It is possible to be a sole proprietor, but in the long run, all steps taken to achieve success would inevitably lead to one type of partnership or the other. In the course of running the company and especially as there begins to be a recordable increase, it becomes imperative to work with other companies and build partnerships, whether long-term or short-term. Also, the effectiveness of considering customers as partners cannot be over-emphasized in entrepreneurship. It not only draws customers and keeps them involved but it also ensures their loyalty to your company. Again, the advisors or consultants hired when the need arises also become invaluable partners, especially if treated as such. In essence, the most powerful element that we have found for us to be successful in DDIM, LLC is to build and maintain the right partnerships.

For instance, Charles and I met in 2007 at the Warrant Officer training for the U.S. Army. We hung out, partied a lot and worked on a few projects together.

We had no idea while we are doing all these together at that time that we would become future business partners.

We were different in many ways but alike in our mindsets, which is a compulsory point to look out for in partnership if you want it to be fruitful. All partners must not necessarily be similar people but must share same values, vision and be of like minds.

Over the years, we tried a lot of different things together.

We both realized when we formed DDIM, LLC that combining our skills and expertise could be viable in the business world. We also realized that we could count on each other to perform. The areas where I was weak, he was strong and vice versa. For example, I haven't always been fond of dealing with people, but it was Charles' forte.

The partnership was born, and that is how we built our company on partnering for success.

I understand some people are independent and feel they function better working on their own, but as I started earlier, the whole essence of man is in association with one another. Even the Holy Book asserted that "two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor." Moreover, whether realized or not, we are all in some partnership. If you are married, for example, you and your spouse deal with life issues as partners, you also team up to raise your family. If you get to buy investments, you are undoubtedly teaming up with a brokerage firm. As a manager of any organization, you build partnerships with your employees to achieve a common goal. It is, therefore, an obvious fact that partnership is important in all aspects of life and cannot be done without.

For further comprehension, below are examples of successful partnerships;

Stephen Curry, 2015 NBA Champion, has an endorsement deal with Under Armour, which is a form of partnership with them. Stephen Curry is expected to help double Under Armour's $400m to $500m annual footwear sales into a billion-dollar a year business. It is also expected that Under Armours stock price will increase significantly due to Currys popularity. Curry gets paid handsomely, and Under Amour increases their sales: a win-win partnership situation.

Dr. Dre, platinum selling hip hop artist formed a partnership with Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine and Monster to design a State-of-the-Art "Beats" Headphones. Years later Beats were sold to Apple making Dr. Dre became the first billion dollar hip hop artist.

However, this book will not be complete without mentioning that they are some risks in partnering. Some of them include conflict of interests, different goals, loss of autonomy, and lack of quick decision-making process. However, all these cons to partnering are easily solved if you partner with the right people. So conclusively, apart from making a partnership decision, we should also not take it lightly to pick the right person(s). Having the right team is the most important piece of building one.