Lessons from Partnerships Gone Wrong...
Updated: Mar 9, 2021
When I first started my business, the partnership between the founders was great! Two of my best friends and I, coming together to take matters into our own hands and leave the corporate life.
But as we grew, we experienced conflicts with various parts of the business. From money to marketing, and hiring and firing, we bumped heads on a lot of things. Attitudes flared, pride jumps in, one email would set a wildfire of email attacks, and we were back in conflict.
As entrepreneurs, we all experience conflict in business partnerships much as we do in our personal relationships. Joint ventures gone wrong, teams that fall apart, we have times where we feel left out, singled out, treated unfairly, or undeserving of a harsh comment.
As I grew closer to God in the years that my business grew, I would begin to handle these conflicts differently. The Bible verse I had to memorize was Romans 5:3-4:
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
You have to learn to stop and ask yourself “what can I do to grow (or help someone else grow) in the midst of these experiences? You should trust God to work through the situation. Just pray.
God will teach you and your partners valuable business lessons through dealing with conflict in entrepreneurship.
Godpreneur Rule #28: In times of conflict, Godpreneurs realize it’s a moment of potential growth and pray for God to work through the situation in hand.