S1: Welcome back to Building Billions. I want to talk today
S1: about all things disputes. Have you ever gotten in a
S1: dispute with your partner, a business partner, your life partner? Well,
S1: especially business partners. I happen to be in business with
S1: my life partner. We are business partners. We are also
S1: life partners. And we have lots of partners that we
S1: do business with where we own a portion of their organization.
S1: And so this episode of Building Billions is all about
S1: how you settle disputes with your partners. Enjoy. Let's talk
S1: about how do you settle a dispute with your partner. Now?
S1: I work with thousands of business owners. We have a
S1: company with all sorts of different partnership agreements. We own businesses.
S1: And this is one of those tricky things that a
S1: lot of stuff goes behind the scenes, goes on behind
S1: the scenes as it relates to structuring partner agreements. And
S1: we give a lot of advice around how do you
S1: enter a relationship where both parties are excited about it
S1: but also know what the structure looks like? However, we've
S1: never really created content around what happens when there is
S1: a dispute. What do you do when there's a falling out,
S1: especially when there's family involved? I happen to work alongside
S1: my business partner and also my life partner who is
S1: my husband. And we have this very clear process that
S1: we go through. If ever there is an issue that
S1: we're encountering and we use the same process with all
S1: of the partners that we have inside our portfolio to
S1: just navigate the disputes or the issues or the frustrations
S1: that can come up. Because if you're growing your business,
S1: there are going to be issues like, I'm just going
S1: to stay and say it bluntly. If there are issues
S1: or if you want to grow your business, there are
S1: going to be issues. So if you know that there
S1: are going to be issues, you have to have a
S1: mechanism for handling what those issues are. And it can't
S1: just be about feeling it can't be about emotion because
S1: all of those things distract from what you're trying to do,
S1: which you have to remember what you're trying to do. Like,
S1: why did you start this business? You started it likely
S1: because you wanted to grow. And so I want to
S1: walk you through our process for when there's an issue,
S1: when there's a frustration inside a partnership that either we
S1: have or maybe even I'll give you some examples of
S1: our own frustrations inside our own partnership, which might get
S1: a little juicy. But don't worry, Brandon's on board with
S1: me sharing, so let's dive into it. My first piece
S1: of advice on bringing up any sort of issue that
S1: you're running into with a partner is that you do
S1: everything that you can in preparation for this conversation to
S1: use facts instead of emotion. Now, it shouldn't feel like
S1: a dissertation of these are the 45 things that you've
S1: done wrong. However, you should know what your numbers are.
S1: You should know the details of whatever the exchanges that
S1: you're frustrated with. You should really be able to come
S1: to that meeting prepared to talk about a very specific
S1: list of things. Don't throw every single issue in the
S1: petty little stuff ideally is just not even talked about.
S1: It's not you're not worrying about the petty stuff, but
S1: the big things need to have great documentation and great
S1: preparation so that you're not winging it. And I can
S1: speak from personal experience on this whenever I'm emotional about
S1: something and I'm emotional about partnerships, not all the time,
S1: but it happens from time to time. There was an
S1: instance that happened within the last three months that I
S1: was very emotional about, and I was frustrated with the situation.
S1: And I knew that despite me wanting to call the
S1: person up right in the middle of my frustration and
S1: my irritation and my overwhelm, I knew that I just
S1: needed to wait and to get every detail that I
S1: needed to have in order to properly have the conversation.
S1: Because if I would have just called them when I
S1: was emotional, it would have turned into this big nasty fight.
S1: And I don't know about you, but I hate getting
S1: in fights with people. I don't like being frustrated. I
S1: don't like people not liking me. I just want to
S1: go through every single day being excited about where we're going,
S1: pushing towards the target, being hard on the team so
S1: that everybody can achieve their goals. And when you have
S1: these issues and you bring emotion into it, it clouds
S1: everything else. So huge recommendation here. Use facts and if
S1: you're emotional, wait, just wait to have the conversation. Okay. Now,
S1: the second piece, let me just consult my notes here.
S1: This one is important. When you come into an agreement
S1: with a partner, it's not likely that you were really
S1: clear on who was doing what in terms of job
S1: descriptions or roles and responsibilities. Now, there might have been
S1: like vague communications around this, but the things that you're
S1: fighting about probably aren't documented anywhere. Meaning if I'm fighting
S1: about something that I thought I was supposed to be
S1: doing and they're doing something that they're not supposed to
S1: be doing, but it's involving me or maybe it's involving
S1: my team. The nuances of that probably wasn't documented anywhere.
S1: So when I'm preparing for a conversation like this, I
S1: want to get really clear about, Hey, what's my role
S1: in this situation? If I'm the president of Cartoon Ventures,
S1: what is the president's role in the business? What is
S1: the purview of the decisions that I should be making?
S1: So let's say Bran and I are having a discussion
S1: and we're frustrated because he's stepping on my toes or
S1: I'm stepping on his toes. And the business just feels hard.
S1: And we're married, but we're also partners. What I'm going
S1: to do is I'm going to say, okay, as president
S1: of Cardinal Ventures, this is what I'm responsible for. My
S1: understanding as CEO is this is what you're responsible for.
S1: You are encroaching on my responsibilities. So is it because
S1: you don't trust me in this area? Is it because
S1: I don't have statistics in this area? What is causing
S1: you to not focus on your job but do my job?
S1: Or if the opposite is taking place, let's say I'm
S1: negotiating some deal and I didn't bring Brandon into the
S1: into the deal. And it was something that he was
S1: supposed to be working on. I bypassed him for some reason.
S1: I would have to then look at his job description
S1: and say, Yeah, you're right, I did that. And let's
S1: say I, I frustrated him in the process because I
S1: didn't keep him in the loop. And then he looked
S1: silly talking to somebody else I would have to own.
S1: You're right. I did do your job. And in our
S1: little scenario, what would be really important is for me
S1: to say, I don't want you to have to do
S1: those things any longer because I think I can handle
S1: them and I'd like to take that off your plate.
S1: But if I didn't communicate that ahead of time and
S1: we didn't get clarity on who's responsible for what and why,
S1: the stepping on toes is taking place, that's where all
S1: of the frustration lands and that's where all the emotion lands.
S1: So having these job descriptions, although it sounds ridiculous, is
S1: so beneficial to constructively moving the conversation forward. Because if
S1: you believe in your partnership, most partnership conversations and in
S1: fights about money. So if it's how you're managing expenses,
S1: if it's what your travel and expense policy looks like,
S1: if it's how you're taking and distributing cash out of
S1: the business, all of those financial components, if you're the
S1: person that's responsible financially for the organization, then you should
S1: have clear documentation and policies in place and that is
S1: in your purview. Ideally, you guys are in 5050 and
S1: this is where we we have the most issues with
S1: business owners. They got into a partnership agreement. They were 5050.
S1: Everything was lollipops and rainbows and fantastic at the start.
S1: And all of a sudden they are fighting because they
S1: don't see eye to eye. And the 5050 doesn't allow
S1: one of them to have more say than the other.
S1: This is where you have to use the job description
S1: to say, Hey, I'm proposing that this is my role
S1: and that this is your role, and we have to
S1: figure out who is actually responsible for making these decisions.
S1: Because the only thing what is this saying? I'm going
S1: to mess it up. The only thing worse than a
S1: bad general is two good ones. The only thing worse
S1: than one bad general is two good generals because you
S1: can't make a decision and then you're gridlocked and no
S1: one knows who to go to for what. And it
S1: feels like mommy and daddy that kills the growth inside
S1: of business. Okay, so the next thing after you have
S1: your prep, you have your job description. When you have
S1: this conversation, you start with the intention. And the intention
S1: should always be, We're here to make this work. We
S1: are on the same team. We want the same thing.
S1: I want to figure out what we can do to
S1: make this work because I believe that there is always
S1: a way to make it work. So when you start
S1: off the conversation like that, instead of being heated and frustrated,
S1: you're like, Hey, wait, we're just going to recenter. We
S1: want to make this work. What would we have to
S1: do knowing the problem to make it work? What would
S1: that have to look like? And then you can start
S1: from that place instead of potentially starting with a dissolution.
S1: Like in my partnership with my husband, there is no
S1: potential of dissolution. We are in this thing. We are
S1: figuring this thing out. But it's worth reminding in partnership conversations,
S1: whether it's with your significant other, your business partner or
S1: any other partnership, that there is high stakes communication that's
S1: on line. Clarify that your intention is to make it
S1: work and that's the place that you're coming from. That
S1: is your responsibility. Now, once you're clarifying that, that's your intention.
S1: Ideal scene is that you actually have contractual clarity. So
S1: whoever is the managing member of the organization gets to
S1: make the final decision. There was some provision in place
S1: that stated what things had to be signed off on
S1: from both partners versus the managing member. Getting to make
S1: other decisions like those type of things in the communication
S1: should be brought up. If you do have contractual clarity that, Hey,
S1: this is what I'm supposed to do, so I need
S1: to be doing this. And if it's if you're preventing
S1: me from doing it contractually, this is what's supposed to happen.
S1: So what do we need to fix? Because this is
S1: the contract. This is what we all signed up for.
S1: This is what we agreed to. Um. My last piece
S1: on this, as you're going through an issue with the partner, ideally,
S1: the first conversation that you bring up solves the issue, right?
S1: You have a three hour meeting or a four hour
S1: meeting or whatever the amount of time is for you
S1: to sit down and to work through the problems. But
S1: in all reality, in the way that I've always seen
S1: this play out, it's not just one conversation that fixes things.
S1: It's multiple conversations. It's changing operating agreements. It's potentially changing
S1: a contract or employment agreements. There's there's there's legs that
S1: challenges can create, right? There's legs that that disputes create.
S1: So as you're going through this process, just remember that
S1: you are supposed to keep the main thing, the main
S1: thing with your team. So they should not have any
S1: wind of this. Your team, you show up to all
S1: of your meetings, you have conversations with all of your
S1: leaders the exact same as you would have before. There
S1: is no conversation around it. There's no nattering about it.
S1: There's no like, oh, I'm so overwhelmed. I can't make decisions.
S1: Keep making the right decisions, make the ethical decisions, make
S1: the decisions that are in the best course for the organization,
S1: because that is the right thing to do. Even if
S1: you could start making shady decisions, do not make shady decisions.
S1: Whenever I have like there's like these little moments where
S1: I'm like, Oh man, I could really jack things up
S1: right now. I think that every once in a while
S1: I'm like, not an angel all the time. And then
S1: I'm like, Wait a second, I am highly ethical. I
S1: am a moral. I have integrity. I want the best
S1: for everybody involved. There is no there's no issue that
S1: I want to create. I want everybody to succeed. But
S1: sometimes you have to remember, you remember that and remind
S1: yourself of that when there's real life stuff happening in
S1: business partnerships. So despite all of those feelings and all
S1: of the leverage that you could have be ethical in
S1: the process and treat somebody how you would want to
S1: be treated if you were in that same position. So
S1: those are my tips on what you do when you're
S1: having a dispute or an issue with your business partners.
S1: I'm curious to know what challenges have you run into
S1: with business partners? I've seen a lot of them, but
S1: I'm sure you've had some pretty unique experiences, so let
S1: me know in the comments. All right. I hope you
S1: enjoyed this episode. For those of you who didn't know,
S1: this was originally a YouTube video that I recorded. So
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S1: haven't subscribed, if you're interested in watching the content instead
S1: of just hearing it, I would highly recommend you go
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