How to Find an Amazing Business Partner

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome. My name is Gino Barbaro, one of the co-founders of Jake and Gino. And in this how-to video, if you're looking to find an amazing partner, I'm going to be sharing some tips, some tricks, and some lessons that I've learned along the way about finding an amazing partner and trying to avoid partners that just don't fit.

[00:00:21] Now, what's the first thing that you need to do when you're looking for a partner?

[00:00:27] For me, after years and years of struggling before I found my business partner, Jake, I all made it about a transaction. I just thought, hey, if I find a partner to do this one deal, everything will be okay. What I found was that was absolutely not the case.

[00:00:44] Now, this is the first thing that you need to do. You need to really flush out your values and make all of your decisions, I think not only just in partnerships, but just in life in general, based upon your values.

[00:00:57] Now, one of my mentors, Rick Sapio coined the phrase values-based decision making. That sounds real sexy, real fancy, but what it really boils down to is the ability for you to sit down by yourself for a little while and really reflect upon what your values are.

[00:01:17] I did this with an exercise. You can go back on the Jake and Gino channel. We did a podcast with a gentleman named Renee Rodriguez, great public speaker. And about halfway through, Renee made me go back into my childhood. Think of a memory back into my childhood between the ages of nine and 13. And I challenge you to do this right now. Or maybe after you're listening to this, you do it.

[00:01:38] And I thought about a memory that really had a profound impact on me. And for me, it was going to work with my father. And what did I remember about it? I remember vividly going into the restaurant, doing what he did. And to really condense the story down, the values that I pulled from that were hard work, were determination, were being really good at something, being responsible, being a leader, wanting to mentor others.

[00:02:08] I got all of that just from that one story about remembering from my father. And I think those values from that era of my life when I was a child translated and grew into, and this is the person that I've become.

[00:02:20] So those are the values that I've exhibited throughout my life and other ones, such as integrity, such as trying to do the right thing, trying to help others. Those are some of the values that I've actually bolted on. Obviously, with six children and an amazing spouse, family, my faith has grown.

[00:02:37] So those are the values that I've grown. So those are the values that I hold near and dear. What are the values that you hold near and dear to you? And you're making decisions based upon those values without you even knowing about it.

[00:02:48] So understand what they are. Then when you have that, go and look for someone whose values align with yours. It's amazing. Once you start doing that, everything starts changing. And for me, I've also seen that when partnerships don't work, both sides of the equation don't work.

[00:03:11] Don't just blame the partner. You need to have an introspective look at yourself. What did you do wrong? Or what didn't you do to help the partnership?

[00:03:21] It may be 85% their fault, but there's still a glimmer that you made mistakes and something that you can learn upon.

[00:03:29] Now, I'm going to share with you, very importantly, a story of a partnership that I did five years ago. It wasn't that long ago. And I wished I had leaned upon my values.

[00:03:40] All I saw was opportunity, transactions to put some money to work and not to be able to have to do that much for the work, for the money.

[00:03:50] It started out, I think, already on shaky grounds. The name that they wanted to pick was Dream Team.

[00:03:59] Already, I'm a pretty low-key person, and they were the type of guys that were ostentatious.

[00:04:05] Some like Dream Team, really? But I let it slide. But more importantly, for me, a lot of the blame on this entity, this partnership, really comes back to me.

[00:04:18] I really did very little due diligence on the partners that I was getting involved with.

[00:04:22] And there were signs that one of them had issues in other partnerships, and the type of person that was blaming everyone else except himself.

[00:04:32] So that was already a red flag. But I said, you know what? I can overlook that. It's a great deal.

[00:04:37] These properties that we're going to buy, we're buying land, and we're going to build vacation rentals.

[00:04:43] And it was really in the right part of the market cycle before COVID and before prices really escalated.

[00:04:48] Their other problem was there was no accountability.

[00:04:52] We should have been getting on weekly calls to see where the progress was with the builds, to see where the money was being allocated,

[00:04:59] to see what was going on with the budgeting. We didn't have any of that.

[00:05:02] And when I look back and I see the bills and the budgets that he got for the builds,

[00:05:08] it was just inconceivable to actually build these things.

[00:05:11] One of the houses, there was no budget to build a pool.

[00:05:15] So that's on me. There was no accountability. There was no weekly calls.

[00:05:20] Obviously, the values alignment, total misalignment of values.

[00:05:25] To me, one of them was unethical. That's the reality.

[00:05:29] The reality was that they were unethical.

[00:05:31] We had an agreement upon me and one of the partners, who I'm still really good friends with to this day,

[00:05:36] had two lots. We were going to raise the capital for those two lots.

[00:05:40] They were going to raise the capital for the other lot that they were building on the ocean.

[00:05:44] That didn't come to fruition. They started changing.

[00:05:46] All of a sudden, now we have to raise for all three.

[00:05:49] That wasn't what the agreement was.

[00:05:52] Right then and there, another red flag going against what we started out with, what we were discussing.

[00:05:56] So once they started going back on promises for me, we decided, you know what?

[00:06:00] Let's split this partnership up. You take the one on the oceanfront.

[00:06:04] We'll finish up with the two lots.

[00:06:06] And thankfully, we only ended up losing me, my partner, $40,000.

[00:06:10] And that's because we just wanted to get out of this situation.

[00:06:13] If we had held those houses, believe it or not, those houses almost doubled in value in the next two years

[00:06:17] because of what happened with COVID. But we didn't foresee that.

[00:06:20] So let me refresh and recap what were the big learning lessons for me on that partnership.

[00:06:25] Number one, you really need to learn the partners and learn what they're all about

[00:06:29] and learn what their values are and learn do those values align with you.

[00:06:34] I mean, the whole idea of this business plan was amazing.

[00:06:36] We're going to build some vacation rentals.

[00:06:38] We're going to be able to use them ourselves for our families.

[00:06:40] They were going to manage them, but we were bringing the capital for the half of the build.

[00:06:43] But they needed us and we needed them.

[00:06:46] But where everything started crumbling for me was there was no accountability.

[00:06:51] They were actually, I'm probably certain of this right now, probably overbidding and working with the builder

[00:06:56] and getting kickbacks.

[00:06:58] And when I look back at it for what?

[00:07:00] We had an amazing opportunity to build these three homes.

[00:07:03] We could have sold one of the homes on the ocean and held these other two homes with no mortgage.

[00:07:08] It would have been beautiful.

[00:07:09] It would have been amazing.

[00:07:11] But greed gets in the way and being sloppy gets in the way.

[00:07:14] So avoid those mistakes.

[00:07:16] Once again, always think about what your values are, what you're trying to accomplish, and do they align?

[00:07:22] And also look inward.

[00:07:23] I had to take responsibility.

[00:07:25] I wish I had been on those weekly accountability calls every week.

[00:07:30] Let me see what the budget is.

[00:07:31] And that's about you.

[00:07:33] When you're going to a partnership, make sure that you have that.

[00:07:35] Make sure that you don't make those excuses.

[00:07:38] Now, the story of why Jake and I succeeded is vastly different.

[00:07:42] When I met Jake back in 2009, I was at the restaurant.

[00:07:46] He was a pharmaceutical rep.

[00:07:47] We were both really hungry.

[00:07:49] We both did have a values alignment.

[00:07:51] We were both hard workers.

[00:07:52] We both cared about family.

[00:07:55] We both wanted to leave the situation we were in.

[00:07:58] We both chose multifamily as the vehicle.

[00:08:01] We both wanted control.

[00:08:02] We both were responsible individuals.

[00:08:06] And we both were the type that never made excuses.

[00:08:10] We were a great fit from the start.

[00:08:12] We always had accountability.

[00:08:14] As Jake was doing his pharmaceutical sales, and as I was doing the restaurant, we were able to even speak two or three times a day.

[00:08:23] We were on calls constantly.

[00:08:24] And I remember getting that very first property.

[00:08:27] And when it's a partnership, maybe you just start out with one deal.

[00:08:30] We started out with the first deal.

[00:08:31] It worked really well for us because I saw how Jay worked.

[00:08:35] He saw how I worked.

[00:08:36] We didn't make excuses.

[00:08:37] He was running the day-to-day on the property.

[00:08:39] He was doing the property management as I was running the numbers.

[00:08:43] I was the asset manager.

[00:08:44] I was taking care of the bills.

[00:08:46] So we worked really well.

[00:08:47] We split up duties really well.

[00:08:50] But ultimately, we held ourselves accountable.

[00:08:53] We had expectations.

[00:08:55] See, in the very first example that I gave, there was no expectations.

[00:08:58] We just said, hey, other than the expectation of we'll raise money for this deal, you'll raise money for that deal.

[00:09:03] The expectation was that they were going to build.

[00:09:06] And then when everything was done, we were going to refire the money out.

[00:09:09] And they were going to property manage for 20%.

[00:09:11] They could have made a killing if they had stuck to their model.

[00:09:15] The expectations is really important.

[00:09:17] Obviously, there can't be any excuses in a partnership.

[00:09:20] If something needs to be done, one of the two partners needs to do it or they both need to do it.

[00:09:25] And the last component I'll really put out there, the first partnership was always looking at excuses.

[00:09:32] What Jake and I have been able to do is let's look at the problem and then let's look for solutions.

[00:09:38] It's solutions-based.

[00:09:39] If you're working for an organization and you're an employee and you've got a problem, don't just bring the problem to your employer or to your boss or your investor or whomever you're speaking to.

[00:09:51] Bring a problem but then also try to bring a solution to the problem or what you think can be a solution.

[00:09:58] Brainstorm.

[00:09:59] That's what Jake and I are really good at.

[00:10:01] We'll see problems.

[00:10:02] Well, there's a problem with this property.

[00:10:04] How do we fix it?

[00:10:05] Should we buy this deal or should we refinance this deal?

[00:10:08] That's the problem right there.

[00:10:09] What's the solution?

[00:10:10] Always being solutions-oriented is great for partnerships.

[00:10:14] Let me recap this.

[00:10:16] To be a great partner, you have to understand your values.

[00:10:20] You have to understand what your goals, what your objectives are.

[00:10:23] And you have to understand the value that you're going to bring to the partnership.

[00:10:28] And you have to understand that you can't make excuses and you have to work really hard for your partner.

[00:10:35] If you're willing to do all of that, you're going to make a great partner.

[00:10:38] Now, go out there and find a partner who aligns with those goals, with those views, with what you're trying to accomplish and the values that you have.

[00:10:49] And I promise you, once you start looking for that partner, they will show up.

[00:10:54] I want to thank you for spending part of your time with me here today on the how-to.

[00:10:58] How to find a great partner.

[00:11:01] And I should also say how to be a great partner.

[00:11:03] Thanks again, and I'll see you on next week's how-to.