Successful Entrepreneurs Can Be The Doer And The Dealmaker
Where do you sit on the doer vs. dealmaker continuum? On one hand,
you have business owners who are really good operators. They have a plan, know
their numbers and work that plan. They look for small improvements every day
and hesitate to entertain new strategies because they know what works.
On the other end of the
spectrum, you have the dealmakers. They quickly bore of the doing and are
constantly on the prowl for the next big idea. They are always on the lookout
for a business they can buy, a new concept they can negotiate the rights for or
a partnership they can forge.
Some of the most successful
entrepreneurs can be equally good at being both doers and dealmakers, and most
business owners have a little bit of both personalities, with a tendency to
tilt in one direction or the other. However, problems occur when you lean too
far in one direction.
Let’s take for example,
U.K.-based Jonathan Jay, a twenty-year veteran of the start-up world. Jay got
his start publishing magazines, but quickly wanted out, and he sold his
publishing company by the age of 27. He then started a coach-training business which
competed with one other provider. His competitor ran into trouble and Jay
decided to buy his business after less than a week of diligence. Jay then sold
the combined entity for a seven-figure payday.
Bored after a week or two
of retirement, Jay started a digital marketing company. He found client
acquisition a challenge, so he partnered with a marketing guru who had a
pre-existing following of customers. Jay gave his new partner 50% of his
company in exchange for access to the marketing guru’s list, but he skimped on
writing the partnership agreement because he was resentful of the legal bills
he was paying to defend an unrelated claim.
Soon after merging, the
partners fell out and Jay had to wrestle his shares back without the help of a
formal partnership agreement. Unbowed by partnerships, he then found another
distressed marketing agency to buy, which he did by assuming its debt and
putting virtually nothing down. He put the business into bankruptcy after
carving out the one piece that had value and merging it with his marketing
company. Within a year of buying the business, he sold the combined entity for
another seven-figure exit.
Jay’s story is exhausting.
It’s a high-wire act of high-stakes negotiation, success, mistakes and eventual
triumph. You can’t help but wonder if he would have been even more
successful—and a lot less stressed—if he had been a little more of a doer and
little less of a dealmaker.
Whether you are more
dealmaker or doer, it’s worth asking yourself whether you’re tilting too far in
one direction.
*** Richard Kranitz (Wisconsin) is an experienced attorney and business consultant in the areas of corporate, securities and tax planning for corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies, multi-unit enterprises, and a variety of different non-profit entities. In addition, he has counseled their owners and executives in compensation planning, estate plans, and asset protection. Attorney profile at: https://solomonlawguild.com/richard-a-kranitz-esq
