Road partners
# Entrepreneur of the Week Tali Kaplan # Post 4 in the campaign
There is a (delusional) opinion in the world, which in my opinion is "thinking of poor people" of "doing everything alone"
I found this to be a very inhibiting thought and I discovered it fortunately right at the beginning of the journey.
But what's the catch?
Because there is nothing in life that is worth anything without a catch or a job that needs to be done to get there.
The trick is to find the 5% that are right for you and with which you will run long distances, and not carry on your back.
After hiring my first exit at the age of 26 and when I took myself out for a six-month sabbatical to design for myself the mindset I want by reading books at sea, my 6 year younger sister is discharged from the military. And she, too, begins to think about what to do with herself. It did not take her too long to see her older sister not working, all day at sea and with money in mind.
To do 1 + 1 she did quickly and told me she wanted to do what I do. Now until that moment for me and my sister the interfacing points were completely coincidental.
I left home for boarding school at the age of 14 (she was 8 בת) and then at the age of 18 I immediately transferred myself to the Aviv City booth. So we had no real friendship or connection.
So when she came to me with the desire to join my first thought was - what can she contribute to me?
And of course I realized that right now not much. And it does not matter that she's my sister if she does not bring something to the table - so what do I need her?
For her to bring something to the table she needs to at least learn and go through some of what I went through.
I sent her to the same course I did, I did not need a burden but I did want a partner.
She did the course (by the way, my dear mother also did with her - stay tuned in post 1 for the story of my mother), and she started researching her market in Nahariya, but not with me.
I did her entrance exams, she did all the work on another market and alone. I wanted her not to be dragged after I needed someone who brings something to the table who has more perspectives of his own but with a similar vision.
She did not like the fact that she now does everything alone from scratch and does not ride the little "wave of success" I experienced. Luckily my sister is my sister in blood - and if I am stubborn - there is a situation that she is more.
I will shorten the second deal we made together - after a very, very big quarrel in which I "fire" her because she was late for a field day and already more than once.
And I went without her to Nahariya while I told her that for me she could do whatever she wanted but I continued from here alone.
Lucky she's stubborn like me and travels to Nahariya by train after (we were so young we didn't have a license yet).
While wandering around the city I start to get incessant calls from her, of course at first I do not answer all nervously about her. At the end I answered. "Come to Kibbutz Galuyot - I found our next deal," she tells me.
And so began the best collaboration I have ever had in my life.
And not not everything is honey, there are quarrels that sometimes shake the city because go put 2 sisters in the room and more stubborn ones and now each one thinks differently… in other words it is not easy. But effective, promotes and works!
Since then we are almost a decade together with quite a few deals under the wing
Sisters-friendships-partnerships.
She complements me, she's responsible for bringing deals and renovating (a graduate of Barbara Berzin's interior design course after all) I'm about bringing in clients and building business plans and vision for many years to come.
And that's why I could start messing around in the US too - because there are some who do half the work (and sometimes better than me).
From the first day I was looking for a partner in the US and I thought that because I come with knowledge and experience, albeit in Israel but still not really starting from scratch, it will be easier.
So I thought…
A segment when you get people to collaborate and you bring something more serious to the table (experience and that…) it probably makes the other side the place to let go.
So how many (and how many) partners did I switch and disappointments I experienced until I found Adam Shabat who interrupted because we studied together in a course somewhere in 2019.
It evolved and I evolved and when our friends everything fell into place because everyone came with their own knowledge and experience and so we managed in half a year to fly over 3 markets in the US, and of course plan more surprises for 2022.
A sentence I really like
"When you walk alone you go faster - when you walk together you go further"
And since I have 2 strong partners on each side I am progressing much faster than I would have progressed alone (and today even starting to squint towards England).
Another pair of eyes on a deal, another point of view, another person to brainstorm and decide and most importantly someone else to share the difficult days with.
Partner in this way is the best and most important winning environment for the journey. Choose a partner that you feel good about, can talk freely, has a good interaction and he complements you on your weak points!
Do not strengthen your weaknesses - strengthen your strengths and have the partner complement you with what you are less strong.
And yes it's a job and an effort to find him / her but worth it. Because only in this way will we get further.
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