A business partner is someone with whom to share the highs and lows

The great thing about having a business partner is you have someone to share the journey with.

The great thing about having a business partner is you have someone to share the journey with: a person to celebrate the highs and to work through the low points with you.

And while the saying “two heads are better than one” rings true, managing the day-to-day aspect of a business partnership takes work.

At times differing views, personality clashes and even a different direction can require just as much attention as your client list.

For instance, on the surface my business partner and I don’t look as if we have that much in common. As managing director, I’m the entrepreneurial thinker and the people person, able to foster rapport easily.

My business partner, on the other hand, is more contemplative, complex and creative — someone who takes time to think through his ideas.

While we genuinely like each other as people, we have learned a lot along the way about what it takes to build and maintain a strong business partnership, and basically it boils down to a few core principles.

● Have a shared vision. For any business partnership, it’s important to have common values and professional goals. In particular, views on people management and leadership need to be closely aligned so the parties can work ­together seamlessly. This applies more so when you are starting or relaunching a business. Partners must have a vision that is tangible, believable and real.

● Have mutual trust and respect. While it may not always be smooth sailing in the partnership, if there’s an alignment of vision and values then a healthy level of honesty and directness should ­follow. This will help to ensure you can get over challenges as they ­arrive and get on with the business. Having a very direct, honest yet respectful relationship allows the partners to navigate tough ­situations and differing opinions. It also spreads throughout the ­organisation at all levels, demonstrating the core values of the ­partners.

Although trust does take time to build, without it, no matter how great your purpose, success and sustained growth are likelier to elude you in the longer term.

● Collaborate. The key to working in an emerging business is to collaborate and communicate on everything. There will be times when each partner will go off on their own tangents, forget to share and not realise what is important to the others.

However, the power of the team is stronger than the ­individual. We all have different skills and bring something unique to the table, but there needs to be common ground.

For a successful partnership, the attributes of each partner and their common ground should complement one another. It is ­important to share a ­mutual strength of being able to understand a person, which allows us to challenge each other and our clients, and ensure the work we ­deliver is grounded in truth, interesting and relevant for the true needs of our clients.

Working in any business is tough but when it’s your own there is an extra layer of stress ­involved. It’s reassuring to have another person as equally invested in the success of your business as you are. You know they are in the trenches with you, they can ­relate as they are going through largely the same thing. It is a grind, one that is much more bearable and enjoyable when you have a partner to share the highs and lows.

Matt Rose is managing director of Zoo Group in Melbourne.