Building a successful business takes more than just hard work and determination.
One key aspect that is often overlooked is the importance of partnerships.
In this video, we explore the role that partnerships play in the success of a business, and offer tips on how to build and maintain effective partnerships.
From identifying potential partners to setting clear goals and communication, this guide is a must-watch for any entrepreneur looking to take their business to the next level.
Don’t miss out, tune in now!
Transcript:
Chris Bounds
Ultimately, your background, you were a real estate agent, very successful with that real estate flipping and wholesaling, successful there. Ended up moving into storage units and I don’t recall where those units were, but you did eventually move into out of state markets.
What was the reason for doing that? How did you make that leap of faith from not having local control and a local assets and being able to do it from a virtual standpoint?
Steven Libman 01:19
Yeah. I mean, the dichotomy was we were doing residential in state, when we were in New Jersey. We flipped and wholesaled, maybe a thousand houses over 10 years. So it was a very different operation. When we switched to the commercial. And we started building, we built three ground up self storage facilities in Orlando. They were all managed by cube smart.
We partnered with an experienced operator. Right. So we helped raise the capital into that deal and partnered with a guy who already had a couple 100 million dollars under management. He was boots on the ground. You know, following what Don says.
I mean, I’m sure you’re gonna hear the repetition over and over and over again, partnerships and mentorships. And people on the ground are kind of what helps streamline this process. But so our partner Sean lived in the Orlando area, he was very much managing the general contractors on the ground up construction and managing the COS, the township and all that stuff.
Chris Bounds 02:14
So people in relationships has been a team. And it reminds me, I’ve said it before Grant Cardone. He said, like, “Hey, you don’t have a money problem, you got a people problem. You find the right people, that’ll solve a lot of other problems.” How are you finding these folks? Whether it’s that partner for the Self Storage Units or the one of the big partners that’s involved in the forest project that you just close?
Steven Libman 02:47
Yeah. It’s not magic. It’s going out and finding people that are doing the things that you want to do and building relationships with them.
Chris Bounds 02:58
Wait, so there’s getting work to it. It’s not like Facebook post.
Steven Libman 03:03
It’s not a Facebook post. It’s a lot of phone calls. So look, everything in business, as we find out it’s about creating your tribe, having people that know, like and trust you. And align with your own core values. Right. When you can start there, then it’s very easy to implement these other things. Right. Business transactions become second nature, once you have the personal transaction that’s taking place. Right. The personal relationships.
So it’s finding your tribe. Believe me, there’s plenty of people out there that are doing this business that I don’t want to partner with. Right. And there’s plenty of people in the business that I do. So it’s going out kicking tires, starting relationships, finding out what drives other people and then not just what they say, but what they do.
Chris Bounds 03:49
Watching what they do.
Steven Libman 03:51
The name of our company puts us a little bit in the crosshairs. Right. Because the name of our company’s Integrity Holdings Group and people think initially, 11 years ago, maybe we started the name of that business so that other people thought that we had integrity. That’s not the reason for by the way. We named our company that, based on Proverbs, we’re Christians. We know that we have to answer to God at some point. It was a reminder for us on our business card every time I handed it out that one day, we’ll stand in the judgment seat and we better know who we work for.
But that doesn’t put us in the crosshairs. Right. We are held to a higher standard because of our name. We have to say what we’re going to do and then actually follow through with action. And same thing with your partners. When you start to find these partners. You can start to see how people act and they will tell you that their core values are one thing, but do they finish them out in an accountable fashion where you can see it tangibly working in their business. Right. And then, that’s how you start to build those relationships. And that’s the trust piece of know, like and trust. Right. I can know someone. I can like them. They can tell me all the right things. But if they don’t follow through. Right.
With what they say they’re gonna do on the business side, then it’s not going to be a fruitful partnership. Right. Like it or not, you’re probably going to go through one or two of those. But as you start to mitigate those relationships and find the people that you know, like and trust and find the people that align with your core values, then you can start to do deal flow with them. And you can see the people that are bringing deals and things like that. So it becomes easier to do things far away, when your partners that you know, like and trust are there, and you can trust them that they’re gonna do exactly what they say they’re gonna do.