Are you in the relationship business?
As many entrepreneurs already know, building a viable business is about relationships. You need a network of people that you build meaningful connections with to help grow your company until it is sustainable, and well beyond.
The construction industry is no exception. Thirteen years ago, serial entrepreneur Ariane Kirkpatrick started The AKA Team, a commercial construction company serving Greater Cleveland and beyond. After just a few years in business, The AKA Team met Whiting-Turner during a mentor/protégé diversity program created by The Cleveland Clinic. The majority owned companies were asked to partner with smaller ones to help build their capabilities. They put an entire program together with key performance indicators (KPIs) and different project metrics. From there, The AKA Team and Whiting-Turner built a good relationship and now have a great partnership and are building all over Cleveland.
Like any relationship, you sometimes have to ask yourself: “Is this partnership a good match?” Not all of them are. “Some people will just use you for a quota, not really utilizing your services,” says Kirkpatrick. Kyle Jones, owner of KBJ Incorporated, agrees. “[Partnerships are] one step, but not the answer. Our goal should be getting the jobs ourselves,” he says. “They are good to an extent but shouldn’t be your bread and butter.”
As a project engineer, Aria Johnson of The AKA Team was excited to learn everyday. “Not all partnerships are genuine. Whiting-Turner is intentional, and that changes the experience. The program can be positive or negative depending upon the intention. Whiting-Turner was highly instrumental in getting AKA to where it is today,” says Johnson, who has been with the company for five years, and is now its Chief Diversity Officer.
Meltrice Sharp is publisher of The Black Professional magazine, managing partner at CLE Consulting Firm, and treasurer of NAMC Northern Ohio Chapter. “If each partner isn’t living up to the partnership’s expectations,” said Sharp, “that could potentially be a problem. You need to use it to leverage your business and help you grow to the level where you eventually don’t need a partner.” Having worked with dozens of clients, Sharp believes some relationships should come right at the beginning. “Out of the gate, everybody should start relationships with a banker, an accountant, an insurance broker, an investment advisor and an attorney. Some will say they can’t afford it, but you just have to find the right person/company. When I was just starting out, and hungry for work, I often bartered with other new entrepreneurs and it worked out well – they did what they were best at and I did the same for them. It was a great arrangement. We fail as entrepreneurs when we try to wear every hat,” she said.
For your business to be successful, it is important to become a member of an organization such as the NAMC Northern Ohio Chapter. As Black entrepreneurs, we need to fuel that engine so that NAMC can do the work it needs to do to change policy and make a bigger impact in a systematic way. Networking is an important piece to that puzzle. We have to constantly grow and improve. Other organizations that can offer help include the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, ECDI, JumpStart
and SBA.
Used with permission from the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation.