The dream team....

Nope, I'm not talking about Magic, Larry and MJ, I'm talking about the business dream team. The first member of course is you, the business owner but who else? Your accountant is such a critical member, but you have to make sure they are engaged and actively watching your numbers, not just puking them up in a tax return once a year. My favorite accountant saying is "its not the big expenses that kill you, its all those little ones that are creeping up that add up quick but you may not notice until its too late". Make sure your guy or girl is thinking this way and watching.

Next is your lawyer, again be sure to keep this person updated, engaged and involved. These folks see it all, from the super successes to the failures, and have been there for the ride. Listen to them, ask them questions, they have a lot of great advice to give.

Enter the banker, we're here to be your second and third set of eyes so use us. And more often than not we're free. The trick here is to make sure that this whole team is all interreacting often, especially during growth, new store openings, new product introductions etc. The up and down times.

I suggest an annual sit down with this team, face time is the best time and an open conversation about your business from these varying viewpoints can only lead to better things to come. Maybe you should put your real estate in an LLC instead of owning it personally. Talk about it and the implications it could have with all these partners, the good and the potentially bad.

So go out and shop for these partners, the first isn't always the best, and the one you are with doesn't necessarily mean they are the best fit for you now. By having the right team you will have the benefit of all their experience and this will ultimately lead to a more fluent and trusting relationship.