When it comes to online business, the majority of companies online are solo ventures. While it’s great to have the fortitude to strike out on your own, you immerse yourself into a pool of high-stakes poker where only a small few have survived. In order to keep the odds in your favor, it can be a wise decision to select a business partner who can double your chances of winning in this competitive atmosphere.

If you’re scratching your head and wondering how you’re going to find the perfect business partner, don’t worry, this is where serial entrepreneur and investor Evan Luthra comes in. Evan has successfully worked with hundreds different business partners, and has learned from experience how to immediately evaluate whether or not a business relationship will work. I sat down with Evan to talk about how you can start searching for a person who will make your business work right alongside of you.

Here are Evan’s three best tips for locating that person, making the relationship work, and shouldering an even load to encourage faster success:

1. Relationships Are Key

Evan explains the most important aspect of finding that perfect business partner is through the relationships you already have or are currently building. In essence, this only works if you can get along with the person in the first place. Mr. Luthra suggests looking at your current selection of friends before you start meandering into the wild blue for an unknown stranger. It is possible you already know and love your business partner.

The great aspect about creating a business partnership with someone whom you already have a relationship means both of you understand what it takes to make the relationship work. You possibly already know each quirk, likes, and dislikes.

Evan says, “Being friends means you already have a great relationship. Running a business together is nothing less than actually being married. I have reached a point in my life that I mostly do business with people I am friends with first.”

When a relationship is successful it means all of the necessary ingredients have fell into place naturally. For one, trust is an important aspect of a business partnership. If you cannot trust someone, chances are you shouldn’t invite them to start a business with you.

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

2. Know How to Balance the Load

Next, it’s essential to find someone who can do what you can’t. In other words, if your strengths lie more behind the content on the computer screen and not so much in conversational aspects of the business, you would want someone who can compliment this in your branding.

Your business partner could be an outgoing person who everyone loves to be around. That makes your brand friendly and approachable. On the other hand, when these people come to your business website, they’re getting you’re conversational writing which couples together nicely and starts the most important aspect of the business model – building a relationship with your clients and establishing trust.

When you can work hand in hand and balance the load with the skillsets you have coupled with the skillsets your partner has, make sure you define this area not by what you have, but with what you don’t have and start from there. This is another great way to counterbalance workload and responsibility within the business as well.

3. Look For A Positive Mind

In this tough world of business, any successful person has at least one great failure story. You can never celebrate getting up if you’ve never been down. It’s not possible to stand on top of the mountain without going through the valley first.

From my conversation with Mr. Luthra, I detected a solemn look as we spoke about this topic for the piece. Evan politely explained while you are looking to succeed, make sure you understand how to learn from failure. Not only should you have a positive mindset about this aspect of your business, but your partner should also be cranially resistant when it comes to failure.

Knowing trial and error are a crucial part of your business is important. This allows both partners to gradually evolve their business by being realistic with their expectations. Evan explains, “My business partners knew to prepare for the worst and not dwell.”

“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs

The key is to stay positive, learn from your mistakes, and keep pushing forward. If you find a partner who can help you shoulder both the responsibility and the burden of a business it’s not long before you’re both seeing success.

Finding a perfect business partner is an art form. While the majority of online startups are usually “Me, Myself, and I”, you shouldn’t totally throw this idea out. The benefits vastly outweigh the negatives and there’s nothing like realizing there’s someone else out there with your goals and dreams.

When that happens, you metaphorically build train tracks, an engine, and the train cars. One set of engines may be in the front and the other set could be located in the back, but this makes no difference. The important part is, all engines are pushing in the same direction. It’s always nice to have someone help you pull the load.

What do you look for in a successful business partner? Comment below!