Find a Partner Who Can't Do What You Do

When I asked Ben Wespi for his number one tip for anyone thinking about starting or buying a business, he didn't talk about financing. He didn't talk about finding the right industry. He talked about partnership.

"Number one: find a partner that has the skills that you don't have. Or the strengths that you don't have."

Ben bought Ellington Industries, a mechanical insulation company, with his wife. She had a background in tech and banking. He had 20 years in the Marine Corps. On paper, neither of them knew anything about mechanical insulation.

It didn't matter. What mattered was that they were different.

The Division That Made It Work

In a typical single-owner acquisition, one person has to do everything. Business development. Estimating. Financial management. Crew management. Operations.

Ben and his wife split it up.

"She took on a CFO role. She's running the administrative operations and she's also our lead estimator. There was a big portion of that job that would have normally been in one owner that we could split up into two."

Ben's focus became business development and crew management. Getting out to job sites. Meeting customers. Finding new work. Building relationships with the team.

His wife's focus became the numbers side. Estimates. Cash flow. Administrative operations. The behind-the-scenes work that keeps a company solvent.

I've seen this pattern with almost every successful contractor I've interviewed. The ones who try to do everything themselves burn out. The ones who find complementary partners—whether that's a spouse, a business partner, or a really good hire—build something sustainable.

"I Could Never Do What You Do"

Here's what Ben finds remarkable about their partnership:

"She hears me getting on the calls and talking to people and just randomly cold calling people and trying to drum up more business, and she's like, 'I could never do what you do.' And then I sit there and I watch her grind for hours on estimates and learning new things, and I'm like, 'There's no way—I could never do what you do.'"

This isn't false modesty. They genuinely have different strengths. Different tolerances. Different skills.

Ben can pick up the phone and call a stranger. His wife can spend hours making sure an estimate is accurate. Neither of them is better. They're just different.

And that difference is what makes the business work.

When Ben described this, I immediately thought about my own experience building a business. I'm wired a certain way—I like to build things, talk to people, move fast. But I've learned that the stuff I avoid is usually the stuff that matters most. The only way to cover those gaps is to find people who are wired differently.

The Wrong Kind of Partner

A lot of people look for partners who are similar to themselves. Same background. Same skills. Same way of thinking.

That's comfortable. It's also dangerous.

When two partners have the same strengths, they also have the same blind spots. The things neither of them wants to do pile up. The work neither of them is good at gets neglected.

You don't need someone who agrees with you. You need someone who covers your weaknesses while you cover theirs.

I think about this a lot when I talk to contractors who are struggling. Usually there's a pattern: they're great at the technical work or great at sales, but the other side is falling apart. They need a partner, not more effort.

What to Look For

If you're considering a business partner, ask yourself:

What do I avoid? Not what you're bad at—what do you find yourself procrastinating on? What tasks drain your energy even when you do them well? That's what your partner should be good at.

What energizes me? The work you'd do for free. The stuff you lose track of time doing. That's your contribution. Your partner should feel the same way about different work.

Can we divide responsibilities cleanly? Ben handles customers and crew. His wife handles money and estimates. There's minimal overlap, which means minimal conflict over who does what.

Do we communicate well under stress? Running a business together is stressful. You'll disagree. You'll have bad weeks. The partnership survives if you can work through conflict without destroying trust.

The Solo Founder Trap

Not everyone has a business partner available. That's fine. But Ben's advice still applies.

If you're running solo, you need to be honest about your weaknesses and fill those gaps somehow. Maybe it's hiring. Maybe it's contractors. Maybe it's software.

What you can't do is ignore the gaps and hope they don't matter.

The work you avoid is usually the work that sinks businesses. Cash flow problems happen because someone didn't want to look at the numbers. Customer churn happens because someone didn't want to make follow-up calls.

Whatever you're naturally inclined to neglect—that's where you need help.

My dad's business failed because he didn't have visibility into his numbers. I don't know if a partner would have saved it, but I know that the blind spots are what kill you. You have to find some way to cover them.

The Underrated Advantage

Ben's partnership with his wife isn't just about dividing labor. It's about having someone who sees things differently.

When he's excited about a new opportunity, she's thinking about whether the numbers work. When she's buried in details, he's thinking about the bigger picture. They balance each other.

That's hard to replicate with employees. An employee does what you tell them. A partner pushes back. A partner brings their own judgment.

In business, that second perspective is worth more than most people realize.