Entrepreneurs like yourself are smart, intelligent, and thanks to your successful business decisions; you wear nice suits, nice jewelry, and maybe even have nice cars. But Patrick Bet-David knows entrepreneurs like yourselves don’t always make the best decisions when it comes to dating.
“There’s a reason why most businesses don’t last because a person leading it doesn’t know how to process all of these different issues and the person they are dating have a lot of influence on how their business grows.” – PBD
Here are Patrick’s 10 dating mistakes to avoid as an entrepreneur.
10 Dating Mistakes to Avoid as an Entrepreneur
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Making Them Public Too Early
- So many people want to show off who they are dating because they are excited about the relationship. But you never want to show your new boyfriend or girlfriend too early because you don’t know if it’s going to work out, number one. Number two, when your associates see you with too many new relationships, it sends a message to them that you are not stable. Higher talent wants to see the person they are working with as stable in their business life. Patrick’s rule is the relationship has to be at least six months before publicly appearing together in front of business connections.
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Not Differentiating Between Passion and Compatibility
- You can’t build a long-term relationship with passion alone. You can only do that with compatibility. If you are looking to present someone as your new long-term partner, the two of you need to be compatible as well as passionate. Because if you are not compatible, you are going to spend too much time on your overly passionate relationship and not enough time on your business.
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Giving Your Partner Too Much Authority
- Confusing your new partner’s advice for business advice can spell disaster if they never have run a business or aren’t even in the same industry. Just because they are dating you, does not mean they have become co-CEOs with you. Don’t let them think they have the same authority as you in your business.
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Not Having Separate Accounts
- Sometimes there is only one big earner in the relationship bringing a lot more than the other person. Create three accounts as part of ground rules to avoid the big earner from being taken advantage of. Her account, his account, and our account. Then you both go dutch in your account to avoid anyone feeling like they are paying more for joint things, and you still have your own money to spend on personal items.
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Shifting Your Schedule
- When you start dating someone new all you want to do is spend every second with them. But don’t fall into that trap of canceling appointments to have long lunches with your new boyfriend or girlfriend. Schedule your time together outside of your business, so you don’t end up broke and just another employee.
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Spoiling Them Too Early
- Just because you have the means to spoil them, don’t. If you do buy them a Louis Vuitton bag two months in you’ve officially set an expectation of, “If he buys me a Louis Vuitton bag two months into it, guess what? Next year I want you to buy me a Louis Vuitton store.” And if you don’t, they are disappointed. Spoil your partner 5 years in, 10 years in, because you both are committed to each other and you built a life together.
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Not Having a Prenup
- Even if you are in love, being prepared for the changes that could happen will benefit you and your business in the long run. But you’re probably thinking, “Bringing up a Prenup can be awkward.” You must bring it up if you’re at that stage in your relationship because your money is your livelihood and having a conversation could avoid arguments in the future. Having an open and honest conversation about your finances and your accounts can go a long way in showing how committed you both are to each other.
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Complaining to Them About Your Work
- The last thing you want is your new boyfriend or girlfriend saying the phrase, “I heard a lot about you,” to your executives or partners. They will immediately think you have been complaining about them behind their back. But far worse, your new partner will begin to undermine your potential business growth because they just want you to be happy. The more you complain to them about work, the more your new partner will want to push you away from the business thinking they are protecting you.
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Letting Go of Your Body
- Just because you are dating someone new, that doesn’t mean you let your body go. Running a business requires a lot of energy and stamina, so you need to remain in good health. Find a way to keep working out and maybe work out with your new partner.
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Exposing Insider Information With Them
- There are certain things you can’t bring home – could be money related, could be compliance, maybe it’s personal information about your partners. Whatever it is, private information about your business needs to remain need to know regardless of who you are dating. It protects your business and it protects your new partner from accidentally saying or doing something damaging to you and your business.
Next Steps: Two videos you need to watch. One is called Who to Marry, How to Marry, which is also very entertaining. The other one is 15 Things to Know Before You Date an Entrepreneur. Both videos have been watched by partners, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends – so many times because it puts them on the same page moving forward. You may not just want to watch these videos by yourself.
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Founded in 2012 by Patrick Bet-David, our goal is to impact entrepreneurs around the world through value and entertainment. We are the #1 channel for entrepreneurs because of the best interviews, best how to videos, best case studies and because we defend capitalism and educate entrepreneurs.
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