Angela Pih

expert panel

If your business is failing, a poor partner relationship could be to blame. Regardless of whether you’re best friends, family members, industry colleagues or anything else, two people always enter into a business partnership hoping to leverage each other’s strengths and build a successful business together. However, real life may not always play out so smoothly.  If your business isn’t doing as well as you’d hoped — or is even failing — but you can’t seem to find the root cause, you may consider looking at the state of your business partnership. From disagreeing on core values to avoiding each other entirely, issues within your relationship with your business partner can have a direct effect on the way your business runs and, ultimately, whether or not it succeeds. If you find yourself questioning whether or not you and your business partner are as compatible as you thought, look for these seven signs as outlined by the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council, and then determine whether you can heal your relationship or whether it would be beneficial to part ways.

expert panel

To appeal to your customers, you have to speak their language. Nothing is more powerful in communicating your brand’s purpose, mission and vision than your brand’s voice. What you say and how you say it is paramount to how people view your brand and choose whether or not they would like to become a customer. This means if your brand’s voice and messaging aren’t resonating with your audience, you may not be bringing in the amount of sales you need to sustainably grow your business. To ensure you’re not missing the mark, consider the following advice from the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Here, they offer their top tips for sharpening your brand’s voice and communicating with customers in a way that they will identify with and appreciate.

expert panel

Networking can be tough, but building relationships doesn't have to be. Networking is a major way to forge new connections and find potential business opportunities when you're an entrepreneur. But once you’ve made an initial connection, keeping the momentum going with that contact afterward — whether with other professionals or brands — can be tricky as you both return to your hectic daily lives. According to the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council, however, maintaining good business relationships doesn’t have to be challenging or take up a lot of time — it’s all about doing it the right way. Below, they list a few of their top tips for keeping the networking momentum going and why they work so well.