Choosing Business Partners

The Right Partnerships Can Mean The World To You!

Harry was a candy maker. He had a little shop off Pacific Avenue in Downtown Tacoma where he offered a wide array of chocolates and taffies and hard-candy sugary sweets. Business was good for Harry and he enjoyed a loyal following and a fine reputation by offering excellent quality products, fair prices, and friendly service.

J.C. was a spice salesman. His job involved calling on restaurants and grocery stores to introduce them to exotic imported spices like cinnamon from Asia, cardamom from the tropics, and nutmeg from India. Business was good and he enjoyed offering his customers new ideas and solutions that they didn't know existed.

The year was 1908 when Harry and J.C. met in church one Sunday morning and almost immediately became friends. Over the next four years Harry continued to run his candy shop and J.C. continued to sell his spices, and both continued to enjoy business success. There was really no reason for either of them to change, but as their friendship deepened, they began to see possibilities in joining forces.

J.C. loved Harry's chocolates and was a frequent visitor to his shop. Harry was impressed with J.C.'s work ethic and his ability to provide his clients with timely service and innovative ideas. It was late 1911 when they began to seriously consider joining forces. The global economy was becoming chaotic and unstable as the world was heading towards a great war, and J.C. was constantly struggling with supply chain interruptions and wild pricing swings when he could get product for his clients.

So in 1912, he approached Harry with a partnership idea. Could Harry create a single, unique candy that J.C. could sell door to door? Like, maybe take one of Harry's most popular little candies and make it bigger to be sold as a stand-alone product? Inspired by the view of a majestic mountain out the window of the candy shop, Harry created the "Mt. Tacoma Bar", a big ugly blob of chocolate and nuts with a white creamy filling, and J.C. took it to the streets.

(In Sales, this is known as a U.S.P. - a Unique Selling Proposition)

As the build-up to America's entry into what would be later called "World War I" started filling Camp Lewis with thousand's of GI's training for oversees missions, J.C. would haul wagon after wagon of Harry's Mt. Tacoma Bars to Camp Lewis where he found an eager audience with a large appetite and disposable cash.

This was the beginning of the (Harry L.) Brown & (J.C.) Haley candy company legacy. Brown & Haley products today are sold in over 50 countries around the world. Most famous now for their pink-tinned (sorry, packed in bags isn't nearly as cool as the round pink tins) Almond Roca candies, my favorite product is still the original "Mountain Bar" - that ugly cream-filled chocolate nut-blob.

The lesson is: Harry made great candy. J.C. was a great salesman. Separately, they were both successful. But together, their partnership opened up the world to them. Just like your business having the right partnerships can mean the world to you too and help you create Your Legacy!

Do you have good partnerships in your business? Do these partners add a new dimension to what you do? Do they allow you to reach business you couldn't reach otherwise?

If your current partners are just "along for the ride" and aren't adding value or expanding your opportunities, are they the best partners for you? Or have you stopped looking for better partners because you think, "Business is good and this is all there is for me".

Harry and J.C. could have felt that way too - and I would have had to live my life without Mountain Bars. And that is not the kind of life I want to live (Okay, a bit dramatic, even for me...)

Chocolate Photo by: Elin B

Almond Roca Photo by: rynosoft