How to Find Good People

These two My Eyelab franchisees built a successful partnership and rapidly scaled a team. How? By focusing on mutual benefit.

- MADELINE GARFINKLE

Need a good business partner? Zain Attawala and Sagar Panjwani have advice: Don't just focus on your strengths. Acknowledge your weaknesses, too-and know how your partner balances you out. "That's where I think the majority of the people fail: They don't want to accept weakness," Attawala says. This strategy has proven itself out for Attawala and Panjwani-which is how, at ages 32 and 27, respectively, they're the owners of 28 thriving My Eyelab locations across Alabama and Georgia.

The pair met each other through their entrepreneurial fathers, and quickly found their rhythm. "Now when anything comes our way, it's a very unsaid thing of: Who will take over that?" Attawala says. "We divide responsibilities based on our strengths. If it requires analysis and details, it's Sagar-but if it requires creating a relationship, then it's probably me." Here, Attawala shares how they built a multi-unit franchise team by focusing on people first.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned in franchising?