I'm a single mom who runs a small business. When I needed to expand, I hired a business partner who is my exact opposite.

The author (right) has started working with a business partner (left) to run her small business. Courtesy of East End Taste I run a small business in the Hamptons and have been interested in growing it. I started working with a business partner who thinks and operates completely differently from me. He has helped me grow my business because he turned my ideas and access into growth. I have always known how to get an idea off the ground. As the founder of East End Taste, a Hamptons-based events company, I had built my career through relationships, creativity, instinct, and determination. For a long time, I believed those strengths were enough to move my small business forward, but then I wanted to expand my company. We had already been in operation for eight years, and I saw an opportunity to work with more clients.