The Three New Types of Business Relationships Every Entrepreneur Needs
A recent study asked business owners and CEOs what emotions they most relate to in their day-to-day lives.
The top three answers?
Lonely. Isolated. Overwhelmed.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing. It’s not because you’re weak. It’s because you’re missing three specific relationships that nobody ever told you that you needed.
I’ve spent 25+ years building businesses, coaching founders, and watching brilliant people grind themselves into the ground trying to do it alone. And I can tell you with certainty: the most successful people I know don’t just have a great product or a great market. They have the right people in their corner.
Not just any people. The right people. In the right roles.
Here they are.
1. The Swim Buddy
A swim buddy isn’t your mentor. It’s not your spouse. It’s not your best friend who works a corporate job and thinks you’re crazy for running a business.
A swim buddy is someone at your level, in your grind, training with you.
The Navy SEALs don’t send you into the ocean alone. They pair you up. Because the water is cold, the mission is hard, and everyone needs someone who has their six.
In business, your swim buddy is the person you can call and say “I need 8 minutes” and they pick up. Not to fix it. Not to judge it. Just to be there. Science backs this up: 8 minutes of genuine human connection from someone who cares can pull a person back from almost any dark place.
The rule: your swim buddy has to be a business owner. Someone who’s borrowed money to make payroll. Someone who’s run up credit card debt to keep the lights on. Someone who gets it, not just appreciates it.
Ask yourself: Who is your swim buddy right now? Can you call them at 9 PM on a Tuesday?
2. The Drill Instructor
Your swim buddy will let you off the hook sometimes. That’s okay, that’s love.
But you need someone who won’t.
The Drill Instructor doesn’t accept your excuses. They only accept your dreams. You tell them what you’re going to do, lose 50 pounds, close 10 deals, finish the product, and they hold you to it. No b*******. No “well, it’s been a hard month.” Just: did you do it or didn’t you?
Here’s what most people get wrong about accountability: they think it takes more energy to be held accountable than to just do it yourself. It’s the opposite. Trying, that endless loop of intention without execution, is the most exhausting thing you can do. Committing is actually easier because it’s final. You either did it or you didn’t.
The smarter you are, the harder you are to coach. Because the better your excuses get.
You need someone who doesn’t care how good your excuse is.
Ask yourself: Who in your life will call you out and do you actually give them permission to?
3. The Coach
The swim buddy keeps you from drowning. The drill instructor keeps you doing the push-ups.
The coach helps you see what you can’t see.
This morning I jumped on the highway knowing exactly where I was going. I ignored my GPS because I thought I knew a better route. I hit traffic. My GPS was trying to tell me something I couldn’t see from where I was sitting.
That’s what a great coach does. They’re not just tracking your activity. They’re looking ahead at the road you’re about to drive down and telling you where the traffic is before you hit it.
A coach has to understand all the chess pieces in your business. The market trends. The blind spots. The assumptions you’re making that are about to cost you six months. They need to see your business from 30,000 feet while you’re in the weeds.
And right now, if AI isn’t one of the trends your coach is helping you navigate, you need a new coach.
Ask yourself: Who in your life can provide insight that changes your trajectory, not just your activity?
The Bottom Line
Most people on this journey feel lonely, isolated, and overwhelmed because they’re trying to be their own swim buddy, drill instructor, and coach all at once.
You can’t be all three for yourself. You’re too close to it.
Find your swim buddy. Give someone permission to be your drill instructor. Invest in a coach who can see the traffic ahead.
The question is, are you committed, or are you just trying?