Advice for Starting a Business, Should You Decide to Partner Up

In the beginning, two people shake hands. They are starting a new business together. Everything looks bright and optimistic.

Over the past year I have owned a business with another individual. It has been the most stressful year of my life, and I have learned some extremely valuable lessons that have cost me thousands of dollars, humbled me, and changed my outlook on life. In a series of posts I will share my advice so that others who might be considering starting a business with someone else can learn from my experiences.

My first post regarding owning a business was https://steemit.com/life/@countryinspired/working-too-hard-kills-the-person-you-once-were
It is a bid morbid and grim, but it explains how the demands of being a business owner can rob you of your free time and hobbies.

I chose to start a business with someone I thought I knew. I would even have called him a friend. We had only been acquainted for two years, so we did not have an extensive background. I admired his skills and positive qualities when I thought about him as a business partner. I never saw his bad qualities. Those started showing up just a month into our business venture.

To be fair, I probably do not make the greatest business partner, either. Although I approached our partnership with an attitude of fairness and honesty, I have some personality flaws that did not help our relationship any.

Rather than focus on our personalities, I will break my posts down to key issues that ultimately brought about the demise of our fledgling company.

A business relationship can turn sour quickly, and it can become brutal warfare and mayhem.

Tip #1 - Both partners should quit their full time jobs and fully contribute to the company.

In a leap of faith, I quit my job last October and began working for our new business. My partner, however, was more hesitant and kept working at his full time day job for the first three months of our company's existence, only helping me on evenings and weekends. You might think that was a smart move on his part, and I could agree. Nearly a year later, after a series of events (which I will explain in future posts), we dissolved the business. Our accountant was dividing the assets, and I was shocked to hear that my partner not only drew an income from his full-time job the first three months we were in business, but also was able to match my earnings for that same time period. I was extremely bitter about that outcome, but it was fair according to our accountant and our operating agreement.

If you want to start a partnership or 50/50 ownership company, make sure you are both in it together 100 percent from the start, or have special wording in the operating agreement that makes certain exclusions if one partner is going to keep a full time day job.

Beyond just the dollars and cents, having both partners one hundred percent committed to the company demonstrates faith in the new business. Having one partner refuse to give up their primary job can hinder growth of the new business, and puts a lot of burden on the partner who gave up everything and went completely in. I remember how stressed I felt for three months when I was the one doing all the running around, setting up accounts, making purchases, calling people, and doing the labor. I was building resentment for my partner early on in our business relationship--not a healthy way to start out.

I hope this first piece of advice was helpful. I am not a professional business consultant. I am simply sharing advice from my experience. Other people’s advice may be completely different, depending on what type of experience they have had.

In my next post I will talk about contributing personal assets to the business in the beginning, and what to do right. Please follow me for more of these topics. Plus I like to do some creative writing about things other than work and business, such as experiences outdoors on camping and fishing trips, and fun projects I have worked on. Thank you for reading!

Photo credit: I love spending time building Legos with my 5-year old son. I decided to build scenes for some of my posts during this time. We enjoy our time together, plus I get visuals for my Steemit posts!