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Going into business with a partner is a big commitment. In my opinion, it’s so easy to be a solopreneur with social media and access to talented freelancers. You should have a clear reason why you need a business partner. As a solopreneur you can use a website like Elance.com to hire freelancers to fill in where you may be lacking strength and provide help when needed. Being a solopreneur is easy for tax purposes, you have full control over the business, and your schedule can be quite flexible which is great if you still need to keep a 9-5 to pay the bills while you work 5-9 on growing your business. After giving it some thought you may still decide that you want a partner to bring added skills to the business, and share responsibilities and start-up costs.
If you do decide to work with a partner, consider the following:
- Will your partner be as enthusiastic and passionate about the business as you are? You want someone who will pull their weight and be passionate about making the business work. Having passion gets you through the tough days.
- Are your strengths in the same areas or do your strengths complement each others? Having a complimentary skill set and strengths are essential for efficiently sharing responsibilities and dividing up tasks.
- Are you on the same page and working towards the same goals? If you’re not, it means you aren’t communicating effectively and communication is key between partners.
- Have you agreed upon and signed a Partnership Agreement? I don’t care if you’re going into business with your best friend or a close family member (which, by the way, I don’t recommend) you absolutely need to have a signed Partnership Agreement. Small Business Notes, a website for small business owners, has a Sample Partnership Agreement here.
I have had good and bad experiences with business partners. I have tried going into business with family members and close friends and it presented too many challenges and strained our personal relationships. That’s not to say it can’t work for you to have a business with someone you have a close personal relationship with but you should be really careful. I don’t think it’s worth risking a relationship with someone you care about. For me it’s not worth the risk so I probably wouldn’t do it again.
With any partnership the most important thing is to not enter into a partnership too quickly. From talking to other entrepreneurs I have heard far more stories of failed partnerships than successful ones and a lot of the time people say they didn’t think it all the way through. Ask yourself why you really want, and need, a business partner.
Are you happy as a solopreneur? Do you have a partnership story to share? What is your opinion on being a solopreneur versus having a partner?
You are correct that it can be hard to find someone who is as passionate and hard working as you are to be a partner in your startup, but I think its almost necessary to have a partner if you want to build something big.
Sometimes not having a partner sends up red flags to possible investors, advisors and employees, as they fear your idea must not be that good if you can't find someone who thinks you or your idea is good enough.
I also think its important to have someone who you can bounce ideas off of and call you out when you are doing something rash or taking the company in a new direction. I've found having another point of view on the ownership level is key to my startups. I also think that even if you are able to build a nice foundation in a startup, as you build and become successful you will need to bring in a partner or two, not just employees.
You can't be good at everything. I think having the right partner who compliments your strengths and weaknesses well is key to success. As long as you go into a partnership agreement having talked through the issues beforehand, you can still work flexible hours and run the business the way you want to.
Thanks for the comment Nathan. You make really good points.
I was talking more about small businesses which I should have mentioned. Many of my readers are women who own small businesses and aren't necessarily looking to build an empire. I completely agree with you that to build something big it's probably a good idea that you have a partner because you can't do everything yourself. Statistically, very few large companies were founded by just one person.
great tips on this post Natalie! I definitely agree with them. I have come to find out that teams are very attractive to investors and mentors when building a start-up. However, one must build a team around the business, where the skills of each partner will be put to use in different areas of the venture. It's usually advisable to partner with someone with a bit more experience and connection (if you are a new entrepreneur), because you can learn while working.
So just to add to that list, one must make sure the other partners have different skills from you, but that will compliment your own skill to aid the growth of the business.
that makes perfect sense to me. thanks for responding.
Tolu, thanks for the comment. I agree with you. One of my failed partnerships was because we had the same skill set (and we were friends). I think this is a common mistake. People tend to find a partner who they like rather than someone who would be the best fit. Business partners don't necessarily need to be friends or even like each other at all for that matter (although that would be nice) as long as they can make the right decisions for the business and put personal feelings aside.
I agree with Natalie in that partnerships can be super tricky, as I did so with my father at one time. It didn't work out and could have ruined our relationship, but fortunately did not. I also did the same with my brother, with the same results. Ditto with a business colleague.
I must be a glutton for punishment (hehe)? as I have now entered a business with my husband! It is working out great so far, but did have a transition period at first. Our strengths do complement each other and we have the same business/life vision.
Wow Karen! I really hope everything works out well with having your husband as your business partner. I went to a couple conferences on family business that really warned against starting a business with your spouse. It sounds like things are working for you thought.
I would love to have you write a follow-up or guest post on this topic with recommendations on working with family members. Let me know if you're interested. That goes for anyone else that has experience with family owned businesses.
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