Going Solo Versus Partnering Up
Starting a business with a partner is a big commitment. In my opinion, it is 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 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 are not, it means you are not communicating effectively. Communication is key between partners.
- Have you agreed upon and signed a Partnership Agreement? I do not care if you are 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 is not to say it can not work for you to have a business with someone you have a close personal relationship with but you should be really careful. I do not think it is worth risking a relationship with someone you care about. For me it definitely is not worth the risk so I likely would not 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 did not 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?
4 Comments
This is a featured post at BrazenCareerist.com today. Serial entrepreneur, Nathan Lustig, of http://www.nathanlustig.com left the following comment in response to this post and I thought I would share it because he makes some good points:
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.
If this is a timely article for any of you and you’re debating whether to be a solopreneur or work with a partner, I found a really great article by Mike Taber: http://www.miketaber.net/2006/10/23/thesinglefoundermyth/
Good question! Wow… more to think about than I thought
I would have to wholeheartedly say that you do not absolutely need to have a partner to succeed. Having employees can work just as well. The difference between employees and partners is marginal, at best. If the future of the company is on the line, either one is going to step up and do what it takes to make sure that the job gets done. For a partner, it is vital to their ongoing success. For an employee, it is their job and family on the line. Realistically, there is little difference.
The biggest issue you will probably run into is that employees might not feel as though they can tell you directly that you’re doing something stupid. You need to make it very clear when hiring people that one of your expectations is that they challenge you to explain why you think you are doing the right thing. I’ve been told I was doing something stupid by employees and then taken a different direction after discussing it with them. Again, you just need to communicate that up front.
I don’t have anything specifically against partnerships. In fact, I have a number of business arrangements where I do have partnerships. But I feel like it is misleading to people to say that you always need to have a partner.