HELP!!Need good advise about buisness Partnership?

Question

i own a hairdressers...and i really want to sell half my business to a friend of mine, as it would help me sooo much because of all the bills and thing i cant cope on my own so i think this is the best idea... i totally trust this girl with my life so that would not be a problem, but what might be the problem that could rise?

Pros and cons ppl

do you think this is a good idea?

Answer 1

well when your with your employees talk to them my boss never ask me how my  weekend was or trys to star a conversation with me and that make me feel like c**p. but my other boss does.

Answer 2

Before you start thinking about selling half your business, look at why you're thinking a partner would help.  You say it's to help with the bills and things you can't cope with.  Does this mean that the business is not as successful as it could be?  Bringing someone else in won't cure that.  It just means that two of you will be losing money.

If you're in the UK, contact your local Business Link and ask for a free business review.  They spend an intensive 2 hours with you reviewing where you are now and where you're going.  They come up with some really helpful ideas on moving forward.  (We did this for one of our businesses earlier this year.  It was worth it for the outside look at it and they gave us a lot of useful stuff to work on.)

The other person to talk with would be your accountant.  Ask him/her if you can have a chat, at no extra cost, about the state of your business.  If he/she is worth their salt, they'll have suggestions that could alter what you think is the best way forward.

Our niece has been in the hairdressing business for the last 10 years and we've watched partnerships fall apart.  You're extremely lucky if you can find someone to work towards the same goals as yourself and to put the same commitment into it, even your very best friend.  The last salon that our niece was involved in with a friend, everything fell apart when her friend split with her partner and finances became very messy.

If you do decide to go into partnership, have a legal agreement drawn up so that it's cut and dried who owns what and what happens in the event of a dispute.  The usual area for argument is finance, but there can be problems with staff, too.  You need clear policies for dealing with issues with employees.

You may find after talking with Business Link or your accountant (I'd try to speak with both) that your main challenge is marketing your salon and bringing in more business.  With more income, you could then bring someone in as a manager to help run the salon but without giving away half of your business.

Undoing partnerships, when they're not working is not easy, especially if it's a friend.  We're facing this with one of our businesses at present and it's hard to find a way to end the arrangement while still keeping a friendship that we value.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I don't know of specific pros and cons, but i'll give you an example of my stepfathers business...

He and his friend run a business selling wheels. My stepdad says that having a business partner is good if you two each have your own areas of speciality (my stepdad is the sales manager and is really good at selling wheels whereas his friend deals with the technical "behind the scenes" type of work such as with the money they make, their website, keeping up to date with the latest market prices etc). He also says that having a business partner is potentially risky if, for example, if one of them tries to legally claim the business as their own after a fall out (which does happen). But, he also says that it's good because if your ever confused or concerned with something regarding the business you'll always have someone to consult with who knows what's going on and if they don't know, then problem solving with two people can be a big time saver!

My personal opinion is that having a business partner would be good and bad for the above reasons but also, bad for the reason that if you want to make a change there's always the chance that your partner wont like it and refuse to allow it and since your in this together, you'll have to accept it.

I do think that having a business partner is a good idea if both of you want it but just like with anything, there are loses and gains that you'll experience.

Answer 4

Before you make the plunge into partnership, sit down with your potential new business partner and write out the complete details of the partnership, what is expected of each partner and make contingencies if you or the new partner can't meet that expectation.

This includes the monetary responsibilities of both parties in the business, liabilities explained and agreed upon.  In otherwords, hire a lawyer to draw up the legal documents/contract for both parties to sign of what is contracturally required in the business of each party.

It's inevitable that "friends" going into business together eventually "knock heads" now and then, so you need to plan for those eventualities prior to it happening if at all possible.  Cover your bases at all costs.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, just be careful and plan accordingly well in advance to protect yourself and your business should a conflict between the partners ever happen.

I've been in business with friends before and it worked out well, though there were those "head knocking" times we had to work through.

Perhaps you should offer her a 30, 60 or 90 day probationary trial before signing on the dotted line?

Hopefully this info will help you.

Answer 5

Pros:

Bill payments

Second opinions

Shared work

Cons:

Disagreement

Lack of knowledge in business

Bad decisions

I think you just need to weigh it up...i think it is a good idea..but really be careful because even the best of friends can argue and disagree ok?

Good luck :]