To partner or not to be.

[JohnRM]

If this business law lark has taught me anything its don't go into partnership with anyone you don't know inside out and for the love of cookies and miniature piglets get a written agreement of whats supposed to happen in the partnership before you start!

I forgot to post that. JZ UK is speaking the truth. You've got to have a lot of trust between yourself and you're partner. If this person has owned other businesses before, look at that history. Don't be turned off by failure though. There is nothing wrong with failure. Find out why it happened, if they indeed failed before. Were they careless or did they take every precaution? Did the environment change? Did a partner screw them over? Have they operated ten successful businesses?

 

[Ramius75]

If this business law lark has taught me anything its don't go into partnership with anyone you don't know inside out and for the love of cookies and miniature piglets get a written agreement of whats supposed to happen in the partnership before you start!

agree, will look into getting a agreement once i decided if to go partner or not. I knew my friends quite well and inside out. But heard many stories of friendship getting sour after partnership, thats what i want to avoid also.

A partner is a gamble. To start a really succesfull buisness you need a partner, but if you have a partner you are more likly to fail.

Thats the dilemma. Sooner or later i might need large capital if things turn well. So getting a partner might be inevitable...

 

[Ramius75]

A few bits of advice;

1) Don't take advice from people who've never owned and operated a business before, or at least who've never worked in the upper tier of management.

Thanks, but i appreciate all advises. Will think about them and do some considerations

2) START SMALL. If someone calls you a horse, feel free to punch them in the face, but by the third time, it may be wise to buy a saddle. You have a lot of people telling you to start small, because you're inexperienced and/or because this is your first business. Listen to them, please.

Thou i did have some ambition to make it big. Think i will try to go small 1st. not as if i have alot of experience starting a business

3) Don't spend what you don't have. If you can't go into your business without being able to absorb it as a complete failure and take the loss, then don't do it. Don't risk your house and other properties for this, unless you're experienced and sure of your investment.

that of coz is always a concern for me... i trade stocks and usually do quite well at it. hence im a bit hesitated to use my trading fund to start a business also... might want to take loans using my stocks as collaterals.

Still thinking about this part also.

4) Educate yourself. Don't rely on others whom you think are smarter than you to make sure that this business runs right. You might be right, they are smarter than you, but it is highly doubtful that they care about it nearly as much as you should. After you have things running and you branch out with other business, investments, and other things, then you can hire a team of smart people to run it for you, while you spend the money. Until then, while this is all that you have, spare no expense of time and effort in educating yourself.

agree, will have to be very diligent and no spare no time to slack...

5) Research the business. For Pete's sake, don't just dream up a business and think to yourself that it sounds good and will succeed. Do the research. Think about your customer base; their income, spending habits (which can be seen based on the other businesses in the area), etc. Take a long, hard look at your competition. How are they doing? Well? Poor? Why?

If you're going to do this, do it right. Good luck!

agree also. Im still very new to this and hence still asking around for ppl with experiences. i did some market research also and think that having competitors is inevitable too... only way is to beat them with service, low pricing and small overhead.

Thanks alot on ur advises. and ya, i need all the luck i can get

 

[Ramius75]

I forgot to post that. JZ UK is speaking the truth. You've got to have a lot of trust between yourself and you're partner. If this person has owned other businesses before, look at that history. Don't be turned off by failure though. There is nothing wrong with failure. Find out why it happened, if they indeed failed before. Were they careless or did they take every precaution? Did the environment change? Did a partner screw them over? Have they operated ten successful businesses?

1 major problem with the potential partner im looking into is that he is quite a slacker too. dunno how much zest he has yet to be successful. He is sitting on large capital doing investment and making good living thou.