Business partnerships are a lot like marriages. You depend on one another. You are financially tied to one another. Your goals are one in the same. You have a desire to see success with this person by your side. Sadly, business partners and spouses are not always picked with the proper scrutiny which often results in a crisis. You can have a troubled partnership with your business parent. You can fight, disagree, and begin to grow apart. Does that mean it is time to call it quits?
Like a marriage or any relationship a business partnership needs to be worked on and cultivated. You may not be the same person you were when you first started your partnership. You may not have realized how different your goals, direction and aspirations were until you signed the LLC papers. When this occurs, you need to talk it out to find where each of you stands. The most common reason for a split in a business partnership is a difference in direction. One car cannot go in two different directions at one time.
Evaluation Time
What is causing you to rethink your business partnership? Is it personal? Is it a difference in direction? Is it very serious such as a distrust of your partner?
If you are experiencing personal issues with your business partner it will affect your business. You need to decide if these personal issues are big enough to end your business or if you can work them out. The sooner you take care of this the better off your business and your life will be. Get a mediator or an objective third party to help you decide how to handle these issues.
If you are experiencing a difference in direction then you need to sit down and go over your vision and mission one more time. Decide if the direction is completely off the charts or if it is a different interpretation or a new branch that should be explored. Set aside pride and be flexible to new ideas. If the difference in direction put a line in the sand then maybe you simply have two sides of the same coin. Maybe your relationship could change and one person handle direction A while the other handles direction B. For instance, in my business we have events and education. I handle the education and my partner handles events. We coordinate, support, and bounce ideas off each other even though both sides sound so different. However, if your difference in direction causes you to compromise your convictions or changes the heart of the company it may be time for one of you to leave. Try to make this a business decision and not personal. Try to have the perspective that your partnership must cease in order to maintain a friendship and solid professional relationship. Better to have two businesses which support each other than “divorce” altogether.
Can you trust your partner? If you question that trust of your partner then there is no time to waste in getting to the bottom of this issue. You cannot maintain a partnership with someone you do not trust. There may not be an easy answer or easy way to dissolve your partnership but a partner who is distrustful will bring you and your reputation in business down.