Hi Business Gurus,

I have a question to ask. How do I convince & become a business partner with my small business ex-employer. I have sent a business partnership email to him & he is ready for discussion. How do I approach this?

Thanks,
Gary

With as much honesty and integrity as you can, Partnerships can be very hard work unless everyone is honest from the start,
Lay out the ground rules what you expect and what he expects, This is crucial to hopefully avoiding future conflicts,
One of the biggest problems is one partner tends to think after a while they are doing more than the other especially if its a new business with no real income at the start,

I was once involved in a business with six equal partners although hugely profitable the business now ten years later only has two partners, Some left for personal reasons ( Myself) the others left because of frustration on how they thought the business should be run and greed,

Also in your partnership you can/should only have one person in charge for the daily minor decisions as there is nothing more frustrating for the person in charge to have ring contact his partner to say buy a box of pencils, Put a spending limit on sole decisions,

You should also map out very clearly with him your visions for the future and his.

In your partnership agreement document as much as you can so its on paper if there is ever any disputes,

OK rant over, Good luck and let us know how you get on,

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Last edited by Weedog; 29-07-2007 at 05:34 AM.

I presume you mean he's given you time for a pitch. Just prepare all the facts and figures and practice , practice , practice. You should have the answers to all the obvious questions prepared and really know your stuff .

Good Luck.