How to work with your business partner towards success, not destruction

Ange
What? I missed our producer Ollie, not you.

Andy
Yeah, he is. So we are both superstars. Well, welcome to the show guys. Sit down. Listen up because we’ve got one hell of a topic for you today.

Ange
Yeah, and I thought I saw you rummaging through the toolbox before.

Andy
I’ve had my eye on this question and I’ve spoken to a HEPA trade business owner about this topic, so let’s get it out in the open, shall we?

Ange
Do it!

Andy
My business partner and I had a falling out. We absolutely lost everything. All we did was argue day in, day out. I now wanna start a new business with a new partner. Do you have any tips for us?

Ange
Okay. That is an awesome one.

Andy
Oh, I know. I told you. Hey, what’s a big one?

Ange
Okay. So in any business model where you share ownership of a company with another person, there will absolutely be ups and downs. And today’s episode, we wanna help you navigate the delicate process of running a trade business in Tana with a partner and how you can work together towards success and not destruction.

Andy
Ah. It’s gonna be awesome. But to be clear, when we say business partner, we understand there are a lot of husband and wife teams out there, and yes, they too are your business partner, but that’s a very different relationship to working with a business partner that is not your life partner. So for instance, if you butt heads with a business partner, you don’t have to share a bed with them later at night, or I hope you don’t.

Ange
Take that saying kiss and make up very literally, right?

Andy
It does.

Ange
You are with your wife or your husband because you love them, and more often than not the she has organically become a part of the business, literally because they saw you struggling and they wanted to help.

Andy
Like you did in my plumbing business. But a business partner often is a strategic decision. Sometimes they’re a friend, a formal coworker or somebody you met, networking that you felt would be a great asset for your business relationship.

Ange
Yeah, true. So there’s a million different scenarios, and on several occasions we’ve seen our Lifestyle Tradie members join forces with each other and become business partners.

Andy
Yeah, that’s right. We had one plumber and electrician in the same geographic area working with the same market segment. And they joined forces.

Ange
Yeah, right, exactly. So no matter how you started together, the point is that working with a business partner can be a hard relationship to manage. And yes, it is a relationship. You have to be tolerant of the other person. You have to trust them in their decision making. You must believe in them and support them. All the things you do with your wife or husband.

Andy
Not all the things you do with your wife.

Ange
Yeah, right though. Okay. Maybe not everything.

Andy
So today we’re gonna walk you through the processes we teach our Lifestyle Tradie members about how to work with your business partner and establish clear rules and guidelines so you can build the best trade business ever.

Ange
Okay, so to start, When you have a business partner, you are no longer the only captain. There are actually now two captains in this ship working side by side.

Andy
Sorry, I have to stop you there cuz. Um, our young 12 year old, he calls his penis the Captain . So when you are talking about the two captains, it just made me laugh. Sorry Ange.

Ange
That’s where your head went.

Andy
Well, it tends to, and that’s where my son’s head goes a lot these days.

Ange
Whose influence is that?

Andy
There you go.

Ange
All right, Andy, let’s get back to business.

Andy
Ah, yep. Sounds like a plan. .

Ange
Okay. When you have two captains, ha, haha. Working side by side two brains can actually mean twice the business smarts because it’s pretty clear, right? When you have double the pair of hands, you can actually have double the business efficiencies. There are some huge competitive advantages to this because you can leverage greater profitability, however, It’s very clear that heads can butt and stalemates or ultimatums can arise.

Andy
Yeah, that’s right. You need to develop clear lines of responsibility based on strength. Yes. So before you hit the ground running, sit down together and map out what each of you do great. And what you’re probably pretty average at. It’s called a SWOT analysis. And look at you both as individuals and how you would impact the business. You might find you have opposite strengths and weaknesses. So assign the responsibilities based on these.

Ange
Yeah. The best place to start is to think about the key functions of a business. You’re either on the tools or you are quoting. You are the marketing manager, the HR manager, the finance manager. You get what I mean? Anyway, every facet needs someone to take responsibility.

Andy
That’s right. Or you could think about it like, front of house being on the tools and face-to-face with the customers and working with the team. Or you could be back at home keeping the admin side of the business on track. One cannot operate without the other.

Ange
Correct. One can’t operate without the other, and perhaps you divide the responsibility of the business With that in mind, one of you may have strengths being on the tools and with the team, and the other might have strengths with the office in taking control of admin.

Andy
This might, however, identify gaps in the business. For example, maybe neither of you have these skills potentially in say, sales. This is when you need to develop and agree to plan to fill this void because there are two of you, there are more options then that when you just work alone. So you can choose for one of you to upskill in this area through courses like some of our members have done with our sales success series. Or you could hire somebody specifically for that role. Because you have a business partner, the responsibility to be great at everything doesn’t just fall on one person. You can lean on each other and find solutions together.

Ange
Yeah, so once you sorted out who is taking responsibility for what in the business, it’s definitely a good idea to write job descriptions for your role and literally sign them.

Andy
Yes.

Ange
Then most importantly, once you’ve agreed, you must tell your team who does what in the business. So for example, say it was Andy and I, you know, don’t think husband and wife think you know two, just people working as partners and maybe X, Y, Z. That’s me. I take control of this bit. So if you need me, that’s you contact me and if you want A, B, C, then that’s Andy, that’s the business partner. You get in contact with him about any of that stuff.

Andy
Yeah, and it’s important to do that because working this out will prevent crossover or double handling of the business activities. It’s obvious to your whole team whose responsibility is for that piece of the pie in business, and I guarantee you having this sorted will make your business journey just so much smoother.

Ange
Yeah. Look, you do need to remember that as the business grows, that this role description or job description needs to grow with it, because as each of you take on perhaps new responsibilities or as the business changes, you need to keep these documents up to date.

Andy
Yeah, that’s right. They will safeguard yourself for future problems. You know, everyone’s happy when the money’s flowing, the business is growing, and you are just like, yeah, baby, we are crushing this. But the second the tide changes and the money starts drying up, or you start to have a few problems in the business. Guess what? Yep, that’s it. The finger pointing starts. You are not pulling your weight. I do more than you. I’m carrying this business. I’m dead set. Heard it and seen it many, many times.

Ange
Yeah. So how do you get around that? If you have job descriptions, when things do get a little bit tough, like that situation, you can actually pull them out and prove again, have a conversation. That you’ve both signed them and agreed that everything is literally evenly split. But you know what? Here’s the thing. When you’re having a bad day, it’s certainly not right, but it is common to take it out on whoever is closest to you. And in this situation, it’s gonna be that business partner. Yeah. And at times you might actually work harder than your partner. But if that’s the way that you’ve agreed the split of the business about responsibility, then the simple solution to us is literally to revise your agreement, reset, and don’t yell and blame.

Andy
For those of you that follow us, you hear me say it all the time. When you have blurred lines in a business, there’s always gonna be problems. So with a business partner, it is even more important to discuss and agree on common goals with business planning and priorities. You need to make sure you both want the same things for the future, or at some stage it will end up in our argument.

Ange
Right. So turning the wheels in the business is one thing, but to your point, Andy, agreeing and hence taking action to make the business better in every facet comes with strategy, planning, and action. So with our Lifestyle Tradie members, we work in these six week cycles, and what that does is keeps them really focused on what we call the Lifestyle Tradie Roadmap. It’s about them staying focused on what they wanna accomplish in the past to get the business model right.

Andy
Yeah, that is such a great point. And to make sure you are taking action, I would seriously recommend you’re having weekly meetings to check in a chance to keep each other accountable to what you had agreed. And if you’re doing this weekly and you know who is in charge of what, there really should be no big blow ups like we just talked about. Maintaining defined and separate work areas and really just giving each other some space, can be a massive help too. This comes back to that point of trust. You have to trust that they are managing their side of things and if you don’t trust them, then you might wanna question why you are in business with them in the first place?

Ange
Yeah, and that’s fair enough. If you know who manages what and you meet regularly and you basically communicate and support, not blame and have these common goals that you are working towards, then having a business partner can be an absolute dream, but agreeing on the direction of the business is critical to you making change in this business and working really well together. You need to both be working towards the same thing, and guess what? You’ll actually get there twice as fast.

Andy
Really, there are so many advantages to having a business partner. It’s easier to take a holiday whilst others stay and work on the business. More money to put into the business to help the business grow faster. You can share the burden and remove the isolation of having to make all decisions on your own. And you can use them as a sounding board or source of motivation. You can push each other and keep the momentum going.

Ange
Yeah. Interesting that you talk about advantages, but I reckon there are also some disadvantages.

Andy
And there’s a lot of disadvantages.

Ange
So you, we’ve gotta kind of talk about the other side.

Andy
Yes.

Ange
If your business is small, like if you’re in the early growth stages, what we call a startup, then conversations about splitting profits can obviously be a little bit more trouble than it’s worth. And every decision you make, you must agree on the decision. So often you have to compromise perhaps your vision for the company. And this can be tough, especially for you to control freak time.

Andy
Who’s a control freak out there?!

Ange
It is a conversation we obviously have with trade business owners about the fact that that’s why you went into business cuz you wanted to do it your way. So this compromise does need to have some conversation. And what happens when you both actually lack motivation? What happens then? So if you don’t have clear roles, these boundaries about your job descriptions and really mapped out who’s doing what and set KPIs, there will be some blurred lines and it could end just so badly.

Andy
Yeah. So no matter what, when you’re setting up your business as partners, you need to outline an exit strategy, right? This is a written or agreed formal document that outlines what happens if one person wants to leave, just like a prenup who gets the house and who gets the car, and who gets the red high heel shoes. We would suggest you seek legal help with this and do it the right way the very first time. You know what? The good old fashioned handshake is not gonna work in this situation.

Ange
Absolutely. Andy, this has been a hell of a lot to cover off today, but a really, really important subject. There are lots of trade business owners who have gone into partnership together, but I just wanna point out one thing. It is okay if you have already started your business with a partner and you don’t have these things sorted out yet. So my suggestion then is to literally slow down, put on the brakes, go back and literally use this episode as a bit of a checklist so that you can safeguard your business.

Andy
That’s right. It will certainly make your relationship with that partner way more secure. If you both know in advance, you know exactly what you’re both getting yourself into.

Ange
Absolutely. That’s right. But there is a flip side if things with your partner right now are perhaps already a little bit rocky and you are maybe worried about where the business is headed, then it definitely would pay to have a conversation with someone outside of obviously that business partner. To kind of wrap your head around what to do next, can I just suggest if this is you, then book in a free strategy session with andy@lifestyletradie.com.au, or head to our second podcast Lifestyle Tradie audiobooks for our Start Up, Scale Up, Sell Up. Because you know what? It’s never too late to turn things around. You just need to know where to start.

Andy
So to weigh it all up, you’ve got two options. Option A, keep doing what you’re doing and risk losing it all. Or option B, a quick 15 minute chat with me that could potentially turn your business around. And it’s really not as scary as it may seem guys. .

Ange
Yeah, exactly. So that was a super fun topic.

Andy
Yeah, I’ve gotta admit that was a great topic and I love talking about it. I know anyone out there that’s in a business partnership or thinking of it, everything we talked about then is gonna help you immensely. Time to bounce, guys. Hell yeah.