I have spent the last 2 months brainstorming and planning to set up a business with someone. At first, I was unsure of her intentions, whether she was just 'blue sky thinking' or serious, but we had a conversation, and she said she was serious, she wanted to go into business with me, and we started to plan for real. She is a great person for having ideas, and I am really good at tying ideas down and actioning them, so I thought we would be well-matched. The area in which we both work is hot news in our area at the moment, so I know all our ideas could come to fruition.
One reservation I have had was that she has worked in this field for a long time, whereas I am new to the field, although bring strong skills generally, which will be required. Since she has worked here, in this area, for years, she has many, many contacts, both locally and nationally, of which she is very proud. Everyone has heard of her and she is well-respected. I have always felt that this put her at an advantage over me, but she seemed to be fine about sharing her contacts with me and introducing me to them.
This week, it became clear that we need to take this to the next level. We visited a contact of hers who told us of many funding streams we could tap in to, but we need to establish what type of business we will be.
We both agree on being a social enterprise. I think we should be a business limited by guarantee, so that we can build and grow the business and employ others, in time. Employing others is what we have discussed and agreed.
The difficulty is that my 'partner' has now started to talk about taking on independent work whilst building this business. The independent work she will be taking on will be in the same field as our business (and could be commissions that the business could take). She wants to limit the scope of our joint business to a couple of her ideas, and follow her own leads to take on work independently if she gets it.
I don't think this can work. If we are going into partnership, I think it should be equal, and transparent, and all work should be done under the 'company' banner. I am concerned that, if she is offered 'independent' work, she will be doing that instead of working on our business, leaving me to do all the 'joint' work for her to benefit from. She has pointed out that I could take on independent work as well (I could, actually, make alot more as a supply teacher than this business will make, and have been offered lots of work, but have chosen to do this instead). I think if we both take on independent work we will never commit to the business.
I commend anyone who has finished reading this, thanks! Any ideas/views about what has happened? Why might she suddenly have gone off the boil? what should I do/say? Anyone had a similar experience to share?