Forum Moderators: buckworks
a while ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to start an Ecommerce site with her as a partner. I have experience since I'm currently running one but I have never done anything with a partner before.
I'm very divided since she wants to sell stuff that I'm not really into that much. What should you think about when going into business with a partner? Have any of you done so? What are your experiences?
Regards
I'm very divided since she wants to sell stuff that I'm not really into that much
Your first priority in a successful store should not be "what you are into", but what will sell.
Cash
Technical expertise
Marketing ability etc etc
If you cannot think of a critical reason why she is there then don't bother.Partners are generally a pain in the butt!
MM
It will start off all fun and games and then one partner will feel like they are doing all the work and not making enough of the profit.
I wouldnt push my ideas as I didnt want to put their noses out of joint etc etc One of them turned out to be a right lazy so and so, Id known him for around 8 years previously and had not seen this side of his personalty.
Dont do it.
Want to lose your friend? And a lot of money at the same time. You've picked the quickest and surest way to do it.
Never, never, never.Want to lose your friend? And a lot of money at the same time. You've picked the quickest and surest way to do it.
Exactly what hapened to me..Lesson learned. Keep friends and business apart.
I personally would not like to go into business with a close friend for the reasons pointed out here, especially Essex_Boy's. I would like to be my own boss, and have the final say in all decisions.
Rather than partnering her, could she could 'hire' you to set up the website and design it etc, and charge her a competitive rate?
I think I will go with your suggestion. Thanks for all the replies really was an eye opener.
However, one person cannot acheive greatness alone. You are either really lucky to find a partner that has the same skill, ambition, vision as you like the google guys, or .. not.
So clear paper writting is important.
Best way is that one person provide cash, another provide the labor/skill. Even that could go wrong :)
after reading these posts i dont know if i should be happy or sad. :)
its a bit different for us, i had online skills to manage the ecommerce website for products that i dont know anything about and he would do the sales and logistics for produts that he has been selling offline for years.
not sure if it will work for us or not, but its better to have tried and lost than not tried at all.
Your first priority in a successful store should not be "what you are into", but what will sell.
I disagree with this. If you don't enjoy it, I promise you in 2-3 years it will be torture, even if the money is good.
I went into business with a partner and things have gone well. I am the exception, though. Partnerships are tough if both are responsible for the same cookies in the jar.
Have a definitive Seperation of Duties. I do my job and my partner does his. We typically don't step into each other's area of expertise when decisions are being made.
I've been working very succesfully in a similar arrangment for years, and its been a very positive experience. Depends on your friends I suppose...
Anybody can buy the website and start their own ecommerce site. It's the best way to get into ecommerce because the other party takes care of manufacturing the product, shipping it, and collecting the money from the customer. I let the site run itself.
It helps that my partner is a NYSE-listed corporate with over US$ 1 billion annual sales. And that they have a strong brand. But like I say, anybody can buy an ecommerce site, so long as they can bring the traffic to it.
