Starting a business is exciting as well as risky, and going into business with a friend comes with its own set of challenges. Here we take a look at the pros and cons of going into business with one of your friends, and how your business plan can help you to get the most out of your start-up.
Trusting your partner
When you’ve been friends for a long time and you’re going into business together, trust plays a big part in the relationship, and in making the business a success. Knowing the other person’s strengths and weaknesses, how they will react to challenges, and what they really think about something can all help you in running your business. You’re likely to find that splitting up many of the tasks and responsibilities is an easy and natural decision, and a business plan can help you to cement these in place. You should be able to trust each other to do a good job without stepping on each other’s toes, by knowing where your expertise lies and planning how you will use this to your advantage.
Sharing highs and lows
Celebrating your successes and picking yourself up after your losses is better when you’re not doing it on your own. Not only is it more fun to celebrate a big win with a friend, but when you’ve had a setback you can lean on each other and motivate each other to get back in the game. You can also help each other to look at these events objectively, and in the context of your business plan you can use these experiences as lessons for the future. You may find that you need to remind each other of this and use one person’s optimism to pick the other one up again.
Testing the friendship
Of course, when the business is faced with a challenge, this can test your friendship. When things go wrong people might blame each other, or there may be feelings of guilt, and people could get hurt. You might have disagreements about small day to day things or bigger decisions about the direction the business should go in. While some friction will be unavoidable, a business plan outlining your goals, mission statement, financial information and research can help you to regroup and remember to sing from the same hymn sheet.
If you would like any help with writing a business plan to get you and your friend off to a flying start, call cbm on 01604 420 420 or use the contact form on the right.