5 Lessons From Starting & Closing a Joint Business Partnership
Running a business on your own can be challenging, so you may be wondering about starting a joint business with a business partner.
Going into business with a business partner can have huge benefits such as sharing the risk and the workload and leaning into more specialized strengths vs having to do it all. And if you and your business partner have already run businesses on your own, you may also have built-in audiences which can increase the chances of your joint venture succeeding.
On the other hand, running a business with someone else can be very challenging and isn’t something I’d encourage you to take on lightly.
So after running a joint business with my business partner for about 2 years, we’ve come to the hard decision to close the partnership - on the very best of terms. I
So in this blog, I’m sharing my 5 biggest lessons learned from starting and now closing a joint business in case you’re considering starting a partnership business.
Lesson 1: Pick your partner carefully.
This, I couldn't have done better!
Olivia and I are a natural match and got on like old friends right from the start. I think this is what made this whole experience so positive because we also worked together so well.
In many ways we're cut from the same cloth, we both love exploring shiny ideas, are obsessed with online business, and have very similar views and values about how we show up in our brands too. On the flip side, we also have some pretty helpful complementary skills that helped even out the workload.
Lesson 2: Know your strengths (and weaknesses)
When considering working closely with anyone, it's important to take stock of what assets you have to work with. Looking at our tech stacks, past experience, and most importantly our strengths and weaknesses made getting started pretty seamless.
For me, I know my strengths lie in executing tasks, project management, tech & design. Olivia's are big-picture thinking, copywriting, and providing support.
And I know my weaknesses definitely lie in managing my energy levels around other humans and stressing about things getting done last minute. (I was that kid who always had their homework done the day it was assigned, anything later than that and I'd stress myself into mess that couldn't get anything done 😅)
I also think that this is where a lot of conflict can show up; when we aren't leaning into our strengths or are forced to spend too much energy compensating for our weaknesses. So figuring this out is crucial for any business, but especially one where you're working closely with another human!
Lesson 3: Keep communications crystal clear
I'm really proud of how well Olivia and I worked at keeping the lines of communication constantly open throughout the 2-ish years we ran this business. I also think this is how we avoided sticky situations, like when one of us was waiting on the other to complete their part of a project.
It also meant that when I realized I needed to step back from the joint business, I felt confident (if a bit nervous) in sharing honestly where I was at with Olivia, and together we came up with a plan to close it out in a way that felt really good and respectful for our amazing clients & community.
Lesson 4: Recognize when something doesn't feel good (anymore)
You know one of my biggest values is that life comes first, not business. So whenever things start to feel "too much", I really listen.
There were a few points along the way with that business that things unintentionally bumped up against that boundary. And rather than "sucking it up" or "pushing through", I went straight to Olivia to talk out how we can adapt to make things feel more manageable.
This looked like removing some of the 1:1 access in our coaching container, redesigning our membership to better lean into our strengths, working ahead further with our content and, eventually, deciding to close the business on a high rather than trying to force success when capacity just wasn't there to make it happen.
Lesson 5: Clear & simple is key
And after thousands of conversations with a likeminded business owner / friend, I've realized that while I adore chasing shiny ideas and love having a multi-passionate and multi-faceted business - in order for it to work for me and fit around my life FIRST, I need things to feel clear and simple.
Clear, in that:
I practice what I preach - I hope sharing the "why" behind things like this decision helps show my Life-First Business philosophy in action 🥰
I share things that "do what they say on the tin", fancy branding and clever messaging will never trump a straightforward practical answer to someone's need in my books
And Simple, in that:
I optimize for ease - like leaving behind my cool Shopify store for more straightforward sales pages hosted on my website
I lean into the way MY brain works best - like deleting deadlines to optimize my productivity and reduce my stress levels
If you are considering starting a joint business, I truly hope sharing these 5 lessons I learned through my experience is helpful! And if you have any other questions if you're considering diving into something like this, I'm an open book so feel free to reach out and I'll share whatever I can that might help 😘
