Six Crucial Tips for Starting a Partner-Based Business

By Katie McCaskey, <a rel="nofollow" title="Geezeo.com : Free Personal Finance Software" target="_blank" href="http://www.geezeo.com">Geezeo.com</a><br><br> Have you considered starting a small business? This weekend my partners and I opened a small <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.georgebowersgrocery.com/blog/2008/11/24/grand-re-opening-a-success-thanks-to-you.html">neighborhood grocery store</a>. <br><br><img src="http://geezeo-cms.s3.amazonaws.com/GeorgeBowersGroceryShelves.jpg" alt="GeorgeBowersGroceryShelves.jpg" border="0" height="263" width="350"> <br>Here are the top six things this experience has taught me so far: <br><br><strong>1. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses </strong> The four of us behind the grocery store had several discussions about our respective strengths, weaknesses, and related experience. As we moved forward on the store our roles naturally fell into place. However, we probably avoided conflict by clearly defining the responsibilities and organizational hierarchy from the start. Have these frank decisions early and expect some compromise. <strong><br><br>2. Know Your Partners and Prepare for Disagreement</strong> It&#39;s great that the four of us are friends — but assuming a friendship can withstand the stress of a business is one of the classic traps that bring down businesses <em>and</em> the friendships. We knew there would be disagreements over the natural course of things so we prepared in two ways. First, we legally set up the business so that at any point any of the four of us can sell our share and leave without hurt feelings. Second, we established both a hierarchy of decision-making and formal plan for what happens if we disagree. Luckily, at the moment we share the same vision. The few disagreements have been over small details. <strong><br><br>3. Plan for the Unexpected</strong> How&#39;s this for a predicament? The night before we opened our freezer died! Our freezer held about 1/3 of our selling product. Thankfully, we had a back-up plan in place. We didn&#39;t think we&#39;d be tested so soon but our back-up plan worked — as did our legal contract with our food vendors whose food went bad. Lesson learned? Spend time discussing what could go wrong and how it could be handled so you can quickly move to action. <strong><br><br>4. Set Realistic Goals</strong> Everyone wants a business to be a smashing success. No one plans for failure. We literally spent weeks evaluating our business plan. We projected three possible scenerios over the next year. That influenced one major decision: to alternate work hours so that we could save ourselves the cost of an employee this first year. Luckily, that choice was possible because we could trade hours between those in the partnership. <strong><br><br>5. Don&#39;t Re-Invent the Wheel </strong>Like most business start-ups we feel we have some creative ideas for our neighborhood grocery store. But: we all realize that similar stores exist (just not in our area!). So, we took the time to research the approach of these other stores and modeled our offerings on what had worked for others. <strong><br><br>6. Know that Forecasting Accurately Will Take Time</strong> We anticipate a lot of learning curves the next year. First and foremost we&#39;ll get to know our market (a small town of 25,000). We&#39;ll be adjusting our approach and working to fine-tune our business. Each partner brings a diverse career background. We&#39;ll be able to tap into this experience and perspective.<br><br><h3>Random Posts</h3><ul> <li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.geezeo.com/2007/08/geezeo-on-thestreetcombuy-and-hold-baby/" title="Geezeo on TheStreet.com&#x002026;Buy and Hold baby!">Geezeo on TheStreet.com…Buy and Hold baby! (0)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.geezeo.com/2008/10/michigan-avenue-the-richest-niche/" title="&#x002018;Michigan Avenue&#x002019;: The Richest Niche ">‘Michigan Avenue’: The Richest Niche (0)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.geezeo.com/2008/07/rising-food-costs-fat-returns/" title="Rising Food Costs &gt; Fat Returns">Rising Food Costs &gt; Fat Returns (0)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.geezeo.com/2008/07/are-we-in-a-recession/" title="Are we in a recession?">Are we in a recession? (0)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.geezeo.com/2007/12/green-giving-holidays-the-gift-that-keeps-taking/" title="Green giving holidays: the gift that keeps *taking*">Green giving holidays: the gift that keeps *taking* (6)</a></li> </ul>