Some people choose to get in a joint LLC operating agreement with their friend because they believe that it can help to mitigate some of the stresses that are associated with establishing a business. While this may be true to a certain extent, starting a business with your friend will change the relationship that you initially had with said person.
During work hours, you will be inclined to interact with them more as if the two of you were just hanging out. Therefore, if you start a business with your friend, you’ll need to ensure that your personal feelings don’t interfere with the good of the business. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons that are associated with starting a business with a friend.
Pros of Going Into Business With Your Friend
1) Share Similar Interests, Values, and Beliefs
Chances are that you’d only consider going into business with someone with whom you’ve developed an especially close relationship. Regardless of the fact that you may have distinctive views when it comes to various things, chances are that your core values are similar to your friends. Therefore, entering into a business relationship with someone who shares your beliefs and values can help when it comes to resolving conflicts in a time-efficient manner.
2) Communication
Communication is key when it comes to establishing a successful business. Since you and your friend more than likely have been close for years, chances are that you can easily communicate with your friend about difficult topics. In the business sector, decisiveness and clarity are essential. Easy communication enables you and your business partner to get to the root cause of a problem or situation.
3) You’ll Know What to Expect
When you establish a business with someone you barely know, it’ll be hard to predict how that person will operate when the business starts to thrive. When you work with someone who is close, you have the added benefit of knowing who they are as a person so there’ll be fewer surprises when you work with them.
4) Work Duties Are More Tolerable With a Friend
Statistics indicate that we spend as much as 40% of our lives working. Therefore, it’s important that we get along with the people that we work with. When you designate your friend as a co-founder, you gain the luxury of being in a business partnership with someone you enjoy spending time with. That enables you to have meaningful conversations that go outside the scope of the business itself. This all helps to make work hours more tolerant and fun.
Cons of Starting a Business With a Friend
1) More Difficult to Offer Constructive Criticism
While it may be easier for you to communicate with people you adore, when situations become difficult, it may prove to be difficult when it comes to offering constructive criticism to your business partner. Most people dread the idea of hurting people who are close to them. As such, in some situations, they may choose to hold their tongue as opposed to lashing out and hurting a loved one. When it comes to running a business, you have to be frank when there’s a difficult situation at hand. You also need to be able to offer constructive criticism to ensure that everyone falls in line.
2) Loss of Friendship
The reality of the fact is that you’ll have to spend an abundance of time and money to get your business off the ground. Therefore, if you choose to go into business with your partner, you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that the business may fail and you may lose your friendship as a result of that fact.
3) Underqualified
The old saying, “Love is blind,” was used to describe the fact that when we fall in love with someone, we become blind to their faults, actions, and character defects. The same thing can be said about friendships. In some cases, our love for our friends may blind us to the fact that they are underqualified when it comes to establishing a joint business venture. Therefore, one of the cons associated with getting into business with a friend is that your love for said person may blind you from the hard reality that they are underqualified to serve as co-founder. This could have several negative implications as the business grows.
