Small Business Partnerships are Like a Marriage

Partnerships are great when they work and worse than a bad marriage when they don’t.  While a bad marriage might continue indefinitely for “the sake of the children,” a broken partnership should not continue for the sake of the company. The disagreements is what is holding that business back.

As a small business expert, Barry help partners resolve their differences or separate before the value they have built evaporates.

Many things can cause a partnership to change.  Primarily, the communication between the partners changes.  Maybe there is broken trust, or perhaps one partner wants to move or no longer wants to work as hard.  Sometimes the current compensation structure doesn’t make sense any more.  Maybe the roles or responsibilities have shifted.  Expectations may need to be reset and agreed to, or it could be time to dissolve the partnership.

Regardless, things cannot remain the way they are.  Divorcing spouses fight.  Warring partners can really fight because they have the support of their spouses.  Things can get really tough when there are three or more partners instead of just two.

In mediation engagements, as a small business expert, Barry is committed to reaching a structured resolution.  There is no right or wrong, only resolution between the partners.  This means that Barry is with both partners every step of the way.  Barry is typically engaged by the company but he can represent only one partner if that is made clear to all partners ahead of time.

These kinds of changes aren’t easy, and it usually gets more painful before matters are resolved.  However, the business and life for all partners is better on the other side.

Barry has personal experience in every phase of business and is not afraid to ask his clients hard questions, the answers to which are critical to business growth.