Why Be a Sole Proprietor (vs Entering a Partnership)

When you’re at the threshold of starting your own business, one thing you will probably wonder about is whether you’re doing the right thing by going solo.
“Perhaps I should find a partner first,” you second-guess yourself.
Well, if you ask for our advice (fine print: “By reading this piece, you are agreeing that you are indeed soliciting our advice…”), here’s what we would say:
Go solo first. You can decide if you want to pull a partner into the picture later.
Why?
1. Striking while the iron is hot.
If you keep waiting for a partner to come along, you might find that your enthusiasm for starting your business had fizzled and cooled while you were waiting.
Don’t let that happen. Get your business started while you’re hot.
Otherwise, you’ll likely never start it at all.
2. Preserving business agility.
What do small businesses have that big businesses don’t?
Sure, big businesses have infrastructure, manpower, funding.
But we small businesses have agility. We can make decisions and change processes quickly. When our clients haggle, we can say yes or no at the blink of an eye.
Now try adding a partner into the equation and see how much less quickly you can make decisions, change directions, and approve client requests.
By going solo, you stay extremely agile. Clients love that.
3. Not getting stuck with somebody else’s commitments and liabilities.
One of the scariest things about a partnership is this: you and your partner, as equal owners of the business, have equal rights to make commitments on the other’s behalf.
Now this is okay — until it isn’t.
What if your partner makes a commitment on your behalf that you, in your right mind, would never have made?
Then, as partner, you are obliged to honor that commitment nonetheless.
If your partner incurs debt for the company, then you, as partner, are equally liable. And since you are not a corporation, your personal assets can get dragged into the mess as well.
4. Not getting stuck with somebody, period.
It’s hard enough to fire a bad employee. Imagine how much harder it would be to fire a bad partner.
Bad partners are partners who:
- Shirk their share of the work
- “Forget” to communicate their business plans and activities with you\
- Lie, cheat, or even steal
Sounds extreme? You might be surprised at how common bad partners are. Some people are pretty okay human beings but turn out to be bad business partners nonetheless.
Now make no mistake: there are also good partners, and when you find a good partner, that’s great for you and your business!
Good partners can be your sounding board, devil’s advocate, idea well, and cheering squad. They can fill your deficiencies, love the tasks you hate, teach you, learn from you.
With a good partner, you can accomplish more than the total of what the two of you can do apart.
But don’t let the lack of a partner keep you from pursuing your passion.
Many of us have found that the best partners come when we are already doing what we dream of doing. They are attracted to our cause like moths to flame because they share the passion we pursue.
That scenario makes for the best partnerships of all.
