So I own a small craft business with a few friends. In the begining everything was great, we made verbal agreements and came to decisions as a group. The more I’ve worked with these friends though, the more I want to get a partnership agreement written. It seems like a lot of things don’t get done, or I’m doing tasks that I thought would be someone else’s job, or that there is an uneven amount of workload from time to time. I know that we should have had one before we even got into business together, but I didn’t know that when we first started the business. I’ve wanted to get a partnership agreement written for several months now, but it seems we constantly have something that makes it so we can all sit down and write one out. (I.e. running out of time at business meetings, having to cut meetings short for personal reasons, a craft fair to prepare for, and so on). I’m loosing my desire to actually work on the business because of this, and I am considering leaving. I would like to see what can be worked out though, which is why I haven’t yet. I have some custom orders that I’m working on currently because they are due by Christmas, but I’m tempted to inform my partners that until we get the partnership agreement in place, I will not be doing anything else for the business. Is that too harsh?

  • Rov_Rov1@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    A good partnership agreement protects you and your partners. They probably have things that they aren’t happy with either. I’d make it a priority, everyone lay out what is most important to them and make sure it all get’s in the contract.

    There are some very specific, common things that can happen to a partnership that can cause some big legal headaches, I had a lawyer once call them the four D’s: death, disability, divorce, and disinterest.

    Laying out what you will do if a partner experiences any of those things can help a lot!

    good luck!