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Ditching my partner and going solo!

9K views 39 replies 23 participants last post by  H & M Yard Improvements 
#1 ·
Ok a little rant here. A little advise from the veterans would be appreciated.

My story: I started a small mowing biz with my buddy last season. We have grown from 13 customers last season to 29 this season. I do all of the office work, billing, estimates, landed all of of our clients, scheduling etc.

He: Doesnt stroll out of his house until 8 or later, makes me wait when I want to be on the road by 7. Is picky about what jobs he wants to do. Is above working weekends (Saturday). He says hes worked enough Saturdays in his life and hes only 38 yrs old and lives with his wife at mom and dads house.

We had rain the last 2 days so we got a little backed up. I have customers that want their lawns cut Saturday (tomorrow). I said no problem I will go out on my own and do them. My partner gets pissed at me because i said I would service them. He wanted me to wait until Tuesday.He said that I am taking money out of his pocket by working Saturday. There is absolutely no reason why he cannot work Saturday other than he is lazy and doesnt want to work. To me he seems like an unreliable laborer I would have 6 pissed off customers if I did that. He does not have to handle the phone calls if someone gets pissed. And if i do get a call from someone unsatisfied and I tell him about it, he just shrugs his shoulders as if it is no big deal and says "Whatever dude".

So, how do I go about getting rid of him. I want to be solo next season. Then I wont have to deal with his BS. I have purchased most of the equipment with my own money. He doesnt contribute anything to the biz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for readin and understanding.

Howie!
 
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#3 ·
Partnerships are a hard deal as you are finding out. To late for this now but all these things (how to split things up or buy out procedures) needed to be decided and in writing before entering into a partnership. Only posting this to help somebody who might be thinking about doing a partnership.

They rarely work out. I have had one fail and 2 successful. The 2 successful have been with my dad.
 
#4 ·
I never have understood the partner thing. All you can do is offer to buy him out, or split the business in half if you dont have the funds to buy him out. I would try to keep everything "cool" so you dont destroy your business, if you are friends its quite possible you wont be if you part ways.

Talk to your partner over a cup of coffee or a beer, <just a couple> and see if you can resolve the mess without much information getting out to your customers. Your partner probably wants out anyway.

Get SOLO and stay SOLO.
 
#5 ·
I understand and have been in a similar situation with another business I had. Please be smart about the situation. What to do with the yards, split them 50/50 or like they said buy them out. When purchasing the equipment did you purchase it with you own money and bring that into your books (accounting system) as an asset to the company? If you did this then you will probably have to find the best way to split this. Think about the money in the bank AND who had access to it. My previous partner and I both had access so when I told him I wanted to split he went and took out a much larger piece than was his. I had no idea he did this. So please be careful.

All in all it sounds like this needs to be done and fast. Don't wait if it's not working out because it will only get worse. Good luck and I hope it all works out
 
#6 ·
First question. Do you actually have a formal partnership, or is this two buddies that decided to cut grass. Sounds like to me no formal agreement, because the first thing you consider in writing an agreement is how to get out. If you put up all the money and did all the work, show him the high way. If there is actually a partnership tell him you will split the accounts. He wont want to do that if all the equipment is yours. You say he is lazy so he wont go out and buy equipment to service the clients and you will end up with the accounts anyway
 
#9 ·
Sounds like it is your company & your buddy is just an employee. You do all the office/paper work, billing, estimates, handle calls, scheduling & bought the equipment. Does he mow by himself or both of you mow all 29. Let me guess...he had the truck, so that made him a partner! Lol! I can't see your location on cell phone. I you have an end to your season, I'd finish the season. Let him know then that your goin solo next year!
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#11 ·
My father went through the same thing. We were working 70+ hours a week while the partner worked 2 hours a day. He ended up buying out the other half, but they had no partnership documentation and all contracts were in my fathers name. Listen to the other guys and don't make the same mistake he did, if contracts, assets and debts are in your name show your "partner" to the door. If your company is a partnership, I would ask your lawyer/accountant on what your next move should be, but I'm pretty sure they'll tell you to buy him out and move on.
 
#12 ·
I never have understood the partner thing. All you can do is offer to buy him out, or split the business in half if you dont have the funds to buy him out. I would try to keep everything "cool" so you dont destroy your business, if you are friends its quite possible you wont be if you part ways.

Talk to your partner over a cup of coffee or a beer, <just a couple> and see if you can resolve the mess without much information getting out to your customers. Your partner probably wants out anyway.

Get SOLO and stay SOLO.
Get solo. Then get an employee. Don't look back.
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#13 ·
First of all, why do you have a partner with 29 accounts let alone starting with 13? If your just starting out I wouldn't even consider bringing someone on as some major role until you have more than you can handle. And when I say more than you can handle, I mean working 60-7- hours a week with a truck full of workers. Partnerships can really only work if there is A LOT of work involved.

Honestly this guy sounds like a prick. If you have no formal contract with him I would just split things up accordingly. If you want out and start fresh, take what ever you own. If everything is partially owned between you just take a buyout, like a depreciated percentage of what you put into it. The business is young and I really don't think this guy is just gonna up and leave because you want him out. What do you own that really gives you ownership to it? Just take what you own, get some money from him for what you don't own out right, and leave. Unless you own more than 50% of the business, then you can just kick him out. What evers easiest.
 
#19 ·
I dumped my partner and went solo after 6 weeks! I should have listened to my wife in the first place. LOL! Same reason. I did all the work. I had the knowledge of the business and he supposedly had knowledge in the business management end. To him, everything was more important than the business and at 6 weeks and absolutely no bookeeping system. I dumped him. Partnerships rarely work.
 
#20 ·
I dumped my partner and went solo after 6 weeks! I should have listened to my wife in the first place. LOL! Same reason. I did all the work. I had the knowledge of the business and he supposedly had knowledge in the business management end. To him, everything was more important than the business and at 6 weeks and absolutely no bookeeping system. I dumped him. Partnerships rarely work.
don't you just hate when your wife is right and you are wrong
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#22 ·
i know a lot of people on here are just saying "dump him" but if you too are pretty good friends you wouldn't wanna ruin that friendship over a small landscaping business. just propose to him that you think it's a good idea to split up. if you both want different things it should be pretty clear between the two of you. if he can't see that, then oh well, at least you tried it the civil way. i personally wouldn't even wanna be friends with anyone who finds 29 landscaping accounts to be more important than a friendship though.
 
#23 ·
i know a lot of people on here are just saying "dump him" but if you too are pretty good friends you wouldn't wanna ruin that friendship over a small landscaping business. just propose to him that you think it's a good idea to split up. if you both want different things it should be pretty clear between the two of you. if he can't see that, then oh well, at least you tried it the civil way. i personally wouldn't even wanna be friends with anyone who finds 29 landscaping accounts to be more important than a friendship though.
It's a business decision, I've fired friends before. We're still friends, people need to understand the difference between business and personal.
 
#25 · (Edited)
It's a business decision, I've fired friends before. We're still friends, people need to understand the difference between business and personal.
no I know.. i'm just advising him to not go about it the wrong way. i'm still not sure what kinda stake he really has in this business so to just say "dump him" may turn things sour. you can't really fire someone that is an equal partner. i'm simply stating that I think it's better to come to an equal understanding rather than leaving him no choice in the matter. IMO this friend doesn't really sound like a great business person and will most likely fail on his own. so i think it will be better to just part ways and let that inevitably happen, rather than "firing" him and then he turns around and blames him for his misfortunes. if he wants to get up at 8, so be it. if he doesn't wanna work weekends, so be it. there really isn't anything wrong with that. if thats how he wants to live his life, that's his option. but that's not what YOU want. for a partnership to work there needs to be equal understanding.

if he splits or leaves, this is what will probably happen. OP will be successful while the friend eventually fails and goes under. NOW this friend will have to see that he's problem. but if he fires him, which he probably can't legally do anyway, the friend will just resent him and blame him for something that's really not his fault.

it's kinda like if a guy were to cheat on his GF that he wasn't all that into. if he were to just come to an equal understanding and let it be known that it's not working out, they could part ways peacefully. but if she finds out that he was cheating, well now he's just the a$$hole and it's all his fault.. right? don't give him any ammo to turn this into a conflict.

so really what I'm saying is.. communicate, don't just force it. if he doesn't wanna split, then he's left you no other options.
 
#26 ·
Sounds like it is your company & your buddy is just an employee. You do all the office/paper work, billing, estimates, handle calls, scheduling & bought the equipment. Does he mow by himself or both of you mow all 29. Let me guess...he had the truck, so that made him a partner! Lol! I can't see your location on cell phone. I you have an end to your season, I'd finish the season. Let him know then that your goin solo next year!
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I have had a lot of people tell me that the company is mine and that hes an employee. We both have pick up trucks. We both mow together depending on the size of the property. Sometimes one of us mows and one of us trims. BTW, Im in NJ for those who use cell phones and cant see my loc. I have that same problem when I use mine lol.
 
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