Hi ...

I hope your day is coming on fine?

So, in today’s newsletter, I want to share with you some practical lessons I learned from my experience with some clients of mine.

If you pay attention especially if you intend to run or have a business with partners.

We take a lot of things for granted and that is why many preventable and avoidable problems turn into emergencies very quickly.

In the early hours of this morning as I sat up to go through the final draft of the dissolution agreement, I was preparing for my clients something struck me.

 It reminded me of when I was billed to handle a divorce proceeding...

 I was bent on wanting to beg the couple to get back together and mend their differences…

It was horrible to see people who were once in love turn into sworn enemies who don’t mind washing every bit of their dirty linen in public.

It’s really a pathetic experience nobody should go through.

What I saw with that divorce proceedings is what I constantly see in many partnership businesses.

This brings me back to the early hours of this morning.

You see this relationship that is about to be dissolved is a unique one.

 my clients met on social media and decided to become partners in business.

They actually started the business and at some point, decided to consult me for the purpose of incorporating their company and of course to draw up a partnership agreement.

At the point where I was contacted, they had already started business as partners.

We had a meeting in my office and incidentally, that was actually when all three of them were meeting in person for the first time notwithstanding the fact that they have been in business for a while.

A few weeks after our meeting, one of the partners called me and said she wanted to opt out of the partnership.

She was…

the convener of the partnership and also the major shareholder, but doesn’t have any actual capital contribution on her part. (this fact baffled me though!)

She basically had the upper hand in the partnership.

She relied on the fact that no contract has been signed.

The other partners were devastated as they had contributed their time money and energy and also altered their position based on the agreement, they contracted us to work on.

This partnership, in many respects, can be compared to the boy/girl relationship.

You meet someone on social media and without much ado, you rush into a relationship with them.

 No due diligence, background checks, etc.

Trust me, I have seen many of such relationships and they always end in premium tears.

Well, I don’t want this to be too long.

In my next email, I will share with you some key lessons I have learned about partnership businesses and how you can benefit from them.

So , tell me, what did you learn from today’s email?

Cheers!

Barinaada.