Hello all. Great site. I have a good one for you...
I am about to land a big services contract and I have been working with a potential business partner. He's recently out of work and we decided along the way that a) if we could close this contract for enough money, he would do this full-time and we would be partners, 50/50; b) if we couldn't close the contract soon enough or it wasn't big enough money, he would get a full-time job and do this part-time for lower pay and lower equity;
We decided to put off formulating an agreement until such time that we had the contract. Our key points, in addition to the above, were/are:
-- His wife would have no role in the business whatsoever; they have been contemplating divorce for a year and she is a very loose cannon. She's literally showed up at the poker game and spent an hour at someone else's house ripping this guy a new one over something. I mean screaming and shouting to the point the game has to stop and the non-combatants had to leave the premises until she calmed down. Obviously, there are divorce laws but that is up to him/them to deal with.
-- My wife would also not be involved, save the standard marital rights.
-- The contract/relationship is mine in the event we part ways; it came to me through a long-time friend and colleague and I'm fine in sharing it but if it ever goes south (the partnership), we leave with what we brought, so to speak.
Now, the challenge.
For the last 2 weeks, their relationship went all the way south, according to him. Finally, last Friday a.m., he said they signed the papers. In the meantime, I have been continuing to work to close the deal and start initial marketing/sales calls. He's done a little bit to investigate sales systems and to attend key meetings I've set up. At the end of the day, everyone has rough patches and I am cutting him slack considering the situation.
Lo and behold, I work through the last of the contract details today with the customer and they say "yes" and will sign. I call him --- he missed getting me his feedback this morning for the call and I made the call without him --- and after telling me he didn't understand the final note to the customer (they did), I tell him we won and he's excited. Not reading anything into it, per se, just trying to get the full picture on the table for anyone who wants to read this.
For some "dumb" or ? reason he puts me on speaker phone as says, "Cool. Lets get our partnership ironed out. My wife is out of town tonight and tomorrow." I say, "Great." as in "great, we can get some work done." Lo and double behold, she hears it and starts tearing into me (I've met her once or twice) with profanities and "You don't have our marriage in your best interest. He will not sign a partnership agreement w/o my approval."
Oh boy.
I said, "Look, first thing, I was saying "great" as in "great, we can get some work done. Secondly, your marriage is not my concern. The business is my concern."
I'm sure I could have been more sympathetic but I just don't have patience for irrational people.
Anyway, he's on his way to chat about our deal and I again, a) want nothing to do with her in our deal, b) honor our original deal w/o putting the business in jeopardy BEFORE it gets started. It looks very much like he's going to need to get a job as our monthly retainer isn't enough to cover both of us.
Any suggestions?
I am about to land a big services contract and I have been working with a potential business partner. He's recently out of work and we decided along the way that a) if we could close this contract for enough money, he would do this full-time and we would be partners, 50/50; b) if we couldn't close the contract soon enough or it wasn't big enough money, he would get a full-time job and do this part-time for lower pay and lower equity;
We decided to put off formulating an agreement until such time that we had the contract. Our key points, in addition to the above, were/are:
-- His wife would have no role in the business whatsoever; they have been contemplating divorce for a year and she is a very loose cannon. She's literally showed up at the poker game and spent an hour at someone else's house ripping this guy a new one over something. I mean screaming and shouting to the point the game has to stop and the non-combatants had to leave the premises until she calmed down. Obviously, there are divorce laws but that is up to him/them to deal with.
-- My wife would also not be involved, save the standard marital rights.
-- The contract/relationship is mine in the event we part ways; it came to me through a long-time friend and colleague and I'm fine in sharing it but if it ever goes south (the partnership), we leave with what we brought, so to speak.
Now, the challenge.
For the last 2 weeks, their relationship went all the way south, according to him. Finally, last Friday a.m., he said they signed the papers. In the meantime, I have been continuing to work to close the deal and start initial marketing/sales calls. He's done a little bit to investigate sales systems and to attend key meetings I've set up. At the end of the day, everyone has rough patches and I am cutting him slack considering the situation.
Lo and behold, I work through the last of the contract details today with the customer and they say "yes" and will sign. I call him --- he missed getting me his feedback this morning for the call and I made the call without him --- and after telling me he didn't understand the final note to the customer (they did), I tell him we won and he's excited. Not reading anything into it, per se, just trying to get the full picture on the table for anyone who wants to read this.
For some "dumb" or ? reason he puts me on speaker phone as says, "Cool. Lets get our partnership ironed out. My wife is out of town tonight and tomorrow." I say, "Great." as in "great, we can get some work done." Lo and double behold, she hears it and starts tearing into me (I've met her once or twice) with profanities and "You don't have our marriage in your best interest. He will not sign a partnership agreement w/o my approval."
Oh boy.
I said, "Look, first thing, I was saying "great" as in "great, we can get some work done. Secondly, your marriage is not my concern. The business is my concern."
I'm sure I could have been more sympathetic but I just don't have patience for irrational people.
Anyway, he's on his way to chat about our deal and I again, a) want nothing to do with her in our deal, b) honor our original deal w/o putting the business in jeopardy BEFORE it gets started. It looks very much like he's going to need to get a job as our monthly retainer isn't enough to cover both of us.
Any suggestions?
