The Pros and Cons of Business Partnerships

Being the master of your own destiny and your own empire seems like a wonderful concept. You have a business idea and you want to make it work but there may be times when you cannot do it alone. Should you look to get into bed with a business partner or is remaining a sole trader going to be more beneficial in the long run?

Going into partnership with someone requires a long thought process. Going into business with a friend requires an even longer thought process! If it doesn’t work out, you could end up losing your business and your friend. So think carefully before you consider letting someone else in on your business idea.
Of course, there are many pros to having a partner in business. In an ideal world, you can share the workload and the profits. In an ideal world, the partner will have ideas that you had not thought of and vice versa. Your business could grow more quickly with the help of another person. You can share the risks as well as the costs and benefits. You can complement one another’s skills and be there for one another to offer morale and support when times are tough.

But what if it goes wrong? Well, you don’t have total control over the business for a start. If you are the type of person who likes to control every situation, then you will need to learn to share and share alike. You will need to work as a team and think like a team with a common goal.

What if you fall out with one another? There are bound to be times when you don’t see eye to eye and you will need to be able to resolve these disputes amicably, with the best interests of the business in mind. Are you the kind of person who can do this? Maybe you need to sit down and work out whether you really are the type of person who wants to go it alone or who likes the idea of a partnership.

There will be times when one or more people in the partnership don’t appear to be pulling their weight as much as the others. This can lead to friction. People are different; people work in different ways and there is always a chance that you might end up frustrated at someone else’s lack of motivation or cooperation. Again, you need to be prepared for this and it’s a good idea to set out ‘roles’ for each partner up front so that you are all clear on where you stand and what your responsibilities are.

Do a check on your prospective partner(s) because they may not be who you think they are. If your business partner runs off, you are liable for his or her debts as well as your own. You need to make sure that you trust this person completely. Make sure you have spoken to past employers and colleagues about them and find out as much as you can about them.

Get legal help from the outset. Make sure you have a lawyer and an accountant involved and that everything is done above board and not by word of mouth and on trust.

Whatever you decide, go with your instincts but make sure that you have done your homework.

Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com

F1ForKidz.com – Review

F1ForKidz.com is a new website resource for children, designed to attract lovers of Formula One everywhere. Just how good is it and will it draw in all those lovers of motorsport and FIA?

Well, to begin with, the domain name says it all which is a good thing. You know from first hearing the name to visiting this site that it is a website for children who love Formula One. So we’re off to an excellent start and in pole position already.

The landing page has a look and feel of F1 about it with use of black and white colours to match the F1 chequered flag and there is a video clip of Jensen Button on there. The video clip is a great idea as it adds another dimension to the site and makes it immediately interactive. The site actually has a look of the official F1 site which is in keeping with the overall image.

The site is not sending out ambiguous messages and it is clear so far. It is laid out well and it has a simple look about it with clean lines. However, should it be more childlike on first glance or is it just about the right pitch for today’s sophisticated youth?

The menu options are very clear and it is immediately obvious where to go for everything that you need, although the font size of all the text is quite small. An option to increase font size if required might not be a bad idea. Another plus point is that the visitor is not bamboozled by ‘walls of words’ on the home page which is a great thing for any site. Having said that, perhaps the page is a little too ‘cold’ at the moment and not quite as inviting as it could be.

The potential for the pages to be filled with detail and activity is huge and the site certainly functions well. It possesses all the key features of any other website and is what one would expect, with the option of adding on extras if required. Some of the pages do obviously still need some work on them as the text looks a little sparse and not as easy to read as it could be with the scroll down action; such as on the F1 history page.

It is always good to have a forum area these days, especially for kids, because they love to interact and chat with one another – fill this page with lots of topics to choose from and make it a hive of activity. The forum page could benefit from being a little more visual with added graphics to bring it to life.

It is a crisp, clean looking site which fits in well with F1 but it is designed for children and so perhaps needs a few more flashing images and a bit more excitement adding to it. Apart from the home page, it is all quite static.

In terms of business potential, one would have to ask where a child would go if they wanted some F1 fun. Are they more likely to go straight to the F1 official website to begin with or do they want their own site? For the F1ForKidz.com site and for business to grow, the site needs to become far busier. Children are very sophisticated nowadays but they still thrive on fun and they need to feel that this site is a place where they can go to that grown ups can’t! It should have an exclusive feel for children about it; like a club or a gang. Once children are in that gang, they will almost certainly want to stay and chat with other F1 lovers.

What do you think? What are you views on how to make this website a place for serious young petrol heads to visit and catch up on all the latest Lewis Hamilton gossip? What features would you like to see on there if anything was possible? How could this site become the children’s Number One for F1?

Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder of EzWeb123.com