My husband and I went into business with a guy 3 years ago. He had already had a similar business established and we rubbed off from that and he was the one who put up the money to get us up and running. My husband and I have done most of the work to make our new company what is today, which it is thriving very well. Here's my dilema...The person that we are in business with is very controling and states to us all the time that "he is the boss". He does have controlling shares but we are all in this together. I had a doctors appointment the other day and he was upset that I had to leave the office and told me that I should not feel that I can come and go as I please...excuse me but as part owner of the company I feel that if I want to go to an appt. or come in 15 minutes late I should not get my butt chewed out..he comes and goes as he pleases and some days does not come in at all and does not tell us where he is...I have discussed this with him but he says it ok for him! Advice?
2006-09-22 04:26:38 · 8 answers · asked by Stacy H 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment
Technically he is the boss, but you are not employees, you are junior partners. As a partner it is your freedom to come and go as you please, as long as the work gets done. If he doesn't like that then you can dissolve the partnership.
Tell him, "We are doing the work and as partners we deserve more consideration than employees, because we are not your employees, we are your partners. If you continue to treat us as wage slaves then we want out of the partnership, and you can buy out our shares. Of course we will start up our own business afterwards. We don't want to leave, but we are not your wage slaves. Heck, even wage slaves get time off to go to the doctor's office and offers of flex time."
He won't like and he may scream and yell at you about it, but you are not just employees, you are his junior partners, and he can't treat you like dirt.
The key is how you get paid. You don't get paid on an hourly basis; you get paid by the amount of sales the company makes. When the company does well, you do well, when it hurts, you hurt. Wage slaves get their salary no matter what happens. The money for the overhead (cost to run the business; electric bills, office rental etc.) comes out of your share as well as his. You also share the risk if our company gets sued, employees don’t have to worry about that. If he wants to demote you to employees then he has to buy out your shares first.
The problem is that in a partnership your only rights are in the partnership agreement. If one hasn’t been drawn up yet then you may need to negotiate one. If a partnership agreement hasn’t been drawn up then you have the same freedom and rights as he does.
It sounds like he is treating you with less respect than he would have to show an employee. That isn’t fare, because you are so much more than an employee. If you don’t have a partnership agreement then you have equal rights. Confront him and be prepared to leave if you have to. Both of you need to stick to your guns.
2006-09-22 05:03:46 · answer #1 · answered by Dan S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some observations -
First, I think that even though you have informally agreed that you are all in the business together, his actions are anchored on the fact that he has the controlling shares.
Second, although you are still at the start of your new business, your partner is already imposing a formal structure or culture.
Some questions -
How's the performance of your business? Assess your business in terms of the financial, operational, customer aspects.
How is your partner toward other stakeholder, such as customers, suppliers, other employees?
How much to buy out/sell out? Returns outweigh your initial investment?
Recommendations
First, an organization in its early stage has a real informal management and structure. If you cannot stand your partner's personality, then you and your husband could opt out of it. But if it's doing well despite your partner's attitude, maybe it's best to talk to him. Sometimes you may be disregarding the performance because you only see the personality differences. Check. Are you getting financial returns from your initial investment? If there are personality issues, try to sort it out, talk about how tasks can be divided, how he can be more flexible about working hours, etc.
Second, if you are three years in the business, how about hiring experienced professional managers? So you guys can just focus on exploring the business opportunities?
Hope it helps:)
2006-09-22 04:56:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you don't have a written partnership agreement detailing how much of the business each of you own, he has every right as he is the owner since he put up all of the money..
2006-09-22 04:45:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look, you know what you are doing in the business now, right? Leave and start your own business. He will not change his controlling ways and you will never agree with him controlling you. Can you deal with many more years of this?
2006-09-22 04:46:24 · answer #4 · answered by Shyguy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The three of you are in this together. All three of you should resolve to stick to your scheduled hours just like any other business. If one of you will be late, it should be communicated to the other two ASAP. If one of you needs to leave for an appointment, it should be discussed with the other two in advance, and arrangements should be made in advance for coverage, just like any other business. Just because all three of you are owners, the three of you are neither entitled to come and go as you please, nor are the three of you empowered to play the role of supervisor.
2006-09-22 04:51:05 · answer #5 · answered by machoman0011 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
read your partner agreement over and see if he is listed as the managing partner..if so, there is not much you can do about his actions..if you have equal share in the partnership, then do not worry about his actions....since he is hard to get along, talk to your wife about saving up funds to buy him out and your and your wife run the business, or save up and make plans to open your own business and let him buy you out..
2006-09-22 06:10:43 · answer #6 · answered by churchonthewayseniors 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
H no he can't do that, it sounds like he needs puppets to control, i would pull out and do business on my own or find reliable and respectable people to own a business with. it sounds like he is the boss and you work for him and he pay you to do so. i'd pull out
2006-09-22 04:39:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi, I wish I knew what business you have that you needed to put money in.....would you mind telling me and then I can tell you how I would feel about it....my email is rpelley5@yahoo.com or IM me evenings please at Yahoo Messenger to raympe6...Thank you in advance for your reply.
2006-09-22 04:36:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋