Most new additions to a business fall under the categories of partners, direct employees, subcontractors or apprentices. They all have advantages and disadvantages for the parties involved. Partnerships are by far the most perilous, given the degree of financial risk if the relationship sours. Partnerships always entail a loss of control within the business by each partner. Decisions become a joint process and while one partner may have a more dominant personality, resolving a conflict by simply terminating the relationship goes a long way to explain just how nasty divorces can become.
Some businesses hire direct employees, many times a spinoff of the apprenticehip system.
Some may be recent farrier school graduates seeking immediate work or additional skills. Others simply do not want the headaches involved in running their own business. However, an employee or an apprentice falls under the labor laws enacted by virtually every state decades ago. Most businesses with one or two employees simply cannot absorb the additional risk and expense. Additional farriers are added to the business, quite often on a regular, long-term basis by contracting for their services, rather than directly employing them.