Splitting from my business partner - my journey in self esteem
This is the story of my personal journey and my relationship with my business partner. Our business is still alive and solvent, but I've moved on. Even though I'll be throwing away 2 years worth of work, writing off a significant amount of cash, and having to start from scratch again I strongly believe I'll be better off starting again.

The business partnership started off great. We tried a few ideas (all of which could have been grown into something good I believe), and then we settled on our first (and only) real moneymaker.

We were from different backgrounds – he had the gift of the gab, was an amazing salesman in some areas, had experience and boldness. He was bankrupt, but that was no problem as I wasn't borrowing money off him (Warning sign?). I was an intelligent but inexperienced techy, who needed a bit of a confidence boost. The early days of the partnership worked out great as we complimented each others strengths and weaknesses really well.

We built this organically, never over-stretching ourselves. I quit my day job, and my partner took the same wage as me. He didn't quit his work as he had substantial financial commitments, but he could do his work outside of our business hours. (Warning sign?)

The friction started as we became a little larger. We were pulling in $10-15k a month, but all of it other than our ramen wage got spent. Larger offices, unneeded staff, lots of advertising. Basically the money all went into making us look good, and saving our time. A lot of the costs could have been saved by being us founders being more hands-on, and I always wanted to cut costs, but let most of the spendings go ahead.

Our next project was to copy a franchise idea we'd seen that we could do at a fraction of the cost. The only problem with this was that the franchise was a dud in the first place – it's so important to do your own research. Once we'd pulled the plug on this (never an easy decision), we moved onto our next project. More frivolous spending, and here's the painful bit. We figured we needed investment and a larger space. My business partner borrowed a large amount, and I personally guaranteed a property lease which was a similar commitment.

As you may have guessed, we then set about spending all this money with great haste, only slowing down as we ran out of money. As this was going on, I was building the new business almost single-handedly, working ever hour I could. Eventually enough got to be enough. I was putting my whole life into the business, I'd loaned it an additional money and forsaken wages so that I was in debt, and while I could see the way forwards my business partner was not bringing anything helpful to the table. The last straw was money that had been promised as a loan to the business by my business partner went to pay for his personal spending.

It's now been 6 months since I quit. The first month was spent working at a good speed, building a new business (that I ultimately never did much with). The next 3 months were spent sat on my ass, and the last 2 months have been spent working for someone else. If I were to go through another bad time like this again, I'd have bitten the bullet and taken a job much sooner, as I believe that it's this that really pulled me back onto my feet. I'm now starting to get the fire back into my belly, and am ready to start my next adventure.

What I've learned from this is that I KNEW for a long time that the partnership wasn't right, and that the business wasn't going in the direction I wanted to take it. I should never have let things slide and let my business partner take financial decisions I wasn't happy with. The business would either have been much stronger, or we'd have split apart much earlier if I'd been stronger. I should also have trusted in myself and my own ability much more, rather than deferring to my more experienced business partner or our advisers. Never let anyone else make the big decisions for you. Being an entrepreneur is about leading, about creating something new, and making something big.