I have considered starting my own business and I wanted to find a business partner. My uncle has been very helpful and has given me a lot of advice. He told me that a business should never be split 50/50 because it takes away your ability to control what your think your business should be. It will also allow me to control wages, inventory employees and whatever else I think I want to control. Is what he is saying sound business advice?
      Answer1:Yes sound advice - what does he do? is he your partner, if yes go with him & ask for 51% -
      Answer2:I think that would be good advice if your company was going public and the owners are the shareholders.Given that you are thinking of opening a small business Im not sure how you could not have equal footing in a partnership. How would you deal with profit and liability?It seems to me that maybe you want to open a business by yourself and are only looking for an investor?
      Answer3:Your uncle has given you very good advice. Partnerships are difficult. Unless you both have the same vision it never works and that vision changes as the business changes too. Ive heard horror stories of partnerships ruining friendships to one partner cleaning out the other. No pun intended. I have a friend who I helped get started in the cleaning business 5 years ago. I do help her occasionally when she needs help. The start up costs are minimal as opposed to other businesses. I have my own business so I was able to help her get a customer base by recommending her and leaving her business cards on the front desk. She also advertised locally. It takes time but her business is going great. The cleaning business is a very personalized business and trust is the number 1 key. You are going into peoples homes and you need to be trusted. After that word of mouth will take over. A suggestion is to try to get lined up with a real estate company that rents apartments. offer a slight cut rate and clean empty units. This has worked great in the past and it has also picked up new customers because you conveniently leave your business card in the apartment when done. I would not consider employees from the beginning. Work alone. One theft from an employee could ruin your business forever. If you do hire someone my suggestion to determine trust is to leave a $20.00 bill in a drawer or on the corner of a desk. After they clean the room check to see if it is still there. And dont just do it once. Do it periodically. You will sleep much better knowing you can trust the hired help.