What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA
Last summer I started planning my business (residential and commercial cleaning). In January 2011, I left my job to work on my business full-time. It has grown quite a bit since then, and is overwhelming at times.
One of my close friends took an interest in my business, and I joked about her quitting her job to work with me. She is far more outgoing than I am, and she knows a lot of people. From what I know of her, it seems that she would be great at marketing and promoting the business. I also know that she is an excellent cleaner and is a hard worker.
A few months ago, she told me she was going to quit her job to work with me. We briefly talked about her becoming a partner (I started as a sole prop and recently changed to an LLC per the advice of an accountant). The understanding was that I would have more of an ownership stake because I started the business by myself and have done all of the work and acquired all of the clients thus far. We never discussed the actual ownership split.
Well...she dragged her feet about quitting her "day job" for awhile. Once she saw how much the business has grown, she seemed more confident and more interested in leaving her job to join me. I ran a Groupon deal for the business in April because I expected to have her on board full-time before then.
April came and went and...she's not on board yet. She used to text me several times a day to check in on things. She stopped doing that a couple of weeks ago. She claimed that last Friday was her last day @ her job and that she was going to start working with me this week.
I have been trying to contact her about a definite start date and a time to sit down to work out all the details, but she has not been responding much. She claimed that she lost her cell phone (why not call from her home phone or email, then?), and then it was a problem with her son, and now she is sick, etc...
All of these issues and the lack of communication suggest that she is not going to be a good business partner after all. I'm pretty surprised by her behavior...we used to work together and she normally is very on top of things.
I'm doubtful that she truly quit her job, and hope that she didn't, because I don't think I want her as a partner now. I need someone very reliable, as I take this very seriously and have worked long and hard to get where I am now.
Where do I go from here? I've decided that I am not going to contact her anymore...I'm not going to chase her down. I'd like to hire a full-time employee instead (I currently have two part-timers).
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Last summer I started planning my business (residential and commercial cleaning). In January 2011, I left my job to work on my business full-time. It has grown quite a bit since then, and is overwhelming at times.
One of my close friends took an interest in my business, and I joked about her quitting her job to work with me. She is far more outgoing than I am, and she knows a lot of people. From what I know of her, it seems that she would be great at marketing and promoting the business. I also know that she is an excellent cleaner and is a hard worker.
A few months ago, she told me she was going to quit her job to work with me. We briefly talked about her becoming a partner (I started as a sole prop and recently changed to an LLC per the advice of an accountant). The understanding was that I would have more of an ownership stake because I started the business by myself and have done all of the work and acquired all of the clients thus far. We never discussed the actual ownership split.
Well...she dragged her feet about quitting her "day job" for awhile. Once she saw how much the business has grown, she seemed more confident and more interested in leaving her job to join me. I ran a Groupon deal for the business in April because I expected to have her on board full-time before then.
April came and went and...she's not on board yet. She used to text me several times a day to check in on things. She stopped doing that a couple of weeks ago. She claimed that last Friday was her last day @ her job and that she was going to start working with me this week.
I have been trying to contact her about a definite start date and a time to sit down to work out all the details, but she has not been responding much. She claimed that she lost her cell phone (why not call from her home phone or email, then?), and then it was a problem with her son, and now she is sick, etc...
All of these issues and the lack of communication suggest that she is not going to be a good business partner after all. I'm pretty surprised by her behavior...we used to work together and she normally is very on top of things.
I'm doubtful that she truly quit her job, and hope that she didn't, because I don't think I want her as a partner now. I need someone very reliable, as I take this very seriously and have worked long and hard to get where I am now.
Where do I go from here? I've decided that I am not going to contact her anymore...I'm not going to chase her down. I'd like to hire a full-time employee instead (I currently have two part-timers).
Thoughts?
Thanks.