6 Reasons a Partnership Agreement May Fall Apart

When you’re ready to start a business, you have a few options on how to do it. You might decide to fund and run it yourself or seek a business partner.

Partnerships are a special type of business structure where two or more people own and run the business together. Typically, they are confirmed through a legal document like a partnership agreement, which can outline all the partnership details.

Running a business together with a partner can offer many benefits, such as sharing the workload and getting different perspectives. However, it can also share more risk – particularly if one of you wants to leave or does not pull their weight. It can be difficult for partners to agree on how the business should run and find solutions when conflict arises.

Here are six possible reasons why a partnership agreement might fall apart.

Disagreements over the business

When you’re running a business, you’re bound to encounter a lot of struggles down the road. Inevitably this leads to disagreements over how the business should run, with both parties giving their input on what they think is best.

Now, having disagreements isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it would be bad if you and your partner agreed on everything. However, if you and your business partner are never able to agree on anything and spend more time fighting, the partnership is doomed to fail.

Someone doesn’t contribute enough

Starting a business is a big deal. It requires planning, research, and money to get things going. However, when two people are running the business together, it can be incredibly difficult to split tasks among one another.

Typically, business partners share in the duties and costs of running the business equally, unless specified otherwise in their agreement. This means that if one person isn’t doing their part for the business, it could lead to the failure of the business. If one person isn’t pulling their weight but is still receiving half of the profits, this could lead to an unfair business deal which will likely destroy the business in the long run.

One party is struggling with personal issues

Although it might be difficult to do, it is important to keep in mind that your business should not be affected by personal issues. If the other party is struggling with personal difficulties such as drug addiction or mental illness, then their performance at work could suffer.

When you struggle with things in your personal life, it often bleeds into work and could lead to disagreements and tension between you and your partner. This could lead to the partnership falling apart.

One party is difficult to work

If someone is difficult to work with, things probably won’t run smoothly. There are tons of reasons why someone can be difficult to work with, some common ones being if someone has a poor work ethic, gets into arguments easily, or isn’t willing to listen to the other opinions.

If one partner can’t get along with the other, it could lead to a breakdown in trust between each other. If there’s no trust, a partnership will gradually crumble.

Communication issues

If you and your partner aren’t communicating properly, it can cause problems. If you’re not telling each other what things work or don’t work in your business, you’ll have problems taking your business to the next level.

Communications issues can also lead to getting tasks done. For instance, if someone was supposed to send an important email to a prospective client but wasn’t told to by the other, it could be bad for the business. Consistent communication issues typically result in one or both partners getting frustrated.

Bringing a significant other aboard

Bringing in an additional business partner is one thing, but it’s another when someone’s significant other gets involved.

For one, this could lead to favoritism with one partner over the other, which will cause trust issues between the two. It can also be a problem if the couple breaks up as they may still have to work with the other despite them not being romantically involved anymore.

Even though arguments are bound to happen between you and your partner, they can be minimized. However, if you find that you both never agree on anything or the other has personal issues that affect their performance at work, then the partnership might not work out.

If your best efforts aren’t working, try having a third-party mediator to help solve the issues. Or, if you both agree on a third party to resolve issues, that can work as well.