Going into business with a friend? Here’s our top tips for making it a friendly success

#WorldFriendshipDay2018

Happy Friendship Day!

Normally I don’t pay much attention to the hundreds of awareness days, but today it did actually make me stop and reflect.

I’m in the really fortunate position to be doing a job I love and run my own company with one of my closest friends Vanessa Imondi. I know there are many people who would say don’t work with children or animals – or set up a business with a friend, but for us it works (OK, not the children and animals bit)!

We haven’t always been the dream team though, as our good friend reminds us. We were pretty rubbish as her bridesmaids twenty or so years ago! Having completely missed the point that we had a job to do and not just a pretty dress to wear.

But we are older – and wiser now.

We’ve had really rewarding careers in our own fields and now we are really good at being clear on the job at hand, so what advice would we give to others thinking of starting a business with a friend?

1.    Talk about what makes you tick

Running a small business throws many challenges your way, but at the heart of our business it’s our friendship and values that are the glue. How we like to treat people, our positive outlook and honesty. We’re also both highly motivated with a strong work ethic and genuinely want to do a really good job for our clients. We talked about our values early on, and it really helps us in the way we make decisions.

2.    Appreciate each other’s skill and expertise

We had never discussed going into business together so when I arranged to meet Vanessa for coffee to put the proposal to her it was a complete ‘out the blue’ idea, but one which completely made sense when we talked it through. Combining our knowledge – my wealth of experience in pharma and Vanessa’s in event management and communications was an exciting proposition. We each bring a lot to the partnership and because we come with a different perspective we can really bounce ideas off each other.

3.    Learn from each other

Having never worked together and in completely different fields we knew nothing of each other’s business style. We both have different skill sets and this became apparent as we started working together. I would say my weaknesses are Vanessa’s strengths so we compliment each other very well, but we also know that for our business to flourish it is both of our skill sets that are important. So learning from each other ultimately gives our clients more value and stops our business standing still.

4.    Be prepared to have tough conversations

Just because we are friends doesn’t mean we agree all the time, but because we trust each other, if we have any differences then they’re all brought out in the open and we are very honest with each other. Having clear business and life goals really helps with those conversations.

5.    Enjoy the ride

For us the fact that we were friends first has been a real support for us in the early years of our business. We’ve shared the highs and the lows and really made each other laugh along the way. Friendship definitely pulls you through any tricky times.

I’m really proud of what we have achieved together. Joining forces has made this experience all the more successful and our friendship has made it so much more enjoyable.