Hello Friends,

I've managed to "niche" down this monthly newsletter further.

I've got unstuck myself. Hoorah!

Starting from this month's newsletter, in every monthly issue, I'll break down an anonymous person's issue in their life and provide scripts that aim to help them work through it.

If you want your issue to be considered for an upcoming Newsletter, just fill out this form.

Ever grateful for my small and faithful readership (& one A+ reader: Des)

The Situation:

Sharon is a freelance consultant who has been approached by an old friend in the same field, Linda, to collaborate and possibly start a company together. Linda is persuasive and highly optimistic of this arrangement.

She has worked with Linda before in a vendor-client capacity before and their working relationship was good and uneventful.

Through their recent meetings and discussions, Sharon has observed that they have very different approaches towards customer acquisition, business strategy and work output standards.

Linda's strengths lie in making new industry connections through cold outreach at in-person networking events and having more field consulting experience. Sharon is newer to the freelance life, has more high level experience and an untapped quality network.

Sharon is now torn between maintaining her freelance solopreneur status and partnering with Linda. She sees value in what Linda can bring to the table but isn't 100% on their work chemistry as business partners.

THE HOLLYWOOD TAKE

The idea is good in theory. Reference the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively saga where he thought having an "A-List" actress with major movie studio access would pave the way to a successful movie.

Spoiler Alert: Great box office results but it ends in lawsuits.

Justin might have overlooked many things and allowed his practical mind to agree to the Blake invasion.

SOCIAL SCRIPT:

Studies have shown that business partner relationships are fraught with tension and challenges because of different perspectives and opinions on what is equitable and how each values their contribution. Startups solve for this problem by creating a vesting schedule that allows business partners to work with each other over a period of time for the greater good of the company and then earn the right to own those shares.

People often default to an equity split 50/50 as people have been taught to get along with people and play fair. In reality, the job scope, possible job scope creep, life commitments and actual skill competencies are some factors that destroy the idealised 50/50 equity split and that is where resentment sets in.

In the movie, The Social Network, young Mark Zuckerberg was taken with the spirit of hacking and showing off his coding skills. Before being "inspired" by the Winklevoss twins, Mark Zuckerberg's ambition was latent and unstructured. His cofounder, Eduardo Saverin's interest in the endeavour was fuelled by his would-be cofounder title and what it would mean to his father. Talented people, different motivations.

While Mark and Eduardo worked on a silent agreement to make the company a success, they failed to communicate to each other on how and when. That was the beginning of their friendship breakdown. Their priorities showed up in their behaviour and their beliefs (to delay monetisation vs. selling ads now).

INNER SCRIPT:

Sharon's hesitation to go full steam ahead with Linda should be investigated on an individual level.

She doubts her own abilities and bandwidth to do the things that Linda is better suited for. Linda seems to have more energy and bandwidth.

She appreciates the divided workload and having an accountability partner to keep up the momentum.

As Sharon thinks about future projects, she finds herself not looking forward to working as closely with Linda, as their actualised output from the same thought differs greatly.

She isn't sure if that output is a game changer in terms of winning the service contract or if it is the salesmanship. Deep down, Sharon knows that she isn't comfortable putting out work that doesn't meet her standards; that means having to correct, edit, communicate her differences constantly.

Sharon sees definite synergies in working with Linda but all of the above make her apprehensive.

At the start of the movie, The Founder, the McDonald's brothers reluctantly let Ray Kroc franchise McDonald's. Even with strict franchising terms and lengthy necessary approvals, Kroc managed to wrestle away control from the original founders.

Ray Kroc wanted expansion, reach and success.

The McDonald brothers were content with 1 location, quality food and an efficient workflow.

It was their difference in vision that led to Ray Kroc's desperate and aggressive move to remove the brothers' hold and control.

ACTUAL SCRIPT:

When Linda seeks an answer from Sharon on their potential business partnership, Sharon has more clarity on her approach.

Sharon seeks to understand Linda's specific goals for the business partnership and what she envisions for both of them in terms of their job scope.

She gets an idea of what Linda believes they can achieve in terms of business revenue goals for each quarter and the pipeline deals that can get them there.

Sharon seeks to understand what Linda believes to be a fair equity split, salary and profit share percentage for each of them.

With that information on hand, Sharon shares her:

• Reservations on the possible challenges and conflict zones in this partnership
• Vision for this company
• Communication style when it comes to differing opinions

Linda takes time to digest Sharon's insights and makes some adjustments to the working arrangement.

How it could work out:

Option 1: Sharon accepts the new proposal and goes into partnership with Linda

Option 2: Despite new assurances and clarity in the working arrangement, Sharon does not feel confident about being business partners. Sharon declines to go into partnership with Linda but suggests should the opportunity arise, they work together on selective ad-hoc projects which are more resource-heavy. They can share in the profits based on the work inputs