Q. My partner and I have read your books and are both interested in attempting to begin our careers as freelance writers. We were wondering, however, whether it would be useful for us to both form a single company or whether each of us doing it on our own would be better. The main consideration in forming a single company for us is that we will be working out of the same address and are planning on working with the same graphic designer. So, my main question is (a) do you think it’s a good idea, and (b) if we were to form a company, should both of us tell any potential business we cold-call to about our company, or should each of us only advertise ourselves?
A. There’s no real right answer here, but in my experience (as in, what others have shared with me), where the potential problems lay are with how the responsibilities are divided and what happens if the relationship has problems.
When you’re both doing the same thing (as opposed to partners where one is writer and one is a designer, and the roles are clearly delineated), there’s a certain amount of work that needs to get done (marketing, bookkeeping, prospecting, etc) and so, by definition, it lends it self to score-keeping. And if one side or the other perceives that they’re the one doing more than their share of the workload, it can become a breeding ground for resentment – NOT a good place for a business to be.
Plus, what if you have a falling out with the partner? Now, I don’t know if this person is a romantic partner or just a business partner (NOMB), but in either case, if things should go south for any reason (but obviously, especially if there’s romance involved), it can get messy. The old adage about how you shouldn’t go into business with a good friend was created for a reason.