When did you decide to go it alone?

Hi I would like to speak to about my thoughts and experiences in the hope that you might find some of them useful. If you do - then please drop me a message and let me know.

Last October, I decided to leave my promising job in Oxfordshire (just as it was getting interesting) to persue a personal goal of helping to run a small engineering business alongside the owners. The deal sold to me was that I would spend 3-5 years learning how to run thier consultancy, manage staff, training staff, build a network... all the good stuff. Eventually they would retire and leave me to it. As it turns out, the details were not fully worked through and an agreed plan was absent.

I didn't know about the challenges which I was about to face during the next 4 months. All I was focussed on was gaining business knowlede and doing it fast! To learn what it is to be both a manager and a prospective business owner takes you on a journey, one which some say never ends. You never fully 'make it', you just learn new ways of doing the same thing. You can set goals and fulfil them, but there are always more goals and plans to be carried out - a person with drive will have a never ending list if things to do.

If you have chosen to gently ease your way into business ownership via the route which I prospected last October then please take notes, the following list of points may interest you.

1. Firstly, I would like to pass on to you the gist of a conversation which I had with one of my friends a few months ago. I was confused and a little bit angry - I just wanted a sounding-board, someone to help me put my thoughts into perspective. So I called him to get his point of view. He helped me realise that no business owner will happily hand over to you their business. That's NO BUSINESS OWNER who has loved and built up their business will simply let you take their baby and do with it what you will... for me this was an important realisation. This means that all the clients, all the employees, all the past promises made, are to be upheld by you - even if you own more than 50% of the total investment. To me this is not business ownership - this is business caretakership.
2. Create a contractual agreement from the start - listing responsibilities and hirearchy. It will be evident that from the point of view of the business owners - that their time is very important. They do not want to waste time on training,  integrating and grooming an employee to eventually run their business, to find out years down the line that they have picked the wrong person. On the flip side, your time is very important too! You do not want to spend 3-5 years burning yourself out to find that you were never going to get the opportunity due to something out of your control and even worse, was known at the outset. You have a responsibility to everyone (employees, owners and yourself) to have all discussions minuted and signed off. You have to do your homework and train yourself too; keywords here are - management buy-out, business exit strategy, semi-retirement, business planning, profit shares, profitability (of all areas of the business) and responsibilities.
3. Don't ignore the warning signs. Should a particular aspect of your job/responsibility continually gnaw at you, then tackle it head on with your potential business partners. Speak up! These warning signs are your experience and consciousness telling you that something is not quite right - you either don't understand the concept and need help, or it flys in the face of how you wish to do business. Both of which deserves major air-time with those who are looking after your future within the business you have chosen. Trust me - this attitude will help speed up your growth and hasten the end of any business relationship which may just have turned out to be a complete waste of time for every party involved.

I eventually decided that a future partnering in that particular business was not right for me - or indeed for them. I got on my 'bike' and changed my direction. I suggest that if you are newly considering your future plans due to a boost in confidence, or earning a of a qualification or perhaps because of redundancy, then think fast and make decisions count.

Engine[er]