Any advice for small business?

M

Mary J

New member
I am starting a pony ride business for parties and fairs. It was just myself and my 9 yr. old son. Now my in-laws want to help by doing face painting and photos.
I am trying to figure out how best to work the family in. Should I partner w/ my husband so he can "hire" his dad so we don't have to pay employer taxes and his step-mom can be an "unpaid" volunteer? Or should I go into a Limited Partnership w/ my in-laws.
My thinking is that my insurance would work w/ the second scenario best. Any other situation I should consider?
What say you?
 
I won't without paper works or agreement, notaried that everybody will sign. Why not just make it a corporation not a sole propriety. A business no matter what size it is is a business. It involve real people, real asset, real money, real debt, real relationship, real time, real ccounting, everything real for the money. It is not a game that you guys want to play with each other. When one makes a mistake, everybody is accountable, so i would get them to sit down and talk formally how YOU want it to happen. You are the boss because you started it. Make it legal for yourself and your partner (your son) and make it clear that it is separate from your PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with them.
 
In your position I would keep the businesses separate. Have only the pony ride business and they have the face-painting business. If a party-thrower also wants face painting and photos, they can either hire your in-laws separately or through you, where their business would invoice yours for their services and you pay them out of the total take for the day. In the case of cross-pollination you and they would agree on a certain percentage of the fee as a referral bonus.

That way, if only one of the businesses gets hired for an event, or one is hired more often than the other, there's no fighting over who's doing all the heavy lifting (and therefore deserves more money/control). It also resolves the employer/employee issue by avoiding it entirely.
 
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