Theres advantages/disadvantages in both been a sole trader and a partnership ......

Me and my m8 started up a car site, specialising in one marque of car in '99 and to begin with it was slow (the reputation from the previous guy who owned it was a bit hard to overcome) but never the less it started moving in the right direction. That well in fact we booked our first Christmas abroad on the millenium for a couple of weeks to somewhere nice and hot for me and the family

Had a great time and when we got back i'd found he'd sold the stock and just left bits of shit there and had fecked off. I went to his funeral 6 months later This was from my best mate of 20 years. He had problems with a girl who just needed money spending on her all the time and then couldnt face up to his debts and his way that he got hold of money and couldn't pay it back

About a year or so later I started up another company doing Mobile Valeting and it took off quite well. I was worried about having to make some decsions to grow and made some good and some bad decsions along the way.

I closed it down earlier this year after deciding that It wasnt for me along with crippling insurance costs and demands and trying to find reliable staff was just a friggin nightmare.

Both times I funded them from my own pocket and wanted nothing from Banks, etc, etc

Working in a partnership is good if you both put in equal amounts, but if that doesnt happen in can lead to stubborness on the harder workers behalf and put in a few obstacles that needn't have to be there

If you know the business well enough, then you might be better off taking on board a worker who also knows the game and put them on a salary or profit related bonuses to ensure their always active and working well ....