About John A. Troland Expertise I am a professional accountant, small business consultant and business
plan writer with 43 years experience ( I am also listed on allexperts
website as a volunteer in the category of Writing Business Plans).I can answer questions on what needs to be done to start a small business; forms of legal organization;financing for the business; need for a business plan; questions related to the purchase of a
business; risks and rewards of owning a small business; marketing and promotion questions and questions concerning bookkeeping, accounting
and tax considerations when starting a small business
Experience
Past/Present Clients numerous clients over 43 years in retail, wholesale, service and the
manufacturing sectors
Question I have a question regarding two small business options and I need advice on which would be the best way to go. My brother owns a small stone and masonry company, and recently brought up the idea of me going networking (calls, door to door, etc.) to try to sell masonry jobs for him. He suggested taking into account his price for the job, and then adding 10% for my sales fee (5% for referrals, i.e. jobs I didn't actually sell the customer on, just referred the customer back to my brother.) I would then get a 1099 at the end of the year based on the commission I had made selling jobs. Apparently I would not be an official employee of his company; he offered to make up business cards for me but I don't think he wants me directly associated with his company name. Now all this being the case, would it make more sense for me just to start up my own small business in masonry and subcontract the work out to him? What would be the benefits and setbacks of both options? I'm not really sure how to go about this considering that dealing with family is usually like treading lightly across broken glass, it just seems to me like it would make more sense to go into business for myself and just subcontract out work, will you please give me some suggestions (such as tax implications, etc.) on this issue, addressing both options? Thanks for taking time out of your day to look over this matter.
Answer John: Sounds to me like you have one of two choices: either get the work for your brother OR you go get the work for YOU! This begs the question: would you be happy and content to be just a salesman or happier being BOTH the salesman and the worker to do the job? Yours to ponder and decide. If you go into business for yourself you would be doing BOTH the selling and the job AND you could also refer business to your brother for several reasons: a job too big for you, your job schedule won't let you get to a job say in 2 MONTHS while your brother could do it say next week.
How about this idea? You and your brother setup a BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP. Seems to me this might be the best way to go for the long haul. To do it otherwise seems to me to be a rougher road ahead.
