Blogging contributors as partners

March 19th, 2015 → 10:34 am @ Carol

I started a blog with three other girls last year and we really want to start an LLC so we can start making money. The problem is that we’re all from different states, and two of the girls are in Canada. We have no idea how to start a legal business as equal partners.

Can I have a business partner for my blog? If so, how did I set up the legal business partnership for that?

 

I often advise business owners considering partnerships with others  that being in a partnership is like being married, but not being in love.

A partner can commit you to expenses and debt without your approval. What’s yours is theirs, just like marriage. And like marriage partnerships are easy to get into and take a lawyer to get out of. The only time I can see a partnership working is for a groups of professionals working in the same office like attorneys or doctors who hire attorneys!

When doing research for my book Business Tips and Taxes for Writers, I asked several authors about their business arrangements and while several co-authored books, none had formed a business partnership. Instead one person headed the project (owned it) and paid the contributors an agreed upon amount for their contribution. That’s what I recommend.

And have a unique contract for each contributor. If they don’t hold up their part of the bargain its easy to get out of one contract and not have to dissolve the partnership.

Tags: bloggers, co-author, partnership