Mentor Partnership Agreements

[Phoebe Hodges-Carter]

Hello Everyone,

I have an opportunity to learn from a mentor and he's made the following offer to me. He suggested we form a partnership where 25% of profits are put into a general business fund and the other 75% is split evenly between the two of us.

We haven't outlined separation of duties yet and I'm curious what the duties should be aside from him teaching me what he knows. We both live in different states and therefore I will basically be tutored via Skype, phone calls an email.

What is usual and customary in these instances? What type of duties can I reasonable divvy out if we are in different locations?

Thanks for your feed back.

Phoebe

[Mirinda Lowe]

It sounds like the wholesale partner you're looking at you know and trust pretty well, and he/she is experienced and has a lot to offer you. That's all good. So now you have to work out the details - what will you do, what will he/she do, are you setting up a formal partnership or limited JV, etc., how are costs paid for, profits split, what's the timeline, expectation - essentially all the partnership stuff. If this person is experienced, he/she should be able to hash this all out with you.

Then figure out what your day/week looks like. What will you be doing? Are you prepared for this? Do you want to do it? How will the mentoring take place? How long before you expect compensation and how much can you realistically expect? Are you financially stable until then? You need to be realistic but, yes, you don't want to sit on the sidelines forever. Be prudent. Know your risks and your tolerance for risks. Then evaluate at periodic intervals.

Good luck!