​Losing a business partner and once good friend feels like a divorce

Earlier this year things got heated between me and my business partner of 10 years. Mainly because the business was SLOW. We were eeking by in the winter with emergency funds and by the spring there was no more money to pay ourselves. I let our accountant know that we have to unfortunately hold off on payroll and buckle down until we get more business and cash flow.

My business partner gets mad and acts like I’m withholding money from him. Then goes down a rabbit hole of blaming me for the demise of our business. Pretty much saying he does so much more work than I do. I try to stay level headed and say the issue is NO BUSINESS not I do this you do that. He then digs the knife deeper and things get personal to then I get personal as well and it just gets ugly.

He then quits and emails all of our clients and colleagues that he is leaving while throwing me under the bus to our clients and also posts the same message on our social media.

The biggest difference between us which has also been an underlying issue for our entire business partnership is our personal finances. He was always paycheck to paycheck while I saved my money. He always needed advances for car repairs, medical emergencies, daycare. I was always hesitant about letting him take out money but I never said no because he’s a close friend. It just got to the point where he couldn’t stick his hand down the honey pot when he needed more money.

It fuckin sucks because he has been my closest friend in my adult life since college. It feels like a divorce because I have mixed feelings on different days. Some days it’s like “fuck him! now I don’t have to deal with his begging for money anymore” other days it’s like “best friend since college, groomsmen in each others weddings, built a side gig into a full fledged business, now it’s all down the drain”

Coincidentally a week after he makes the big announcement that he quit, I book the 2 biggest clients of the year. It totally made up for all the slow months during the winter. Somedays I feel like being petty and telling him he was a dumbass for quitting and now ALL the money is mine and others I feel terrible because we’d typically celebrate over booking 2 big clients. Our friendship is totally down the drain but at least I keep the business and it’s still moving forward.