Work and Money
How is starting a business with friends different from hiring friends as employees?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
First clarify whether you are seeking someone to contribute money and effort and share responsibility for running the business, or someone to receive a salary and do their job well. Friends can work together, but friendship cannot replace agreed roles and responsibilities. This was something I gradually learned after starting a business in earlier years.
When I hired friends as employees, I felt uncomfortable offering low salaries or asking too much of them. When the company struggled, I then thought, “I treated you so well before; why will you not help now?” Mixing up friends, employees, and people sharing responsibility for the company easily creates many unspoken expectations.
Only later did I better understand that employees receive salaries because they also need to support families, live, and pay rent. Being unable to help the company does not necessarily mean they do not value the friendship. Business problems remain lessons I must face as the owner. Looking back this way gradually allowed me to let go of my resentment.
If you want someone to build a business with you, discuss beforehand whether you share aspirations, how each will contribute money and effort, and how you will face profits and losses together. This does not mean employees are all unwilling to help. It means unspoken expectations cannot replace the different responsibilities originally involved.
When I first opened an events company, I easily focused only on friends’ good qualities. Even if they were unenthusiastic about seven or eight out of ten tasks, I would think that at least they worked hard on one or two. I did not want to pay low salaries, and bought boxed meals and late-night food during overtime, feeling that we were building something together. But when projects became scarce, colleagues I had invested care and money in developing could still choose to leave. That hurt at the time. Gradually, I saw that my contributions and expectations were separate from the choices others made.