Suppose I have studied for years to become a pastry chef. I set up my own bakery, investing my time, energy, and labour into procuring equipment and building up a reputation as a delicious place to eat. I run the entire operation myself as the sole worker. Eventually, after years of turmoil, word of my exceptional pastries spreads and my bakery becomes the number one spot in town. Soon there’s a line up around the block, long enough that I have to turn away customers on the regular.

Not wanting to have to send people home hungry, I decide that having someone to wash my dishes and somebody to tend to the counter would buy me enough time to focus on the main reason people come to my shop: my delicious pastries.

I do, however, have an issue. I worked really hard to build my bakery up to where it is today, and don’t want to have to give up ownership to the two people I want to bring onboard. They didn’t put in any effort into building up my bakery, so why should they have an equal democratic say over how it’s run?

Is there a way I can bring on help without having to give away control of my buisness?

Furthermore, what’s to stop the two new workers from democratically voting me out of the operation, keeping the store, name, brand, and equipment for themselves?

  • Hello_there@fedia.io
    3·
    5 months ago

    What if you were all on an equal level of value? Like, let’s say you need a dishwasher - and you manage to hire someone who has won the national dishwashing championships (this should be a thing, imo) who also has some skills in marketing. And you need someone for the register, but that person is amazing at customer management and also has great web design and social media management skills?
    If you’re coming to the business and each bringing something that is really valuable, I could see a level split in ownership of the business making sense.