This blog post is proudly sponsored by Pimp Myspace.

I’m sure a lot of my readers have tossed around the idea of working on a website with a partner. Then there are those of you who would much rather work on projects by yourself. Working with a partner has its advantages and disadvantages. So how do you know which one is right for you? When should you fly solo?

Personally, I prefer to work online as an individual. I’ve had partnerships on a few sites, and it seems like none of them made it. Working with a partner, or group of people, can be very difficult. Not only will time zones hinder your ability to finish jobs on time, but so will differences in opinion. What do you do when you and your partner don’t agree on something? You want the design to be custom made, and your partner is cheap and wants a free one. Having to compromise on every little thing can be draining.

When working with a partner, you also have to divide the work up evenly or you might have someone get mad. So if one of you is a programmer/designer and the other is a marketing/promotions person … how can you tell if you’re doing equal work? Another problem that can arise with partners/teams is splitting up the money. What if one person feels they deserve more because he did more work? If you run adsense on the site, who’s publisher code do you use? How do you distribute the money when the adsense earnings get taxed at the end of the year? How do you work out taxes if one of you is in China and the other is in America?

Unless you actually file papers and form a business, working with a partner or group of people can be very difficult. If you’re going to be serious about it, get everything in writing before you start the project. This way you can always refer to your ‘contract’ should any problems arise.

On the flip side, some good reasons for having a team or partner are:

• You lack the necessary skills to complete a project.
• You don’t have the funds to hire someone, so you bring them in as a partner.
• You don’t have time to work on the project. A partner splits the time in half.
• The site will be so big, even 50% of the profit will be enough.
• You can trust the person with anything.

Like I said above, I prefer to work by myself on projects now. It’s not that I’m greedy and want all the profits for myself, it’s that in past experiences I’ve found it to be too difficult to juggle the partner’s expectations with my own. Having a full-time job and responsibilites when I get home, doesn’t leave me much time for online work. In the past I’ve felt bad that I couldn’t contribute to the project as much as my partner. I’ve felt like I let them down. It’s much easier to work by myself so I can set my own timeline, have things done my way, and don’t get friendships/feelings mixed up with business.