When two heads are better than one – why going into business together could be the best move you’ve ever made

As we know, in 2026 people can have two, three or even four careers during their lifetime and some are opting to make one of them going into business with their partner.  The benefits are obvious, shared goals, shared successes and building a long term business for joint financial security, but what about the challenges? How does working with your friend or nearest and dearest work in reality? Is it a clever move or a recipe for disaster for the business and your relationship?

The basketball fairytale
Bobby and Becky Skinner bought their Young Ballerz Basketball franchise in September 2025, becoming the brand’s very first franchisees. The pair met playing basketball at university; Rebecca went on to become a PE teacher and Bobby into video production but they both continued to play and be passionate about the sport. They were introduced to the Young Ballerz Basketball brand when their son began taking lessons and when the opportunity to buy the first franchise came up, they went for it.  But how do they handle running the business, with a young family to care for as well? Bobby says: “We both started coaching from day one but then Becky fell pregnant and went on maternity leave so now I’m doing the coaching and Becky deals with more of the admin side.” With Bobby’s background in video marketing, he’s also in charge of making great content for Instagram and running the Facebook advertising account.

Even in these early days of running the business part-time around their existing  jobs, Bobby and Becky admit working together as a couple isn’t always easy, but they’ve successfully tackled the challenges they’ve faced: “Of course there have been issues” said Bobby, “We’ve never worked together before and have come from different employment backgrounds, but we’ve found that communicating and regular catch ups helps iron out any issues.”

He continued: “We’ve discovered that I’m not very good at receiving constructive criticism regarding my coaching, something I’ve had to work on, and Becky is a bit of a perfectionist, so she found it hard when she had to step away from the coaching side when she fell pregnant. We’ve both had areas to work on but after two and a half terms, we’ve learned communication is the key.”

Shared ambition
Haashim Ali and Hammad Subhani, who’ve known each other since school, have recently bought a Nurses UK franchise and are having great success recruiting and supplying nurses and healthcare assistants to healthcare institutions, even placing their first employee on a shift before they’d finished training. Haashim sheds some light on their background: “We’ve always wanted to run a business together. We’d set up a car wrapping business but realised it was too hands on; we wanted something more managerial. Nurses UK suits us so well. My mother was a nurse for 20 yrs, so we’ve got great empathy with our clients.”

Hammad says their roles in the business have worked themselves out organically: “Because we’ve known each other for so long, it was easy. We both like going to see clients together, but in the office, I talk to the hospitals and care homes whereas Haashim works more closely with the nursing staff.” When disagreements arise, Haashim has a secret weapon: “We can both be stubborn, so we have made my younger brother Avaiz the adjudicator of all our disagreements. Anonymously we put the two arguments before him, and once he’s decided which one is right, we shake hands and get on with it. It works well.” Their advice to friends wanting to work together is to “‘listen to each other and have an open mind.”

From colleagues to co-founders
But what about when two people have a solid background in the sector they are buying into? Does that make it easier or harder? Aga and Steve met at work in the NHS when he was a chief financial officer and she was an accounts assistant; soon they will be celebrating two years of running their Smart PA franchise, offering all the roles of a finance department, from bookkeeping and payroll to strategic financial guidance.

Steve admits that it took a little bit of time to work out roles at the beginning: “Some clients we work on independently and some together; it’s those joint ones where we had to work out who was doing what, sometimes we were trying to do the same tasks, but as soon as we laid out a system, it was plain sailing all the way.” Now, the couple wouldn’t have it any other way: “Running our own business is the opportunity of a lifetime; I am privileged to work with my partner every day and I’d recommend it to anyone” says Steve. It’s fair to say that working together might not be for everyone but for some couples or friends who have a joint passion to succeed, owning a franchise together might be a fun and fulfilling way to build a business and getting yourself an independent adjudicator might not be the worst advice we’ve ever heard either.