What happens when two friends decide to start a business?
It's a question that Lynn Harris Medcalf and Susan Apgood gave
some serious thought when a client suggested the co-workers at a PR
company made a great team. They shared the same vision for a
company and brought different skills to the table, so, in August
1997, the friends decided to launch News
Generation, an Atlanta-based PR services company that
specializes in radio. Last year, Medcalf, 37, executive vice
president, and Apgood, 35, president, made $1.3 million in
revenue.
"Susan is one of the funniest people I've ever met. She
always makes people laugh, and I truly enjoy being around
her," says Medcalf. "I respected Susan's work ethic
and thought she was a dynamo who would go far in life."
Sarah Eck and Brook Jay, both 34, were also co-workers at an
event planning company before becoming co-presidents of All Terrain
Productions, a $1.5 million events-marketing firm in Chicago,
in September 1998. Jay, a self-proclaimed "single party
girl," says she and Eck, who's married with two children,
"contrast and complement each other well." Jay admits it
took time for them to recognize and appreciate each other's
strengths as well as their weaknesses.
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All four women agree that trust is a key benefit of working with
a friend. "I trust Sarah implicitly," Jay says. "We
have learned firsthand that people can be petty and dishonest, but
I would bet my life on anything she said to be true."
"If you've got that personal bond," says Eck,
"it's easier to appreciate and support the whole person,
to put their actions and challenges into the greater perspective of
their lives."
Medcalf sees an additional benefit to being in business with a
friend. "Always having someone there who's going through
what you're going through-good or bad-is a huge support system
that many solo entrepreneurs don't have. I think it would be
extremely difficult to start your own business solo."
Running a business with a friend can also be challenging.
"We have to remember to keep work and personal items separate,
which can be tough, since work makes up such a great part of each
of us," says Apgood. "When we're frustrated
personally or professionally, or both, we have a discussion to hash
out items that bother us and start with a clean slate."
"There are always going to be times when one partner feels
they may be pulling the load," Jay says. "You need to
trust that the relationship is solid and the partnership is an
equal one, and those feelings will pass."
"Sometimes we need to make an effort to talk like friends
instead of just business partners. In a small-business environment,
it's so intertwined," Eck adds.
Since starting companies, both sets of business partners say
their friendships have strengthened. "We're closer than
some friends who don't work together," says Medcalf,
"Having a common goal has created a stronger bond."
Proving their friendship is solid, Medcalf reveals she has invited
Apgood to be her maid of honor when she gets married next year.
Jay looks at the big picture: "No matter what happens,
Sarah and I will have spent over a decade working on one of the
most important, challenging and rewarding things I have ever
accomplished. I would never have been able to do it without
her."
Aliza Pilar
Sherman is an author, freelance writer and speaker specializing
in women's issues.