Contributed by Cheryl and Darren Doyle, and Kristen and Brannon Maronek
Starting a business is always a bold move. Starting one with close friends? That adds a layer of complexity many entrepreneurs underestimate. Business partners who begin as friends often find themselves walking a delicate line with balancing trust, communication, and personal dynamics while managing day-to-day operations and long-term goals.
For franchisees who’ve chosen to launch a venture with people they care about, the stakes are even higher. While friendship can be a powerful asset, it also demands a thoughtful approach to navigating conflict, sharing responsibilities, and keeping personal relationships intact.
As both friends and husband-and-wife duos, we created a strategic business plan entering our journey into becoming franchisees with Ace Pickleball Club. We want to offer other friends and couples actionable tips on navigating what can be a complex road between relationships and business, because celebrating success with your close friends is all the more rewarding.
Create Clear Boundaries Between Work and Personal Life
When you enter a business with friends, it’s easy for the lines between personal and professional to blur. From the start, set the guidelines for where the work-talk ends and the friendship takes over. Early on, we realized that if we didn’t create space between those worlds, our friendship could suffer. Conflicts are inevitable in business – budgets get tight, decisions get debated, and pressure builds – but that doesn’t mean those tensions should carry over into your personal life.
We made it a point to protect our friendship outside of work. That means planning nights where we don’t talk shop, and instead, we go to dinner, catch a game, or just enjoy time together like we did before Ace Pickleball Club was even an idea. These moments serve as a reset to reminding you of the foundation the partnership was built on. Creating that separation is essential in preserving the respect and joy that brought you together in the first place.
Play to Each Other’s Strengths
No one person can or should do it all. Each person has their own strengths and it’s important to recognize those in each partner to solidify roles. One of the first things we did when launching our franchise was to take inventory of our individual strengths. Who was best at managing operations? Who had a knack for marketing? Who could lead customer service and community engagement?
Recognizing what each of us naturally excels at allowed us to divide responsibilities strategically. It also helped build trust – knowing that a teammate had ownership over a task they were best suited for freed the rest of us up to focus on our own areas. Sure, we all had a learning curve, but allowing each person to double down on their strengths improved our performance across the board. It’s also a morale booster; people are more energized when they’re doing what they love and do well.
Lean on Each Other for Support
Running a business is a full-time job, and you need endless support to get through the good days, and even more so the tough days. We quickly learned that if we didn’t support each other through the day-to-day, we’d burn out. We made a point to rotate key duties, ensuring no one was carrying the full load alone. Whether that meant alternating who opened the club, who handled staffing, or who led community events, sharing responsibilities gave us all the ability to rest and regroup.
We also committed to having at least one of us on-site every day. Having boots on the ground helps maintain consistency, ensures we stay connected to our team and customers, and signals that we’re invested in the club’s success. But just as important as being present is knowing when to tag someone else in. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak, it keeps the team strong.
Value Every Voice at the Table
In any business, decision-making can be a pressure point – especially when you have multiple partners. Recognize that no voice should overpower another, as each opinion provides a new perspective. We’ve found that the key to avoiding unnecessary conflict is to make sure every person has the space to speak up, be heard, and help guide the ship.
Even when we don’t all initially agree on a path forward, taking time to hear everyone’s insights has almost always led to better outcomes. We don’t believe in one person calling all the shots. Instead, we work to come to a group consensus. Not only does this reinforce respect among us, but it allows us to draw from a broader base of ideas and perspectives—something that only makes the business stronger.
Running a franchise with your friends and loved ones can be one of the most rewarding things you ever do – if you approach it with intention. For us, our path to success has been through mutual respect, clear communication, shared responsibility, and remembering what brought us together in the first place. The key is to recognize that your relationship is just as important as your bottom line.
Friendship and business don’t have to be mutually exclusive. For any franchisees considering teaming up with friends or family, remember with the right mindset and shared commitment, it’s possible to grow a thriving business without sacrificing the relationships that matter most.
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