I started a company with a partner six months ago, fifty-fifty split. I'm building the product, running ops, managing delivery, putting out every fire, while he just handles sales and that's it.

I started a company with a partner six months ago, fifty-fifty split. I'm building the product, running ops, managing delivery, putting out every fire, while he just handles sales and that's it. I'm working nights and weekends, and he's basically clocking out at five. The resentment is building, and I know if I don't say something soon, I'm going to snap. How do I have this conversation without blowing up the partnership? This conversation has to happen, and the issue is that you miscommunicated or didn't communicate basic expectations of work-life balance for the beginning of the business. And to be clear, neither of you is right or wrong right now. That being said, in the beginning of a business, it's pretty normal to work most of the time that you're awake in order to get it off the ground because you have very little leverage. You don't have money. The only thing you have is time, and you just gotta give as much as you can to get it to work. That said, my favorite way of handling any hard conversation is state the facts and tell the truth, but the whole truth. And so I would say, "Hey, I've been..." Literally, you would just ask the question the way that you just did to me. And so you say, "Hey, I'm building the product, running the ops, managing delivery, putting out every fire, and right now you're basically just handling sales and that's it. And I'm working nights and weekend, and you're just clocking out at five. And the thing is, I'm starting to feel resentful, and I was hesitating to even say anything at all. But the last thing I want is to blow up this partnership, and so I wanna have a conversation of what our mutual expectations are. Is one, do you expect me to work less hours now? That way we're even. Or are you going to work more? And/or are we just going to agree that we work differently and there's gonna be a season where you're gonna have to work more in the future? I just wanna make sure that we're clear about this, that resentment doesn't set in." And so it's like whenever I have a hard thing, whatever I would normally tell somebody else is, "This is my situation, this is the hard thing," just say that to the person.