Thank you so much for such a great resource for aspiring small business owners and potential owners. I myself am a potential owner. I've got a few questionss at this time but many more will surely soon to follow. i have been cultivating an idea for a small retail clothing and accesories store. Well, to tell you the truth, I have never worked in retail but I am so passionate about going through with this idea. Well, I happened to meet someone who happens to own their own "apparently" successful retail clothing store in the same town. Completely different type of store but kinda similar, to not go into details. Well, chatted with this person for a spell about opening a store. This person was pretty honest with me about gaining some experience in the business and that I really didn't know what I was getting into. I agreed. In telling this person what my idea was his ears perked up and actually shared the same interests and thought that it would be a great idea and that if time, money, and energy were available, he'd do the same thing. again, to abreviate this story a bit he offered me a small space in his store for rent I'm sure to test out the market. Great idea! Well, I then asked if he'd like to partner up somehow maybe advise, maybe have a stake in the company. Oh, I forgot, he'd been in the business for almost 20 years and had resources to get me in with manufacturers and wholesalers and eluded that he would share this resource with me along with helping to set up the business.

Okay, so the questions: What would be fair for both of us? What would be a fair price for consultation considering he'd spend some significant time to help develop this company. Would a partnership be better for the both of us somehow? By the way, I have set up all the financing for this venture.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kremer