You love your family, right? Well, some of you do. You give them cards on their birthdays. Hug them. Kiss them. All the right ingredients for a great relationship.

But what’s the golden rule when it comes to family and friends? Don’t involve money!

About 37 percent of couples rank monetary funds as their No. 1 argument starter, according to a study by online payment processing company PayPal of San Jose.

If money can do that those who promise to love one another for richer or poorer, imagine what it could to do friends and family who aren’t too interested in going broke together!

So why did the Optimal Webworks team, consisting of two cousins and one girlfriend, all jump into bed together and how do they expect to survive? How can any family business stay afloat?

Before OWW, each of the founding members was consulting, producing and freelancing all on their own. They offerered advice to each other on projects and referred clients to one another. Seperately, they designed websites for non-profits and security companies, developed web applications for paint supply retailers, wrote articles for newspapers, spoke at colleges and blogged.

It was only inevitable they would come together. With each member of the team able to offer so much expertise that they could support a business solely in their own arena, think of the powerhouse organization that could be built by combining their talents. Consolidation brings down costs and allows for more work to be done. Hence, Optimal Webworks.

That’s the why OWW came together. Now for what you’ve been waiting for.

How to survive money issues that could tear a family-friend business apart

Pretend your family-friend business is similar to a marriage. You have to manage personalities, keep tabs on the bills and keep everyone involved happy – or else problems will occur.

So how do you do that? Take a look at Kiplinger’s top money mistakes newlyweds make, and let’s adapt them for family/friend/spousal business arrangements.

1. “Keeping money secrets” – If you’re starting a new relationship (or any relationship for that matter) keep the lines of communication open. Know all you can about your partners before you go into business together. In turn, let them know your expectations.
2. “Not having a budget” – Everyone has their own ideas about how to spend and save money. Get on the same page. Write down a plan for the business to follow. Revisit the plan to make sure you are hitting the right benchmarks and re-evaluate your standings if your group fails at meeting the budget.
3. Sharing ATM cards - Assign one (possibly two) of your partners the task of keeping financial records – that means tracking expenses and knowing how much is in the bank. Then you know how much you can spend and your finances stay organized.
4. Bringing existing debt into the deal - What’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine. Don’t fuddle up your new company by trying to drop a bad loan from your realty bid that went belly up. It’s time to start fresh. Work out a plan, be it profit-sharing or a higher salary, to make sure you can pay off your immediate expenses and not dip your new business in the red.
5. “Sweat the small stuff” – Don’t let a minor disagreement tear up your team. If you want candy at your weekly meetings, put it in the budget. If it’s not in there, and other team members huff and puff because you put it on the expense report, recognize there could be an issue and don’t get bent out of shape. That small bag of candy could lead to bigger problems down the road. Apply communication, budgeting and finance management and you probably won’t run into trivial issues. (But if you do, learn to get over it.)
6. “Failing to plan for emergencies” – C’mon folks. One of the first things you do when writing your business plan is develop a strategy for when things go south. If you don’t have a plan, hunker down at your next meeting and hammer one out. You need change in the bank or an exit strategy so you aren’t caught with the peashooter when teacher wants to know who threw spitballs on the blackboard. And get insurance!

I wish I had this list before getting into building Optimal Webworks. Luckily, our team is financially sound and all competent in managing business and personal relationships. Keep one another fed and in bed before 11 p.m. and it’s all sunshine.

Have you had experiencing operating a business with family and friends? Lived to tell about it? Were your experiences good or bad? Offer some advice, please!