My brother is about to get his masters to become a therapist and he wants me to move out to Illinois so I can be closer to his family/kids. I majored in criminology and got a bachelors with a 3.5 GPA. We’re both smart people and I’ve studied anthropology/psychology for years on my own time. I could easily go the same route as him and get my masters in the same field.

We get along pretty well for the most part except for the fact that he’s hardcore religious and I’m not but that rarely comes up. Could this be a recipe for a disaster or something that could work out extremely well? I’m really considering it because it’s my best bet for starting a business and finally not having to have a boss. Plus I’m really into helping people and am obsessed with this field of work. I just wonder if he’s gonna still have that big brother superiority complex that he’s had over me my whole life and assume the boss position even if we had a 50-50 ownership.

Reps for your thoughts.

It's always risky but if you're both on the same page ( same work ethic, same goal) then you can get incredible results.

A red flag I see is that that he's hardcore religious, and in my experience, they will always bring it to a conversation one way or another.
Not sure if he's the type to ever enforce it on you or might enforce it to you in the future, just gotta be respectful about it.
You live in a different state so that's not going to come up in a day to day conversation but if you live out there next to him, guarantee you will hear about it everyday.

If you can work out this difference between you and him, both of you can be very succesfull working together.
I wish I had a sibbling that was down to do business like that.

I'd strongly resist having any sort of business relationship with a relative, at least where you try to work as partners. Way too easy for things to go wrong and then it's a financial and family disaster.

Plus, if you're at all worried about it, that's already a red flag that maybe it isn't a good idea. Just my .02 from getting burned in the past.

He’s hardcore religious but he knows that this kind of practice has to be secular. At least between client and patient. The only time he enforced it on me was a family vacation where I brought my gf and he put my luggage in a different room than my gf. I guess because he doesn’t wanna explain to his kids that his adult brother is sharing the same room with a girl he isn’t married too. That bothered me big time but I can’t see that event recurring.

For the most part we get along well and we both teach each other stuff that the other doesn’t know and have long phone conversations where we’re 100% on the same page. He gets me and I get him. He’s very ethical and would never try to screw me over I know for certain. I just wonder if tensions will rise if we try to compete and out-do each other. That’s my biggest concern. I mean he couldn’t even congratulate me on winning wrestling state champion in high school because it was the only thing I was better than him at but I think we’re both more mature than that in our mid 30’s.

The best business partnership advice I ever got:

Are your arguments biased or unbiased?

Example: You and your brother are coming up with the company logo and there is a disagreement. You really want the red color and he wants the blue. Your brother really wants the blue color because during his study in therapy, they taught that the color blue eases the mind and makes people comfortable to come into your clinic.

This would be an unbiased argument on his part, and he only wants the blue color because it gives the best chance of success to the company. If his argument was because he likes the color blue, or some other bs reason just to be arrogant, then it would be a bad partnership.

This goes both ways of course. You will have disagreements. If the fights are about who's idea is the best for the success of the company, then it can work. If the fights are about who takes more benefit, then it prob won't work.

depends what it is. family does kettle corn. he does mostly mangoes but some times the corn. it works good

yup my sister is the most selfish narcissistic person i know. i would never go into any business with her

We don’t argue much these days really. We both address issues in a very pragmatic way. We’re on the same level intellectually, even to the point where he says I read too many books and become obsessed. He does still kinda take the role of the leader since he’s still my older brother of 2.5 years. He’s a republican and I’m an independent but we mostly share the same views on like 90% of things so we really see eye to eye on a lot. Plus he’s very ethical. As for the religious aspect I actually kinda like that he believes in something and I don’t mind going to church. He knows I’d kill him in a fight but that’s not a card either of us are gonna play. It’s just it’s not like when we were kids and I idolized him despite all the bullying way back then.

He is kind of a penny pincher though, while I’m less frugal with my money so idk if that means he’d try to screw me financially in some way. I doubt he would, as long as I get all the qualifications necessary.

Well that's the big brother life, he's always gonna try to father you one way or another but seems like you guys talk to each other and resolve arguments.
Tension will rise but it sounds like its' not anything new, so why not try at least? Family businesses are the best one imo

Its perfectly fine and nothing to stress about. Its all about you as people, and has nothing to do with being brothers


Two of my friends are brothers and run a great business

Yea he’s always been a natural leader while I’ve always been the perfect #2 guy who is dependable and doesn’t see it as being the bitch. I’ll do the dirty work and fix problems that need to be fixed so I can’t see there being a big power struggle. Both of us are very low in emotional volatility so it takes something big to happen for us to have an argument.

Just typing this out seems like it’s near impossible for it to fail. Which is always a bad sign…

But we both have plenty of dough to throw on a startup at least. And this is a field that is growing big time.

yea sounds too good to be true, that's how it is.
Don't worry, the bad stuff will show up eventually lol.
Good luck op, get on with it.

It was just a thought. Really wanna own my own business and this seems like the most likely route. Even if it’s co-ownership.

90% of the time.

I think it depends on the person.

When I did nails for my sis(she owned a shop), I didn't really get any perks come to think of it. Same when working for my older brother. I was still paid the same as other technicians. However, If I owned my own shop and they were working for me, I'd wouldn't take commission from them, since they are family. Commission is 6/4 split, where the shop gets 40% and I get 60%. So again as you can see, it depends on the person and how they feel about their own blood.

Personally, if I'm working for family, I expect to get huge perks. But some people are fine with being a regular employee.

Never mind read whole post, don't do it. You said bug brother complex. Already starting out on the wrong foot. But maybe you should make the switch and work for yourself or elsewhere. Remember I think a while back you said you hate your position because of the late hours iirc. If it's something you would like to do you should make the switch.

Nah I think my brother and I would complement each other well. He knows how obsessive I am and how I’m able to bury my face in books one after the other. He bounces ideas off me all the time and is shocked when I can finish his own sentences when he’s trying to teach me about psychology. He’d be great for his organizational skills and setting things up where as my strengths would be just raw talent and knowing how to talk to people. He’s more well rounded. If you watched season 1 of True Detective, he’d be Marty Hart and me Rust Cohle. The big brother stuff only comes in when he lectures me about sleeping around and how I should be married. I think it’s a misery loves company thing but I’d squash that.