Advice on revenue split for a new commercial RE company.
I am a newly licensed real estate broker based out of Los Angeles. I've been working on my own for a few months now and haven't made much so far. A good friend of mine of 15 years (since high school) is a lawyer and also has his broker's license. His main career is practicing law, and he has built a successful business, has a lot of connections and is a good negotiator. 

We have talked about partnering up to create a commercial RE company with the main goal of obtaining commercial listings for sale, namely multifamily and shopping centers. We would both put in money into the company at 50/50 and I would be running the day to day operations. His main contribution would be his business saavy, negotiation skills, networking skills and connections. My main role would be researching and fishing for listings with the help of an assistant. We would both be doing listing presentations and negotiations together.

The part we still need to figure out is the revenue split. Since I feel I will be doing a lot of the work, I feel I should get more of each commission, but by how much? Anything I missed? Any suggestions?

[{"id": "cdhpptb", "text": "Can the business pay you a salary for your effort?  \n\nWhy not own the business yourself and pay him a commission for any of the deals he helps with.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cdjhrmz", "text": "How much experience do you have? An attorney who's main focus is practicing law and a brand new broker is probably not the brokerage I would want handling my properties. It may be better for you to cut your teeth at a CBRE or Colliers until you've got some experience (unless you've been a licensed agent for a while and are just getting your broker license).\n\nAs far as the split...I'd want better than a 50/50 split if I was doing all the deals and putting all of the effort in, but that's just me. Most commission splits are on some sort of sliding scale - maybe you can work something like that out with him. The company brings in X amount of gross commissions and your split slides more in favor of you, say to 60/40 instead of 50/50. That way you get a better split, but only if he gets the set amount of money before the split goes in your favor.\n\nGood luck an any case! How's the market down there? I'm up north near SF/Sac", "replies": [{"id": "cdjtt3d", "text": "Thanks Ryan. I am fairly new, been licensed since March, but I have been in the commercial re sphere for a couple of years, working with my family. Although that may not be the experience you are talking about. My friend does have his brokers license as well and has done some deals. I have a background in media and marketing and with his law experience, I feel like that might be a nice selling point for potential sellers. \n\nWe also both have a friend who has his own brokerage and has become very successful, and my potential partner knows his methods and techniques very well, so the idea is to mimic what that friend has done. \n\nIn our second meeting my friend said he doesn't expect to get 50% since I would be doing most of the work. I was thinking of proposing a 70/30 split.\n\nI think it is worth a shot for at least a year and if it really doesn't work, I think that is when I will go to work for a bigger brokerage.\n\nThe market is pretty tough for buyers down here still. Lots of competition and low inventory. That is one of the main reasons we are doing this, to focus both our efforts and combined skills into getting listings. ", "replies": [{"id": "cdjui6o", "text": "No one ever became rich playing it safe :)\n\nGood luck in whatever you decide!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]