Navigating Business & Life

[Maximilian]

Starting this to document and maybe get feedback on my current situation. Feel free to jump in.

Right now I'm in a situation where I work for someone else, but they're also my business partner. It's a tricky relationship to navigate because while they are the founder of the company with all the equity, the work I am doing is generating the vast majority of our revenue. The founder started the company, but since joining, I have helped bring the company in a completely new direction and evolve in so many different ways. I love our mission and our product (in the health-conscious snack food space) and I have witnessed the founder's chaotic state of mind switch back and forth so many times. We are both clear on the vision and direction that we want to take the company and I do feel appreciated, valued, and fairly compensated for my work. However, there are times where I feel as though my creative autonomy is limited. He is very much from a different time in business and does not understand a lot about how e-commerce works. There are a lot of initiatives that I feel held back from simply due to limiting beliefs he has about marketing (mainly, he thinks it's evil and is hyper-controlling about the content that we put out). Any marketing project he is involved in, I feel gets worse because of his lack of true free creative expression. 

He is one of those "I don't use social media" types, which is ironic because he tries to give me input on video content whilst simultaneously wanting nothing to do with it at the same time. Since this is the case, I end up just posting on my own accord because I truly know what is best for the company. I made an ad without any of his input and it's delivering us a 5x ROAS (return on ad spend) and scaling our business. He has some great ideas, but expects me to execute his vision perfectly without ever delivering me anything in writing just based on verbal feedback. Maybe there is a better way I can tell him that "I'd prefer feedback this way" or "Why don't we try this.." I don't know. These are just some thoughts. Overall, very grateful to be in the position that I'm in because my role does truly feel like my purpose but I do feel held back at times creatively.