BRADENTON -- Jim Fitch and Paul Goldich bust each other’s chops about age, gray hair and the time when their families once shared a home together.

But the business partners, who have been friends for more than 25 years, never give each other a hard time when it comes to business decisions at Trinity Manufacturing Corp. in Bradenton.

“There’s been times where we haven’t agreed, but we never came in and closed the door on one another,” Goldich, 56, said.

“Yes, there’s always a lot to do so you don’t have the luxury to get mad at each other,” Fitch, 55, said.

A solid friendship -- Fitch and Goldich say -- has paved the way to a successful business operation.

A long-standing relationship goes a long way in making a successful business operation, say local business owners and advisers. In such companies, the business partners are familiar with one another’s personality, skills and work ethic, and have a higher level of trust that make the day-to-day operations run smoother.

“I think in these cases the business partners enjoy each other’s company,” said Bob Melberth, a volunteer business counselor for Manasota SCORE, a resource partner of the Small Business Administration. “Sometimes when you have one guy at the top you don’t really have someone in the organization you can confide in. When the business partners are friends or spouses it can provide a good relief from the stresses and in some ways provides a sounding board for someone they trust in the business.”

The founders of Mileo and Associates, Inc., a Bradenton-based training firm, are three former Tropicana employees who spent several years working together at the Bradenton plant.

“The best part about being friends in business together is you know what they can do, who they are and what they can accomplish,” said Don Gugliuzza, chief operating officer at Mileo and Associates.

Phil Guerico was a manager of organizational development at Tropicana before retiring and Gugliuzza was his supervisor. Dan Wombold was a senior manager of human resources. The three started working on the development of the training firm in 2008.

“The real push behind it was the economy,” Gugliuzza said. “The whole thing collapsed, unemployment soared so what happened was two things: those who kept their employees on staff wanted to bolster their skills and people looking for work needed to improve their skills.”

Their knowledge of manufacturing allows them to specialize in the training of local manufacturing firms such as Sun Hydraulics. And their familiarity with one another helps them work well as a team. “We’re a company without an ego,” Guerico said.

At The Entrepreneur’s Source, a consulting firm for franchisees, where Melberth also is a business coach, he often sees friends operating a franchise together.

“I’ve seen lots of partnerships succeed where the owners were friends,” Melberth said. “But, unfortunately, I’ve seen lots fail. Most failed because the division of labor wasn’t clear, there wasn’t a full business plan that identifies whose going to do what. Even the smallest business needs an organization chart.”

Fitch and Goldich have defined those responsibilities well at Trinity Manufacturing, which started in January 2004. Fitch as president works on the overall management of the company and its daily operations, and Goldich handles much of the marketing and sales duties. The two say they’ve built a solid company over the past six years.

Trinity Manufacturing, which makes cable assemblies and wiring harnesses for defense, aerospace and commercial construction, doubled the size of its manufacturing capacity after its first four years in business.

And after surviving the Great Recession, the manufacturing plant has seen business over the last four months increase to four times the amount of business it had over the first eight months of 2010.

Griffin Dalyrmple expects his financial management firm will be more successful by bringing on his high school friend, Kace King, to help manage the operations.Dalyrmple, 26, started Opinicus Wealth Management in early 2009, and late last year asked King, who specializes in real estate investments, to join the firm as his business partner.

“It got to the point where I was picking his brain at times and he was picking mine to help out who ever we were managing money for,” Dalyrmple said. “We’re both very good at what we do and both very passionate about what we do and at that point I said ‘let’s do this together.’”

The two met during their freshman year at Bayshore High in 1998. From there they went to the University of Florida as accounting majors and both switched to finance in their senior year.

“This is something we both kind of had in mind for awhile to join forces like this,” King said.

During their freshman year at Florida they each purchased a house, using an opportunity on low interest rates to build cash flow.

“Ever since high school we’ve been passionate about investing,” Dalyrmple said. “And we’re very, very competitive. The competitive thing pushes us to be the best at what we do, the best at our field. The best thing about building the business together is I know his background, he knows mine. Trust is not an issue. That just comes with being friends.”