Maintaining a healthy relationship while running a business with your spouse can be a bit tricky but not impossible.
You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other if you know how to properly balance both.
This article will look at three effective tips to help you run, operate, and expand a business with your significant other while strengthening your romantic relationship.
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Can a husband and wife own a business together?
Simple answer, yes. However, there are some steps to having a balance between a successful company and a successful relationship.
Have a shared vision as business partners
A shared vision gives you and your partner common goals to work towards.
A common goal helps you work effectively together while minimizing conflict around the direction of your business.
Take time to communicate with your partner, focus on your income goals and finances, and decide on ground rules for when the business grows.
Be prepared for the unique challenges
If you want to run a business together effectively, be prepared for all the ups and downs business partners will face.
Running a business with your spouse means that the natural frictions and challenges in the business become amplified by the emotional aspects of the relationship.
The challenges in your business can follow you home and from your home back to your business place, creating a snowball effect.
What are the 3 things you should do when running a business with your spouse?
If you want to run a successful business with your partner, there are three things you must have in place. Otherwise, your relationship at work and home can conflict, pulling you in opposite directions.
Tip Number 1: Remember your romantic partnership is always part of the job
When you run a business with your spouse, you continually wear the ‘significant other’s hat’. That means, that you’ll always be spouses first.
Your partner is different from your employee
This means that, first and foremost, you are always intimate partners. Having a business partnership with your spouse means that you can’t choose between having a work life as a couple or having a home life as a couple.
In other words, you can’t treat your spouse or significant other as you would treat an employee in your company.
You always wear your partner’s hat
For most people, they can wear a metaphorical ‘work hat’ that they can put on when they clock in. This ‘hat’ can be taken on and off to create a distinction from other roles in life.
However, in husband and wife businesses, partners must always be aware that what you do at home or what you do at work will follow you to both places. You do not have a hat that you can simply put on and off.
You are always wearing your partner’s hat.
Consider how you interact with your spouse
Being impersonal or amicably friendly can work fine when relating to other employees or coworkers. You can be friendly with them while maintaining a personal distance.
On the other hand, it is very different when communicating and dealing with your significant other because you can’t simply switch roles and disregard your personal life.
This means considering your partner’s feelings, opinions, and communication styles in a way that you probably wouldn’t for an employee or co-worker.
Tip Number 2: Clarify your roles with your spouse
It is essential in a business partnership that you are clear about your respective roles. Staff members that you hire are already aware of their roles and yours, so they understand that you are the boss.
Because of these clear boundaries, the communication between you and your employee is different as compared to your spouse. Just as employees need to know their role and who to follow to ensure successful business operations, so do you and your partner.
If you started winning a business with your spouse, your roles may not be clearly defined. As business partners, you probably know more about the company and care about it differently than an employee who is just there to receive a paycheck.
As a team, you operate your business with equal interests and stakes.
Establish clear roles
Establishing clear roles when running a business with your spouse gives you both the freedom to thrive in your departments.
Define your roles, and it’ll be easier to respect each other’s decisions over your domains while still including each other in decision-making.
Recognize your spouse’s unique skills and business ideas
Your closeness as husband and wife also adds complexity to your work life if your personal life running smoothly. As such, defining roles and leadership responsibilities is crucial for success.
Each partner has their own individual skill sets and excels in their area of expertise and department. This creates a sense of pride and success that can’t be achieved by hiring someone else.
Letting each other thrive can build strong partnerships both in and outside of the workplace.
For example, one spouse may have amazing online marketing business ideas that can make the business more money.
The other spouse may have incredible operational ideas, so things are running smoothly on the backend.
In this scenario, the business growth spouse may not see the value of the value of the partner who manages operations, but both roles are equally vital.
Recognize and appreciate the unique ideas, services, advice, effort, and ability you both bring to the business.
Your partner shares ownership of the business
In your business partnership, you get to manage a part of it, and your spouse manages another. Because of this, your partner releases you from dealing with certain business challenges.
Honoring each other’s opinions and thoughts and working together as a husband and wife team is critical.
Both of you should have ownership of the areas where you’re gifted, which complements each other’s strengths. When your roles are clear in running a business, your interactions at work are less likely to create a power struggle in your relationship.
Your agreed-upon roles will make a massive difference in your relationship and your business growth. Define your roles and get comfortable with your significant other owning their department.
Tip Number 3: Prioritize your relationship
Couples who run a business together often feel exhausted because work takes over their relationship. They end up talking about their business even when relaxing, and soon, the balance between work and life gets disrupted.
As a result, the relationship suffers, and passion decreases. To prevent this from happening, prioritize your relationship and make time for each other.
Make time for each other
One way to prioritize the relationship is to set aside dedicated time for dating and not talk about work during that time. You can even schedule these dates on your calendar, just like you would for appointments with business clients or staff meetings.
During these dates, focus solely on each other and your relationship, making sure not to discuss business concerns. Your dates are for you as a married couple or as spouses and not as business partners.
Regularly scheduling dates and setting rules to avoid work talk can help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and keep the flame alive in your relationship while still being effective in running a business with your spouse.
Apply the 7-7-7 rule
An effective tip is to do the 7-7-7 rule, which is to plan a small date every seven days, seven weeks, and seven months. It doesn’t always have to be grand or needs too much effort.
Weekly, you can simply go out and try a new restaurant or take a dance class together.
Every 7 weeks, plan a slightly bigger date, like a weekend getaway. Take this time with your spouse to refresh and reenergize while showing each other affection.
Every 7 months or once a year, plan something more extensive like a three or four-day trip to a new place, travel internationally, or take a road trip.
Doing new and novel activities together stimulates the parts of the brain associated with infatuation and new love, which helps strengthen your relationship.
Plan more amazing dates regularly – weekly, every few months, and yearly – with the Relationship Workbook.
You can also gain tips and practice excellent skills for nurturing and maintaining a great relationship, directly impacting your success, happiness, and thriving in your relationship and work.
Giving personal time to your spouse can lead to a successful business partnership
When are running a business with your spouse, it’s even more important to take the time to care for each other and maintain closeness. This closeness and connection will also feed your happiness, inspiration, energy, and productivity.
Research shows that having a great relationship contributes to being more productive at work and in entrepreneurship. It is simple, when you and your spouse communicate and work well together, you can take care of your business better.
Your business with your spouse will become successful because you are there to help each other at all times.
Is it a good idea to do business with your partner?
Running a business with your spouse can be a good idea since it can strengthen your partnership when you have common goals that will allow you to work together to make your business successful. But there are also risks and challenges with balancing business and personal life. It is important to set boundaries that will help you maintain a healthy relationship as business partners and as a couple.
Can couples do business together?
Owning and running a business can be very stressful. This is why couples should have the emotional readiness to handle the ups and downs of being successful business partners so that the relationship will not be affected negatively. While there are many challenges, clear communication, trust, respect, and a commitment to balance the personal relationship and business are the keys to running a business with your spouse. Before going into business with your partner, discuss thoroughly all the concerns, expectations, and long-term goals that you have to ensure that you are on the same page.
What are the challenges of running a business with your spouse?
Unclear boundaries, financial pressure, power struggles, and limited personal time are just a few of the challenges in running a business with your spouse. Still, as couples you can run a business successfully by maintaining clear and open communication and having a shared vision that helps you navigate your roles as business partners and as a romantic couple.
Benefits of running a business with your spouse
Shared goals and visions, strong emotional support, and common financial interests are just a few of the benefits of having your spouse as your business partner. Having a business with your spouse allows you to have a successful business while having more quality time together as a couple as long as you can set boundaries and constantly communicate with each other.
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