I have worked with a couple of business start-ups recently in which the business partners were husband and wife. In both cases the couples were still newlyweds. To say the least, this creates some additional challenges both for the business partnership and for the marriage.
Last October Inc.com ran an interview with a couple that seemed to be getting both their business and their marriage off to a good start. Michele and Steve Ferree first decided to start a franchise business together and then decided to get married. They offer some good insights into their dual partnership.
1. “Don’t do it by accident.”
I agree! I always tell entrepreneurs that they should never be impulsive about starting a business. They should be as thoughtful about starting a business as they are in going into a successful marriage. In this case, they are actually doing both.
2. “Recognize that in a business you’re always competing, even with your spouse.”
3. “Be prepared for business to get personal.”
You need to be honest to be successful in business and in marriage. That requires a lot of honesty between partners who are married to each other!
4. “Don’t get stuck in typical gender roles.”
5. “Establish a real separation between work and home.”
In any family business there are family issues, business issues and family business issues. The goal should always be to keep the family business category as small as possible. Work on your marriage and work on you business, but always at different times.
6. “Fight the business’s unfair pull.”
Sometimes you just need to turn off the cell phone!
7. “Get a counselor or a coach.”
Make sure they are good at business and at marriage.
8. “Keep asking the right questions. Am I being true to myself? Am I helping my partner be true to himself or herself?”
Indeed!
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
The comments about spouses being in biz together have been very useful. Family operated businesses [especially “micro-sized”, under 10 EEs] have many advantages [and disadvantages]. They can have the same benefits of the “big guys” in the field of health care costs if set up properly. While large corps make use of IRS Sec 125 [“Cafeteria”] tax-free flexible spending accounts and pre-tax insurance accounts, the <10 EE family biz faces IRS restrictions that preclude using Sec 125.
However, if the biz is a Sole Prop, LLC, or Partnership where the spouse is NOT a “co-owner”, that spouse can be an EE [for tiny “taxable wage”] and then reimbused for all family medical expenses under IRS Sec 105 totally tax-free. This can be done without increasing overhead costs when non-family members are EEs, if the Sec 105 plan is properly set up and administered, with the costs reimbursed IN LIEU of W-2 wages.