6 facts that should be kept in mind by couples working on the same venture

“The great marriages are partnerships. It can’t be a great marriage without being a partnership”- Hellen Mirren

Taking inspiration from this quote me and my husband, Himanshu have attempted to share our experience as Copreneurs. In the course of marriage and business, we have learnt a few things that have made us a better team both personally and professionally. 

It all started in 2000 when we got married and post marriage, it was just a natural decision for both of us that I shall be joining my husband's start-up because I had the right skills and business acumen which would not only benefit the business but as a team, we both would be bringing the best of our expertise onto the table. Therefore, it was decided that I would first join my his brick and mortar start-up. This was solely our decision which was taken without giving any heed about the societal pressure that expected a newlywed daughter in law of a typical Punjabi business-minded family to be handling the household rather than sitting in boardroom meetings. 

Today we have been married over 20 years, and of course, there is no denial that marriages are challenging but isn’t life all about challenges? I and Himanshu firmly believe that life is always going to throw challenges at us but when we have each other by our side then these challenges do not seem to scare us rather gives us an adrenaline rush to overcome these challenges as a team.

SO HOW DO WE OVERCOME CHALLENGES AS COPRENEURS?

1. COMMUNICATE BETTER

Communication is the key to have a successful relationship and a marriage without communication is a recipe of a disaster which is why when we got married we were sure that we will always keep our communications clear and consistent and fortunately, this habit of ours has helped us immensely in the new age of tech-savvy communication which has replaced the essence of face to face communication. Being an old school couple we have always made sure that we stick to our 4 am ideation time whenever we have to discuss and brainstorm over ideas as it helps us to think better with our fresh minds that help us to not only overcome our professional challenges but also understand each other’s evolved thinking process. Getting up early at 4:00 am gives us undistracted focused time to ideate.

Like every other married couple, we too get into arguments whether it is about wet towels on the bed or any business strategy, but the best way to resolve these issues is to give each other some time and space. Whenever we get into an argument, we prefer taking some time out where I take my space by practising breathing technique. Other than this, we also make a point to shift our ambience by going out for a cup of coffee together to just cool down and understand each other’s perspective better from a rational point without the labels of husband or wife or copreneurs.

3. ACCEPT AND BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE A TEAM

Over the years we have learned that one of the most important factors that build a good copreneurship is when husband and wife are both committed and aligned to the same VISION and MISSION. Therefore, we have made it a point that as teammates we shall only invest our time and energy by brainstorming towards those plans that are for the benefit of our common vision and mission as this not only keeps us and the organisation aligned but most importantly we keep each other committed towards our personal and professional common goals. 

4. REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS ONLY

Over the years we both have understood that it is always better to have realistic expectations than fairytale expectations. Of course, by this, we don’t mean that there shouldn’t be any expectation between partners but one must understand that when you are working as a team, you need to make sure that your partner is not overburdened with responsibilities as it won’t be a fair attitude for the business and the marriage.

 5. STOP ACTING AS A BOSS

When you are working as copreneurs, you need to keep your bossy attitude away from the table. You cannot be bossing over your partner as neither of them is each other’s employee. It is always better that there is a classification of responsibilities between the partners at work as this makes the functioning of the business infrastructure much more organised. Furthermore, in cases like overlapping of responsibilities, we have made a rule of “prioritising” so that it gets easy for our employees to work urgently on the things given by us individually. 

6. STOP BEING COPRENEURS ALL THE TIME 

One has to remember that before being copreneurs you two have a marriage and a family that needs equal attention and care too which is why we make sure that we go on couple dates so that we both get “our time” which helps us to understand and learn each other better as husband and wife. On the other hand, we are parents to two teenage boys; our elder son is in college and the younger one is class 11th, so as parents we have to make sure that we are there for our children constantly. Our pact is simple, to our boys we aren’t just their parents but their buddies. Times have changed and so has the parenting style which is why we make sure that we understand our children according to the new times. Be it with social media or outings with our kids we are constantly trying to be with them so that we understand and learn our kids as two grown men and not just as our sons.  

Therefore, with these few secrets, we both hope that your marriages turn out to be great partnerships. All that you have to remember is that in marriages no one is each other's boss and if you are working together on the same venture then you both would always have to be each other's teammates and greatest cheerleaders.