Partners in Business and Life: A recipe for Genius or Chaos?

I often encourage entrepreneur hopefuls to find a way to go together before you try to go it alone. Entrepreneurship is already a hard journey, with turbulence every step of the way. It helps to have a good co-captain to see the things you're not seeing when focused on something else. This is why the idea of starting a business with your spouse is an interesting prospect. It seems like a no brainer right? Because this is the person you trust the most in the world - at least that's the assumption. There have been many successful cases of couples who have amassed incredible wealth through entrepreneurship together. However, there have also been cases of couples who destroyed their businesses because the relationship woes were uncontrollable, and the business suffered in the end. Let's look at some internal and external risk factors that need to be managed to avoid a worst case scenario if you do decide to couple up in business.

Personality Risk

In theory, If you have two people who are very compatible, with complementary skills and identical work ethics, and who trust and support each other at all times, then you have an effective?management team. Working together can be an asset for those who truly enjoy their spouse's company and can play to each other's strengths. It can bring an added resilience and drive to the business, one not matched by spouses without the same emotional attachment and understanding. Those who share lives inside and outside of work may strengthen their own relationships by having a common purpose and vision, and may find it easier to manage responsibilities such as bringing up children, caring for aging parents, or simply balancing everyday needs. In the Chinese/Indian Jamaican community this model is very popularized; and the rates of divorce/separation are significantly lesser than the national average.

On the contrary, being so close to your spouse constantly can become a source of problems for some couples. The wrong combination of people will work against each other, and will undermine the business rather than enhance it. In particular, individuals with "type A' personalities, who have a strong competitive and stubborn streak, may clash more than they gel. In cases like these, each partner must be mindful of moments when they need to yield or lead in decision-making. This can be difficult for modern couples to appreciate, which can create tensions that will inevitably surface if one partner tries to impose their will and dominate the business.

Financial Risk

All for one, and one for all is how you must begin thinking about cashflow in the business. One of the basic rules of investing is diversification, and when two people form a business, they must consider the risk of jeopardizing their combined assets. Their fortunes and their futures are now one and they will either jointly succeed or jointly fail. When the business isn't doing well, it can place tremendous pressure on the relationship. Equally, when things aren't going well on the personal front, it may damage the business. A further consideration as well is that it's often difficult for married business partners to raise capital, as investors will view you as high risk given how close your personal life is to the business.

Relationship Risk

Despite the demands of business, always remember you are still in a relationship. Be mindful as well that the success of the business is directly proportional to the success of the relationship. Therefore, a system of work-life balance must be a priority. Having work-life balance boils down to efficiency in managing and prioritizing time for yourself, your work and your family.

For two entrepreneurs to make this work, your time management strategies and schedules need to be in sync. This means reserving the same time of week for each other, and ensuring that you both follow through with it.

A great way to do this is to schedule weekly date nights. If Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook Inc. can find time for his relationship weekly then so can you. Mark and his wife, Priscilla Chan, actually have a contract in which Zuckerberg promises to take her out at least once a week, spending at least 100 minutes of focused and quality time with her. This might seem neurotic to some readers, but given the scale of responsibility Mark has operating a global social media conglomerate, it might actually be a necessity to manage his relationship.

Operational Risk

There would be no Santa Claus without his elves. As a rule of thumb, never try to be a superhero and do it all alone; or all as a couple. The trick lies in deploying a team of helpers to do the job for you. In business, this naturally translates to developing delegation as your go-to superpower. With the right kind of support, guidance and instruction, even the most complex of tasks can be delegated.

For example, an intern can be trained to reply to customer questions. Or, an accountant can help you prepare those financial reports. What is even more opportune are the many web applications such as QuickBooks online, FreshBooks, Zoho, Monday.com and ClickUp.com that have been created to help you leverage technology to simplify very complex tasks.

Household chores can easily pile up to become a mountain of despair, just like unattended tasks in your business. A good management tactic is to divide the "chores" between yourself, your spouse and your apps. You can even involve your children in the mix, once they are of working age. Delegating even small tasks will amount to significant time savings over the entire week or month.

These factors are not exhaustive, as there many other factors to support or reject the idea of marrying your relationship to your business. The fundamental takeaway here is that every situation is nuanced, and you should never assume there is a rigid, proven formula for this to work. It really depends on the two people, what they want individually, what they want collectively and whether a business partnership can assist with accomplishing these goals.

? Gerbry, 2023

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Germaine Bryan is an entrepreneur, trainer, and business development strategist with over five years of experience leading, advising, and coaching micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the Jamaican MSME sector. Germaine is a skilled tactician in strategic business planning and has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs optimize their value proposition to realize exponential growth in revenues and customer acquisition. Germaine is a Business Development Adviser with the?Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC)?and an Adjunct Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the?Mona School of Business and Management. For enquires. please [email protected].