When Work and Love Collide: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurial Couples Who Refuse to Kill Each Other

Welcome to The Entrepreneurial Couple Insider.??

This is a one of a kind newsletter for couples who own businesses together.?Every 2 weeks, I’ll be sharing my best strategies for success and growth as a couple owned business, all based on my own 25 years of experience working with my spouse, plus research, conversations, and what I’m learning.?

And, get ready to read about other entrepreneurial couples because, let's be real, running a business with your significant other can feel like being stranded on a deserted island with only each other to talk to.

For this issue, we are going to start off with the one recurring topic that comes up over and over again for entrepreneurial couples, which is the delicate balancing of work and personal life.

Truth be told, this can be a tricky task for any individual, let alone for couples who own businesses together.

I’ve experienced this personally ?hundreds, maybe even thousands of times;?work-related stress spilling over into our personal lives, and vice versa, causing strain in our romantic relationship and our business partnership.

For a number of years, my spouse and I got into the habit of non stop shop talk at the family dinner table. ?On one hand, it can be valuable and even entertaining to share stories of the day.??At the same time boundaries are important;?for those of us with kids,?while we may be excited about our day in the business, they may be wanting the attention on them and their day. ?While ?I grew up relishing the daily dinnertime conversation where my Dad shared the highlights of his day, my daughter was not as thrilled with the continued daily discourse. ?

So, we had to make the decision to put some boundaries in place, starting with the family dinner table rule of no business talk.

As time progressed, we added more boundaries. My spouse and I came up with the name “figment” for our business when we were on vacation. You can read about how that started in this post. If you find that vacation time is actually a great time to talk business, you may want to play with this idea a bit; the key is to find what works best for you.

Couples can also create clear distinctions between work and personal time by designating specific hours for work-related activities. ?My partner and I took this a step further by implementing the time management system we learned at Strategic Coach, which also helped us manage our personal energy levels. And, while we usually kept our working hours fairly consistent, we also implemented “focus” time, meaning the other was not to be disturbed with personal matters. Just last night my spouse had a focus time call with a client at 5pm which was my cue to avoid any interruptions or excessive noise (my apologies to Pink for turning down the sound on Trustfall).

Date nights are always a great way to disconnect from business related discussions (another opportunity to consider “figment” as a code word to enjoy date night).

In protecting boundaries, communication is critical; openly and honestly setting expectations regarding work-life balance can help to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.

Last but never least, ?balancing work and personal life as a couple-owned business can be optimized by prioritizing ?self-care and stress-management techniques. ?

This could mean scheduling regular breaks or vacations, practicing mindfulness and meditation, or engaging in physical activities such as exercise or yoga.??And,?since you spend so much time together, you may find it helpful to have separate hobbies and interests. My spouse recently took up water skiing, something he hasn't done since his teens. I'm happy to go for boat rides but I have no plans to join the water ski club with him - I'll be reading by the dock, thank you very much! We have also found it really valuable to have mini breaks from each other, ?for example me spending weekend time with my women entrepreneur friends while he works on a personal project?(he also likes to play lumberjack when ?I’m not around to "supervise").

I hope these tips help with your ?entrepreneurial couple balancing act, which is also often a trustfall taking place in tandem with the balancing. More on that topic later.

I also promised some sharing about other entrepreneurial couples. ??For my fellow podcasters, if you are looking for a really great inspiration story about a couple that started in their garage and sold their popcorn business for a whopping $250M,??you might want to check out my blog post about Angie and Dan Bastian and their BOOMCHICKAPOP business.

I hope this inaugural edition of The Entrepreneurial Couple Insider has given you some valuable tips and a boost of momentum as you and your significant other start off a Magnificent March

Owning a business with your spouse can sometimes feel like navigating choppy waters, but in my experience, it's worth the effort to ride the waves together and succeed.

Anthea