Both marriage and starting a business can be great, thrilling adventures. However, they can both also be extremely daunting and risky. Combining these two ventures by running a business with your spouse is certainly possible, and many successful couples do this. Washington DC car accident lawyers Wayne and Jill Cohen understand this, having founded multiple businesses together, including their firm, Cohen & Cohen, PC. If you and your life partner are considering founding a business together, here are a few tips that successful business owners like the Cohens follow:
- Separate your roles and responsibilities: If you want to avoid chaos and frustration, you need to clearly designate roles and responsibilities. Your life has enough blurred lines when you take your work life home and live with your business partner. Make sure that when you are working together, you each have clear-cut responsibilities. One of you may be the “public face” of the business– dealing with clients and talking to the media– while the other handles the accounts. Whatever you decide, ensure that you have a clear understanding of whose job is whose and, while offering opinions on occasion is fine, respect the other’s authority in the area.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate!: Often when couples are upset with each other, they give each other the “silent treatment.” There is no faster way to miss an important work deadline or lose business than by refusing to relay information. At least about your business, you must keep communicating. Also set aside time to talk about your personal marital issues outside of the workplace. A weekly or monthly session with a marriage counselor can be extremely helpful for your personal life and communication.
- Have some separation: Again, seeing your partner at work and at home can be a lot. We recommend having time with friends and doing non-work related tasks every once in a while to ensure that you stay balanced and do not wear yourself down with the stress of work or marriage. Spend time with your friends and find a healthy outlet. We do not recommend venting about your spouse and marital frustrations so much as taking time to reconnect with different sides of your personality.
- Take responsibility at work and at home: Make sure that your responsibilities are evenly divided, If one spouse is handling work and home while the other is all about work, resentment will surely build. If your spouse is a partner, he or she should be treated as such, not a personal assistant.
As the economy has shifted, more and more young people have changed professions and gone the entrepreneurial route. If this describes you and your partner, hopefully the aforementioned tips will help you build a strong partnership both at home and in your work life. We hope to offer more guidelines for married entrepreneurs like these Washington DC Pedestrian accident lawyers in the future.