According to the article “5 Tips for Running a Business with Your Spouse” by contributor Catherine Alford on www.due.com, while for some people the thought of working with his or her spouse might be terrifying, there are many couples who do successfully work together. Alford thus provides five tips for working with your spouse in your small business:
- Separate home and work life. All spouses have domestic arguments, but once you come to work, those arguments need to stay at home. Your focus at work should be solely on your workplace partnership.
- Communicate with each other. Make sure to keep each other abreast of what’s happening in the company so that you’re each on the same page and can agree about the most important tasks to accomplish at any given time. In this way, you can present a unified front to anyone who comes to your business.
- Define your separate roles. It will be better for both yourselves and the company if both of you are not responsible for such tasks as signing checks or doing social media. Set specific tasks aside for each of you. For instance, have one of you in charge of marketing and the other be the primary person employees come to with questions and problems.
- Remember your goals. Running a business upon which your entire family’s livelihood depends can be stressful. However, instead of feeling anxious, try to see it as exciting and something into which you can put your passion. Furthermore, if one of you starts to feel stressed about the company, the other should remind that person about your shared goals for the company and why you started it in the first place.
- Keep respecting one another. While it’s obvious that you love each other, since you are married, make sure the respect that comes with that love enters into your working relationship as well. It can be easy to get frustrated and to argue with each other at work, but remind yourself that you respect your spouse’s opinions and person. In this way, both of you will be able to carry through this partnership successfully.
Read the original article here.