Starting a Business with Your Spouse : Challenge and Opportunity

STARTING A BUSINESS WITH YOUR SPOUSE: CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY Starting up a business with your spouse can be a real tough challenge in terms of maintaining family and finance. It can also bring great results to you if both of you are ready to take the challenge and risks. PROS AND CONS OF BUSINESS WITH SPOUSE PROS: CONS: • Your spouse is the person whom you can trust the most, which is applicable in terms of business If you start your business o with your spouse, the finance of your household gets dependant on a single source. If the business didn't work up well, you can end up with a financial crisis. and finances as well. • You both are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your counterpart, which makes it easy for you to divide and categories your work accordingly. It is more difficult to manage the dominance o of one partner both at work and at home. One of the either spouses is always the bossier one. • When you and your business partner (your spouse in this case) share a family, it is easier for you both to manage your schedules and work timings. SOME WAYS TO ESCAPE THE POTENTIAL HEADACHES OF MANAGING A BUSINESS WITH YOUR SPOUSE 1 Arrange for some backup emergency funds When you are thinking of starting up a business with your spouse, do not involve all of your funds in the business. Understand l your personalities Some people find it more effective while working in the morning, and some find night peace best to work. Understand your personalities and divide your working times accordingly. By doing this, you can best explore your productivity and have positive results. 3 Defining roles After understanding your personalities, it is equally important to divide your works and roles in the office accordingly. Have time for yourself, separately When you work with your spouse, you have to spend all the time together, while at home or in office. Find out time for yourself and your own hobbies, interests and friends. MENU Understand your potential to take risks When both of you indulge in the same business, you are more likely to have a financial crisis. So discuss and understand your capabilities of managing and tolerating risks in the business. Avoid arguments and cold war When you people are not in talking terms to each other for a particular period of time, this leads to a huge mismanagement of the office work and can cost you in losing clients of your company. 37] Manage your own lives When you put the burden of managing the home and office both on your wife, it makes her feel more frustrated towards all sorts of work. Being a husband, try to manage your works on your own, and also allow your wife to take decisions at home and office both. Arrange for separate workplaces Do not have a common working place or office. Initially it sounds good to hear that the work places will be closer and will help in communicating better, but later on it results in a heap of arguments and nothing else. 9. Listen to each other While having some discussions, do not try to overpower your partner (spouse) on some argument or decision. Have a proper conversation where both of you can put up your own points of view and can solve out the problem accordingly. Be truthful to yourself 10 Before starting up a business with your spouse, ask yourself that if he/she weren't your spouse, would you still like to work with him/her as your business partner? 11) Set rules from beginning Set your own areas of work, areas of interferences and non interferences. Decide everything from your work timings to decisions to family management Keep home and business separate 12 :It has a simple rule- do not talk about your family or home or relatives while at work, and do not talk about work or office while you are at home. 13 Handling disagreements If you both have disagreements regarding a particular thing, try to resolve it swiftly, before the disagreement moves towards turning into arguments. SOURCES: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237828 http://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2013/03/12/8-rules-for-starting-a-business-with-your-spouse/ http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7465-starting-business-with-spouse.html http://mywifequitherjob.com/how-to-run-a-business-with-your-spouse-and-still-maintain-a-happy-marriage/ http://www.nextavenue.org/pros-and-cons-starting-business-your-spouse/ http://www.chatelaine.com/health/sex-and-relationships/running-a-business-with-your-spouse/ http://www.inc.com/carrie-kerpen/secrets-to-starting-company-with-your-spouse.html www.techbiz3.com 2]