Several times some men fail to understand the importance of an active wife in the financials of a home. Men in this category believe that a wife should not meddle in the finances of the house, rather, she should just wait for whatever money is allocated to her by the husband. The same thing applies to starting, running and growing a business as a couple: men in this category believe that they cannot start a business with their wives for one reason or the other.
Here follows how a couple can work as a team and start a business together:
1. Know each other’s responsibility with written roles: It is good to have specific roles detailed to avoid blame game with your spouse. If it is a contract which details each other’s roles within the business, then that is better
2. Save money for worse times: as the economic conditions toughen, it is way better to have an emergency fund that you would be ready to use in case the business is not doing well. An emergency fund can also serve as school fees, hospital charges… and so on.
3. Know your strengths, weaknesses and identify opportunities: In this, I mean through understanding your spouse and yourself, this will help know who will manage what in the business. For example, who will be in charge of marketing, supplies, operations, and so on.
4. Build each other’s skills: it is good to use constructive criticism as well as helping each other when necessary by not leaving tasks to another person alone.
5. Keep emotions at home: do not bring problems you have with your partner at work and start fights in front of customers which can push them away. In fact, inspire them by keeping a smiling face always.
In conclusion, it can be even better to start a business with your spouse/partner since t strengthens your relationship by keeping each other close through cohabitation.