Is This the Year You and Your Spouse Will Work Together?
01/04/2016
Would it surprise you to learn that Boomers are one of the fastest growing segments in creating new businesses? With an employment market that generally ignores the value of Boomers' work experience, more and more older workers have made the decision to strike out on their own.
Is this the year you'll make the move and become self-employed? Is this the year you and your spouse will work together? If that sounds crazy, think about the upside. Who better than your spouse to be a trusted partner who makes as much of a commitment as you do to running a business?
My wife Sharon and I made a decision to start a business and run it together. We planned to operate it as a transition from professional careers into retirement (which, for us, involves part-time work and volunteering). We ran a successful service business that produced a steady stream of annual income and we were even able to sell it after about six years.
As you might expect, living and working with your life partner is definitely not for everyone; it presents special challenges that can test your relationship. In our case, we were confident we could make it work. Why? Because we had already learned a lot about working together in two previous companies. (In fact, we first met when we worked for the same company.)
We discovered that we had "business compatibility." We shared the same values and the same attitude toward operating a quality business and servicing clients, but we had uniquely different, complementary skills. After we sold our business, we thought about the many other Boomer couples who might want to start a business together, and we wanted to do something to help them. So Sharon and I wrote a book about it called Let's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business.
As much as it is a good story, Let’s Make Money, Honey is also a how-to guide that covers planning, financing, outfitting, and launching a service business, as well as operations, marketing, sales, customer service, and managing growth. Included are useful tools to help couples assess their business interests and compatibility. The book has gotten rave reviews -- read some of them here.
If you have an interest in owning a business with your spouse, I think you'll find the book inspiring and instructional. It is available now in print and eBook formats. You can read a free chapter from the book at the link below. You can purchase the book directly from this blog -- just click on either button under "Purchase Now!" to the right.
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