Day 39: 12 Tips For Joint Venturing Couples

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday"

Working side by side with your spouse is either a beautiful blessing or a deadly curse. But this married couple seems to be handling their joint arrangement quite well.

Today, we’re guests at one of the most expensive grade schools in Southeast Asia, PTIS International. The husband is American and coaches tennis at the school’s sports academy. His wife is from Thailand and is a real estate agent, though lately, she’s been devoting much of her time to the tennis scene.

She works with the female athletes to make sure they have everything they need. When they go off to tournaments, she travels along keeping their clothes clean and offering shopping incentives so the girls have something to look forward to. Her goal is to get more involved in her real estate business…

“But that’s after the tournaments are over,” she tells me, rolling up a large banner with her business logo and placing it in the back seat of the car.

What’s A Copreneur?

Copreneurs is a word used for married couples in business together. As you can probably imagine, this type of couple’s venture comes with its own set of complexities. Think for a second about the drama that comes with workplace romance, now think about married couples. If you’re a copreneur, you’re learning to mix business with pleasure and still make it out alive. If it sounds like an insane challenge, that’s because it is. When Russ and I started our first joint project, it was more like being thrown into a boxing ring with a good friend–you want to give them a nice uppercut but you know you’ll have to look at it later and feel bad about it. However, once you recognize the challenges you can learn to overcome them, making your bond stronger than you ever thought possible!

So, whether you’re a married couple or partners in love, here’s 12 tips that will help you master copreneurship:

1. You must have a sense of humor (not just one, but both of you).
2. Outline common goals and ground rules early in the partnership.
3. Throw power struggles or control issues out the door, there’s no room for them in this kind of business.
4. Discover each others strength and weaknesses and how they can complement one another.
5. Discuss both your visions for the business and the marriage and create a shared vision chart in a Google Doc or other shared platform, then print and post it where you both can see it (we call ours House of Russia).
6. Give each other space by setting up your own office or, in our case, separate corners of the room.
7. Don’t compete. Each of you have unique strengths, appreciate them and use them.
8. Start each day by sharing your expectations for the day–i.e. deadlines, business calls, running errands, and so on.)
9. When your partner says they’ll do something, trust that they’ll do it. Do not micromanage, it’ll only lead to resentment sooner than later.
10. Keep work and personal time separate, it’s easy to work longer hours when you don’t have a set schedule. Set your office hours and stick to them.
11. Use the benefits of the marriage or partnership to make the workplace more exciting.  Set lunch and break time where you both engage in your favorite activities. Make lunch together or go on a lunch date to your parter’s favorite restaurant.
12. Have fun with it, you’re partners in business and in marriage!

As a copreneur, what’s the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?