Anyone work with their spouse?

Me and my Wife work together in Business

I do the customer service , coding...

She does all the writing for the company i.e articles and so on

We work different shifts mostly , I work though the night and she works most of the day..

We were just actually talking about how we spend all of our time together like 15 minutes ago and I saw this thread and figured I would post

We both work from the house and really never leave

I guess it works for some and not for others

 

I suggest not to involve her in this business ( under the prevailing conditions) till she becomes your wife .Once she is ur wife the interests automatically converge.What you feel can be a loss to business she too will feel the same once she lives under the same roof.
Enjoy this period with her without mixing it with business.

 

I've also been toying with this idea. My girlfriend is amazing on the computer, better than any I've ever had before, especially my son's mother who hated if I spent more than 5 minutes on the computer, and went through my msn list deleting every female on it... I lost a few business contacts that way, not to mention friends!

Like people seem to be saying here, it's really about finding a balance, and that some people can and some people just can't work well together... It never hurts to try, what hurts is having expectations.

My girlfriend has expressed interest in working on the internet with things like what my business does/offers... however I have reservations about her having jobs to do where I have to tell her what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. I have clients to answer to, so no matter what I think, or what she thinks, I'm the go-between and have to relay the client's desires... If she isn't meeting them, it wouldn't be about whether I like what's she's done, or if I agree with her - I don't always like/agree with what my client wants, but I still do it! This is a great out clause for me - if tension ever comes up then I can just blame the client silently ;-)

 

First piece of the best business advice I ever received was

Never hire family or friends!

Blood is thicker than water except in business.

Enemies stab you in the front.....Friends stab you in the back

There are some exceptions to the rule but those are always rare.

Think of it like this...if you keep them seperated ...if the business goes bad, you have your family and friends to fall back on.

Mix them, and you have nothing.

 

True.. however - in my case - it's more a contracting basis - with her having the option to do what she wants when she wants... which is where I've left it - kinda leave her not doing much and concentrating on just the kids, she's a single mom and I'm a single dad... however if she decides to take the initiative... then she's almost working completely independent of me as a freelancer free to do as she wishes... so it's kind of still separated...

 

My wife and I met in a business I was 50% owner in. In retrospect, hiring her was definitely the best business decision my partner made.

We have tried in several ways to work together in business. From those experiences I will convey the following (echoing some of the sentiments already expressed):

1) When all else fails, do NOT let your personal relationship fail...ESPECIALLY after she makes the transition from "fiance'" to "wife." Your family is your NUMBER ONE priority. Success in all other areas of your life amount to nothing if you fail at home.

2) There are dangers, to be sure. There are also rewards that cannot be described if you can make it go well.

3) Talk to each other...a LOT. If you cannot communicate well, you are going to have problems in both the business and the personal life. If she (or you) is offended by something and lets it simmer...not a good sign.

4) In my case, it is nearly impossible for my wife or I to work "for the other." We are either full partners or separate entities. Just our emotional make up. We both have strong ideas about how we want things done, and sometimes those ideas are different. We are both perfectionists, so that brings with it its own set of issues, especially if we do not have the same strategy for approaching something.

5) Rate your behavior towards your fiance by asking yourself whether or not you would have interacted with her in a different way if she were not your fiance' (I am referring to how you interact with her in the business). Of course there will be SOME differences, but this mental exercise will tell you a lot both about how you yourself are acting and how she is responding to you.

6) Work with your spouse produces a problem where you both tend to be living at work 24 x 7. If it is a start-up, you WILL be spending a lot of time with it, but you need time away from it. If you are the type of person that has trouble leaving work at the office, having your spouse/finace' work with you will only make things worse. Consider how you can mitigate this issue or else reconsider your decision.

7) Decide BEFORE HAND how joint decisions at work will be made (if you are equals in all or part of the company). I would advise this for business partners whether or not you are engaged, married, or otherwise. You can decide something like "we don't decide until we are both in agreement" (also known as "consensus"), or you can divide up portions of the company and each of you have ultimate decision making authority in those areas (only applies if are closer to being equals). I don't think this applies in your case because you were not talking about being "partners," but if you continue to work together this wll probably come up in the future.

8) Autonomy is good. Work on things that are self-contained and separate.

9) Know yourself. You may be accussed of acting imperiously at work and/or at home. If it happens...don't just answer "no I'm not." You have to be able to seriously look at your own behavior from an outside point of view (to the best of your ability). She may be right.

Sorry for the length...but I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. I wish you the best, no matter which way you decide to go.