Working with Your Partner

As the licensing program has grown there have been a healthy number of husband-and-wife teams join the Achieve Fitness Family.  Often, the business is started by one or the other, but in time, both parties take active roles in the business.  However, this dynamic creates its own set of complications beyond working with a typical partner.  The biggest struggle most couples-turned-business-partners face is being able to separate the business relationship from the husband/wife relationship. 

The separation of these two relationships can be further complicated if the two relationships require a role reversal; in other words, the party who is the ‘dominant’ party in the personal relationship has to play the ‘submissive’ role in the business relationship.  In addition, the person who handles all the management duties of the household (and family, if applicable) isn’t always the best fit to be the one that handles the management duties of the business.

Here are our suggestions for creating a healthy business relationship when you’re working with your spouse:

• Create a division of roles.  First, decide what roles and/or duties need to be accomplished for the business to be successful, and then divide the roles up.  The roles may not be divided evenly, which is okay, but try to divide them up based on the time involved in each role and play to what each partner’s strengths are.  Please note these roles are subject to change – but you need a starting place, so identify them as they pertain to your business and your personalities as they exist now.

• Set up a weekly accountability meeting.  Schedule this meeting at the beginning and/or end of the each week.  In the meeting you need to cover four main areas:
• What each person’s schedule is going to be/was for the week.  Make sure the schedule coincides so that both people can maximize their contributions to the business
• Set objectives and goals for the week.
• Report on the success of the objectives and goals from the previous week.
• Discuss areas where help is needed, without being defensive or accusatory.

• Set time limits.  Agree upon times when the business day/week ends. Hold true to the end times you determine.  There will be exceptions, but they should be the exceptions and not the rule.

• Set rules to for disagreement.  Remember that the discussion is about business, not your personal life.  When you are expressing your concerns, stay focused on the behavior, not the person (this is a good rule to practice in your personal relationships, too!).  Don’t bring personal issues to the business argument.  This is a surefire way to put the other party on the defensive.

Following these four strategies will help you lay a strong foundation on which to develop your business relationship, which will in turn allow you to remain life partners, too.  Lastly, reach out to your fellow business owners who are couples and talk with them to seek out their insight… If all else fails, sign up for My Expert Solutions.