Survival Tips for Small Business Spouses Part 3: Setting the Ground Rules
Small Biz Advisor: “The final item on your checklist requires you and your spouse to develop an infrastructure to define the procedures for interconnecting home and office with spouse and small biz owner. When setting up the business, the small biz owner needs a home base, which is just that, your home. As the business grows it will outgrow your home, but until then, you need to set up some standard operating procedures regarding communication, scheduling and defining boundaries.”
KC on February 23rd, 2005 4:46 pm
Dane,
You’re 100% right on this one. For a month, I was trying to get my stuff off the ground and it was a constant marriage stress.
Then last week we bought a whiteboard and scheduled out the next month.. explicitly leaving time for things.
It has worked wonders.
LR on February 20th, 2006 5:35 pm
You make a GREAT point about boundaries!
My husband and I have always worked well together before and after we got married. We decided to open a home business, that has required a lot of work, including re-modeling! It always does I guess; in any case it seems he has been leaving almost ALL of the work to me. Everything from the paperwork, contacts, and some of the re-building, always to meet the deadlines by myself. Meanwhile, we have had a lot of personal items to contend with re-finacing the house etc. and he has been absolutely not helpful.He refuses to take comp. time from his job (even though he has a lot) yet has no problem me taking mine. I am at the end of my nerve. Unless I badger him to get something done he won’t, then he does the work with a bad attitude – saying he is tired or sore…hey he is preaching to the choir. HELP! Any ideas, before I start crying and can’t stopand continue to grow resentful towards him.
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