From Boo to Business Partner: 5 Things You Need to Know Before Going Into Business With Your S.O.
Hey everyone, it's Dani! I'm very excited to start blogging again (I had a very brief attempt at blogging on my personal website, which I quit after about three posts). I've always loved writing and it's great to get back in touch with my writing side.
I wanted my first blog post on the site to be a bit more personal. We not only want this blog to showcase awesome work that inspires us for you all to enjoy, but we also want to provide a sneak peek into our lives, create helpful content for our clients, and give you the behind the scenes scoop into some of the videos we produce.
With that being said, there's a topic that I've been wanting to talk about for a while: working with your S.O. (significant other).
I think the idea of running a business with your partner has been over-romanticized and obsessed over by society. Everyone assumes your relationship is perfect (if your life seems perfect on social media, it's perfect in real life, right?). What a lot of people don't stop to think about (including me before Ben and I went into business together) is that it's not always a dream.
You see couples like Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper and you think "wow, they are so cute," "ugh, they are #relationshipgoals," or "working with your S.O. looks like so much fun!"
Don't get me wrong, it's definitely awesome; I'm not here to say it isn't. There are tons of benefits to working with your S.O., like being able to see each other every day, growing and learning together in the work environment, getting to be 100% your weird self at work (see above GIF for example), spending lunch breaks together (AKA breaks to play Super Smash Brothers).
But what a lot of people don't think about and don't see are the challenges going into business with your boo can come with. What you don't see behind the scenes, that I'm sure even dream couples like Chip and Joanna Gaines deal with, is that becoming business partners can really put a toll on your personal relationship if you're not intentional about communicating and facing the challenges it comes with.
There's a lot of things you need to be prepared for or in my case, adapt to (because I had no idea what I was getting into) when going into business with your S.O.
So, with that, here are...
5 Things You Need to Know Before Going Into Business With Your S.O.
1. You're going to be together basically 24/7.
You have a work life and you have a personal life. When your S.O. becomes your business partner, you're with that person practically 24/7, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Every. Day.
I mean, you love them, but sometimes you miss having alone time.
Communicating when you need some time apart is crucial, as well as not taking it personally when your partner wants some space.
Plan to have a night out away from each other. Usually one night out of the week of socializing without Ben is enough for me, and I usually just end up missing him within the first five minutes he's gone, so...
2. Keeping the spark alive will be harder.
When you're running a business together, a lot of your time, attention, and especially conversations are going to revolve around the business. It gets to a point where you almost forget how to be in a relationship.
When you go into business with your S.O., you need to go in with the mentality that you’re maintaining two relationships: a romantic relationship and a professional relationship. Both require your full attention and deserve to not be overlooked by the other.
Keeping business talk out of your personal one-on-one time is so difficult but so necessary. As it is with any profession, it's extremely important to create a healthy work-life balance when you're in business with your S.O., otherwise you lose that personal relationship and are left with just a business partner.
A big reason we decided to stop working from home and to get an office space is so that we could achieve a better work-life balance and better maintain both sides of our relationship. Now, when we leave the office, we leave work and work talk behind for the rest of the day (at least we try our best to).
Recognizing when the business is suffocating your personal life is key to confronting it and finding a solution so you can keep that spark alive.
3. If you already thought you knew each other pretty well, think again.
If you thought you knew each other well before going into business, you’ll find there’s much more to learn about a person once you’re in business with them.
In a sense, you’re rediscovering your partner in the work setting. You have different priorities and needs when you’re at work then you do as the everyday version of yourself. How you are in a personal relationship is not exactly how you are in a business relationship.
Understanding that there is a learning curve to going into business with each other is important. We learned early on to be more patient and understanding about accommodating each other's work styles and needs.
4. You'll think about quitting more than you thought you would.
Working toward having a healthy relationship as business partners and as life partners takes a lot of communication and being intentional about your actions. It's not easy. Some days it'll seem easier to walk out on the business to save your personal relationship.
It takes being brutally honest with each other when an aspect of the relationship is not working and to work toward making it better to get back on track.
And finally...
5. You'll love and appreciate them more than you thought you could.
When you focus extra time and energy into making sure your partner is happy in your personal relationship and your business relationship, when you’re constantly learning and growing together because of it, you’re going to love them and appreciate your relationship more than you thought possible.
Going into business with your S.O. is not an easy feat, but it’s 100%, absolutely worth it.
