What happens when your small business partner is also your spouse? Lots of compromise.
usatoday | February 21, 2019
Debbie and Gary Douglas sometimes need to remind each other, this is your business partner talking.In business together for 16 years, the Douglases have found that being co-owners of a public relations firm requires them to be more direct with each other than they once were as spouses. Like the time Debbie Douglas was on a ladder in their Newport Beach, California, home and her husband told her to come down because she might break an ankle."I said, 'don't worry about it.' He said, "this is your partner speaking, you have a trade show to do next week and you can't do it with a broken ankle!'" says Debbie Douglas, co-owner of Douglas Strategic Communications. Romantic partners who are also business partners can find there's a lot of tough talk, listening, learning and compromising needed as they run a company, a personal relationship and often a family. Couples may have unique struggles depending on their personalities and the type of business they own. But there are common hotspots: Roles and responsibilities that aren't well defined, vastly different styles of communication or decision-making and sometimes a clash of egos.