30. Love and Business - How to Run A Business With Your Partner Without Losing Your Mind

Running a business with your romantic partner can be both a dream and a challenge. One day, you're celebrating big wins together, and the next, you're arguing over who forgot to send an invoice. The lines between work and home blur, and before you know it, date nights feel like board meetings. If you and your partner are in business together—or you're considering it—this episode is for you!

Join me as I dive into the realities of working with your significant other, sharing both the highs and the "why did I think this was a good idea?" moments. Plus, I’ll give you five key strategies to help keep your relationship strong while growing a business together.

Key Takeaways:

1. Define Your Roles and Responsibilities
   • Avoid the "I thought you were doing that" arguments by clearly assigning tasks.
   • Who handles marketing? Finances? Operations? Play to each other's strengths!
2. Separate Work and Relationship Time
   • Set boundaries: No business talk during dinner, in bed, or on date nights.
   • Establish office hours—even if you work from home.
   • Do non-business activities together to keep the relationship fun.
3. Master Communication
   • Business talk should be direct, but respectful—no passive-aggressive emails!
   • Weekly check-ins prevent small frustrations from snowballing.
   • Disagreeing on a marketing strategy doesn’t mean your relationship is failing.
4. Play to Each Other’s Strengths
   • Don’t force equal roles—delegate based on skillsets.
   • Example: One person handles networking, the other manages finances.
   • In my business, my husband stays behind the scenes, while I take the spotlight!
5. Have an Exit Strategy and Conflict Plan
   • What happens if one of you wants out? Discuss this before it becomes a problem.
   • Have a plan for handling disagreements—consider a mediator if necessary.

Common Challenges & How to Overcome Them:

• Different Work Styles: Use tools like Trello or Asana to organize tasks.
• Work Stress Affecting the Relationship: Set a "venting rule" and then move on.
• Feeling Like One Person Is Doing More: Regularly check in and redistribute tasks fairly.

Cheers! Thank you for joining us for another episode. Have a chaotic moment, question, or topic you want us to cover? Drop us a message or leave a review! If you loved this episode, share it with a friend who thrives in beautiful chaos too.

Let’s Connect:

• Connect with us via email at ccpodcast@aguonstudios.com
• Follow us on Instagram: @caffeinatedchaospodcast
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Resources:

• Goal-Setting Template
• Podcasters Monthly Networking Meets
• Balancing Business Growth and Parenthood Workbook

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Caffeinated Chaos, where business deals happen between diaper changes and friendships are fueled by caffeine. I'm Whitney Uggen, your host, and I'm here to talk all things business, parenthood, and of course, keeping up with the BFFs. Whether you're juggling the boardroom, the playroom, or just here for some coffee fueled chaos, we've got you covered. Get ready for real talk, laughs, and a whole lot of heart as we dive into the beautiful mess that is entrepreneurship, parenthood, and everything in between. So let's embrace the chaos together. Caffeinated, of course. Running a business with your romantic partner can feel like a dream or a total disaster depending on the day. One minute you're high fiving over a big win, and the next you are arguing over who forgot to set an invoice. The lines between work and home blur and suddenly your date nights start feeling like board meetings. Well, if you and your partner are in business together. Or you're thinking about going down that road, you are not alone. Plenty of couples make it work, but it takes effort, communication, and a whole lot of patience. So today we're diving into the realities of working with your significant other, the good, the bad, and the why. Did I ever think this was a good idea of moments? Plus, I'll share some practical tips to keep your relationship strong while growing your business together, because me and my husband. Actually have a business together. We run GaN Studios and we made sure that we crossed a line in the sand to keep everything at peace. So whether you're running a business with your partner or you're considering it, this episode is for you. Let's start with the truth. Running a business together is not like those cute Instagram posts where a couples sip coffee and strategize. With perfect lighting, the reality, you are spending a lot of time together, sometimes too much. The stress of business decisions can spill into your personal life. It's easy to blur the lines between work, talk, and quality time. Your different working styles can create unexpected conflict. But it's not all bad. There are huge benefits to working with your partner. You both get the vision and you're working towards a shared goal. You have built in trust, something that's really hard to find in businesses, and you can play to each other's strengths and compliment each other. The key is really just figuring out how to make it work without ruining your relationship in the process. Okay, so I'm gonna give you five strategies to make it work, and these are strategies that I've used with my husband and what our business mentor had told us in the beginning. One, define your roles and responsibilities. One of the biggest mistakes couples make is assuming that they'll just figure it out. No, no, honey, no. You need. Clear roles. Just like in any business partnership, who handles marketing? Who manages finances? Who's responsible for day-to-day operations? Where do your strengths naturally fit? Having defined roles prevent stepping on each other's toes and eliminates the quote. I thought you were doing that arguments. Yeah. Starting to sound familiar. Okay. Number two, separate work and relationship time. When your partner is also your business partner, it is easy to let work take over your entire life. Suddenly date nights turn into strategy meetings, and your morning coffee is just another business huddle. You need to set boundaries, create no business zones, no business talk during dinner. Definitely not in bed and you know, don't bring it on date nights. I want you to set office hours, even if you work from home, have designated times for work and times for real life and your relationship. Have non-business activities, do things together that have absolutely nothing to do with work, whether it's game nights, travel, or binge watching your favorite show. Three, learn how to communicate, like really, really communicate with each other. Communication isn't just important. It's everything. Okay, but business communication is. Different from relationship communication. When in business talk be direct, but respectful. No passive aggressive emails. No, I'll do it myself. Attitudes set up regular check-ins with each other too. A weekly business meeting can help get everything on the table, so little frustrations don't build up in time. Also. Don't make it personal. Disagreeing on a marketing strategy doesn't mean that your relationship is failing separate business frustrations from personal ones. Okay. Four. Play to each other's strengths. Instead of trying to be equal in everything, define tasks based on strengths. If one of you is great at networking, let them handle sales. If one of you is great and loves spreadsheets and numbers, well guess what? You're probably doing the finances. And if one of you is the creative genius, we'll put them in charge of branding. This prevents stepping on each other's toes and allows you both to thrive in your role. S me and my husband do this. We have clear defined roles. Typically, he's behind the camera. He is behind the scenes. You don't really see him come up. I am the voice on the podcast. He is watching the children right now so that I can record this. We each have our task, and it's something that we decided that we wanted to do. He wanted to be behind the scenes, and I was okay with being upfront so. Clear defined roles. Okay, five. Have an exit strategy and conflict plan. No one wants to think about this, but let's be real. It happens. Things go south sometimes, not just in your business, but in your relationship. What's the backup plan? If one of you wants out, how are you gonna handle disagreements that affect the business? And can you hire a mediator or advisor if needed? Thinking about these things before they become problems can save you a lot of stress later. so we talked about some of my tips. Let's move on to common challenges and how you can overcome them. Even if you do everything right, challenges do come up and here are some common ones. Challenge one. And here are some common ones. Again, take what you like, leave what you don't. Challenge one. You and your partner have different work styles. Maybe one of you is an early bird, maybe the other's a night owl. Maybe one of you loves detailed planning, and the other one is like, let's just wing it, you know? Find compromises. Maybe one of you handles the early task while the other takes late ones. Use tools like Trello or Asana to organize task in any way that works for both of you. Also, any kind of systems I say in this podcast or suggest are systems that I know of. We are not sponsored by them. There's no affiliate links. I'm just stating what is out there. Challenge two, work. Stress can and will affect your relationship. If sales are low or a big project flops, it's really easy to bring that frustration into your personal life. Have a venting rule where you allow limited time to vent. Then. Be like Elsa, and let it go. Move on. Remind each other that business struggles. Don't define your relationship. Okay, challenge number three. One of you feels like you're doing more and. Anyone who's ever done a group project knows this feeling. It's common that one person tends to feel like they're carrying the weight of the team, whether or not that is actually true. So have regular check-ins to discuss workloads and redistribute tasks as needed. Be honest about burnout and ask for help communicate. You said this earlier, but communication is key. All right. Running a business with your partner isn't always easy, but it can be one of the most rewarding things you do if you approach it with the right mindset. So please remember these things I. Your relationship comes first. No business success is worth ruining what you have with your partner. Set boundaries, communicate and play to each other's strengths. And don't forget to have fun outside of work. If you're already in business with your partner, I love to hear how it's going. What's been your biggest struggle and how do you even handle it? DM me, leave a review. Share your story, and if you found this episode helpful, send it to another couple. You know, who's navigating business together? Alright, all of my business couples out there, stick together. Build your relationship, build your business. And have fun love you all. Have a great day and I will see you in the next episode. That's a wrap on another episode of Caffeinated Chaos. I hope you're leaving with a little more clarity, a lot more inspiration, and maybe even an extra shot of motivation. If you loved today's episode, don't forget to follow us, leave a review, and share it with a friend who could use just a little chaos and caffeine in their life. Until next time, keep embracing the mess, chase your dreams, and make magic happen. One caffeinated, chaotic moment at a time. I will see you all soon. Bye now.