Working alongside your spouse is somewhat of a dicey situation. This is because it has both positive and negative effects on your personal relationship.
It can affect you negatively because disagreements may develop. Both you and your spouse might not be on the same page. However, it’s normal that couples have different opinions on money and business. As for the positive side of things; spouses get to spend time with each other and be each other's support system.
That said, before you start working with your spouse, try to reflect if it will be a wise move. You need to consider certain factors first. For instance, ask yourself how mature and responsible is your spouse? This is important so that you don’t bring issues to the workplace.
No doubt, if you and your spouse have a common career interest, you’ll likely have a good working relationship. But if not, there might be challenges. Nevertheless, it is entirely possible to have a successful marriage and business career with your spouse. On that note, here are some tips to keep in mind if you ever decide to work with your spouse.
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The first tip to consider when working with your spouse is having a shared vision. You should both be passionate about the career you are venturing into, in order to create the desired future you both have in mind. You should both want it to be successful. That passion to make the business succeed can prove to be a motivational factor for both of you.
However, the onus falls on you to know whether your partner is actually passionate about the business venture. You need to find out for sure whether they truly love the idea of spending all day with you.
Another tip to consider is to always use logic over your emotions. Research shows that women are more emotionally expressive. They are bound to think more emotionally than logically. It is, therefore, prudent to always consider the maturity status of your partner, even before you start to work together.
For instance, if your spouse frowns on workplace relationships and is quite insecure about a lot of things, it is a good idea not to work with him or her. This is because this insecurity is likely to take precedence over logic.
Couples working together ought to be committed. You both need to consider what your common goal is, and stay committed to the end. Being committed will place the shared vision of the spouses above any challenges that they may have. It will also help you both become each other's support system.
This is because you both have a common goal on which your marital and working relationships are dependent on. You cannot afford to fail as the future of these relationships depends on the efforts of you two.
Listen to your partner. Sometimes, you might not agree with each other but allow your partner to finish his or her statements rather than trashing their ideas. Doing this is bound to create unnecessary disagreements which can endanger both the working relationship and the marriage.
Being attentive costs little but yields a lot of benefits. This way, your partner will know that their contributions are appreciated, even if those ideas may not be implemented. It also encourages open communication. No doubt, communication is the bedrock of all relationships.
Everyone is wired differently. We may think differently and have different methods of doing things. Also, we won’t always agree with the methods others use when implementing a plan. The same goes for you and your spouse. At times, your ideas will conflict.
Instead of discarding your spouse's idea entirely (because it doesn't fit with yours), a better option would be to try to understand which perspective they may be coming from. Perhaps, their idea holds, however, because of the way he or she may put it, it may sound unlikely to succeed. Being misunderstood can be a very frustrating experience, yet it is quite common.
You putting in an effort to understand their ideas is enough to build trust between the two of you. This can improve the relationship and help you to better appreciate your partner. This is because you are able to exercise the needed value of understanding them.
Even if you have disagreements at home, it is best not to bring them to the workplace. Gossip spreads fast and the workplace is one good place for it to spread.
Aside from getting your marital affairs off people's mouths, being respectful is proof of the healthy relationship between you two. And despite the many challenges your relationship may go through, showing your spouse respect proves how resilient your relationship can be.
Compromise is a needed quality if you happen to work with your spouse. This is because things may not always go your way. You may not be in charge of everything, and sometimes, you are going to have to restrain yourself from doing certain things. It is a business after all. Trust is paramount.
And if you happen to be someone who likes to do everything by him or herself, you are going to have to compromise and allow your partner to also help. If you are the opposite, you might have to give up being in your comfort zone, and take up a task. This is not bad because compromise helps you become more tolerant and see a different side of yourself.
Learn to address home issues at home. The work environment is a different place to work and not a continuation of your life at home. It would be unethical to have marital fights in the office. It just gives off the wrong image of your brand. This can go a long way to affect your career too.
For instance, if you are angry with your husband for not doing the dishes, wait it out and discuss it with him at home. What has washing dishes got to do in a place of work?
Another tip to consider when you work with your spouse is to try to find some time to be away from work. Staying away from the stressful work environment will reignite the spark in your relationship. You can find a hobby that you both enjoy and have fun together.
Also, you can draft a schedule for outings for both of you. And since you both work together, it is easy to know when the other is bound to have some free time.
Try to find some time for you alone to recharge from your spouse. Taking some time off seeing your spouse all the time makes them miss you and creates a desire for each other.
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While you two may spend time together (which is a good thing), as time goes on, you might get tired of seeing him or her all the time. And this may somehow create resentment because it seems they are always in your space.
Learn to leave work challenges at the workplace. That's where they belong. When you go to work, you can deal with them over there. However, once you are home, make a conscious effort to never discuss work at home. In fact, it should be a rule between the two of you. That way, you can both attend to things at work that needs to be attended to.
Always remember that, between your business and marriage, marriage is the principal thing. So do not neglect your marriage at the expense of your business.
Yes, it is possible to work with your spouse. However, working with your spouse can hinder good communication. This is because one spouse might be tempted to ask about the memo sent around at work the day before during dinner, rather than discussing home issues. Lastly, it can hinder you from having close office friends of the opposite sex. Office friends are a thing. These are people you grab sandwiches at break with. It is a platonic friendship in a workplace setting. Having a spouse working with you in the same setting may hinder that relationship. This is especially when your spouse gets unreasonably jealous about this friendship. All these reasons sum up why working with your spouse is a bad idea.
Working together as a couple can affect your relationship with each other in a lot of ways. For some couples, doing business together has helped to deepen the trust between them, and made their marriage even better.
One good thing about working together is that you two spend a lot of time together. While, in one aspect, it may be good. It may also negatively affect the relationship. I say this because humans as we are, we get tired of things and people. In marriage, it's healthy that you recharge away from your partner. However, due to the work situation, you may be unable to take the needed time away from your partner. You see them at home and at work all the time. You see them too much until it gets to a point you don't want to see them. It is you being human. You got tired! And this can ruin the marriage in the long run.
In order to deal with working with your husband, you need to be able to create that healthy balance between home and work. That way, you can attend to home issues at home and work issues at work. Again, respect is paramount. Treat your man like any other person in the workplace. Give him his due respect as your fellow worker. Also, know that you two will disagree on issues, it will be very common. How you resolve these conflicts will go a long way to prove whether working together is good for the marriage or not. It is also not a bad idea to find some free time alone, to recharge from your spouse.
Working with your spouse is a bad idea because first of all, you two get to be together with each other too much, it can make you two tired of each other. Also, working with your spouse can narrow your persona. It may be difficult to express a different side of yourself because your partner is used to the one he/she sees at home. Expressing your work persona may appear as you being a hypocrite, and that can make your spouse see you in another light. Again, if you two happen to work for the same company, or you two own a business, if the business or company fails, it will somehow affect the marriage.
In the nutshell, these tips can help you work your way around working with your spouse. It is true that it requires extra effort and dedication, but that is not to say it cannot be done.
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Utilize this tool to verify if he's truly who he claims to be
Whether you're married or just started dating someone, infidelity rates have risen by over 40% in the past 20 years, so your concerns are justified.
Do you want to find out if he's texting other women behind your back? Or if he has an active Tinder or dating profile? Or even worse, if he has a criminal record or is cheating on you?
This tool can help by uncovering hidden social media and dating profiles, photos, criminal records, and much more, potentially putting your doubts to rest.
