7 ways on How To Manage a Relationship with Business
The spaces between your fingers are for someone to slip their fingers in. With this unity, you and your darling can achieve a lot. It all comes down to love, companionship, and growth. As you set your relationship goals, it would also be wise to define your business and career goals.
Money and business has always been a sensitive subject among loved ones and people in an intimate relationship. Business ventures will help you and your partner develop chemistry as you grow your love, and bring the best out of each other’s skills and careers.
I was able to get the help and perspective of couples that have gained business experience and success in managing a business. Couples in the current age are venturing into both digital and physical businesses. The Watts Family, for example, have been successfully managing their YouTube, Marketing and Influencer business for three years. Felisha Mwangi and her partner have ventured into Forex trading, another source of digital income.
There are key aspects you and your partner need to observe to effectively manage and succeed in joint business ventures both in the digital space and physical activities.
1. Define Your Strategy Or Plan
A strategy or plan is always the first step to a business venture. In this stage, you and your partner will share your dreams, interests, and career goals. Furthermore, the plan will help you guys execute your idea.
Always develop habits of coming up with plans together and executing them as agreed. Even if one of you has a plan, communication is very important. For example, when Joe of the Watts Family has a plan, he will communicate it with his partner Leilah Watts, who will help advertise and execute it.
The plans you make should cover both the financial and logistics aspects of your business.
2. Understand Each Other’s Strength’s And Weaknesses
You and your partner are a team. It is important to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. You will use this to make important decisions like what role should each of you play in the business. Understanding each other will help you complement each other both in your personal and business affairs. Play to each one’s strengths, consider their idea and agree on what to plan.
3. Define And Share The Roles
According to Felisha Mwangi, sharing roles allows each one of you to do their job freely with trust that they will get the job done effectively. Trust in your partner’s abilities and share the roles based on your strengths. The roles each of you play should be similar to slipping your finger’s between your partner’s fingers. They should unite, complement and support your individual growth, growth as a couple and growth for your business. The Watts Family also encourages young couples to define and share roles as it brings consistency to your business.
4. Set Rules
Rules help develop a company or business culture. They will also guide you towards the best practices you need for your business’ success. Moreover, they will promote respect for your partner’s roles. For example, if your partner is a fellow signatory to your bank, it will be against the rules if you withdraw the money without him or her.
However, it does not have to end if either of you breaks the rules you set. ‘It is important to correct yourselves by talking it over’, says Mr. Watts. Correction is part of growth. Ensure you use polite language to correct your partner. This courtesy should also extend to praise and constructive criticism towards each other.
5. Have And Take Part In Separate Hobbies
You should take time from home and work to take part in your hobbies. If your hobbies help you make income, it is even better. There are couples that share hobbies and still succeed in business and there are those with separate hobbies. Felisha and her partner engage in separate hobbies and she says it helps break the work-home monotonous cycle. Hobbies are refreshing and they help you relax and form new ideas.
6. It Is Good To Separate Relationship And Business Issues
It is not a new thing for relationship issues to come into the business. However, if you mix them, it hinders effective communication and teamwork. Some people may end up making decisions without consulting each other which further damages your personal and business relationship.
“The same should also apply for your bank accounts,” the Watts Family advises. “You can choose to pay yourselves in the form of salary from your business account and reinvest the rest,” Joe adds.
Ms.Mwangi and her partner advise that separating these elements should be a rule in as much as it can be agreed on mutual consent. They also re-invest their earnings in real estate which is a highly lucrative industry.
7. Establish An Emergency Fund
Money has always been a sensitive topic. It has been the root cause of the breakdown of many relationships and businesses. An emergency fund for your business is one step to ensure its sustainability. It provides backup for periods of low income. You need an emergency fund especially if your business is a startup. Startups may fail to generate any profit for the first few months. You can rely on the emergency fund to sustain the business operations as you grow your customer base and profits.
Final Thoughts.
For the young couples out there, Do what you love, stay on it and never doubt your dreams, the Watts’ advise. The key takeaway points in managing relationships and business include, communication, professionalism, and planning. These key takeaways and 7 steps work for both intellectual property and physical properties.
The 7 steps to manage a successful business include:
- Define Your Strategy Or Plan
- Understand Each Other’s Strength’s And Weaknesses
- Define And Share The Roles
- Set Rules
- Have And Take Part In Separate Hobbies
- Separate Relationship And Business Issues Establish An Emergency Fund.
A successful venture with your partner could eventually turn into a family business which will be a source of income and heritage for your children.
Special thanks to the Watts Family, Felisha Mwangi, and other couples that offered their experience and perspective.
