It’s a dream many couples have – escaping the rat race, going into business together and making their millions. Here, Coutts Woman gets advice from the women who’ve been there and done it successfully.
It’s a dream many couples have – escaping the rat race, setting up a business together and making their millions. Yet the statistics tell a different story. According to Azriela Jaffee, author of How to Prosper: What Working Wives Crave From Their Husbands and How to Get It, only five per cent of couples who enter into full blown business partnerships succeed.
Why is this? No matter how strong the couple, going into business with a partner is a totally different relationship. Do their work personalities match? Are their skills complementary? Is their partner a long-term solution, or short-term free labour?
Business stresses have blown thousands of couples apart over the years. Partnerships like these might start out well, but without noticing, hours start to get longer, pressure gets greater and suddenly it’s a 24/7 work operation that’s getting all the priority, while the relationship gets none.
On the other hand, get the mix right, and there’s no working partnership quite like it. The unconditional trust and support couples wax lyrical about when they’re in business together, the shared success, and the flexibility they enjoy when it comes to raising a family – it’s no wonder so many others want in.
So how is it done? Here, we get the dos and don’ts from women who’ve been there and made a success of it.
DO
Have separate roles
Separate roles give people a structure to work within. Jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas, who set up Links of London before selling up and launching Annoushka last year, is responsible for the creative side of the business, while her husband takes care of the finances. It’s the same with fashion designers Orla Kiely and Alice Temperley. "As long as he sticks to what he does, and me to what I do," insists Annoushka, "it works very well."
Identify your strengths
Know your partner’s strengths and you’ll respect their contribution more. Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway , famous for founding the Red or Dead fashion label, have worked together ever since selling clothes in Camden Market 30 years ago. Both are designers, but with very different strengths. "I’ve always been the outspoken one," says Wayne, who generates publicity for their projects, "while Gerardine’s attention to detail is amazing, as is her ability to second-guess people. She’s like Inspector Gadget!"
Have boundaries
Separating office space helps create better work/life boundaries. At home, operating out of separate rooms can simulate an office environment. If that’s not possible, one partner should work out of different premises intermittently - whether a coffee shop once a week or a rented desk a couple of times a month – so that work becomes separate from home. Amanda Brooke and her husband do this at Grossmith Luxury Perfume . "Simon works more in Mayfair and I work from home. We don’t distract each other that way, and then discuss issues when he comes home in the evening and first thing in the morning."
Work out your working relationship
Don’t let the relationship become defined by business. Decide what partnership will suit best and run with it.
Communicate
Communication not only results in better working partnerships, but also more business. Sophie Howe and her husband work together on their business
Comtec Translations
, a leading translation, localisation and interpreting service. Working on the client relationship side, she relies on Daniel to develop and maintain the technical side of the business, but also to explain it to her so that she can sell it. "He’s good at reducing the language to a level I can understand. It helps you respect their skills and appreciate the amount of work that’s gone in."
DON’T
Interfere
"There’s always a temptation to interfere," laughs Sophie Howe. "But if you’re communicating and working as a team, it reduces the need because you know they’re getting on with their side." Annoushka Ducas has been similarly clear with her partner if he interferes. "I tell him to stay away because he doesn’t do what I do and I don’t do what he does," she says.
Be harsh
If the business has been dealt a blow, be careful about lashing out. A partner may know the business, understand the stress and frustration, and hence become an easy target. Even if they are to blame, keep criticism constructive. "The danger is it becomes personal," admits Sophie. "I have more experience dealing with large corporations and have steered Daniel in the past before big meetings. But then he tells me when I talk too much in them, so you’ve got to be able to give it and take it too."
Agree to Agree
Sarah Palmer and her husband decided early on that disagreeing in public was necessary for their business. "If you’ve both got a different perspective on an issue, we agree to fight it out and let the best man win. It’s the way we operate with anyone in the office. But it’s equally important to stay united on some of the fundamentals and to always remember that the marriage is more important than the business."
By Barbara Walshe
