Integrating Business & Marriage

Things were predictable in Ward and June Cleaver’s day. Ward would come home from work and June would emerge from the kitchen wearing a poofy dress to ask how his day went. Then, after updating him on Wally and Beaver’s shenanigans, she’d assure him that dinner would be ready soon.

Everything ran like clockwork.

But imagine if instead of working at “the office,” Ward owned a custom electronics company and, if instead of toiling around the house all day, June ran the business with him. How would that work?

Many CE pros manage to make it work every day - and every evening at home - because running a small business is often a family affair. Integration companies, according to a recent CE Pro readership survey, have a median of four employees. It’s quite common for the husband to run the technical side while the wife runs the office. Meanwhile, they deal with the matter of managing their marriage.

There are plenty of benefits to running a business with your spouse. For instance, there’s the unwavering assurance that your business partner has the best interest of you and the company in mind. There are also little benefits, says Brad Griffin, who owns Addison, Texas-based Home Theater Design Group with wife Sheri. “Sometimes I’ll put on my installer clothes and she’ll remind me that I have a meeting and tell me to put on something nicer.”

Only a wife would catch that.

Running a company with your spouse, though, isn’t always easy on the company or the marriage. At work, there is the risk of two company leaders being so close that they essentially step on each other’s toes. At home, there is the risk that business talk and company issues dominate all conversations. The challenge, says Jesse Howe, who runs El Segundo, Calif.-based Signals Audio/Video alongside wife Marie and another principal, is drawing lines. “Don’t let home come to work and don’t let work come home,” he says.

Maintaining separation, however, isn’t always easy. We talked to four couples that have effectively balanced their integration businesses with their marriages. They share their experiences and offer advice to other married couples running integration businesses. We also put their relationships to the test by asking them some fun, Newlywed Game-style questions.

Challenges Abound
When you’re working and living with your spouse there can be a tendency to never stop working, says Marie Howe. “The good thing is that it proves that we care a lot, but the bad thing is that it can take a toll on us when we are still talking about a client situation at 10 p.m.”

In some ways, that predicament can be perpetuated by coworkers, explains Mark Leidig, who runs Clifton Park, N.Y.-based Ambiance Systems with wife Jennifer. “The biggest negative is that employees think that Jen and I talk business and are constantly making decisions at home. If there is something we’re supposed to decide, there’s an assumption that we’ve discussed it over dinner and are ready with a solution the next morning.”

Jennifer adds that a constant hurdle is “making sure that employees understand that our downtime is our family time.”

Another hurdle has to do with how married company owners might deal with workplace disagreements. Spouses have a tendency to express themselves to one another more freely than most conventional business partners. “Oh yeah, we’re both very opinionated,” Mark says. “Where our duties overlap it can sometimes be difficult. Jen and I have been married for 20 years and we’re obviously very comfortable with each other. Yes, sometimes when we’re disagreeing it can clear the room.”

Jennifer says she and Mark do get into it at the office sometimes, but not too often. “We know that our relationship doesn’t end at 6 p.m., so we choose our battles carefully.” That, she adds, is vital.