Ep. 9: Working with Your Spouse
You guys. It’s episode 9! WHAT! This season is flying by and episode 9 is a special one! Kristen interviews her husband, Vince, and they get real about what it’s really like to work with your spouse. Business moguls and creatives alike, there’s lots of good info in this one, so listen up!
THE SHOW NOTES
You heard this in episode 1, but Kristen and Vince originally met working together 9-10 years ago! She was the creative (obviously), and he was in charge of logistics. Before Vince made the switch and was hired on as CEO of The LifeStyled COMPANY, he worked in the corporate food and beverage industry. In this interview, Vince recalls that his job consisted of doing sales and managing people and processes - selling booze and selling home decor and women’s clothing is (of course) very different, but the foundational principles are the same. Already having some business and management experience under his belt it made the transition easier, but there were some challenges that came about.
This episode is a gold mine of good advice that can be applicable to anyone in business! For those of you listening on the go, we listened for ya! Here are the most key things to note and remember from this episode:
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One of the most important things to keep in mind when working with your spouse is to define your roles early on, and outsource the work that doesn’t fit into either one of your skillsets. In other words, stay in your lane. This practice is huge, and something people might gloss over when transitioning into a new job role. In any situation, it’s so important to have open and honest communication, but especially when working with your partner/spouse. By identifying your roles at the beginning, you will be avoiding the whole “Who’s doing what?” “I thought that was my job” “You should be doing it like this” conflicts that are bound to arise.
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In the same way that you should be defining your individual roles with your spouse, you should be doing the same to define your roles with your team once they make the switch. It’s important to keep your employees in the loop, and especially in small businesses where people seem to have their hands in everything.
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Someone wrote in and asked, “How do you convince your spouse to quit their job and come work with you?” This is such a good question for many reasons, but the main response boils down to if you have to convince them to quit their current job to work with you, it’s probably not a good fit. If your spouse/partner is hesitant because of financial reasons, there are ways to navigate that, but they should feel willing and excited about the switch. Kristen and Vince suggest making a pro and con list separately, and then reviewing your lists together to spark and open and honest conversation.
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The transition was hard at times for Vince and Kristen and it became apparent in their own experience that our society doesn’t do that great of a job supporting the emotional side of our men. Society says that men are “supposed” to be the unemotional, stone faced ones, but they experience emotions with change, too. Are we asking if they’re okay? Are we giving our guys any grace in having unexpected feelings and how that will feel for them emotionally? We need to affirm them that it’s okay to be bummed about whatever, to lean into those feelings and process them.
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“One of the biggest challenges when you work with your spouse is the first 15 minutes after we get home when all you want to do is just download on your day,” says Kristen. This is common amongst most working people, but when you work with your spouse, they’re with you during your day! So as to not bring work home with you, different boundaries needed to be created and implemented.
THE LINKS
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Shop with us at THE LifeStyled COMPANY Shop
Source: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-9-working-with-your-spouse/id1457147395?i=1000439173791
