When Vicky and I first went into business together nearly all our friends said they could never work together.
When Vicky and I first went into business together(and not the sexy married kind), nearly all our friends said they could never work together.
They believed sharing their professional life with their partner would lead to dissolution of their relationship. This assumption scares a lot of people from starting new ventures. But when it’s something you really want to do – working together can actually bring you far closer to your spouse.
Consider the fact that if you’re working outside the house and commuting, you’re likely spending 10 hours each day out of the home not seeing your spouse or kids. That kind of absence from each other’s daily lives can also ruin relationships.
Vicky and I were pretty confident we’d be a good fit for working together. We equally get excited about new ideas. From camping trips in Australia, to road trips in Canada, we’ve traveled the world “scheming” the next great thing we wanted to do.
Bringing these ideas to fruition has sealed our love, and friendship in a way few other pleasant situations ever could.
The best project of all was the creation of our family. Of course many couples create a family together—but we had to work extra hard to create ours, and on top of that, we had the additional logistical item to tackle of working from home on a business we created. But all of this was part of the excitement of what we were doing: we had the idea, we implemented it.
I recently met two other lesbian couples working with their wives and loved what one woman said: “It’s nice to work together and interact as adults, not just as parents.”
We’re not always great at celebrating our successes with as much romance and wonder as we used to be – or maybe since becoming parents we’ve learned to see how much of a reward sleep can be.
But we’ve technically started and sold two businesses together, started two more and all the while, generally worked the hours we wanted, made the money we wanted, lived where we wanted and spent more of the time we wanted together.
There will be conflict. No marriage is free of it; no business partnership either.
But one of the greatest rewards has been how we have learned to handle that conflict and come back to a happier more comfortable place, together.
If you’re worried about how it’s going to be working with your partner, the first step is to set aside time for some long conversations about how you’ll handle the things you’re worried about. If it’s what you both want, you’re at least giving yourselves the chance to figure it out rather not pursue what you want because you assume it’s not for you.
About the Author:
Alysha Dominico is a Canadian lesbian mompreneur. Find out more about her work at alyshadominico.com
Connect with Alsyha on Twitter @alyshadominico