You work with your husband? And you aren't sick of him? That's the most common answer I get when I tell people that my husband and I work together. And... we still desire to go out for lunch together at least once a week, imagine that!
We started BumbleWee Nursing Wear (www.bumbleweenursing.ca) back in August 2008, but the work began about a year before that when my son was born. Together we created our business plan, webpage, ordered our inventory and started up a business. My husband has a Commerce degree and I have a Computer Science degree. We felt it was a perfect marriage of skills to start an online business!
People always ask me how I work with my husband and still want to spend time with him evenings and weekends. The answer is, I don't know, I just do. But for those of you who want to know more, here are some tips we have learned along the way:
1. Split The Work according to strengths. We found that if we work on the same thing then we are often stepping on each others toes. We have such different working styles. Instead, we split the work according to out strengths and then keep the other informed as necessary.
2. Brainstorm Together. Since we're splitting the work we want to make sure that we are still always getting the best of both our minds. When we start something new we will sit and brainstorm together first to get some clear direction.
3. Do Not Criticize. This is a big one for us! Since we have such different working styles, it is easy to say "why don't you do it this way?". We've found it best just to let each other work within their own style so long as the end result comes out the same.
4. Support Each Other. Encourage Each Other. When he does a great job, I say so, and he does the same for me. Since it's just the two of us we have to rely on each other for our own positive feedback. Since "constructive criticism" (love that term) is inevitable, we have to be sure to remind each other that we appreciate the work the other is doing.
Not to say that we never run into a bit of conflict, I know I have driven my husband crazy on several occasions! But here we are almost a year later and we still love working together.
As for the business... it's just getting started! We're hoping to make it to that magical year 5 that entrepreneurs always talk about. Want to help? Vote for BumbleWee Nursing Wear in the parentpreneur contest at http://www.weewelcome.ca/en/Parent_Power_Contest.
Want to exchange ideas about running a successful business? Join our group "Calling all Parentpreneurs!" at http://www.weewelcome.ca/en/node/34855
Keep us in mide the next time someone you know is expecting or nursing - http://www.bumbleweenursing.ca