May 18, 2023 • 17 mins
Do you always agree with your spouse? Do you always agree with your business partner? Probably not. And when your business partner is your spouse the number of debates and disagreements can multiply exponentially and hurt not just your relationship but your business and livelyhood. This episode shares some incredibly valuable tips from successful entrepreneurial couples on how to avoid those nasty arguments and keep your relationship and your business running smoothly.
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(00:00):
The risk takers, innovators, business owners, and they're a couple.
(00:14):
Welcome to a couple of entrepreneurs, a series about couples who start a business together
without ending their relationship.
Hear their unique stories, get tips, advice, and a secret to their success.
Would you work with your spouse?
Hosted by Micki and Tony, a couple of entrepreneurs.
(00:35):
Co-founders of Branding Shorts.
Welcome to a couple of entrepreneurs.
Working together as a couple and spending most of your waking hours together isn't always
easy, and sometimes it can be challenging, especially when conflicts arise.
And conflicts will arise.
So how do you avoid disagreements turning into major arguments?
(00:58):
And what is the best way to resolve conflict?
In this episode, we'll share some of the best practices from our most successful entrepreneurial
couples to keep your relationship and business running smooth.
Here's what Steve and Amanda from Amanda Bananas think about working together as a couple.
So the most challenging thing for working with your spouse is you're with them 24-7.
(01:20):
So you come home, you're with your spouse, you go to work with your spouse, so there's
no alone time.
Amanda, how do you feel about it?
I'm just thinking about how much I want to strangle him sometimes.
So when you tell your friends and your family you're going to start working together as
a couple, you get very interesting reactions.
Here's the reaction, Red and Jeff Bonk from Homes by Bonk got from friends and family
(01:44):
when they announced they were going to go into business together.
It was a lot of, oh, okay, yeah.
You guys so you work together and live together and you're going to have kids together and
you live in a 1200 square, well, at the time.
You live in a 750 foot studio.
Studio.
Okay.
Right, like that.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Go for it, guys.
(02:05):
So what can you do as a couple to make working together a very successful experience?
And what can you do or how can you avoid heated debate and conflict?
How important is it to clearly define roles?
I think that if we didn't have defined roles, it would just be chaotic.
I'm more of like the face in terms of like, I like talking to people.
(02:28):
I like being at the window.
I like doing the toppings.
I like things looking like Instagram ready and Instagram pretty.
Steve's like more of the back of the house.
He can tell you how much a cup costs, how much a spoon costs, how much each thing.
He goes nuts when I hand out extra spoons and extra cups.
She doesn't see how much a box of sprinkles costs.
(02:48):
But like, that's me.
Like, I'm like, oh, do you need an extra spoon with that?
Or do you need like, you know?
And in him, he's seeing 10 cents, 10 cents.
In all seriousness though, we had a lot of powwows and we had a lot of bumps in the road.
There was a lot of coaching.
This involved a lot of coaching because we did it the wrong way a bunch of times.
We tried to go on appointments together.
(03:09):
We'd be talking over each other.
We'd be cutting each other off.
We'd be contradicting each other.
And it's not a good look.
So we were like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
We're doing something wrong because we actually don't work well together when we're literally
working together.
So we learned how to, through coaching, stay in our lane.
All right, what do you do well and what do you hate?
(03:32):
What do you do well and what do you hate?
So then once we had actual clearly defined roles and we were able to succeed at, you
know, whatever we excelled in, whatever we liked and what we were passionate about, that's
when it started to become a more cohesive unit.
And we didn't want to kill each other.
Because in the beginning it was like, okay, come on, we have this listening appointment
(03:54):
on Tuesday and you'd be like, can't you just go by yourself?
Oh my God.
And I'd be like, no, we're a team, man.
So you're saying this great.
So because, you know, the audience, I mean, this is a lot of folks that are starting businesses
together.
So can you, you know, it sounds like what you guys are saying is, man, it is so key to
define what each of you do to make this thing work.
(04:17):
But it's not easy.
It sounds like either, right?
No, it's not.
Like at first you have to be like, all right, we're going to be a team.
How do we become a team?
And you have to try to like figure it out and what, like, where does this piece go?
And then when those pieces don't fit, you have to then figure out how to make it all
fit.
(04:38):
So that's when he, I think, studied the structure.
Like this is the business guy.
So he studied the structure and was like, here's how we got to do this to make this
work.
Otherwise it's not, we're not going to be successful.
I think there's this idea, right?
I'm like, and this is the extreme working with your spouse, like the extreme version
of this, but whenever you team up and create like a partnership, it's one plus one, you
want to try to make it equal three.
(05:00):
And you can, there's a very fine line where one plus one can equal one or point eight,
right?
Like it can actually do worse than the one by itself.
So if you don't figure out that formula, right?
You can either be duplicating efforts or even worse, diminishing your efforts.
But if you do find the right ways to tweak, and they're small tweaks, they're not like
(05:24):
massive, huge changes.
So they're very fine tuning to figure out how to heck to stay out of each other's way,
but also support each other and make the life of the other person more effective and efficient
and better.
Now it's often tough to agree on what you and your spouse just want for dinner or where
to go on a vacation or what activity to sign your son or daughter up for at school.
(05:46):
So how does that decision making process work when you don't agree as a husband and wife
business?
How can you do it without getting into major arguments and getting personal when you don't
agree?
Here's some great advice from Julie and Seth Jarrett of Jarrett Creative, the producers
of hit TV shows on A&E and other major networks.
They've been working together for over 20 years.
(06:09):
Having a good life coach once in a while to talk to about how to keep it separate.
It's pretty invaluable, I have to say.
It's good to every once in a while be able to also just talk to someone and have, you
know, a mediator for certain things.
Just resolving disagreements can be really tough.
(06:31):
Yeah.
And you know, Julie's always right.
So that, so as long as, as long as the argument ends with, you're right honey, then we're
good.
You know, that's so funny because I was talking about there's like, like three words there.
Mine is, it's my fault.
(06:51):
That's all I, that's what I say.
Like, yeah, then I know I'm good.
Just say it now.
Yeah.
Get it over with.
Yeah.
And I imagine that defines 95% of the relationships out there.
Probably.
Right.
So, so how do you guys, I guess that's it.
When you guys make decisions, how do you do that when you don't agree?
(07:12):
Like, how do you come to a solution because it is business, but then getting a personal
right, even in a big corporation.
So yeah, we've been fortunate in that there's always been a very senior level person at
our company.
So that person for the past couple of years, he's kind of like the tiebreaker.
(07:34):
So like, if it's something that really a third party can sort of help, they won't really,
they won't really make the decision for us, but he kinds of gives like a more non-bias
point of view.
But I would say we do good conflict resolution between us.
We just, we just figure it out.
I mean, we kind of joke that I'm always right.
(07:56):
I don't know if I'm always right, but you know what?
More often than not, he'll be like, you just decide.
Like there's never been a lot of like, that's true though.
Don't say it's not.
It's true.
I was just going to say that through the arguing and the fighting.
We get to a resolution?
And when I, that we find the resolution through all of the craziness of the argument, which
(08:21):
you know, I actually think makes sense within a creative world and we're usually, it's usually
creative discussions as they relate to money, of course.
Yeah.
I mean, I think yesterday is a perfect example.
We had, you know, it's funny because if you were an outsider watching us talk or argue,
(08:42):
you would be like, wow, they just, they go at it, right?
But it's almost like to us, it's just the way that we speak to each other.
But anyway, we were having an argument yesterday about something creative and I was pushing
up against him and I was like, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.
And he's like, I'm not wrong, right?
And so for me, if there's not a big financial implication to what he's passionate about,
(09:06):
I'll kind of be like, okay.
And then I think the reverse happens.
I think if there's a big argument and we're at an impasse, but there's like a big financial
part to it, he may in that instance be like, all right, we'll just, you know, so we kind
of find our way through it, right?
Because yesterday I was just like, all right, fine, just go.
If you want to spend an extra 10 hours working on that script, that's your time.
(09:30):
You go, I don't think it's necessary, but go because it wasn't affecting the company
in a bigger, grander financial way.
What great advice?
Picking your battles.
Otherwise, right?
You could battle all day.
So what a great example by Julian Seth from Jarrett Creative on how they work things out.
(09:52):
And sometimes through what some people would say is arguing.
Now let's hear a little bit from our friends, Lynn and Paul from Paul's Custom Pet Food,
about what they have to add to this topic and another interesting tidbit they have to
share.
It's interesting, we hear a lot about couples who work together.
They have life coaches, they have some sort of mediator who helps them make decisions
(10:14):
and kind of smooth things out.
Yeah, I think it's important.
Oh, you have to have that third person to bounce stuff up.
Assuming you're together at 24-7.
Yep.
What?
Oh, wait, that's another little tip.
You know, in the last year or so, we've tried to separate and that makes it easier on us
(10:36):
and the business.
What I've been trying to do a week of remote work at a time, if I can.
So I'll go to New Hampshire, I'll go to Rhode Island where my family is and hold up and
just work for a week.
So that puts a little distance, actual physical distance between us, which is, I think, helpful.
That's really interesting because, yeah, because working side by side, we work side by side.
(11:00):
This definitely has its pros and cons.
Right.
Here are some more great points from Frank and Jin, owners of Frankly Thai Restaurant.
From the back of the house to the front of the house, this Thai-Italian duo have a unique
recipe for keeping it together when forces try to pull them apart.
(11:20):
You know, they have to, number one, believe in themselves and get ready for the wind
to blow because it's going to blow.
I tell people all the time, they ask me, how'd you do this?
How'd you do this?
I say, listen, you keep the four walls of your house strong from the inside.
I says, because the wind's going to blow on the outside.
I says, and you know, if you start letting problems into the front door, out goes the
(11:45):
money through the window because there's a lot of problems.
You have to keep the walls strong in each other because there's going to be a lot of
problems.
Nothing.
There's not one day that goes by that something doesn't come up.
It could be a, you need a plumbing issue or something like that.
You cannot panic, you cannot get upset, you cannot scream, you cannot yell, you can't
(12:06):
get upset with each other.
You have to be even keeled and it's hard and it takes discipline and you have to know
that going in.
So that's the biggest thing.
If you're going to start something, be prepared for all of those things, but never let it destroy
what you built from day one as far as a couple.
I don't care what you're selling.
What do you think?
You have to believe in other and listen to each other.
(12:30):
Don't talk the problem for anyone because you know why?
Many people, many ideas and you come back to fight to each other.
Yeah, whether it's staff, but I can tell a real story.
When I first met her, she came to my house with my apartment in Elmont and my friend
was in charge of homicide in New York City.
So my wife's in the kitchen and she's deboning a pork shoulder with her knives, right?
(12:54):
And she like pulls the whole joint out intact and he looked at me and he goes, don't you
ever mess with her, bro.
They get you on, they won't find you.
That's a good deterrent to know in that, you know, you know, your leaps and bounds, you
know, a lot of couples, one guy, you could be strong headed.
(13:14):
You can have it and you know, agree to compromise and agree to say you're sorry.
You know, listen, in the heat of the moment, things do go the wrong way sometimes and you
lash out and you say, oh, I wanted that dish to be the customer's it.
You know, you have to understand everybody's trying as hard as they can.
All my staff does.
You know why we work together, eat together, see each other 24 seven, 365 is so tough.
(13:42):
Vacation together?
Very, very tough.
If you don't believe each other, you don't believe this love each other, we don't listen
to each other.
We cannot stay like this.
No, not possible.
Sometimes I hold myself, don't talk, don't talk to anyone.
And I'm so happy.
I don't talk to anyone.
I'm so happy that I hold my tongue.
Yeah, I love.
(14:03):
I talk to him.
I have to talk to him that what is the problem?
Why you do like that?
Why you like that?
That is a problem.
It's a, can solve the problem for your mind.
I jot down songs and stuff still because I can't ever get music out of my soul.
You know, and the song was called don't let the quiet in because when it gets quiet, something's
real, real wrong.
(14:24):
You have to be able to talk about it.
You know, not that quietness.
You sit on the couch or somebody goes outside and you sit there and like, you know, something's
wrong.
You know, you have to be able to communicate and talk it out with that taking on of a business
for entrepreneurs.
You have to be able to understand going in that it's going to happen.
You can't let it rattle the cage.
(14:45):
Like you say, don't let the quiet and go home at night because you go home and we walk
in this house.
You got, what do you talk about?
Oh, you talk about the restaurant, talk about who didn't show up, who didn't come to work,
the price of eggs going up.
Now you have to still talk about yourselves and things that make you tick and where you
want to be at a certain time.
Like you also have to have an out plan.
(15:07):
Tell the entrepreneur is this.
You have to know when enough is enough.
Just as any business, if you're tired of it and if the business starts running you, then
you have to do something different.
Now you guys have a lot of great points.
And I love the communication.
You talked about the importance of like, don't let the quiet in, right?
Yeah, you know, you can't stop communicating every day, you know, and you have to be sure
(15:28):
that you're on the same page.
You're going to butt heads.
That's inevitable.
You work it through.
Like you talk through it, you know.
If you take a space, like my wife has a garden, that's her therapy.
She goes in the backyard and she grows everything, you know, and she gets away from it at that
point.
That's right.
Oh, something happened.
(15:48):
They talked to the plan.
They don't talk back to me.
I like that.
And if they talk back to you, you just cut them down and then you put them up and you
put them in it and you serve them to the customer.
Put them in the stew pot.
(16:09):
So we want to thank these amazing couples for sharing their words of wisdom on how to avoid
conflict and resolve it.
It's great to learn how they talked about the importance of roles, importance of sometimes
having a mediator, having your own space, having your own outlets, and of course, picking
your battles.
Not everything is worth fighting over.
(16:30):
These are really great tips.
Working a business as a couple isn't always easy, but there are things you can put into
place to make it work and work successfully.
If you're thinking about working as a couple or if you're already working as one and you
want to get some tips from couples who've gone down this road successfully, subscribe
to our podcast, A Couple of Entrepreneurs, available on all podcast platforms.
(16:55):
Thanks for listening.
For more episodes, visit brandingshorts.com forward slash podcast.
Thanks for listening.
The risk takers, innovators, business owners, and they're a couple.
(00:14):
Welcome to a couple of entrepreneurs, a series about couples who start a business together
without ending their relationship.
Hear their unique stories, get tips, advice, and a secret to their success.
Would you work with your spouse?
Hosted by Micki and Tony, a couple of entrepreneurs.
(00:35):
Co-founders of Branding Shorts.
Welcome to a couple of entrepreneurs.
Working together as a couple and spending most of your waking hours together isn't always
easy, and sometimes it can be challenging, especially when conflicts arise.
And conflicts will arise.
So how do you avoid disagreements turning into major arguments?
(00:58):
And what is the best way to resolve conflict?
In this episode, we'll share some of the best practices from our most successful entrepreneurial
couples to keep your relationship and business running smooth.
Here's what Steve and Amanda from Amanda Bananas think about working together as a couple.
So the most challenging thing for working with your spouse is you're with them 24-7.
(01:20):
So you come home, you're with your spouse, you go to work with your spouse, so there's
no alone time.
Amanda, how do you feel about it?
I'm just thinking about how much I want to strangle him sometimes.
So when you tell your friends and your family you're going to start working together as
a couple, you get very interesting reactions.
Here's the reaction, Red and Jeff Bonk from Homes by Bonk got from friends and family
(01:44):
when they announced they were going to go into business together.
It was a lot of, oh, okay, yeah.
You guys so you work together and live together and you're going to have kids together and
you live in a 1200 square, well, at the time.
You live in a 750 foot studio.
Studio.
Okay.
Right, like that.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Go for it, guys.
(02:05):
So what can you do as a couple to make working together a very successful experience?
And what can you do or how can you avoid heated debate and conflict?
How important is it to clearly define roles?
I think that if we didn't have defined roles, it would just be chaotic.
I'm more of like the face in terms of like, I like talking to people.
(02:28):
I like being at the window.
I like doing the toppings.
I like things looking like Instagram ready and Instagram pretty.
Steve's like more of the back of the house.
He can tell you how much a cup costs, how much a spoon costs, how much each thing.
He goes nuts when I hand out extra spoons and extra cups.
She doesn't see how much a box of sprinkles costs.
(02:48):
But like, that's me.
Like, I'm like, oh, do you need an extra spoon with that?
Or do you need like, you know?
And in him, he's seeing 10 cents, 10 cents.
In all seriousness though, we had a lot of powwows and we had a lot of bumps in the road.
There was a lot of coaching.
This involved a lot of coaching because we did it the wrong way a bunch of times.
We tried to go on appointments together.
(03:09):
We'd be talking over each other.
We'd be cutting each other off.
We'd be contradicting each other.
And it's not a good look.
So we were like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
We're doing something wrong because we actually don't work well together when we're literally
working together.
So we learned how to, through coaching, stay in our lane.
All right, what do you do well and what do you hate?
(03:32):
What do you do well and what do you hate?
So then once we had actual clearly defined roles and we were able to succeed at, you
know, whatever we excelled in, whatever we liked and what we were passionate about, that's
when it started to become a more cohesive unit.
And we didn't want to kill each other.
Because in the beginning it was like, okay, come on, we have this listening appointment
(03:54):
on Tuesday and you'd be like, can't you just go by yourself?
Oh my God.
And I'd be like, no, we're a team, man.
So you're saying this great.
So because, you know, the audience, I mean, this is a lot of folks that are starting businesses
together.
So can you, you know, it sounds like what you guys are saying is, man, it is so key to
define what each of you do to make this thing work.
(04:17):
But it's not easy.
It sounds like either, right?
No, it's not.
Like at first you have to be like, all right, we're going to be a team.
How do we become a team?
And you have to try to like figure it out and what, like, where does this piece go?
And then when those pieces don't fit, you have to then figure out how to make it all
fit.
(04:38):
So that's when he, I think, studied the structure.
Like this is the business guy.
So he studied the structure and was like, here's how we got to do this to make this
work.
Otherwise it's not, we're not going to be successful.
I think there's this idea, right?
I'm like, and this is the extreme working with your spouse, like the extreme version
of this, but whenever you team up and create like a partnership, it's one plus one, you
want to try to make it equal three.
(05:00):
And you can, there's a very fine line where one plus one can equal one or point eight,
right?
Like it can actually do worse than the one by itself.
So if you don't figure out that formula, right?
You can either be duplicating efforts or even worse, diminishing your efforts.
But if you do find the right ways to tweak, and they're small tweaks, they're not like
(05:24):
massive, huge changes.
So they're very fine tuning to figure out how to heck to stay out of each other's way,
but also support each other and make the life of the other person more effective and efficient
and better.
Now it's often tough to agree on what you and your spouse just want for dinner or where
to go on a vacation or what activity to sign your son or daughter up for at school.
(05:46):
So how does that decision making process work when you don't agree as a husband and wife
business?
How can you do it without getting into major arguments and getting personal when you don't
agree?
Here's some great advice from Julie and Seth Jarrett of Jarrett Creative, the producers
of hit TV shows on A&E and other major networks.
They've been working together for over 20 years.
(06:09):
Having a good life coach once in a while to talk to about how to keep it separate.
It's pretty invaluable, I have to say.
It's good to every once in a while be able to also just talk to someone and have, you
know, a mediator for certain things.
Just resolving disagreements can be really tough.
(06:31):
Yeah.
And you know, Julie's always right.
So that, so as long as, as long as the argument ends with, you're right honey, then we're
good.
You know, that's so funny because I was talking about there's like, like three words there.
Mine is, it's my fault.
(06:51):
That's all I, that's what I say.
Like, yeah, then I know I'm good.
Just say it now.
Yeah.
Get it over with.
Yeah.
And I imagine that defines 95% of the relationships out there.
Probably.
Right.
So, so how do you guys, I guess that's it.
When you guys make decisions, how do you do that when you don't agree?
(07:12):
Like, how do you come to a solution because it is business, but then getting a personal
right, even in a big corporation.
So yeah, we've been fortunate in that there's always been a very senior level person at
our company.
So that person for the past couple of years, he's kind of like the tiebreaker.
(07:34):
So like, if it's something that really a third party can sort of help, they won't really,
they won't really make the decision for us, but he kinds of gives like a more non-bias
point of view.
But I would say we do good conflict resolution between us.
We just, we just figure it out.
I mean, we kind of joke that I'm always right.
(07:56):
I don't know if I'm always right, but you know what?
More often than not, he'll be like, you just decide.
Like there's never been a lot of like, that's true though.
Don't say it's not.
It's true.
I was just going to say that through the arguing and the fighting.
We get to a resolution?
And when I, that we find the resolution through all of the craziness of the argument, which
(08:21):
you know, I actually think makes sense within a creative world and we're usually, it's usually
creative discussions as they relate to money, of course.
Yeah.
I mean, I think yesterday is a perfect example.
We had, you know, it's funny because if you were an outsider watching us talk or argue,
(08:42):
you would be like, wow, they just, they go at it, right?
But it's almost like to us, it's just the way that we speak to each other.
But anyway, we were having an argument yesterday about something creative and I was pushing
up against him and I was like, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.
And he's like, I'm not wrong, right?
And so for me, if there's not a big financial implication to what he's passionate about,
(09:06):
I'll kind of be like, okay.
And then I think the reverse happens.
I think if there's a big argument and we're at an impasse, but there's like a big financial
part to it, he may in that instance be like, all right, we'll just, you know, so we kind
of find our way through it, right?
Because yesterday I was just like, all right, fine, just go.
If you want to spend an extra 10 hours working on that script, that's your time.
(09:30):
You go, I don't think it's necessary, but go because it wasn't affecting the company
in a bigger, grander financial way.
What great advice?
Picking your battles.
Otherwise, right?
You could battle all day.
So what a great example by Julian Seth from Jarrett Creative on how they work things out.
(09:52):
And sometimes through what some people would say is arguing.
Now let's hear a little bit from our friends, Lynn and Paul from Paul's Custom Pet Food,
about what they have to add to this topic and another interesting tidbit they have to
share.
It's interesting, we hear a lot about couples who work together.
They have life coaches, they have some sort of mediator who helps them make decisions
(10:14):
and kind of smooth things out.
Yeah, I think it's important.
Oh, you have to have that third person to bounce stuff up.
Assuming you're together at 24-7.
Yep.
What?
Oh, wait, that's another little tip.
You know, in the last year or so, we've tried to separate and that makes it easier on us
(10:36):
and the business.
What I've been trying to do a week of remote work at a time, if I can.
So I'll go to New Hampshire, I'll go to Rhode Island where my family is and hold up and
just work for a week.
So that puts a little distance, actual physical distance between us, which is, I think, helpful.
That's really interesting because, yeah, because working side by side, we work side by side.
(11:00):
This definitely has its pros and cons.
Right.
Here are some more great points from Frank and Jin, owners of Frankly Thai Restaurant.
From the back of the house to the front of the house, this Thai-Italian duo have a unique
recipe for keeping it together when forces try to pull them apart.
(11:20):
You know, they have to, number one, believe in themselves and get ready for the wind
to blow because it's going to blow.
I tell people all the time, they ask me, how'd you do this?
How'd you do this?
I say, listen, you keep the four walls of your house strong from the inside.
I says, because the wind's going to blow on the outside.
I says, and you know, if you start letting problems into the front door, out goes the
(11:45):
money through the window because there's a lot of problems.
You have to keep the walls strong in each other because there's going to be a lot of
problems.
Nothing.
There's not one day that goes by that something doesn't come up.
It could be a, you need a plumbing issue or something like that.
You cannot panic, you cannot get upset, you cannot scream, you cannot yell, you can't
(12:06):
get upset with each other.
You have to be even keeled and it's hard and it takes discipline and you have to know
that going in.
So that's the biggest thing.
If you're going to start something, be prepared for all of those things, but never let it destroy
what you built from day one as far as a couple.
I don't care what you're selling.
What do you think?
You have to believe in other and listen to each other.
(12:30):
Don't talk the problem for anyone because you know why?
Many people, many ideas and you come back to fight to each other.
Yeah, whether it's staff, but I can tell a real story.
When I first met her, she came to my house with my apartment in Elmont and my friend
was in charge of homicide in New York City.
So my wife's in the kitchen and she's deboning a pork shoulder with her knives, right?
(12:54):
And she like pulls the whole joint out intact and he looked at me and he goes, don't you
ever mess with her, bro.
They get you on, they won't find you.
That's a good deterrent to know in that, you know, you know, your leaps and bounds, you
know, a lot of couples, one guy, you could be strong headed.
(13:14):
You can have it and you know, agree to compromise and agree to say you're sorry.
You know, listen, in the heat of the moment, things do go the wrong way sometimes and you
lash out and you say, oh, I wanted that dish to be the customer's it.
You know, you have to understand everybody's trying as hard as they can.
All my staff does.
You know why we work together, eat together, see each other 24 seven, 365 is so tough.
(13:42):
Vacation together?
Very, very tough.
If you don't believe each other, you don't believe this love each other, we don't listen
to each other.
We cannot stay like this.
No, not possible.
Sometimes I hold myself, don't talk, don't talk to anyone.
And I'm so happy.
I don't talk to anyone.
I'm so happy that I hold my tongue.
Yeah, I love.
(14:03):
I talk to him.
I have to talk to him that what is the problem?
Why you do like that?
Why you like that?
That is a problem.
It's a, can solve the problem for your mind.
I jot down songs and stuff still because I can't ever get music out of my soul.
You know, and the song was called don't let the quiet in because when it gets quiet, something's
real, real wrong.
(14:24):
You have to be able to talk about it.
You know, not that quietness.
You sit on the couch or somebody goes outside and you sit there and like, you know, something's
wrong.
You know, you have to be able to communicate and talk it out with that taking on of a business
for entrepreneurs.
You have to be able to understand going in that it's going to happen.
You can't let it rattle the cage.
(14:45):
Like you say, don't let the quiet and go home at night because you go home and we walk
in this house.
You got, what do you talk about?
Oh, you talk about the restaurant, talk about who didn't show up, who didn't come to work,
the price of eggs going up.
Now you have to still talk about yourselves and things that make you tick and where you
want to be at a certain time.
Like you also have to have an out plan.
(15:07):
Tell the entrepreneur is this.
You have to know when enough is enough.
Just as any business, if you're tired of it and if the business starts running you, then
you have to do something different.
Now you guys have a lot of great points.
And I love the communication.
You talked about the importance of like, don't let the quiet in, right?
Yeah, you know, you can't stop communicating every day, you know, and you have to be sure
(15:28):
that you're on the same page.
You're going to butt heads.
That's inevitable.
You work it through.
Like you talk through it, you know.
If you take a space, like my wife has a garden, that's her therapy.
She goes in the backyard and she grows everything, you know, and she gets away from it at that
point.
That's right.
Oh, something happened.
(15:48):
They talked to the plan.
They don't talk back to me.
I like that.
And if they talk back to you, you just cut them down and then you put them up and you
put them in it and you serve them to the customer.
Put them in the stew pot.
(16:09):
So we want to thank these amazing couples for sharing their words of wisdom on how to avoid
conflict and resolve it.
It's great to learn how they talked about the importance of roles, importance of sometimes
having a mediator, having your own space, having your own outlets, and of course, picking
your battles.
Not everything is worth fighting over.
(16:30):
These are really great tips.
Working a business as a couple isn't always easy, but there are things you can put into
place to make it work and work successfully.
If you're thinking about working as a couple or if you're already working as one and you
want to get some tips from couples who've gone down this road successfully, subscribe
to our podcast, A Couple of Entrepreneurs, available on all podcast platforms.
(16:55):
Thanks for listening.
For more episodes, visit brandingshorts.com forward slash podcast.
Thanks for listening.
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