How Couples Run a Home Business Without Running Each Other Down

Combining marriage and business is not an endeavor to be taken lightly. It requires serious consideration and answers to some tough questions. Here are 10 tips for running a successful home-based business with your spouse:

-- Determine if you can work side by side. Ask yourself honestly if you can work patiently alongside your spouse day in and day out, and then go from business partner to life partner after work. If you can't picture yourself making this transition, then you probably should not run a business together.

-- Discuss your goals. Are your visions for the business the same as those of your spouse? Even the strongest marriage will be tested if you are working at cross-purposes.

-- Write a business plan and solicit feedback. Once you detail your vision, show it to a consultant for an objective opinion. There is tremendous value in feedback from an unbiased source.

-- Define each person's role. The roles can be flexible (and will likely have to change over time) but must at least address the basics: who will keep the books, who will do the shipping, etc.

-- Keep the lines of communication open. Don't be critical of one another -- and don't be dismissive or contemptuous of your partner. Confront the challenges of the business, not one another.

-- Be circumspect when talking with clients. Your customers don't need to know that your partner in business is also your partner in life. Confiding in a client about your relationship with your partner can poison your relationship with your customer as well as your marriage.

-- Form a united front. Do not allow employees or customers to pit one of you against the other. Never put a sale or a customer ahead of your spouse.

-- Set firm boundaries and honor them. Set up your office in a space that doesn't disrupt the entire family.

-- Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Draw up legal agreements detailing how the business will be divided if you split up or if one of you decides to opt out of the business. Also, have a contingency plan in place in the event that your spouse falls short of his or her business obligations.

-- Don't deal with family matters during business hours. Running a small business and being a good partner and parent are each difficult on their own. To do both concurrently will almost ensure that you fail at both. Set specific times outside of business hours for discussing family business.

Article By Allbusiness

Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? While there's no such thing as the perfect entrepreneur -- even Bill Gates has made mistakes -- a number of personal qualities can help you to build a successful business. If you pass muster on most of these traits, you're off and running.

• You Can Delegate. No matter how smart and energetic you are, it's a mistake to try to attend to every detail yourself. Unless you're a solo act, you're going to have to trust employees to do their jobs so that you can run the business.

• You Are A Teacher. In order to delegate successfully, you will need people with appropriate skills -- and they may have to learn some of those skills from you.

• You Are Self-Motivated. As a small business owner, you won't have a boss to tell you when to get to work. If that's a problem, keep your day job.

• You Can Work With Numbers. You will spend a fair amount of time keeping track of money -- expenses, revenues, taxes and the like. A math phobia won't help.

• You Learn From Mistakes. You will make them; the trick is to learn from them and move on. Not everyone finds that easy to do.

• You Like To Work. Contrary to myth, you don't need to be a workaholic to start a successful business. Many entrepreneurs find that it makes more sense to establish a reasonable working pace -- one that lets them strike a balance between work and their personal lives. That said, don't start a business unless you enjoy work. There's going to be plenty of it.

• You Don't Mind Selling. You'll have to sell products to customers, of course. You may also need to sell lenders or other financial backers on the prospects of your company. And you'll need to convince potential employees to accept jobs with your firm rather than go to work for the competition.

• You Don't Quit. You'll encounter obstacles that might stymie some individuals. You'll have more success if you are the type of person who relishes such challenges. A dash of optimism helps; it will help you handle the uncertainty that is part of every venture.

Provided by Allbusiness