Would you hire your husband to work at a company you founded? It’s an interesting question, one delved into by the NY Times in a recently published article. With women currently owning (privately) approximately 7.7 million businesses in the US (an increase of 42.3% from 1998), one has to wonder where and if a husband fits into all of this. There are issues of emasculation to deal with, who has the higher salary and of course, who ultimately gets to make the big decisions.
So, my husband has many skills and is very competent at what he does. And, our talents don’t really overlap. I think we could work together if we had a crystal clear idea of what our responsibilities were. We’ve actually talked about it at various times in our life — running a business together. The timing just hasn’t worked out. Aside from the actual day-to-day working together, I’m not sure how he would feel about me being “the boss.”
According to the Times piece, the couples who have successfully made this work have learned to separate who does what best and learned to live with that — even if one is out in the public eye more than the other. Some men may have to put aside any issues they might have about being the higher wage earner. It has the potential to be a great and fruitful relationship because you’re working with someone you trust (hopefully) and everyone is striving for the common family good.
It’s a tough one — any thoughts?
1 Comment
July 3, 2008 at 9:13 pm
My husband and I have discussed going into business as well. I can tell you that not being the boss would be an issue for my husband. He has a much better business head than I do but I have better people skills. I still think it would be very hard for him to see me as even an equal in the business let alone as his boss. So for this reason as well as many others (timing, financial, etc) I strongly hesitate starting a business with him.