Marriage and Business

Three contractors’ wives tell their perspectives on running a family business, sharing responsibilities, and balancing home and work life

For many contractors, a hard day at the office also equates to a hard day at home with the family. When spouses help run a business, the distinction between home, work and marriage often becomes blurry.

Successful partners find ways to deal with living their jobs all day, every day. For some, clearly separated duties do the trick. Others must make a conscious effort to leave work problems at the office.

That’s not to say there are no rewards to being business partners: Spouses share the joy of building something together, and that can breed a unique sense of closeness and gratification. Here’s what several contractors’ wives had to say about helping to run a family business and balancing work and marriage:

“I married into the business about 16 years ago,” says Michelle Anderson, who handles bookkeeping and marketing while working alongside her husband, Phillip, at the Mr. Rooter Plumbing franchise in Hartsville, S.C.

“A big advantage of being self-employed is the flexibility it affords me in raising our children. I have a staff in place, and since it’s a franchise, we have a systematic way of doing business. Because our staff is trained to follow certain procedures, it allows me the freedom to get out of the office when I need to.

“At the same time, when you’re self-employed, the buck stops here. At the end of the day, it’s your responsibility to make sure things got done. Sometimes you get home and there are things to deal with after hours. In the plumbing industry, you’re never off work – it’s sort of like being a doctor. So both of us are really never off work.

“He comes home with technical issues and I come home with the money issues. It brings a lot of stress into your home. The good part is you can discuss things together because you work in the same field. We don’t usually disagree on business decisions; we’re usually on the same page. He trusts my judgment and I trust his.

“I think the most important thing is to avoid bringing home work issues. Those things come and go, so they’re not worth bringing home. Those issues are still going to be there in the morning, so don’t take them home.

“Sometimes work gives us a chance to be together. Once we got a service call after hours, and it would have required one of our technicians to drive 40 minutes to get a truck and 40 minutes back. We lived near the customer, so we decided it would be quicker and better for the customer if we went.

“So we took our daughter, and it was really a lot of fun. I explained to her the importance of commitment to customers. I think that living what we do maybe provides her with a better education than anything she’ll learn in college. It’s instilling in her a work ethic. She’s an entrepreneur in training.”

“I’ve been involved with the business since we established it,” says Laurie Michelini, who takes care of accounting, certifications and employee payroll and benefits for Illinois Valley Excavating Inc. in Peru, Ill. She helps run the business, which among other things offers sewer cleaning and inspection services, with husband Steve, who handles everything from equipment and material purchasing to site supervision.

“One of the biggest advantages? Job security!” she says. “He can’t do it without me. There are a lot of things I know on my end that he doesn’t know about. I do similar work for another family business in the heating and air conditioning industry. I do that a couple days a week and do it for him the rest of the week. I learned a lot from that job and was able to translate it into this business.

“One downside is we always talk about work-related items. But having clearly defined duties helps. He handles different things than I do. That way I’m not always judging him and he’s not judging me. We have our own things we do and there are certain things that mesh together, but there’s a lot that doesn’t.

“The work/marriage relationship definitely is something you have to work at. It’s a learning process. Working together is almost like a marriage within a marriage.”

“The great thing about having a family business is that it allows us to be together more often,” says Tanya Bumgarner, who handles bookkeeping and invoicing at Bumgarner Septic Tank and Grading in Hickory, N.C. She helps her husband Mike run the business, which includes drain-cleaning services.

“You’re so much closer together. It also gives me more flexibility as a mother. I also have three grandchildren, so I can watch them for a day or so here and there. It provides a lot more flexibility than having a full-time job outside the family.

“The downside is that many times you have to drop what you’re doing and go do what needs to be done. And sometimes work tends to consume our lives. I’ve found that there are times when you just have to put everything aside and say, ‘Hey, I need a break. You’re going to have to take care of things without me.’

“It helps that we have very different responsibilities. At night, we compare notes – I tell him what went on in my day and he tells me what went on in his day. We’re comfortable making suggestions to each other.”

Tell Your Story?

What are your experiences with owning and running a business as a couple? Cleaner would like to hear both men’s and women’s perspectives. Please feel free to share your thoughts. Send a note to editor@cleaner.com or call Ted Rulseh at 877/953-3301.



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