How Mormon Entrepreneurs Balance Marriage and Business

“By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.” – The Family, A Proclamation to the World, emphasis added.

Entrepreneurs of necessity take risks in pursuit of financial independence, yet the largest risk is often that running a business can ruin your marriage. The long hours away from the family, the stress one brings home, and the financial strain have driven many couples apart.

It’s compounded when spouses are business partners: the lines between marriage and work are blurred. Conflicts in the relationship tend to hinder the progress of the business. Entrepreneurial hardship can cause romance to sour.

Yet, as someone who co-runs a successful therapy practice with my wife, I can tell you that entrepreneurship can also elevate your partnership and solidify your love. You may experience together the rush of success, the shared joy of your hard work paying off, and the peace of financial stability. You just need to do it right.

Our story

My wife is a driven, accomplished, and focused woman. She sets her mind on something and accomplishes it quickly. She graduated from high school at age 14, then earned two college degrees (one in architecture and one in construction management) going on to a successful career at a young age.

I, on the other hand, dabbled in film-making and stage comedy before becoming a therapist. I worked hard and gained an education, but no one could accuse me of being in a hurry. I always made time for fun and have never been as organized or strategic as she is.

We got married and had five kids. She put her career on hold to raise and teach them, putting our family’s stability in the hands of man who, at the time, earned far less than she had been earning, and who was not used to hitting goals at the pace she hit them.

Bills piled up. We tried to avoid it, but we got into debt. While I felt very competent as a therapist, as a business owner I was out of my depth. Despite working 60 hours (or more) a week, we weren’t getting ahead. Our company plateaued. I gained permanent scar tissue on my arm from donating plasma eight times a month, because the extra $200 made a huge difference at the time. I felt inadequate and ashamed. She was frustrated. We argued. The stress was heavy on our marriage.

What changed

For starters, we signed up for a year’s worth of business coaching. It was intense, and we had to rebrand and redesign our business model from the ground up. Roles shifted as my wife worked from home as CEO (focusing on business and marketing) and I became clinical director (focusing on client needs and the hiring and training of new therapists). Following the guidance of our coach, we began to innovate with online relationship courses to reach a wider audience outside of our state.

It worked. Our business turned around and started thriving. So did our marriage.

Through late nights and hard work, we became more of a team than we’d ever been, playing to our strengths and finding fulfillment in creating something together that we were proud of, something that would provide security for our family.

In the process, we also learned quite a bit about balancing business ownership with nurturing a marriage. If you’re married and running a company, whether you work with your spouse or not, this advice is for you.

Get Your Spouse’s Support 

Either now or sometime down the line, odds are your spouse will take issue with how you manage your business. It may be money issues, time not spent with your family, work taking a toll on your intimacy, irritability, stress, or something else entirely. While your specific situation may need attention in counseling, generally you need your spouse’s support if you’re going to have both a marriage and a business.

Listen to your partner. Be humble and flexible. Implement changes to spend more time with your family. Take as many things off your plate (by delegating or automating them) as you can. If there’s bumps in the road, but you’ve got a good marriage, work through them! Get help: there’s no shame in enlisting the help of a counselor. It’s the mark of wisdom, not failure, to gain skills to keep disagreements manageable instead of waiting until they become major.

However, if your spouse is abusive, neglectful, or controlling, my advice is to get help or get out! Their resistance to your dreams may be a catalyst to an inevitable end. You can be free to be your best self. But only you can make that decision. Remember the words of President James E. Faust: “In my opinion, ‘just cause’ [for divorce] should be nothing less serious than a prolonged and apparently irredeemable relationship which is destructive of a person’s dignity as a human being.” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1993, 46; or Ensign, May 1993, 36–37).

Create Unified Goals and Shared Vision

You and your partner need to pull together instead of pulling apart. It needs to be both of you against the world, not both of you against each other. Set goals together for your marriage, your business, and your family. Have a weekly planning meeting (also known as a “couples’ council”) to schedule your week, express praise, and resolve conflicts, as well as set and report on goals.

Elder M. Russell Ballard called this weekly planning meeting between couples an “executive family council.” He taught that “during this time together, parents can review each child’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and his or her progress. The executive family council is also a good time for wives and husbands to talk about their personal relationships with each other.” (Family Councils, April 2016 General Conference).

Make Time for Your Family

Nurture your marriage more than your leads. Like a plant, your marriage can wither from neglect. You need to make time to water and give sunlight to your marriage while growing your business. The best way to find time for your marriage is effective task management. Eliminate from your business those practices that don’t yield results. Automate services that a machine, website, or app can do. Delegate tasks that don’t have to be done by you.

When it comes to your time at home, be present when you are there. Set work aside to connect with your spouse and children when you are home. This is easiest if you schedule non-negotiable time for your family, where work responsibilities are not allowed to interfere. Make date night a priority.

Remember, you work for yourself! You don’t have a boss who can demand you take time away from the family; you alone are responsible for that choice. Of course, work emergencies may come up which take you away from scheduled family time, but those should be the exception, not the rule, and you must make that time up to your spouse and children.

Don’t confuse providing for your family with being a success. Your family needs a home and food, yes, but they also need you. Your time, your love, and your attention. Make sure you make time for them. If you begin to see your family as a hindrance to your business goals, it’s time to reprioritize.

Remember, “parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.” – The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

Your business is important, but from an eternal perspective, it’s not nearly as important as giving yourself to your family, heart, mind, and soul.

Resolve Conflict Effectively

Jesus taught that “the spirit of contention is of the devil” (3 Nephi 11:29) but he didn’t walk away from conflict. There is a big difference between contention and conflict. Christ spoke the truth with love, sought to understand and extend compassion, and worked to unite His followers.

Conflict can pull your marriage apart, but the big secret is that it can also sew your hearts together. If managed well, it can make you more of a team. Don’t try to resolve things when angry. Stop and calm down. Identify what you’re really feeling (hurt, scared, embarrassed, etc.) and express that instead of the anger. Try to see things from your partner’s perspective and express empathy and accountability.

If You’re Business Partners and Spouses, Do it Right

Going into business together adds stress and work to your marriage. It’s hard to know where the business starts and where the marriage begins. The lines between the two become blurry. Frustrations on one end tend to seep into the other.

However, if you do it right, running a business together can give you the bonding exhilaration of pursuing and achieving shared goals. It can enhance unity through a shared purpose and mission.

So how do you make it work? First of all, clearly outline responsibilities. If there’s overlap, who reports to who in what area? Who is ultimately responsible in a given area? Sort this out and play to your strengths.

Be accountable to each other for your business goals in your weekly couples’ meeting. Certainly be each other’s cheerleaders, but have enough confidence to give and receive honest feedback and correction without defensiveness.

Most of all, when appropriate, make work fun and romantic! We’ve had many “work date nights” where we turn on some music, order takeout, and work on projects while having a good time.

Applying this knowledge has been incredibly helpful in our marriage and business. We trust it will do the same for yours. If you’d like more support, I recommend contacting this team about my online course “Strengthening Your Marriage While Growing Your Business.”