Working With Your Spouse

Ever thought about working with your spouse? How about working from home with your spouse? Most people I ask say “I could never do that—not going to happen. We would kill each other.” The point is—the idea isn’t that appealing to most. And yet, I’ve been doing it for over 12 years.

The first 8 years or so I didn’t really notice. I worked from home, and he went into the office or client site. We worked at the same company but not actually “together.” In fact, several people didn’t know we were even married.

Then COVID hit and the world shut down. Now, we both worked from home. Other than that, I never felt like things in our work relationship changed. We still weren’t working on the same things or with the same people, so we both kept to our normal routine—just never leaving home. It wasn’t until we decided to start our own company that it got real!

I say that in all sincerity and not sarcastically. I don’t think you can really “see” your spouse as the employee version of themselves until you work with them. That version is not the parent, spouse or friend version. It is totally different.

I found out very quickly why my husband is good at what he does. He is scary smart. He has an edge in this business that many don’t. He is capable of anything he puts his mind to. He is a teacher, mentor and leader. He has a sense of humor that draws people in and he has a heart that keeps them there. I also found out what a pain he can be. Sometimes I wonder why anyone even wants to work with him. He expects a level of perfection that no one can live up to. The thing that I love, though, is his “why.” His “why” isn’t because he wants “perfection.” His “why” is because he cares so much for the people. He believes they deserve nothing less than perfection. What comes across as an expectation for others is an expectation for himself. He wants to always be the best version of himself. He is always learning and pushing himself to be better. He will never accept less from himself.

I wouldn’t have known all of this without working with him. There are aspects that seep into our other relationships as husband, father or friend. They aren’t the same. I get to look at him from the eyes of our employees, and as an employee. Those eyes are different. It makes me respect him more, value him more, and understand him more. Sure, we disagree, we get on each other’s nerves—but at the end of the day, I’m glad I get to see him in a different light.

If you have gotten the opportunity to work with your spouse, what have you learned? I would love to hear your experience! Comment below.

For now,

Angela