How Marriage Benefits Your Business

Married life mixed with the entrepreneurial spirit has definitely gotten a bad rap over the last few decades. Search online and you will see myriads of articles about how difficult it is to be married to an entrepreneur and countless titles like “Why Being Married to an Entrepreneur is the WORST!”

Don’t let these articles scare you out of starting your business or making that investment just because you’re married.

Being a successful entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your married or your business. Why? Because by being married, you already have what it takes to be the best leader out there.

Starting a business takes time, passion, and commitment. Luckily for married entrepreneurs, they already know how to implement these qualities like the back of their hands.

A good marriage is like a good business. Here are 6 reasons why being a married entrepreneur has set you up to be the best possible leader for your business.

#1 Communication is a Breeze

Communicating is extremely important in business. It’s how you win over investors, how you make negotiations, achieve your goals, and foster excellent working relationships with your staff.

Happy couples know how to communicate with one another. It’s how they learn to problem-solve, get to know each other on a deeper level, and develop a sense of empathy for their spouse’s feelings. 

Research indicates that couples are happier when they stay curious about one another. Not only does this open the doors for healthy communication, but it also makes spouses feel loved and cared about.

#2 Personal Success Amplified When Married

When you have a conscientious partner, you are more likely to have success in business.

In fact, a study shows each standard-deviation increase in a spouse’s conscientiousness resulted in an earnings increase of $4,000 for their partner.

Why? Because a conscientious spouse plans ahead, is responsible, organized, and often has high levels of impulse control. This can rub off on you and make you a better, more dependable leader.

#3 Work-Life Balance Makes for a Happier Entrepreneur

Research indicates that couples need a 3:1 ratio of happiness in order for their marriage to succeed.

The happier you are, the happier you will be running your business. 

It is no secret that starting your own business or running a company can be a rewarding, but exhausting endeavor. One important way to stay passionate about your work is to stay passionate about your partner by developing a proper work-life balance.

• Don’t work so much that you are void of energy or attention by the time you get home at night. 
• Turn your phone off when you come in the door
• Talk about something other than your job
• Practice having a regular, weekly date night. Research shows couples who do are less likely to get a divorce. They also experience a spike in emotional and physical intimacy.
• Leave work at work
• Share hobbies with your spouse

Why is this last part important? Because couples are happier when they share activities. Research published in SAGE Journals randomly assigned married couples to engage in activities together for 1.5 hours per week over the course of 10 weeks.

Couples were either assigned pleasant or exciting activities together. Those who got the ‘exciting’ assignment reported higher levels of marital satisfaction after the course than the ‘pleasant’ activity couples.

#4 Knows the Importance of Morale

A good business owner knows that she is only as good as the team behind her, and part of creating a great team atmosphere is raising morale.

Company get-togethers, bonuses, and sales incentives are a great way to boost company morale and engagement.

Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace found that employees who felt engaged in their work were more attuned to their customer’s needs and showed an increased observance of company systems, standards, and processes. In fact, companies who had engaged employees showed a 21 percent increase in profitability.

The great news is, married entrepreneurs already know how important morale is to a smoothly flowing partnership. Studies show that couples who express gratitude for one another experience increased marital satisfaction. The research goes on to say that couples who feel appreciated in their relationship feel a greater sense of commitment, intimacy, self-expansion, investment, support for goal pursuit.

#5 Can Take Constructive Criticism

You can’t improve a problem if you don’t know it exists. Married entrepreneurs know how important it is to be humble and accept constructive criticism. Doing so can make you more appealing to customers and investors alike. 

Constructive criticism is the process of someone offering you a well-reasoned and kindly spoken opinion about the work going on around you. Listening to such criticism can help you understand what’s going on at the core of your relationship. By correcting any problems, you will feel an extra sense of security in both your marriage and at your workplace.

#6 Commitment and Passion

In order to have a happy, healthy, and successful marriage, couples need to be committed to one another.

Married couples vow to stay together “for better or worse”. This means that when things aren’t going as well as they had hoped, they stick it out. They get to the root of the problem and strive to get the marriage back to a healthy place.

The same is true for entrepreneurs in business. Things will not always be easy for leaders in business.

In fact, research suggests that 90 percent of new start-ups will fail. 

But passionate and committed entrepreneurs don’t give up. They find out what’s wrong with the business, stay invested, and strive to make it great.

By maintaining a healthy work-life balance, you’ll learn how to take what you have learned in your marriage and apply it to your life as an entrepreneur. You can take a marriage course to determine how strong your marriage is. 

Let your relationship build the strength and character that turn everyday people into entrepreneurial leaders.