With the popularity of home based online businesses
skyrocketing, more and more couples are finding themselves
working together from home! And based on the feedback we
get - a lot of couples are having some problems making this
situation work out!
Working at home is fun and trust me - my hubby and I would
not have it any other way - but you also have to be very
disciplined to make it work. You really need to follow some
guidelines to make sure that you have some "divided" time
between work and play.
1) Date nights are important for all couples - but even
more so when you work at home together. Find time to enjoy
each other without discussing business!
2) Make sure you schedule in exercise during the daily
routine. This is especially important if you are running an
online business - it's easy for the hours to fly by while
sitting in front of the computer - exercising brain cells
IS important but you need to keep the rest of the body in
motion as well!
3) Share household duties. Working at home means that you
are BOTH there and should both be able to dive in and do
laundry or cook a meal. This might sound trivial but I am
amazed at the number of couples that fight over who should
vacuum...get over it! You are now working from home - it's
untraditional.....get over the rest of the "traditions" and
share ALL of the responsibilities!
4) It's okay for you each to have your own home based
business - some work at home ideas for women will not
necessarily be especially appealing to the men in their
lives, and that is okay! Work at home couples are not
necessarily joined at the hip - you can still work at home
in relative bliss - each on your own project!
5) Keep each updated on the business. Either half of a
couple should be at least knowledgeable enough about the
what the other is doing that you can at least "cover" for a
bit if needed, due to illness, other commitments, etc.
being able to "cover" does not mean that you need to be
able to perform your partner's specific duties just as well
as he/she does - but you should have at least enough
knowledge that you can temporarily either take over these
tasks or outsource them until the situation is back to
normal.
These may seem like 'simple' rules - but they are
deceptively difficult to actually follow if you are working
at home with your spouse. But the effort will pay off in a
successful business AND a happy marriage!
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Bob & Melody have been working from home - together - for
as long as they have been married, 7 years! They have
businesses apart and businesses together, and have learned
a lot about making marriage and business work for them!
Visit their blog http://www.theworkathomecouple.com for
more survival advice about working with your spouse and the
ins and outs of succeeding online!
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