Great Partnerships

 Friday, October 23, 2009 from 11am EDT to 6:45p EDT
Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 11am to 4:45p EDT

For $29, this 2-day conference aims to educate and inform copreneurs on timely topics for couples in business. We welcome married couples, those who are dating, or are in same-sex relationships. Every registrant receives a FREE 1-year membership to National Copreneur Society. Here is just some of what you’ll find at Copreneur Camp:

·                             A keynote address from Paul and Sarah Edwards, copreneurs and award-winning authors

 ·                             7 sessions led by professional consultants, coaches, authors, or copreneurs

·                            2 opening sessions by the National Copreneur Society co-founders

·                             2 Copreneur Roundtables where attendees can learn and share with each other

·                             Twitter Chat Room for live interaction during the Camp

·                             A virtual swag bag of educational and informative goodies provided to all attendees

Plus, the best part, is that it’s virtual! Attend from your home or business. All you need is access to a computer and telephone (or computer speakers and a microphone).View the schedule, session outlines, speaker list, and register for Copreneur Camp http://www.copreneursociety.org/membership/2009-virtual-copreneur-camp

 If you have questions on anything, please e-mail NCS.

I was at two different women’s business networking meetings last week where the subject of ex-husbands and ex-business partners came up. While these very savvy businesswomen were “complaining” about lingering problems caused by their ex-partners they were also talking about exciting new partnerships that were unfolding for them.

This all started me thinking about the likelihood of these new personal or business partnerships surviving. After all, statistics indicate that 50% of first marriages fail but the failure rate of second marriages is a staggering 70%.

Business partnerships fare even worse. According to the Harvard Business School they start out with a 70% failure rate and who knows,  like marriages this rate may climb for second partnerships.

This raises questions for me. Why are people jumping in again without learning from their mistakes and past experience? Why aren’t they learning from other people’s mistakes? Why do they think that next time will be different? Are they spending the time and energy to make more intelligent decisions? Do they realize how they may be contributing to these failures?

And the big question for me is - how can I help?  Since, in my mind one ex is enough. 

In the NY Times article with this title on June 29, 2008, the writer profiled several Couplepreneurs who worked together in businesses built by the wife who later hired the husband. Although the article stated that “the odds are loaded against couples working well together”, only one of the eight couples failed and divorced. The successful couples generally agreed that their partnerships work because they carefully delineated their respective roles and play to each other’s strengths. Good for them. They know the secrets of successful Couplepreneurs.

I am interviewing a successful couple that fits the above profile on my radio show today at 6pm EDT. My interview with Rachelle Disbennett-Lee PhD and Adrian Lee can be heard live and will be archived for later download at www.blogtalkradio.com/jean-charles.

There seems to be a lot of media interest lately in couples in business. This makes me very happy.

I was lucky enough to be interviewed for three articles last week. ‘Couplepreneurs’ balance running a business together, private lives appeared in Florida Today on May 12, 2008. The Great Spouse Theory appeared in The Bergen Record on May 11,2008. The biggest, glossiest article, Married To The Job, appeared in the New York Post Page Six Magazine on Sunday, May 11, 2008. Unfortunately this article is not available online.

The couples in The Great Spouse Theory were not running a business together - one partner was an entrepreneur and the other not involved in the business. There was a great sidebar containing my advice to these couples.

The other two articles were about couples who run successful businesses together. The best news about these couples is that all reported having only minor problems dealing with each other but were overwhelmingly happy with couplepreneurship.