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 angry watching the Today show the other morning. Their producers picked up on the NY Times article I mentioned in my last post about successful women entrepreneurs hiring their husbands.

They showed clips of interviews with two of the couples and then had two “experts” comment on this business model. The male “expert” is a journalist whose then-wife was his boss at a publication for which he wrote. When she turned down an article from him he went above her head for approval and was also rejected. He thinks no man should ever work for his wife. He had no experience working for a successful entrepreneurial woman. Working for a woman who is a manager in a corporate environment is not analogous to working for a woman entrepreneur who owns a family business.  Also he was so bitter and surly, I don’t think he could work for any woman and it is evident why his former boss is no longer his wife.

The other “expert” was a family therapist. Also, in my opinion, not qualified to comment on this topic since couples working together or otherwise do not seek therapy until it is too late. She did not mention that she has experience counselling couples who work together and if she does, she probably only sees couples with insurmountable problems and not those who are working together with some minor issues that need improvement.

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.

Fortune magazine’s article “The Best Advice I Ever Got”, in the May 12, 2008 issue contained interviews with 19 accomplished people from many different fields. Zhang Xin, CEO of SOHO China, mega-property developer and #7 on The Forbes 400 Richest Chinese in 2007  turned the question around and gave “the worst advice I ever got”; and I quote,”Don’t work with your husband (Pan Shiyi). Marriage and business don’t mix.”

She continues, “In our case I think our business success springs from our friendship. When you have two people trying to figure out problems together, one brings out new things in the other…we approach decisions in very different ways and play different roles. He’s brilliant at sales, I worry about contruction.”

Her ending quote, “Put the things that you love into one portfolio.”

What a great role model for aspiring Couplepreneurs! My hope is that many more couples ignore the “worst advice” that Zhang Xin got.

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.