Carl Bradbury works for his wife, Ann, the chief executive and publisher of Colorado Business & Lifestyle magazine.
“I get lots of comments like, ‘I could never work with my wife, we are too different. We could never come to agreement,”‘ said Carl, 59, operations manager and editor of the Fort Collins- based publication. “I look at her as the main decisionmaker, but I love what I am doing because I can make an input.”
Couples – married or living together – who go into business together face pitfalls from the financial to the emotional that can lead to a dissolution of their relationships, experts say.
Among the obstacles:
Unlike an entrepreneur whose spouse works separately, for example, couples who run their own businesses have no second salary to fall back on.
In most cases, one member of the team is dominant, which can cause resentments that undermine the relationship.
Boundaries blur between work and home.
Denver art dealer Earnest Bonner, 52, whose ex-wife was once his business partner, knows just how wrong it can go.
“Business decisions in the office are not popular, and sometimes when you say ‘no’ to your spouse at work, it becomes something else when you get home,” said Bonner, who closed his Park Hill gallery, Mosadi’s, in 2001 and reopened it recently at Tamarac Square.
“It is very difficult to draw the boundaries between the boardroom and the bedroom,” said Susan Greer, a Denver consultant who coaches executives and others in communications skills.
When couple-owned businesses fail, there is a good chance the relationship will founder as well, said Joan Winn, associate professor of management at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, who does research on female entrepreneurs.
1.2 million companies
The National Federation of Independent Business found that husband-and-wife teams ran 1.2 million companies in 2003.
Learning Express Toys, based in Devens, Mass., is the nation’s leading toy-store franchiser with 115 locations nationwide, including three in Colorado. The company recently reported that 87 percent of its franchise owners are married couples, up from 56 percent in 1995, said Sharon DiMinico, 60, Learning Express CEO. Her husband, Lou, 60, is vice president of real estate and leasing.
“I founded the company, and I am the merchant in the family,” said Sharon DiMinico. “I have opened stores, I have run stores. I like and understand retail, where my husband was a real-estate developer. When we have a difference of opinion on a subject, we work it out pretty well because in Lou’s job, he is the expert, so I defer to him.”
Corporate downsizing has made this so-called copreneurship trend more attractive.
“When there are corporate layoffs, we get 80 to 100 inquiries a month,” said DiMinico. “You have people who get fed up with the corporate bureaucratic stuff, especially stressing over company layoffs. If you have a couple that complement each other, it is great. People are interested in controlling their own destiny.”
The number of businesses run by couples is hard to pin down because of the various ways businesses are categorized for tax purposes, said Glenn Muske, an Oklahoma State University associate professor and co-author of a 2002 study on self-employment. For example, a business classified as a sole proprietorship may be run by a couple.
The number of women-owned firms is soaring, a factor that could be contributing to the copreneur trend, said Marsha Livingston, managing director of the Boulder chapter of eWomenNetwork.com, an online women’s networking service.
There were 6.5 million female- owned businesses in 2002, up 20 percent from 1997, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“A good balance”
The Bradburys started Colorado Business & Lifestyle magazine eight years ago when Carl was still working for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. Ann, 53, who had spent years in publishing and public relations, was ready to go out on her own. Carl was willing to help on a part-time basis.
In 2002, when Carl was ready to retire, Ann suggested he work at the magazine full-time. “There are certain parts of the business that Carl is so much better at doing than I am, and I do what I do and that is not appealing to him. We have a good balance,” said Ann.
With the two of them involved, circulation of the monthly magazine climbed from 5,000 to 10,000.
Carl credits their success to his wife’s ability to work as a partner. “She don’t pull rank. People think of me as one of the people in charge, and Ann has allowed that. She has allowed us to work together as a team.”
In some ways a talented spouse is the perfect business partner, or employee, said John Challenger, chief executive of the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Fledgling businesses frequently can’t afford to pay much, Challenger said. And a spouse who is willing to share in the risks also eliminates the need to search out someone who can be trusted to stick with the firm through thin times.
When Maury Golder, owner of Media-Tech Productions in Fort Collins, became too ill to run the business in 2000, her then-boyfriend, Steve Dobbie, stepped in to help.
Steve stayed on after she recovered, working for one full year without pay, Maury said.
Today, Steve and Maury are married, and she has taken his last name. Steve, a one-time construction contractor, is a project manager in charge of technical operations at the multimedia production firm.
The two divide responsibilities according to their talents, Steve said. “We complement each other really well. I do the technical work, and she takes care of the business side.”
But the couple depends for all their income on the same small business, said Maury, 48. “If he was working for someone and drawing a paycheck, we could fall back on that. There is only one industry to provide an income, and that has been frustrating for both of us.”
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
