Having A Business Is Like Having A Marriage

Work, fall in love, start a family — arguably the only purposes worth having in life. We work in order not only to support ourselves, but to give back to our communities and back to the planet. We find love in the connections we make with friends, with our families, with our future husbands and wives, with our children — we connect with others and make their lives meaningful. We create families of our own, allowing the human race to continue. Our lives are centered on that which we do and whom we do them with.

The closest relationships that any person has tend to be marital and business in nature. Our days will consist of — for the majority of our lives — working on our careers and working on our marriages. Business owners seem to have the most difficulty both holding down a successful marriage and maintaining a profitable quarter. Since I am not nor ever have been married, I don’t want to speak out of line — but marriage is a relationship, nothing more.

Relationships and business have a whole lot more in common than most people accredit. If entrepreneurs would look at their situations logically, they would realize that if any people have the skillset to make a relationship work, it’s them.

Commitment

Your partner in life demands commitment — it’s no secret. They are devoting their lives to you and expect you to do the same. As goes for your business — your company will work for you. Your employees are working for your cause. Your customers are committed to your product and/or services. Your business is making you money, therefore your commitment must be to your business.

Businesses, not unlike marriages, require the promise to stay interested. In order to make either successful, the interest must always remain tangible — you must want with every fiber of your being to continue working on the development and maintenance of your project. You must shun away other women, other projects, other commitments if it means that you’d be dropping the ball on the commitments you already made — mainly your marriage and your company.

Honesty

In all things important, honesty is key. Lies cause relationships and businesses to fail more often than you’d think. The problem isn’t with the lie itself, but rather with not being able to remember all the fictional stories you had to create in order to make the lies believable. Once people catch you in a lie — no matter how small — your credentials instantly digress.

They begin to wonder what other little lies they could have missed in the past. They begin to question how trustworthy you are and whether or not they are making a mistake by putting their trust in you. Whether it’s your husband or wife, or your team at the office, having to rethink their opinion of you, the result is the same: they are second-guessing the entire relationship and no longer putting in the fullest of efforts.

Logical Decision Making

Problems, problems, and more problems. They plague relationships and business, making things more stressful and more interesting. From everyday decisions like what to have for dinner, where to buy the kids new clothing, what tasks to get done in the morning and what employees to put on each task, to where to go and what to do for your anniversary and which accountants and lawyers to hire, decisions need to be decided on. The most logical and potentially beneficial decisions need to be made.

Here is where most people manage to do very well in regards to their business, but fail when the issues are related to matters of the heart. The fact is that every action, every decision, has an outcome. Many factors are not entirely predictable and will fall within a range of error. Nevertheless, no one can expect more from you than your very best.

If you deal with each problem that arises with a clear logical mind, then the results of your actions are most likely to be successful. There are no guarantees in business, love or life — all we can do is our best, hedge our best with the odds, and hope that fate plays out in our favor. Doing our best to leave our emotions aside will help.

Partnership

Your husband/wife is your partner. You make decisions together. Their opinions matter to you. You consult with them before making decisions that will affect your lives. Marriage turns you and your partner into a team — a team that supports each other and works towards success and happiness in life. What’s the difference between the partnership that is marriage and the partnerships that you encounter while doing business?

Most businesses start with outside funding. Finding silent investors is becoming increasingly more and more difficult — not to say that an ideal investor is a silent one. The most promising investors are those that bring more to the table than cash. If the investor brings connections, knowledge and experience to the company, you will be better equipped to succeed.

However, such a partner will expect to have some say in the dealings of the company — she’ll want to be part of the decision-making. The relationship between company partners and the wife at home is very similar and will require similar tactics for keeping the peace. Learn to deal with one and the other should come naturally.

Creativity

Creativity may not make the world go round, but it sure does make each rotation worth living. Creativity leads to innovation, innovation to meaningful change and success. Creativity in the workplace will give the entrepreneur an advantage on the battlefield. Creativity in a relationship will give you a better shot at making it work. Couples get bored — it happens to everyone. Human beings have an uncanny need for excitement, for novelty. We want to feel as if we are progressing, changing, growing.

This is the shape that a relationship ought to take form. If we keep changing things up, experimented and creating novel experiences for ourselves and for our loves, then we are much more likely to make it as a couple. Keep your business, products and services cutting edge and innovative and you will never become yesterday’s news.

Passion

Passion: the fire that moves us to action. Without it we are nothing — we have nothing. Passion will take your company to the next level. Passion requires purpose and when a business has catered all of its workings in favor of said purpose, then there is little that can stop it from reaching success. Passion gets us through long work hours, uncomfortable situations, stressful situations and miserable situations —both in business and in our personal relationships.

If you are passionate about the person you are with, if you love them and brings passion to your sex life — and creativity — then you will be happy. Passion does more than just move people, it has them believe in the cause; passion makes people want to do things that many would consider too much of a hassle. Having your own business, having a wife, having children, taking care of yourself…none of this is easy. It all takes a lot of work and a lot of hours. It takes dedication and clear-headed thinking. Above all else, it takes passion — it takes wanting it.