How does your partnership handle one of you dealing with non-business challenges?
 
Life’s big emotional bumps in the road challenge anyone’s business life. You can’t plan for everything that life throws your way. Lately, for us, it’s been my mother’s failing health. A slow decline over the last year and a half is becoming ever more consuming. From flying to my parents every month or so to help out, to the ever-present emotional strain of watching people you love in pain, it’s rough.
 
Of course, as resilient American superpeople, we’re programed to suck it up, put on a brave face, and move forward. It’s never easy. But when you’re a couple in business together, there are extra challenges—including the fact that 50% of the management team is not performing anywhere near peak ability. How does the other pick up the slack? How do you compartmentalize enough to accomplish the minimum? How do you support your partner and not get sucked into their grief?
 
Back when we were recording the interview that became episodes #33 & 34, we were sitting down with Murray and Felicity Gardner of the Gardner Group in Park City. Murray informed us that his mother’s health was in decline, and he could be getting a call at any moment to jump on a plane to Australia. At this point, my own mother had started going downhill. Yet, listening to the interview, you can’t tell that anyone was anything but fine. Humans are strong creatures. Entrepreneurs are stronger still.
 
The key for Team Parker in handling this challenging time has been communication and agreement. Communication about what’s happening, and agreement to who is now handling what. This lets us manage our expectations of each other, which is crucial, especially since it’s often just the two of us. We’ve discussed what we are and aren’t capable of taking on. Honestly confronting limitations, even temporary ones, is beyond important.
 
A national business training group recently asked us to deliver a series of marketing webinars. The folks in charge asked what, beyond our fee, we wanted to get from this. New clients for branding and marketing? Our answer was that our business presently lacks the bandwidth for new clients, but we’re happy to offer consulting. Why? Well, we didn’t tell them that. Let them think we’re too busy. But we’d agreed ahead of time that we can’t handle new clients right now. And that’s okay with both of us. It has to be.
 
At the end of the day, we know what’s most important: Us. That said, we never want to let a client down. That’s why we’re taking on only the projects we know we can deliver at a level that we feel good about and which keeps our clients thrilled. (For Slow Burn’s oldest and most demanding client, we just delivered a holiday ad that made them laugh and sign off with no changes. That’s a victory on any day, but especially now.) Even in the most challenging times, we continue to take satisfaction in ringing the bell. It’s a welcome break from the obstacles life has thrown in our way. And it reminds us who we are and why we do it.
 
BTW, my parents were a CoupleCo. We interviewed them in better days, and you can hear them in episode #38, "Sitcom Jewish Parents In Business."

Hope that helps.
​
​Cheers,
​Honey Parker

It works only if you take it.

Running your own business can seem non-stop. That’s why it’s important that when we stop, we truly do stop. And then, we have to make sure we take the time to connect over something completely non-work related.
 
How to do this? It’s pretty basic. Reach out. Hold each other’s hand. Even briefly. And remind yourselves that you’ve earned this time together. This time when you aren’t working. Try to be in the moment and acknowledge that you’re enjoying yourselves. Say it out loud. Really. Say something like, “I’m really enjoying this.” Actively recognize the down time, or it’s easy to gloss over, like it never happened.
 
Chip & Carol Bleam of Freedom Chiropractic (CoupleCo podcast episode #19) have a practice we love. They keep a jar that’s filled with Popsicle sticks. Written on each stick is a different date night activity. Once a week, they go to the jar, pull out a stick, and whatever it says becomes their weekly date night.
 
Take the time to mentally log your downtime, and it will be there in your mind while you’re running your business. Then, you can clearly point to it, savor it, replay it, and enjoy the benefits of it. It’s important to be able to look at your life partner and see him or her as more than a work partner.

Hope that's helpful.
Cheers,
Honey Parker