你会和丈夫一起创业吗？
BBC凯特·艾什弗得（Kate Ashford）(2023年8月19日)
在人手短缺的情况下，夫妻二人共同经营事业貌似是完美的解决方案。
当27岁的辛西娅·鲍曼（Cynthia Bowman）在加利福尼亚州（以下简称“加州”）开始从事家居饰品零售生意时，她很快意识到仅凭一己之力无法应付，因此她让丈夫参与到了自己的事业中。
“从事零售业意味着没有了休息日，并且每天都需要工作很长时间，”现年43岁的鲍曼说道，“这份工作并不轻松，我还经常对他说，要不是考虑到夫妻关系，我早把他炒了。”
尽管如此，夫妇俩还是把生意经营得较为成功，并在13年后的2013年退休，将生意转让后搬到西班牙生活。从那之后，鲍曼成了一名自由职业者，为joyjournist.com兼职写专栏和博客。
他们成功的秘诀之一：每周留出一天给对方单独待在办公室的时间，自己则放假或在一定距离外工作，从而使得两人在工作之余能享有属于自己的空间。此外，鲍曼还指出，不要随意争吵，“任何情况下斗嘴都会影响二人关系，即便小吵小闹也是如此，”她说道。
她表示如果从头再来，自己还会选择家居饰品零售生意，但不会和丈夫一起工作。“我们的个性和职业道德都差别太大，”鲍曼说。
有关到底有多少数量的夫妇共同成功经营生意这方面的公开数据不多，但很多夫妻店确实都取得了不菲的成绩。
在美国，梅茜·塔能（Missy Tannen）和斯科特·塔能（ Scott Tannen）夫妻二人在2014年成立了有机床上用品公司Boll & Branch，且在公司成立头一年就盈利近175万美元。英国夫妇海伦·帕丁森（Helen Pattinson）和西蒙·帕丁森（Simon Pattinson）双双辞去律师职务，成立奢侈巧克力零售商Montezuma，目前已开设了六家分店。
在澳大利亚墨尔本，泰德·特尔弗里（Ted Tolfree）和谢·纽威特（Shey Newitt）创办了名为Crisp的沙拉店，且已有三家分店。加州有机食品和饮料公司Clif Bar & Company的两位联席CEO是夫妻关系，洛杉矶瓶装水品牌Fiji Water的共有人同样如此。
但夫妻店同样存在风险。根据美国小企业管理局（Small Business Administration）的数据，仅有半数的小企业生命能超过五年，而与配偶共同创业的成功几率更小。以下就是这一问题的解决办法：
需要什么：你需要有完备的商业技能，将工作与个人生活区分开来的能力，以及与另一半朝夕相处的潜质。“你们的关系必须十分稳固，”加州理财规划师希拉里·亨德肖特（Hilary Hendershott）说道。“与任何人一起创业都需要一定的尊重和信任，更不用说配偶之间了。”
二人在一起的时间越久，成功的几率也就越大。“结婚时间较长的夫妇有时能更好地经营共同的事业，因为他们已经习惯了人生中的跌宕起伏以及平坦坎坷，”多伦多西蒙斯理财规划公司（Simmons Financial Planning）规划师李·西蒙斯（Lee Simmons）表示。“新婚夫妇可能尚处于蜜月期，一切进展都十分顺利，但你并不能真正了解某人是如何面对困难或处理财务压力的。”
如何准备：花时间写出可行的商业计划书，起草所有必要的合约或建立法律上的伙伴关系，并理清其中逻辑。“如果你们不能共同撰写商业计划，你们就不能统一意见，这是共同创业不能成功的一个明显信号，”西蒙斯说。
马上行动：制定计划。“如果你已见过你的财务顾问、法律顾问和心理咨询师，他们会建议你坐下来，规划企业的运作模式和成本。”美国俄勒冈州的心理学家、《企业家夫妇》（Entrepreneurial Couples）的作者凯西·马沙克（Kathy Marshack）博士说道。如果你们是一对尚未生育的年轻夫妇，你们是否有生孩子的打算？你们如何处理养育孩子与经营企业的关系？
制定好退出策略。在职业的意义上，退出计划有其重要性。“有些夫妻在开始创业的时候不会谈论这件事，因为他们非常兴奋。” 西蒙斯（Simmons）说，“但是如果两人分手，或离婚，谁来继续掌控企业？是否还是两人共同经营？会发生什么情况？”类似地，假如企业经营状况不佳呢？应该把这些事以书面的形式确定下来，这样一旦情况变糟，他们就能从容应对，不论是企业还是两人的关系。
严肃对待。严肃对待业务安排。“如果你能坐下来说：‘我们把这一点写进商业合同吧’，这就会让你不由自主地考虑各种可能出现的情况，并为此做好计划。” 马沙克说，“这能减少以后出现的烦恼。”
检查自己的商业头脑。夫妻有时会因为共同喜欢上某个想法，并希望付诸行动，就急急忙忙开创一家公司——但是他们还没有彻底考虑清楚。“他们觉得：‘两人一起工作该多有意思？’” 马沙克说，“我知道的一些小企业的创业者连损益表都看不懂，那是不行的。你需要有商业技能。”
分担责任。“根据两人的强项和弱项，清晰界定各自的角色，不要有重叠。” 鲍曼说。比如，你们中有一个人处理公司的财务，另一个则设计产品。只要不出现两人争抢同一件事的情况，你们就比较容易获得成功和快乐。
不要把工作带回家。把工作和个人生活分开。在家的话，不可以把对方当做同事，而要做一对浪漫的伴侣。 “我会变得非常认真。”亨德肖特谈到与她的丈夫一起工作的情况，“我们先紧紧拥抱，这样就可以回到夫妻的状态。我会有意识地切换角色。”
最后不要忘了：聘请税务专业人士。你的公司可以选择各种各样的结构——合伙人制、公司制、合资公司制、独资经营制等等。务必理解各种情况适用的税收制度，最好是找专业人士咨询企业的组建。
两个人务必一起处理钱的问题。你很可能从心底信赖你的伙伴——但是你们两人应一起处理公司的财务。“曾经，我的一个客户发现她四年前与上一任伴侣经营的公司因存在欠税而被审计。” 西蒙斯说。双方都应知道钱的去向，共同妥善处理你们的债务和税收责任。
巧妙处事：不要忽视你的其他生活。“一些夫妇全部投身企业后忘记了他们应该留一些时间给自己，忘记了自己的其他角色：夫妻、家人、个人。”马沙克说。“他们会先把一些事放在一边，直到五年后企业步入正轨，他们才发现个人生活出现了很多问题。”务必规划一部分时间给你的爱人——与公司的事务分开——以保持良性的夫妻关系。
（责编：跃生）
Would you go into business with your husband?
When Cynthia Bowman, then 27, founded her California-based home furnishings retail business, she quickly realised she needed extra help, so she brought her husband on board.
“Retail is a seven-day week job with long hours,” said Bowman, now 43. “It wasn’t easy, and I would tell him often that if we weren’t married, I’d have fired him.”
Still, they successfully ran the business together for 13 years before selling it in 2013, retiring and moving to Spain. Bowman has since started working part-time as a freelance writer and a blogger at joyjournist.com.
One secret to their success: arranging for one day a week when each partner was in the office alone, allowing each one to have space at work while the other had time off or worked remotely. And, Bowman said, choose your battles. “Bickering about everything, even if small, is damaging to a relationship,” she said.
She wouldn’t do anything differently, but she also won’t work with her husband again. “Our personalities and work ethic are too different,” Bowman said.
The numbers are scarce on how many spouses successfully hang a shingle together, but plenty of romantic duos have made a fruitful go of it.
Boll & Branch, an organic bedding company in the US, was co-founded by spouses Missy and Scott Tannen in 2014 and earned almost $1.75m in its first year. In the UK, Helen and Simon Pattinson left jobs as lawyers to start Montezuma’s, a luxury chocolate retailer that now has six locations. In Melbourne, Australia, husband and wife team Ted Tolfree and Shey Newitt founded Crisp, a salad store that now has three shops. The co-chief executive officers of California-based organic food and drinks company Clif Bar & Company are married to each other, as are the owners of Los Angeles-based bottled water brand Fiji Water.
But it’s also a gamble. Only half of all small businesses are around after five years, according to the US Small Business Administration. And failing at a star- up with your romantic partner can be even dicier. Here’s how to work it out.
What it will take: You’ll need complementary business skills, the ability to separate your work and personal life, and the capacity to spend a lot of time with your significant other. “Your relationship should be on good footing,” said Hilary Hendershott, a financial planner in California. “It takes a healthy level of respect and trust to be in business with anyone, let alone a spouse.”
You might also be more successful if you’ve been with your partner for a while. “Couples who’ve been married for a long time sometimes manage to handle this better, because they’re used to ups and downs and good years and bad years,” said Shannon Lee Simmons, a financial planner with Simmons Financial Planning in Toronto. “New couples might still be in that honeymoon phase where everything is wonderful, but you don’t really know how that other person handles bad times and financial stress.”
How long you need to prepare: Allow time to write a solid business plan, draw up any necessary contracts or legal partnerships, and really think through the logistics. “If you can’t write a business plan together and you can’t agree on what’s happening, then that might be a clear signal that it’s not going to work out,” Simmons said.
Do it now: Plan it out. “If you listened to your financial, legal and psychological advisors, they would recommend that you sit down and outline how this is going to work, how much it’s going to cost you,” said Kathy Marshack, PhD, a psychologist in Oregon in the US and author of Entrepreneurial Couples. If you’re a young couple that doesn’t have children yet, do you plan on having them? And how would that fit into the mix?
Have an exit strategy. An exit plan is important professionally. “This is something that couples don’t talk about at the beginning because you’re excited,” said Simmons. “But if there’s a break up or a divorce, who gets to keep the business? Do you keep it running together? What happens?” Similarly, what if the business doesn’t perform well? This should be settled in writing so there’s no question of how to proceed if things head south, whether it’s the business or the relationship.
Make it official. Treat the business arrangement seriously. “If you sit down and say, ‘Hey, let’s write this up into a business contract,’ it tricks the brain into thinking about what could happen that you should plan for,” Marshack said. “It saves anguish later on.”
Examine your own business savvy. Couples sometimes jump into a business because they love both an idea and each other and they’re enthusiastic about making it work—but they haven’t thought it through. “They think, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to work together?’” Marshack said. “I know small business owners who can’t read a profit-and-loss statement, and that’s just not good. You need business skills.”
Divide responsibilities. “Clearly designate roles that don’t overlap each other, according to strengths and weaknesses,” said Bowman. For instance, one of you might handle the company’s accounting while the other one designs the product. You’ll be more successful and happier if you aren’t competing for the same tasks.
Leave work at work. Separate your work and personal lives. At home, make sure you’re treating each other as romantic partners instead of colleagues. “I can get pretty intense,” said Hendershott, who works with her husband. “We do this thing where we give each other a big hug, and now we’re husband and wife again. I consciously switch that role.”
Do it later: Hire tax help. There are a variety of ways your business can be structured — a partnership, a corporation, a joint venture, or even a sole proprietor and employee, among others. Make sure you understand all the tax implications and talk to a professional about the setup that makes the most sense for you.
Make sure both people handle the money. You probably trust your partner implicitly — but you need to make sure you both have a hand in the business’s finances. “I had a client who found out that she was being audited for unpaid taxes from four years ago from a business she used to be in with an ex-partner,” Simmons said. Both parties should know where the money is going and whether you’re taking proper care of your debt and tax obligations.
Do it smarter: Don’t neglect the rest of your life. “Couples plunge into the business and forget that they should also make time for themselves as a couple, as a family, as individuals,” Marshack said. “There are things they put on hold until the business gets off the ground and five years later there are a lot of things in their personal life that aren’t working.” Be stringent about scheduling time away from your business and with your loved ones — in a non-business capacity — to keep relationships healthy.