Working with my husband has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. Sharing a passion for wine with him is such a gift. This is not to say that I didn’t have reservations about how our business would affect our marriage. I would hope that similar concerns would arise in any spousal business venture.
We’re in our third year of business now and I am happy to report our communication and understanding of each other is better than when we started.
Five things we’ve gotten right:
- Keeping regular check-ins on the calendar prevents one of you from becoming the task master (my natural propensity for sure). A scheduled meeting promotes accountability and helps preserve your personal time away from the business too.
- Assess individual work styles by each completing a workplace personality test (tons available online) and sharing your results. You might know your spouse as a parent and a best friend, but you probably don’t know how they accept feedback or organize themselves at work.
- Staying fluid with changes to division of labor promotes engagement in the business and helps keep the rest of your life on track. Maintaining employment, raising kiddos … you owe it to everyone to be honest about what and how much you really want to do for the company.
- And to build on #3, don’t be too afraid or too proud to outsource certain tasks if neither one of you really want to or can get it done. Believe me, it will avoid frustration and stagnation.
- Celebrate the wins – yes, go out and have a good time together, hell, put it on the company credit card and spoil each other. No success is too small to warrant a nice lunch or a margarita, or a nice margarita at lunch.
The Dragger Beat
Luckily, I Wrote It All Down
Our network proved to be our superpower as we embarked on a startup later in our careers, and continues to challenge and inspire as we grow our Dragger inner circle.
Getting The Most Out of Vendor Relationships
Wholesale reps and brokers are a few of the final remaining door-to-door salespeople, an inherently tough job that is full of rejection and often added top-down pressure from today’s consolidated wholesale landscape. So, value their time, expect that they value yours, and we’ll all be better because of it.
Six Wines To Love This Spring
We're sharing a few less common white wines we'll be stocking up on for Spring.