Working with Your Spouse on a Business Start-up

Capell, Perri. “Start-Ups and Spouses” , The Journal Report: R8, WSJ 04/30/07

This author recommends following some simple rules to avoid conflict and strife when you’re starting a business with your spouse:

• Make a plan and talk it over – the plan should include measurable milestones
  
  
• Set limits on financial and time investments; this provides a framework for deciding when to keep going or when to quit.
  
  
• Line up other sources of income in case of emergencies
  
  
• Don’t bring a spouse on-board immediately; one employed spouse with benefits can provide a safety net until the new business gets up and running.
  
  
• Take turns being the entrepreneur – this may mean one person has to put their dreams and aspirations on hold for awhile, but it offers more stability for the family.

Quote from: http://www.iahbe.org/

Work from Home - Taking the First Step

The prospect of working from home encompasses a wide spectrum of work from home business ideas. If you know what you are doing and do the necessary research, in reality, you could turn just about anything into business, make it money. The key to success is to find the business idea that works for you.

If you are the kind of person who gets cabin fever easily and who needs to interact with people, you may think that no home business idea will suit your personality. That's not true. There are a host of ideas that incorporate using your home as headquarters for your business but that allow you to interact with people at the same time. You could start a party planning business. You can field calls and do your party planning from home, but still meet with clients and visit venues and vendors. You get the best of both worlds!

For those who are a little more introverted perhaps, or if your lifestyle dictates you work solely from home, there are a host of work from home business ideas that you could try. If you have a particular skill such as giving financial advice (perhaps you used to work outside the home as a financial planner) you can translate those skills to an at home business format. If your home is set up such that you could have a separate office/meeting place for your clients, this may be an idea for you. If not, however, you may run the risk of coming across as unprofessional if your clients are subjected to tripping over your two-year-old's toys while trying to plan for his retirement!