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Mixing Marriage and Money:
Husband and Wife Entrepreneurs
By Monique Cole
Most people spend the majority of their waking hours with
co-workers rather than spouses and children. When pressures extend
the work week to 60 or more hours, it's easy to feel like a stranger
in one's own home. But a small number of entrepreneurs have chosen
the same individual to be both their business and marriage partner.
These husband and wife teams enjoy unique benefits, but also
face unique challenges.
Jing Tsong and Mike Austin started their
design and advertising agency, the Jing + Mike Co., a year after
their daughter Tien was born. "We wanted to have more flexibility
in our lives, with having kids" Tsong explains. "But
we ended up working all the time." When their son Reid was
born last year, he spent his first six months with his parents
in their office. "It was just really crazy, I didn't want
the other people in the office to be baby-sitters," Tsong
says.
Since its inception four years ago,
their business, which specializes in high tech and outdoor sports
clients, has moved from a home office to a small office in Gunbarrel,
and most recently to a new, funky downtown Boulder location.
They now have three employees in addition to Austin, who serves
as president, and Tsong, who is creative director. They also
changed the agency's name to Hothouse. "It lifted all this
weight off our shoulders," Tsong says, "because it
wasn't just about us anymore."
Despite the fact the two work together,
just like other couples Tsong and Austin often ask one another
about their workday over dinner. "We basically lead separate
lives," Tsong says. "We work with different clients
so we end up not seeing each other during the day, and we drive
in separately because of our schedules." New clients often
do not even realize the two are married. "It just doesn't
come up," she says, adding, "We don't wear wedding
bands because we lost them climbing."
Of course, running a business with your
spouse has its drawbacks. Tsong and Austin have vacationed separately
since starting their company, unable to leave their business
without a captain. "(The company) saturates our life more
than we would like," Tsong adds. "We have a rule at
home that we don't talk about work, or we ask permission. We
try to keep personal family life out of the office, too, but
that's harder."
Especially in a creative environment
it can be difficult to avoid taking criticism personally. But
Tsong says she and Austin are accustomed to those challenges.
"We went to school together and started seeing each other
in a creative atmosphere." Still, the couple doesn't regret
going into business together. "It's so rewarding,"
says Tsong, "We both decided we wouldn't do it any other
way."
Deborah Arhelger and Wayne Citrin are
just starting to set ground rules to try to keep some separation
between their marriage and business. Citrin founded LogTrax and
joined the Boulder Technology Incubator (BTI) in October of 1997.
Arhelger got on board in January of this year. They have since
changed the name of the company, which produces software to make
web sites more effective, to Lumio Technologies.
"We're usually (in the office)
until 7 or 8, then we eat dinner, then we work at the home office
for a few hours," Citrin says. The couple was planning to
take their first vacation in over a year during the Labor Day
weekend. "We set ground rules that we won't discuss business."
He admits that probably one night during their vacation they
would discuss business over dinner.
Arhelger acts as chief executive officer
while Citrin is chief technology officer. "I just wanted
to be the chief scientist, I was happy to have her do the other
things," Citrin explains. "We also understood the advantages
to having a woman-owned and -run business." In fact, Lumio
Technologies recently received a $3,500 scholarship awarded by
BTI on the part of the Women's Chamber of Boulder, and targeted
at a majority woman-owned business.
"Having a clear division of responsibilities
and roles has helped us a lot," Arhelger explains, "issues
of power and control, deciding who has the rights and obligations
to make decisions in certain areas, and deciding what decisions
have to made jointly."
Both Citrin and Arhelger have decades
of software experience. Citrin was a faculty member at the University
of Colorado's electrical and computer engineering department.
Arhelger worked for 20 years in the software industry including
several management positions. Over the past 8 years, Arhelger
worked for three different start-up companies. "I got tired
of working very hard for other people's benefits," she says,
adding that she's glad to have been able to learn from those
other people's mistakes and successes.
Having the entire family's income tied
up in one start-up business is an obvious drawback to a husband
and wife partnership, but it didn't stop Citrin and Arhelger.
"Going into this, we set guidelines and deadlines about
where we would draw the line, both financially and time wise,
and evaluate whether or not it would be a success," Arhelger
says. "We set boundaries about how much we'd put at risk."
So far they are on track to meet their
product deadlines, with a beta version of their software to be
released before press time. One major deadline looming at the
end of this year is to receive outside funding.
Until now, the enterprise has been entirely
self-funded by the couple's savings and a real estate sale. "Right
now we're just running along with no income," says Citrin.
"The worse thing that could happen is that we'll both have
to get 'real' jobs."
Arhelger says that starting a business
with her husband has been a "bonding" experience, rather
than a strain on their relationship. She felt confident before
joining Citrin because, she says, their marriage had already
been tested. "We went on a 4,000-mile, two-week trip in
June in a car with no air conditioning to California and back,
and we're still married."
"I've observed (Arhelger and Citrin)
in meetings and you would never realize that they are husband
and wife," says Terry Gold, a volunteer board member for
Lumio Technologies who is also the president/co-founder of Gold
Systems and a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization.
"They have done everything to keep it professional."
Gold, whose wife is not directly involved
in his entrepreneurial endeavors, believes there are pros and
cons to starting a business with your spouse. "A business
partnership is sort of like a marriage, so if you're happily
married you already have a head start on that," he says.
"On the other hand, you don't have anyone to turn to that's
not involved with the problems you're dealing with."
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