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My husband, the business owner.

2004-03-01 - 12:03 p.m.

Today is the first day my husband is running his new business. He called to give me the phone number and to tell me that it�s been busy since he opened. While today was the day he took over operating it, it was an established franchise already so this isn�t odd � he�s not starting from scratch but, rather, hoping to build on an already existing customer base. He�s worked very hard to make this happen. After managing one for someone else for years, he�s been ready to put that experience to work running his own.

When I told some former colleagues about J�s new enterprise, the response I got was that they weren�t surprised that any husband I had chosen would be entrepreneurial. I had a built a bit of a reputation myself for that sort of thing with my own activities. I must admit though, I can�t really relate to his slow-and-steady-wins-the-race style. I admire it; I just can�t relate to it. You see, his business is one where results will be in small increments. He�s planning on putting in extra-long hours himself so that he can cut back on paid-staff time, he doesn�t intend to take more vacation than the two weeks he got at his previous job, he doesn�t intend to pay himself more salary than he earned at his last job, and will put any extra money back into the business. On top of this is the fact that he�ll have way more responsibility and work to do outside of business hours in terms of bookkeeping, keeping the place stocked, payroll calculation, etc. On a purely shallow level I�m a bit mystified as to why anyone would take on more responsibility and way more work for no increase in any sort of benefits coming back to them. And from a totally selfish point of view I�m vaguely disquieted that I�m going to see my husband less, and there won�t even be the compensation of any more money coming into the household or even any extra vacation time with him (currently I get three weeks a year and he only gets two).

BUT

I�m not as shallow or as dumb as that. I do know on a deeper level that this business is a fabulous opportunity for him to build a solid platform of experience in being his own boss. The gains he�ll realize from running his own business are more than monetary and will lead to more opportunity down the line for bigger and better things.

I know this. I do.

I just find it hard to relate to. You see, my style of business is that of the hare rather than the tortoise. I tackle big projects with a relatively short lifespan of a year or two. I work like heck and (hopefully) get some pretty good results, then it�s over and I move on to the next thing. Even in leisure activities I�m sort of that way. As I�ve mentioned before I wouldn�t see the fun of going hiking in the local hills all the time; I prefer the greater sense of accomplishment from scaling the odd mountain. And if it wasn�t a rare thing, I wouldn�t enjoy it so much.

The hare�s style really isn�t a bad one if it�s only a short race after all. So between one tortoise and one hare in the family, I�m thinking we should do OK for ourselves.

Congratulations J. This is a huge deal and I am so proud of you.

Before - After


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