How to Get Your Spouse To Support You in Your Business
Summary: As an entrepreneur, you are used to doing it all alone for your business, but there are some really important relationships to your business. One of these is the relationship with your significant other.
Thats right… If you are married, the relationship with your spouse affects your business. If you’re not married, you probably have another important relationship that this could apply to.
You are probably wondering why it matters because your business is your baby. Well, it is because your relationship with your spouse affects YOU, so it, therefore, can affect your business. It is the ripple effect.
Spousal support is actually an unspoken marker of success. Join me today as we discuss the role that spousal support plays in your entrepreneurial journey.
Note: The video for this was created around my relationship with my husband, but in this post we will be discussing the importance of any type of relationship for an entrepreneur.
My Story
I am in no way a life coach, so I am speaking based on my experience and trends that I have seen.
A great place to start this discussion is by telling you a bit about my entrepreneurial journey and how my husband has played a role in it.
I have been an entrepreneur for well over a decade.
My husband and I have been married for the great majority of my entrepreneurial journey.
Even though he has been in my corner the entire time, he hasn’t always understood what exactly what it is that I do. There was a time when my husband said to me, “I don’t know why anyone would pay you to do what you do.”
Now I know what you may be thinking, but I have the most fantastic and supportive husband, and he genuinely did not know why what I was doing was so impactful.
I'm confident enough that I could look at him, laugh, and say, "That's okay. You're not my ideal client anyways".
Then we started the conversation about my job because it showed me that he had no idea what I do for a living.
The Unspoken Marker of Success
Entrepreneurs are problem solvers and go-getters, but sometimes, when we are on the road to our success, we leave our spouses in the dust.
We need to go back and get them and bring them along with us because their support is huge for us.
Spousal support is an unspoken marker of success.
You lay your heart and soul on the line for your business and grow this personal attachment and relationship to your business, but you need a safe place.
A place to retreat back to when there is chaos or a place to go to sing praises over your victories in your business.
This space of refuge is often found in your spouse.
The relationship with your business takes time to foster and grow to ensure it stays strong. Meanwhile, the relationship with your spouse needs to be nurtured at the same time.
What You Need From Your Spouse To Support You As An Entrepreneur
To Feel Valued
After a long day, all you want to do is go home and feel valued and appreciated.
You want to feel understood and want your spouse to see all of the things that you do for your business on a daily basis.
Everyone wants affirmation.
One day, you could feel like you are on top of the world.
The next day, you are in the waves of self-doubt and wondering if you are even doing things correctly.
You want your spouse to tell you things like, “You are doing great,” “you are valued,” and “I see your hard work.”
To Be Your Sounding Board
I don’t know a single person that wants to make a bad decision.
We all want to make the right decisions and do things correctly the first time.
Yet, we all know that our bad decisions can sometimes teach us much more than the good safe.
(Note: A Good Business Strategist can help alleviate most of these pitfalls.)
Sometimes, we need someone to hear out all of our decisions before they happen.
That is where you can turn to your spouse.
It is helpful to have an extra set of ears so that you can verbally work through the decisions that you are making in your business.
What Your Spouse Wants From You As The Entrepreneur
To Be Happy and Succeed
I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Happy wife, happy life”. This holds true in your entrepreneurial journey as well. Your spouse wants you to be happy and succeed, and they want to help you in any way they can.
When we come home with clouds of self-doubt and frustration, we may tend to “word-vomit” on our spouses and unleash EVERYTHING that has gone wrong.
Spouses tend to think, “What do I do with this?” and “How can I help?”
These types of questions can be easily misinterpreted as a lack of spousal support.
In reality, in many ways, your spouse just wants to protect you.
I had a conversation with my husband about money in my business. His response was trying to protect me, but I felt like it was squashing me.
I needed to have a conversation with him about how we could talk in a beneficial way moving forward so that he continues to feel valued, but I don’t feel like my walls are closing in on me.
To Feel Valued and Important to You and Your Business
What is the best way to show them they are valued and important?
Let them play devil’s advocate for you.
- Tell them your thoughts.
- Bounce those ideas off of them.
- Let them feel like they have an impact and purpose within your entrepreneurial journey… because they do.
Final Thoughts
on Having a Spouse To Support You
Your spouse plays a major role in your business because they play a major role in your life. Again, if you are not married, that is okay. There is probably someone in your life that plays an important role that these guidelines would fit.
I can say without a doubt that I would not be where I am today without my husband. I need him. I need him to have my back, share my success, understand my heartache, and drive me to be the best business owner I can be.
Just as you are learning about your business constantly, your spouse is learning about it and how to support you at the same time. Find ways to value your spouse and ways to build in that needed support.
Are you struggling with your work-life balance and making time for your family within your work life? If so, let's chat. We want you to feel comfortable in every aspect of your business, including when you leave work at the end of the day.
If you enjoyed this article, check out How To Go Inward But Keep Your Eyes Open in Business.
