Mark and Cate Stewart were recently featured on patch.com, sharing their experience as a small business owned by a couple. Check out the full story here.
On Valentine's Day, one sometimes wonders how it is to be working with a spouse. Spending lots of time at home together could make spending the whole day together difficult. Yes or no? Per an article on fortune.com (Feb. 2016) 3 million small businesses in America are run by couples!
Recently local couple Mark and Cate Stewart opened Pillar To Post Home Inspectors of Canton. The nationwide franchise has been ranked Number One in the Home Inspection category by Entrepreneur Magazine for 16 years in a row. The couple said this made the choice easy for them. (Entrepreneur Franchise500-2017)
Mark is an Army veteran and has been a police officer for more than 23 years while Cate runs a successful small business specializing in residential and commercial rehabs, repairs and renovations. "Mark decided that owning a small business together would help to better our lives and the future of our family and since my business is already tied into the fields of construction and real estate, it made the choice and the transition to Pillar to Post Home Inspectors an easy choice,"" said Cate Stewart.
The Stewarts are new to this arrangement having each had separate careers for years. They have quickly learned what it takes to make it work:
- Set goals together. It doesn't work when you can't agree on the best course of action so it is important to be on the same page from the beginning.
- Work together to find a solution. It only takes a small disagreement to want to hit your partner with a hammer so it is key to find an amicable solution and talk through problems as a team.
- Don't forget to laugh! Don't let any work arguments run over into personal time, be sure to make time to be a couple outside of work hours.