“Let’s Make Money, Honey” Asks, Can You Work with Your Spouse?

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As you will discover when reading “Let’s Make Money, Honey,” you do not need to be young to be an entrepreneur and start your own business. In fact, leaving it until later on in life can prove to be extremely beneficial. However, owning and running a business as a couple has its own set of challenges.

In the book “Let’s Make Money, Honey,” the authors recount their own personal story of running a business together, and how it is important to determine whether as a couple you will be able to successfully work together.

“Let’s Make Money, Honey” tells the story of how Barry Silverstein and his wife, Sharon Wood, after their successful careers in marketing, decided to do something completely different. Not yet ready to retire, they decided to create a business together using their collective skills and mutual interests.

Starting a business as a couple has become popular, especially among more mature couples who may have been laid off, or who feel that they are not yet ready to retire. Being more mature and already having had a successful career often means that you are likely to be equipped with skills that can be utilized in your new business venture. Additionally, it is likely that you will have built up some capital to help fund your business.

Yet, not every couple is suited to jointly running a business. Being able to live together, and working together are two different things. To be able to do both requires a deep understanding of one another, the ability to compartmentalize work issues and personal issues, and to have very similar interests, values and principles with regard to business.

In “Let’s Make Money, Honey,” the authors tell of how they made the joint decision on which type of business would be suitable for both of them. They describe the processes that they followed to turn their ideas into a thriving business. Through their differing skill sets and business compatibility, they were able to create a thriving business which they were later able to sell as a going concern when ready to retire.

Included within the book, the authors have provided the following checklists to help those readers who want and believe that they could start and work in business together:

• Business Compatibility Assessment
• Skills Inventory Checklist
• Service Business Startup Checklist

Not only is this an interesting account of a business from its conception until finally being sold, there are also a wealth of valuable tips to be taken from the experiences described by the authors. It could be very easy for a happy couple to dive into a business together in the belief that the success of their personal relationship would naturally progress to being a successful business relationship as well.  Although possible, as is demonstrated by the authors, it can be fraught with pitfalls.

“Let’s Make Money, Honey” truly outlines the problems couples may face when working together, and supplies the reader with plenty of advice on how to prevent your working relationship from developing into an unworkable one. It will also provide the reader with tools to finance, market, and provide exceptional customer service.

There really is not much you can dislike about this book. It is well structured, well written, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. As a dog lover myself, and someone who almost started a similar business with my wife, I would have enjoyed the book even further had the authors included some pictures of the business in operation. Additionally, as a specialist in brand marketing, perhaps there were a few more tips that Barry could have shared, but then again, maybe that would have detracted from the main purpose of the book.

Running a business with a partner and running a business as a couple bring with them some very different challenges. “Let’s Make Money, Honey” discusses what it takes to start a business as a couple and how to work successfully together. It aims to demonstrate that such a venture can be feasible at any time in your life.

Most importantly, it will help couples to evaluate their skills, personalities and whether it would be feasible to work together in a business of their own. Any couples who after reading the book believe that they are compatible to work together can make further use of the book by making use of all the hints, tips and guidance that it contains.

Even after over thirty years in the marketing business, Barry Silverstein’s (@bdsilv) passion for brand marketing has him still working to help marketers to increase their brand awareness. He continues to write, this being the seventh book he has written so far.

Barry’s wife Sharon is now taking a well earned rest, although she will no doubt still be active and be found helping out in the Asheville, NC animal welfare community.

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