You’ve probably known those people who are so close and know each other so well that they begin to finish each other’s sentences.

This is never more clearly demonstrated than in couples who have been married for a long time or old friends who are very close.

By taking the time to develop a relationship with others and getting to truly know them you appear as if you can read their mind.

In branding and marketing, taking the time to get to know your audience can help you to learn how to anticipate and meet their needs.

You don’t have to be a mind reader to do this, but you can look like one by building a relationship with your audience.

As a married couple, we wanted to share our advice on how to achieve marital bliss in your business as well as how to get along better in your working relationships.

Since we are coming at this topic as a married couple in business our perspective will cover what it’s like being in business with your spouse.

Many think it would be too difficult or a bad idea because it depends on the health of the relationship.

However, healthy relationships whether in business or actual marriage stem from knowing your mission and values.

Knowing this helps you approach decisions by understanding the motivation behind them. This gets everyone on the same page, gives direction, and builds trust and understanding.

So how can you create a company that is the perfect marriage of business and brand?

• ​What it’s like working with your spouse​​
• How can you know your mission​​
• How can you know what path to take​​​

What’s it like working with your spouse?

In the beginning, it was difficult to transition to a working relationship. We quickly learned we were much better working in different settings.

Just having our own space and environment helped us focus on our tasks so we weren’t constantly interrupting each other, but we still found times to collaborate.

Not only that, but we also had to figure out how to agree when we had different ideas of which direction we wanted to take the business.

That one took some time.

It’s actually a myth that you have to compromise. Compromise doesn’t work.

It’s not about one time we’ll do your idea and the next mine, it’s more about coming together to make a joint decision.

The reason this works so well is because we had a previously established relationship. But in business, you have to take the time to form those relationships.

Whether you’re married or going into business, it’s all about knowing what mission and values you share and how you want to carry those out.

How do I know what my mission should be in business or marriage?

You never want to enter into a business or a marriage just because it’s convenient or it makes you happy. There should always be a purpose behind it.

Knowing that purpose, whether it’s in business or marriage, helps to give you a direction and a goal.

If you don’t have this, it’s easy to get disenfranchised and wonder why you ever went into this in the first place.

It’s easy to get caught up in the glamorous idea of changing the world, but you often don’t see your impact. At least, not right away.

True contentment comes from doing the next right thing.

In order to know that next right thing you need a map directing you to the right path and that map is your mission statement.

I like to call it your Battle Cry because it’s what keeps you and your team motivated when you have that inevitable day when everything is going wrong, everything is crashing down around you, and you just want to quit.

How do I know what path to take?

While mission is the goal you strive for, values are the steps to get there.

It’s really important you know what your values are because values are basically the beliefs you have about yourself and the world.

Behaviors stem from beliefs so knowing your values help you know what the right steps are toward your mission.

I often use the Santa Claus analogy to demonstrate this.

When you’re little and you BELIEVE in Santa you VALUE the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick, so you BEHAVE by waking up early to sneak a peek. But as you get older and you no longer BELIEVE in Santa, your VALUES change and as a result, so do your BEHAVIORS. Instead, you no longer VALUE seeing a man you don’t BELIEVE in so you VALUE sleeping in instead. Your BEHAVIORS have changed.

How this applies to your business or your marriage is that knowing your values will ensure you aren’t misled into following a trend or doing something just because everyone else is.

You can instead stay true to what you know you value and you won’t flip flop with every passing fad.

 

Values aren’t the compass or even the needle, values are the magnetic force pulling the needle to reveal the direction you should take.

Knowing them helps get everyone on the same page. Because when you are working with many different people with unique personalities and differing opinions you can test decisions on whether they fit the overall mission and whether they fit your values. Even when working with people with varying ideas and personalities you can find the common human thread by seeing how your values align if your creative direction may not initially.

This is so important because it keeps people at the center of your motivation rather than those trends we spoke of earlier.

People think that simply adding a new system or tool will change everything and make you more profitable but oftentimes it just makes you compromise your business or your relationships.

This can also work the opposite way, where you should consider a path but you don’t because you aren’t living your values or because you value the wrong thing.

Take Blockbuster for example. In this video, Simon Sinek talked about what caused the downfall of Blockbuster.

A little known company at the time, Netflix, came up with the idea for streaming, but Blockbuster shareholders didn’t want to pursue it because 8% of their revenue came from late fees. That shows they valued profits over people and this is one of the times they should have considered the trend, but they didn’t because they didn’t put that value first.

Knowing your values is one of the most important things you can do for your business or your marriage.

 

Final Thoughts

There’s an age-old expression of being “married to the job.”

Unfortunately, so many people work longer and harder than they need to because they haven’t considered their mission or their values.

Neglecting these puts fear at the center of your life. When you don’t take the time to figure out what you value and what the purpose is for your work you’ll be left feeling purposeless and you’ll act out of fear.

Whether you’re in a career or in a marriage relationship you need to take the time to do that difficult discovery phase and figure this out.

The great thing is when you do you’ll find that you’ll have a better work-life balance and your relationships will flourish because they are at the center of what you do.

Take the time to dive deep to find these because it will create a better culture for everyone you are working with.