Husbands and wives sometimes see themselves married to their careers as well as to each other. Many Falcon couples are taking it one step further by combining their careers into a family business. Financial, tax and relationship issues have positive and negative impacts on these endeavors.There are as many reasons to go into business together as there are couples who do so. Rock Solid Chiropractic doctors Stephen Kutscher and Mandi Miedema opened their clinic together to provide each other with more support and opportunity than either had working in separate clinics in California. ìShe was working for somebody else, and a big motivator for me was the disappointment of her not getting any praise or reward,î Kutscher said. ìI realized we could give each other a better work environment that would help us thrive more. It was important to see her happy.îWorking together sometimes allows spouse teams to put off hiring an employee until the business can support it. Heather Zambrano, owner of The Original Basket Boutique in Falcon, had her husband, Domenic, making bows and wrapping gifts well into the night for the first year of the business.Kutscher and Miedema divided clinic duties so that she ran the front desk and office tasks, until the business grew to the point they were able to hire a full-time office manager and receptionists.Falcon chiropractors Rob and Fran Palmer started working together in 1995 and opened their Falcon clinic in 2003. They said they love being able to have a flexible schedule. ìIt’s knowing that your partner in life is also your business partner,î Fran Palmer said. ìHaving the same goals and same interests has been great.îThe Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 allowed small businesses with spouse owners to both get credit for the self-employment taxes from the business for their Social Security and Medicare accounts. Previously, husband and wife teams had to either file as partnerships or only one of the couple would get credit for their Social Security contributions on a Schedule C. According to the Internal Revenue website, if the spouse is an employee and not a partner, the business must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for him or her.Teamwork and security in the relationship is vital. ìThere has to be constant communication,î Heather Zambrano said. ìIf not, the assumptions one makes about what the other is doing and the bickers in the business would come home with you.î Dee and Jim Ozburn, owners of Falcon Meadows Campground since 1983, said separating task responsibilities have helped them last without too much discord. ìCampground maintenance and outside stuff is mostly me,î Jim Ozburn said. ìPaperwork, reservations and inventory and other inside stuff is mostly Dee.î Jokingly, he added, ìBut if something goes wrong, it’s her responsibility.îìWe share everything,î Miedema said. ìWhen you have a challenging job, especially owning your own business, it’s hard for your spouse to understand what is involved and the struggles you’re going through or what the success meant. Being able to share that with Stephen is priceless.îEventually hiring an employee can take pressure off the couple. ìYou can set up more sound processes with an employee,î Heather Zambrano said. ìSometimes you communicate better, or at least more clearly, with an employee than the spouse. You have someone you can tell exactly what to do.îMiedema said she and Kutscher don’t have a problem calling each other out on things. ìIf he’s behind on his files, which he always is, I just say, ‘Would you get your files done Stephen!’î she said. ìBut when we have to give each other criticism, we know we’re giving it for the right reason: that we want to grow together and the business.îNot having a secondary source of income or a steady income stream is stressful, Dominic Zambrano said. Zambrano continued working in the corporate world while helping Heather. ìThere was thought of both of us doing it full time,î Zambrano said. ìBut there wasn’t enough business to support both of us. It’s important to have the security blanket of a separate corporate paycheck. But I’ll save up my vacation time to help during the busy holiday time. I’m not completely out of the business.îThe Palmers said they had a plan that if their Falcon clinic wasn’t successful, then one of them would go to work for someone else to diversify their income. ìBut business has been strong enough that it never came to that. This is all we’ve ever done,î Fran Palmer said.Holly Gray, therapist at Marriage and Family Therapy Services in Falcon, said a strong relationship and communication skills are important to the success of the business. ìOne of the big issues is that any kind of unresolved personal or communication issues that haven’t been worked on will be exacerbated in the marriage and at work,î Gray said. ìIf they run into issues, then they’ll need to be quick to work through it because it is not only their livelihood but their relationship. There are a lot of things that are at stake if they don’t.îìAlways try to leave the office at the office,î Rob Palmer said. ìYou can’t ever fully separate it, and sometimes you need to have a work conversation at home or else it will never happen.îBut when we’re not in the office, family is first,î Fran Palmer said.Domenic Zambrano said new business partner spouses should work on compartmentalizing from the beginning. ìYou need to set up business meetings to only talk business, which we had trouble setting up,î he said.î It’s all about your expectations of each other as a couple.î
