Raw and real: the truth behind being a 6-figure business couple, as told by Willow Kaii and Becca Luna.
So Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson own a production company.
Chip and Joanna Gains kill with the Magnolia brand.
And Beyonce and Jay-Z both have a say on the Tidal streaming company.
But you don’t need to be an award-winning actor, interior design extraordinaire or musical genius to kill it in business as a couple.
Of course, they’ve got massive teams and stacks of money, but want to know the true secret to a successful business partnership? Love.
Love for what you do, and who you do it with. Because business with your significant other can be wild. Crazy. Hectic. And beautiful. And today I’m sharing the raw, real, truth about running a business with your significant other, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your partner. And spoiler alert? It’s a shitshow of challenges and triumphs. But at the end of the day, it’s all kinds of magical.
I’ve built a 6-figure web design business. Launched a wildly successful online coaching program. And more recently, hit ‘publish’ on a podcast and Youtube channel that’s already received hundreds of reviews and subscribers.
And I did it all with my partner by my side.
But when I met my now-fiance in high school, we sure as heck didn’t know this would be our reality. Our mutual love for wanderlust planted a seed that we couldn’t stop thinking about. A dream of remote work, endless travel and the freedom to live the life we’d always dreamed of, unbound by 9-to-5 work. It was the seed we nurtured and watered and grew until it bloomed into an online empire.
This is us.
On the left? The beautiful Becca Luna. The girl I met in high school and 8 years later, made my fiance. She’s the founder of Bold x Boho, a wildly creative and multi-passionate Showit Web designer and a mentor for creatives. Becca is leading the future of digital design and inspires other young creatives to carve out a space that’s uniquely their own.
And on the right? Is me – Willow Kaii. As an ex-social-media-manager turned business coach and Pinterest aficionado, I combine evidence with strategy to help online creatives from across the world make their dreams of freedom-filled work a reality. I specialize in organic, attraction marketing that eliminates ad spend to help my client’s connect and convert their audience in a soulful way.
By combining our backgrounds and our strengths, we’ve built a profitable, passion-filled creative business, and we’re helping other young people do the same.
And the absolute best part? Is that we get to do it together.
But what’s it really like working with your fiance?
To truly understand what it’s like to go into business with your partner, let’s first bust some myths. I’m going to challenge these preconceived views about business as a couple:
I briefly touched on the idea of celebrity couples making business partnerships seem like a walk in the park. That’s the romanticized view. Believing it’s all sunshine and rainbows just isn’t realistic. Every couple has their moments, every individual has their quirks and when you place the added stress of a business on a relationship, it’s impossible for there to only be ‘good days’. Of course, waking up and going to work with your partner is truly incredible, but the reality is there are still lows, despite the highest of highs business as a couple brings!
Then there’s the idea that business with your partner is an absolute no-go-zone. That it only causes divorce, endless fights and resentment. This is just a pessimistic view that centers on conflict and disagreement as the worst thing about a relationship and business partnership, when in fact, it can be among the most positive. Often, it’s differences of opinion that bring out the best business results, and if anything, working together on the daily can bring you closer together. There’s so much to be celebrated about business as a couple – it’s certainly not all doom and gloom. Which brings me to the in-between.
You can be married to work and you can be married to the love of your life. Every day won’t be amazing, but every fight doesn’t make it a bad decision to go into business as a couple. Myths aside, the reality of business together is that it will throw everything at you and your partner (and then some). And sure, you’ll be weathering the tough days, but you’ll also be celebrating the best ones, together. That’s the ‘in-between’. Where there’s compromise, but there’s also immense success. Where there’s stress and simultaneously, happiness. Where there’s the harshest of hurdles and the biggest of wins. That’s business. Done together.
They say it can get pretty cold at the top, but sharing your success with someone who knows you so intimately brings a unique warmth to business.
There’s only one person who knows you better than you know yourself. And that’s your partner. Here’re three reasons why that’s an asset to your business:
Real talk? You can’t be incredible at everything. For me, I swoon over attraction marketing, organic strategy and Pinterest. For Becca, she’s in love with Showit websites and all things design. And something we both can’t get enough of is mentoring other young creatives. We respect each other’s professional interests separately and leverage them as a team. And that helps us not only combine our strengths, but our passions. It creates this uniquely dynamic, undeniable synergy you just can’t get with other business partners. It’s magic, and I put so much of our success down to this truth.
Just as we have unique strengths, we also have unique visions. It’s natural for partners to be at different levels of readiness, as was our case with Becca launching Bold x Boho first. She was so excited to show up online and step into her destiny, and I couldn’t be more eager to help her. This meant we were both giving our full energy, focus and intention to growing her personal brand first, rather than splitting time with building mine. Doing this allowed us to give our all when showing up online, with clients and with ourselves, ultimately serving to build a stronger foundation when I was ready to build my own personal brand. Ultimately, business as a couple means building your partner up, sharing the load, applying a unique perspective and getting deep into growing a recognizable image for yourselves.
As an online coach I know one of the biggest struggles in business is finding clients! Prospecting can be super tough to do yourself as you strive to secure your first round of beta clients and testimonials. But when you run a business with your partner, you have a spokesperson ready to sell you like no other person could, embedding authority and trust into your business expansion. Additionally, as is the case for Becca and me, we generate new referrals for each other on the daily, working as a team to support both our clients and ourselves. And to keep track of all those leads, clients and projects? We only choose Honeybook. You can check out the benefits of this all-in-one CRM right here.
In love with your partner and the idea of business together? Here are some crucial do’s and don’ts to consider before you take the leap to work with your one and only:
When you work a traditional ‘9 to 5’, you can leave work at work (or at least, rant about it and leave it). But owning your own business is a 24/7 job, and there’s little to no separation between work and life – especially when your fave colleague lives with you! That means applying work boundaries and carving out time to switch off is crucial to the longevity of your relationship and your business.
When the only person you have to celebrate with is your partner, it can be easy to put non-essential ‘celebrations’ to the wayside. But all work and no play is a recipe for unsustainability and unhappiness. Instead, prioritize time together to commemorate your milestones, congratulate each other on your achievements, and plan for an even brighter future. For us, it could be as simple as celebrating Becca’s Yahoo! Finance feature over a glass of wine and charcuterie board.
Communication is the root of many conflicts in relationships and in business. So just as you would with an ordinary team member, ensure your systems and communication processes are A1 to avoid unnecessary tension. This also supports a more professional working environment that enables you to maintain those crucial boundaries I mentioned earlier, too!
If you’ve got an existing business or plan to start one, consider the relevance of working with your spouse. It may seem harsh, but considering their qualifications, strengths, qualities and the dynamics of your relationship is part of making smart and strategic business decisions. Do you share the same goals and mindset and plans for the business? Understanding the answers to these questions from the beginning helps you start your business partnership on the right foot.
Having time with your partner is as important as your time apart, and the same goes for business. There is more to your relationship than work, so practicing balance in the way you spend time together is imperative. Ensure you spend time together outside work by prioritizing time to go on dates, holidays and chill on the couch with Netflix.
This one is especially important if you’ve got a team with you. As I mentioned, it’s totally natural there will be conflict in the office and at home, but respecting the work environment means leaving personal issues at the office door. What’s best for your business as a couple is to keep business, business and life, life.
From high school to the real world, Becca and I have championed our relationship, prioritised our strengths and used our powerful connection to spur on bigger things. There have been (and will continue to be) hard days, but the vibrancy, the synergy, the magic of working with the love of my life to build our dream life will always outshine this. Together, we’re unstoppable.
That’s why we’re already looking to the future, onto our next venture. And we want you to join us. We’re launching an online school in early 2021. A killer creative academy like you’ve never seen before. One teaching you how to build a profitable and passion-filled business just like we did. I’m talking about next-level upskilling, connecting, and cultivating.
Subscribe to The Wealthy Wild Youtube and The Wealthy Wild podcast for more tips to build your very own passion-filled, profitable creative online business.
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