Bringing Your Partner into the Business

My wife and I recently met with several Christian business owners for a Daystar Consulting  event entitled, “Becoming More Profitable…A Dialogue Among Christian Business Owners.”  I was pleased to see that of the 25 people in attendance, ten were spouses (most of whom had no part in running the business).  As a part of this session, all in attendance completed a survey that dealt with seven potential tensions that many Christian business owners face (e.g. love for people versus profits).   

The spouses had difficulty taking the survey.  They were asked to reflect on how their husbands would answer the questions.  Most said, “I have no idea.”  If I take this at face value, then I (and the other Christian business owners) have not taken advantage of a valuable counselor (my spouse) when it comes to the challenges I face in my attempts to run our business according to biblical principles. 

Perhaps our spouse is aware of certain business issues—the current financial situation, or an employee who recently left, but have we taken the time to seek our spouse’s insights on things such as:

• Love for God versus pursuit of profit
• People needs versus profit obligations
• Humility versus the Ego of Success
• Family needs versus Work needs
• Charity versus Wealth

Based on this limited data, it appears many do not.  We need to bring our life partner “into the business” so to speak as we wrestle with these issues.  For those who are married, we must remember that God has given us a help mate for all aspects of life—raising kids, dealing with extended family, learning to be a good neighbor, developing our spiritual walk with Christ—and running our business in a way that pleases Him. 

Many at this event stated that they believed that God had called them into business ownership.  But I also challenged the spouses to realize that they too were involved in this call.  Being a spouse of a business owner is a real challenge—but it also provides a wonderful opportunity to support, encourage, and hold accountable the one you love to the standards of Scripture as you and your spouse discuss them. 

A Suggestion (and I would solicit your ideas on this as well) 

Why not start a journal at home that records in summary fashion the conversations that you and your spouse have regarding running your business according to biblical principles.  You could use some of the tensions listed in this Insight as “chapter headings” or perhaps you’d like to divide your journal up by function (e.g. marketing, sales, production) or by stakeholder (e.g. employees, customers, vendors, community).  

You would work together searching the Scripture, seeking wise counsel, and praying that God would provide you with inspiration to tackle the task at hand in a way that serves others and brings glory to Him. 

As one business owner stated so clearly in our Dialogue, “Ask yourself the question, ‘Is this the way it ought to be?’  Is this the way that God intended?”  If not, you and your spouse could continue to dialogue and seek God’s way in handling whatever issue is confronting you. 

What do you think?  Is this insight on track or not?  Do you ask for and listen to the thoughts, ideas, insights, etc. from your spouse when it comes to managing the tensions of running a Christian-owned business in a hard-nosed, secular world?  I’m anxious to hear from you on this subject (keith@daystarconsulting.com). 

Keith

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