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JoAnn Means thought her husband, Johnny, had lost his mind when he announced he’d quit his job to start a business and needed her help. Christmas was rapidly approaching, and the couple had two kids in private school and two mortgages to pay. “I like consistency,” she says. “I like getting a paycheck.” Johnny said they could make a living selling beds like those he built for their children. JoAnn recal led the first bed, which had a slide so fast she worried her son would fly through the window. But she also remembered the sheer joy she felt when Johnny unveiled a pink princess bed for their daughter. The sight of it moved her to tears. “It was so beautiful,” the Wilmington, Delaware, resident says. By the end of the conversation, she was crazy for the idea, too. Won over by his passion and “I need you” plea, she quit her job the next day and leapt into an entrepreneurial whirl wind for which neither spouse was prepared. “I said I’m going to believe in my husband, and we’re going to wing it,” she recalls. A few years later, their company, Sweet Dream Theme Beds and Children’s Interiors, is a testament to their shared vision of working for themselves and applying their talents. Johnny handcrafts elaborate castle- and cottage-themed beds complete with slides, staircases and climbing walls. JoAnn sells his work for top dollar to clients in locales as far flung as Texas and Dubai. While their impulsive plunge into business ownership is uncommon, the Meanses are far from al one in their quest to merge marriage and entrepreneurship. Scholars estimate there are between 1.2 and 3 million couple-owned small businesses in the United States. And anecdotal evidence suggests black copreneurs (couple entrepreneurs) are boldly venturing into an increasingly diverse array of fields from luxury furniture and media to information technology and political consulting. They view business ownership as an extension of their marital union and a path to financial independence. In one sense, seeing so many couples commit to each other and a business venture is welcome news at a time when healthy marriages are on the decline. Black men and women in particular are far more likely to be divorced than whites and Hispanics, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But throwing business ownership into the mix can strain a marriage just as easily as it can strengthen one. Shared vision, open communication, mutual respect and clearly defined roles at home and work are the keys to copreneur success... Read more about entrepreneurial couples. |
For Better or Worse
