Identify Strengths

I’m not better than Erin, and she’s not better than me. We are equals.

However… We do have individual strengths when it comes to technology, writing, and videography…

As equals, it’s OK for you each to be further along in one aspect or another. That’s called individuality AND we’ve both had different life experiences & types of education.

That’s where collaborating causes you to become a power couple-preneur!

Strength Identification Exercise:

• Write out an inventory of your business tasks
• Identify who is stronger (if you’re both good at the task, add both of your names on the task)
• Collaborate with each other on what you’re not good at, so you can grow

This little exercise will help in collaboration because the individual who is stronger at something can take the lead on that part of a project while the other contributes with ideas & with their strengths.

If you want to work with your spouse, having this mutual understanding is essential: “We as humans are not good at everything and we can work together towards a common goal.”

Celebrate what you are each good at because it’s more fun to do it together!

Support Growth

When you’re not “good” at something, sometimes the ego takes a hit because you may see your spouse soaring at that thing…

But… When YOU want to become more proficient at something, having the support from your spouse will help you to work better together.

An example of this is that Erin is REALLY good at writing using the conversational style. I, on the other hand, learned to write essay style using “proper” punctuation & grammar.

I hated writing because of this.

That all changed when Erin supported me in my growth!

Now, when I’m writing a blog post, I write in the first person, conversationally, because I followed Erin’s lead when it came to “writing how you speak…”

What’s cool, is that you don’t have to be a spectacular linguist and scribe to write something that entertains, educates, and inspires your audience to take action in their lives. As long as you are getting your message out there, you’re contributing to the betterment of society.

During this whole process, Erin supported my growth, encouraged me to take a chance and just let it flow.

What are you working on with your spouse?
Are you supporting their growth?

We would love to know in the comments below what you are doing to work with your spouse so that you’re able to BE where you want, when you want, TOGETHER!

Equality Between Two Alpha Creators

Going from no support, building our businesses solo in our previous relationships, to collaborating made us realize that we’re each an alpha creator.

We were the shot-callers in our business & didn’t need the input from our previous partners (because they didn’t want to participate or contribute…)

Q: How do you go from being two alpha creators to working together without sacrificing equality?
A: You collaborate!

Make an agreement between the two of you that you both need to be heard (and you both need to listen.)

It makes no sense tugging the laptop back and forth to try to get in a few keystrokes or talking over each other as if you are on some heated debate on the news (everyone knows THAT is not an effective way to be heard).

When it comes to communication, both of you are important, and both of you need to be heard.

The only way to do this is to work with your spouse, give each other space to speak, and be a good listener.

We found that to achieve equality, this has been by far the best way to work together and get more done.

Read More: Is Starting A Business With Your Spouse A Good Idea? »

Best Tool To Work With Your Spouse & Collaborate

A fun tool we’ve found is Google Docs which is part of G Suite.

Here’s what you do to collaborate with your spouse:

• Create a Google Doc
• Give it a Title
• Click the SHARE button & send to your spouse
• Now, you can BOTH work on the same document at the same time

We use this when we’re planning a film for YouTube (Click to Subscribe if you haven’t already – we produce fun videos that could help you BE where you want, when you want, TOGETHER!)

As we’re chatting about how we want to flow a film, we’re BOTH able to add on, delete, update and edit the document in REAL-TIME… I can see what she’s typing, as I’m in there adding my ideas, and vice versa.

It’s truly helped us to work together without killing each other (what’s crazy is we just figured out this trick last week).

Here’s a BONUS Trick

If you’re using a branded email address for your online business (example: [email protected] rather than [email protected]) and dislike using Outlook, you can use G Suite instead with that SAME email address AND it’ll probably save you some money.

What G Suite does is it allows the same branded email to be used with Gmail’s platform. It works across all your devices AND provides you the ease of use that Gmail offers (and Outlook does not).

We’ve used Outlook for a few years and disliked nearly every moment of it.

This trick alone will help you work with your spouse easier while getting more done, together!

p.s. If you use our G Suite link, we’ll get a small commission AND it’ll give you a discount for your first year that you can’t get by just going to G Suite. This could save you some CASH-OLA! You’re welcome 🙂

Read More: Awesome Tips To Save BIG Time & Cut Small Business Expenses »

In Conclusion

Working with your spouse is a commitment (just like the relationship you’re in with them!) What’s cool, is that you can become a powerful couple-preneur together, which could allow you to BE where you want, when you want.

The biggest tip we can give you is taking the time to LISTEN to each other. You both have an amazing amount of energy you will be contributing towards your business online together.