So you’re married… and an entrepreneur…

The last 6 months have been quite the roller coaster — I’ve moved 3 times, from Australia, to Thailand to New Zealand, spread my wings as an entrepreneur and freelancer, gotten MARRIED and self-published a couple of books.

No big deal…

This is a bit of a personal story, and one my husband is probably not so keen on me writing, but what the hell, he isn’t online like I am and won’t even know — so don’t go telling him what you read here — it’s just between you, me and maybe a few hundred people who read this…

The Issue

I felt compelled to put fingers to keyboard and write about this. Because I really feel that it’s something that is not really talked about, because for the most part, a lot of freelancers and entrepreneurs that are around my age are single (For the record, I’m 36 and have been working for myself for over 2.5 years).

They’re not married or living with their spouse, they’re living it up, travelling the world — which is awesome, but what about those of us that are married or living with a significant other —

how the hell do you manage your business and still live a happy life with your loved one?

This one’s kinda got me scratching my head right now.

Being an Entrepreneur and Having a Happy Marriage — possible?

I know there have to be people out there doing this well, but I’ve yet to meet them. In a recent article, Jay Goltz made this quip,

“Entrepreneurs Are Crazy, and You Married One. Deal With It.”

I actually laughed out loud (LOL) when I read this, because I immediately thought to myself, “um, this is awkward… and a little true, well a lot true!”

Over the past few months, as I’ve been publishing books and focusing my business in a new direction, my husband and I have had some heated discussions (and I use the term ‘discussions’ loosely…) about the time I spend on/in my business which then also filters into other areas, such as how much time I spend on my iPad or iPhone, whose turn it is to wash the dishes or take out the trash… real world problems here people.

I’m often left sitting, trying to figure out what I’ve done wrong, because, as I see it, I’m just being me — isn’t that what marriage is all about, being able to be you, warts and all?

Hmm, it would seem not, or maybe I missed the memo or something explaining the change in meaning.

Now I’m not saying I’m perfect, far from it, but how do you balance growing your business and doing all the things you love and ensuring the needs of your spouse are met in a way that they feel is right and respectful to them?

Personally, I feel that issues arise because one of us works from home, and the other has J.O.B. — one that said person is not overly happy doing forever.

I, on the other hand, love what I do, so much so, that it can be difficult to put the Macbook Air, iPad, or iPhone down when hubby wants to talk about some car he just saw on Pinterest that is his DREAM car (which happens regularly!).

Can Crazy and ‘Cray-Cray’ Survive?

My husband regularly tells me that I drive him crazy. Not just standard crazy, oh no, I drive him batshit, grey-hair inducing, tummy curdling cra-zy! I’m blamed daily for the amount of grey hair he has, while I, on the other hand, don’t have a grey hair in sight!

And my hubby drives me crazy too, but probably more your standard level of crazy, not the crazy he tells me I drive him… so how the hell is this marriage going to work?!

Taking One for the Team

“Life is not always sunshine and roses…”

Wait?! What, it’s not? Eek, I fear that could be part of the problem here as well… I’m an eternal optimist, so much so, that I rarely have an off day and not a lot rattles me… my husband, on the other hand, is a Gemini — nuff said!

Ok, well let’s just say that he is more of a realist and my ‘airy fairy ways’ as he puts it, don’t instil a lot of confidence in him that everything will always turn out ok — even though it does…

So, the long and the short of all of this is — I take one for the team. The marriage team that is. I compromise, I now no longer read my iPad at night so that I can provide my attention when it’s needed and I make sure that as soon as I hear the front door open at night, my Macbook Air is closed.

Because, for better or worse, I’m in this marriage for the long-haul.

I know that eventually, my hubby will figure things out and leave his J.O.B. to pursue his own entrepreneurial endeavor; he’s just on a different path right now… so in the meantime, I suck it up, smile and just keep walking on sunshine!

If you want to know more about me, you can check out some deets here or visit my website, www.outsourcedfreelancingsuccess.com!