Suzy and Trevor of Switchback Creative: 5 Things We Wish We Had Known As A Couple Doing Business Together
An Interview With Nancy Landrum
Your romantic partner is the most important relationship you have. You spend the most time with each other, on purpose! If you work with your spouse this is even more so the case. They don’t grow up and move out like kids or leave for a better opportunity like a different business partner might. You are together for better or for worse. Without a healthy marriage, the business falls apart. So, our marriage comes first and the health of the business follows.
Embarking on a business venture is challenging, but doing so with your significant other brings a unique set of dynamics. While many couples find great success and fulfillment in this arrangement, they will inevitably encounter unforeseen difficulties that can test both their professional and personal relationships. From communication hurdles to balancing work-life harmony, the journey of couples in business together is filled with both triumphs and trials. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Suzy and Trevor Rounce.
Trevor and Suzy Rounce are the husband-wife team and co-founders behind Switchback Creative, a small digital agency that focuses on branding, website development and advertising. Entering their 10th year of business, they adore running the business together.
Suzy is a graphic designer and Trevor is a full-stack web developer. With more than 33 years combined experience in the industry they have seen that storytelling is the foundation of what all companies should build their marketing experiences on. They both have distinct and varying backgrounds they bring to the business partnership.
As a company Switchback Creative has been recipients of business of the year awards and finalists in emerging business of the year and greatest impact categories. In addition to day-to-day client work, they have been proud to have lead workshops, spoke at conferences, and lead seminars over the years.
Switchback Creative exists to help clients craft the stories they want to be remembered for. They support those who are creating legacies for their communities, individuals, and families for many years to come. It is for people who believe in the power of their company vision so strongly that they will do what it takes to share it with the world, connecting with those they can help the most.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to go into business as a couple?
We met later in life, when we were 31 and 32 years old. We knew that we wanted to work together even before we were married. Coming from different career worlds didn’t matter — we would find a way. Trevor comes from the construction world where he was an Electrical Superintendent with a large crew of people under his management. After 15 years in that industry, he transformed into a self-taught full-stack web developer, learning at night and on weekends, he was ready to do something different.
“I’ve worn many hats and done many different things in my life, but helping businesses thrive with great web design is where my passion lies. From my early years of playing top level competitive hockey, to leading teams of up to 70 people on huge projects, I know what it takes to be a team player and have the experience to get the job done with all the moving parts that are part of the web process. Mix that with the fact that I absolutely love what I do and you’ve got someone who will always go the extra mile to make a website soar and to make sure that website fits the company’s needs.” — Trevor
Suzy comes from the more expected world as a graphic designer by craft and can’t imagine doing anything else. Having worked for many agencies in the big city we live in, dealing with the client more closely was the dream. “I was getting too far away from being able to help the business owners directly and make an impact in our community at the same time. Dreaming out loud like that with Trevor and sharing that dream made us want to work together more and more. Coming from different professional worlds didn’t matter. While I never imagined being an entrepreneur, or being lucky enough to work with my husband, it’s been the greatest journey of my life. Being able to decide our own destiny as business partners and a family, as well as share the load and celebrate victories together is one of my favourite parts.” — Suzy
Coming from a totally different professional worlds means we can combine our skills to create impact in our community and make this the business we are raising together a success. Just like if we were raising kids together, we see business building very much the same way.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to both of you since being in business together?
The most interesting thing that’s happened was the life of its own the creation of our Trailblazer Non-Profit Fund has had.
The Trailblazer Non-Profit Fund was created to help charities doing amazing work, do bigger things. Once a year we look for non-profit organizations nationwide, that are doing really great work and have design, web or branding challenges. They apply and pitch us on why they need the chance to receive $10,000 worth of services from us.
It was designed to help those who are making the world a better place but need some creative expertise to help them solve marketing challenges. We look for collaborative relationships that are a great win-win for both parties. Great work for great people. We have helped eight organizations to date and donated more than $80,000 worth of services to amazing places like: a museum, a library, a community foundation, children’s festival, art and culture group, brain rehabilitation organization, theater group and a nationwide biosphere reserves association.
It’s become something unique that people ask us about and look forward to seeing who wins every year. It brings us corporate business, media attention and most importantly good karma. We feel like we have created something enduring and a legacy our family and business can be very proud of.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting?
It was funny how we thought we knew what our definition of success was. We had a really clear idea of the size, sort of office, type of work we thought would bring us joy and financial freedom in our agency. We learnt after 5 years of moving that direction that it wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We were working to ‘feed the machine’ we created and it wasn’t full of more joy or more revenue. The vision had changed, we had changed. It was time to change the vision and definition to something more fitting our real goals and passions. It’s been instrumental to making us feel happier, calmer and more profitable, despite what it might seem.
Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We learnt that you don’t need to have a big team or a flashy office to be successful or grow your wealth and influence. You can put your time into boutique custom experiences, focus on creating impact with the right organizations. It will lead to your growing your influence exponentially. You don’t need more for the sake of more. It helped us to stay humble and work on our grass roots development — staying focused on what really matters.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Far too many people come to mind to mention just one. So really it would have to be our community that we are the most grateful for. We started our business in a smaller city, and it made a huge difference to be able to break into. The community was reachable and made the ability for us as co-founders and a family to grow our business one person at a time. It takes a special kind of community to accept every “can we buy you a coffee and chat” invitation and then act on those pleas to connect us to the next helpful person. Asking for help and being humble and generous with our knowledge has helped us find the right people along the way.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — probably don’t have an idea of what it is like as a couple to be in business together. In just a few words can you explain how being in business with your romantic partner is different from other business partnerships?
Your romantic partner is the most important relationship you have. You spend the most time with each other, on purpose! If you work with your spouse this is even more so the case. They don’t grow up and move out like kids or leave for a better opportunity like a different business partner might. You are together for better or for worse. Without a healthy marriage, the business falls apart. So, our marriage comes first and the health of the business follows.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a couple running a business? Can you explain what you mean?
There are a couple of myths that come to mind. First would be, it’s not as scary to work with your spouse as people say it is. You will know if you are compatible professionally, it’s no different than other close working relationships. You need the right vibe and personality mix. It’s not as terrifying as people make it out to be. We remember people saying we were crazy for quitting our jobs and working together. With great communication there are so many benefits to working together that this is a myth that should be dispelled.
The second myth is that people say it’s bad to argue. Everyone has different ideas on how to do things. Defining your goals first and knowing your individual strengths then discussing, arguing (sometimes hotly) is a good thing. If we aren’t passionately fighting sometimes, it means we aren’t as engaged in the business as we should be.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen couples make when they start out in business together? What can be done to avoid those errors?
A mistake we see often is not giving yourself (as a family) a savings runway before you both quit. Having great cash flow as a business and family, means you don’t panic when things aren’t going according to plan. It would add a lot of extra stress to your family if you don’t have that emergency savings so you can just focus on the business. Living below your means is part of this too so that you take the stress off each other. It’s worth the sacrifice until you are very stable as a business.
Never underestimate the essential need for quarterly goals and meetings. Separate family and business goal setting is critical. Formalize and put them to paper, get out of your office to plan and dream bigger. Ensure you are doing it every quarter and following up on them regularly. Skipping these meetings is easy to do but it’s a big mistake!
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Things You Wish You Had Known As A Couple Doing Business Together”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
1 . Let go of the people who don’t get it.
Working together means we have a great support system, but that also means there are people who don’t understand what we are trying to create. We have learnt over time that it’s okay if family and friends are confused about why we are investing so much time on our business. We don’t have to explain it to them, it’s okay to just let it go. Taking a different path than the majority of families is okay, just stay strong in your determination. Friends and family won’t always understand your decisions.
2 . Your definition of success will change.
We thought we had a really clear idea of the size of company and type of work we thought would bring us joy and financial freedom in our agency. We learnt over time that direction that it wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We were working to ‘feed the machine’ we created and it wasn’t full of more joy or more revenue. The vision had changed, we had changed. Then we realized we are in control of our destiny, it was time to change the definition of success. With some hard work and decisive decision making we changed course and have been much happier for it.
3 . Take time to enjoy the journey.
Force yourself to take time to celebrate the wins, both in work and in life together. Reflect often! It’s easy to just roll from one win to the next and forget that they are big wins. Make the time to take it in, absorb it and document if you can. A win is a win and making an experience out of it is important. We have noticed that reflecting on our 10 year anniversary how far we have come without totally realizing it.
4 . Health is a non-negotiable.
Everyone says it, but not many of us do it. Focus on your fitness more, every single day. It’s taken us too long and a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs to make fitness and wellbeing non-negotiable. Health is your foundation to everything else. Figure out what fitness is to you and double down on it. We go through phases where we will work out and train together, it’s motivating and fun, and there are times when we don’t.
Something else that has been amazing for us is having a high energy dog. We have grown to love pointers since starting our business. We currently have a German Shorthaired Pointer named Nova and previously had a Weimaraner named Blue. They meant building 2 daily walks, training sessions, hikes, runs and adventures into our weekly routines. It’s been a game changer for our health and wellbeing. Getting a pet to improve your health is not something we recommend as it’s a lifestyle for a decade that you have to be committed to no matter what. It’s just something that has become such a blessing in our life that can’t be underestimated.
5 . You don’t always need to be working, but if you want to that is okay too.
At the start of any business you need to hustle to gain momentum. Over the years you get used to working that hard all the time, it becomes muscle memory. Working with your spouse also means you are likely more sympathetic to your partner working on vacation or after hours. That is a great way to focus and grow your business in the stages when it matters most. However, once your business is established we needed to switch gears and turn it off. Being more thoughtful about the time and availability we put into our business. It is easy to work all the time when you love what you do together, but you have to do more together than just work.
In your opinion, what are a few ways that couples can ensure they are successful in business with each other? Can you share a story or an example?
Each partner needs a distinct set of roles they are in charge of, these need to be different from your partner. As business owners we are equals in every way, however, our other job titles after vary greatly from each other. Trevor is the CFO, COO and full stack web developer. Suzy is the Creative Director, CMO and graphic designer. When we are talking from the perspective of any of those positions we are the leader and have the final say. It’s a big mistake to try and do the same job — it will cause more arguments and feel less autonomous. This has been key to helping us stop fighting in the day-to-day business.
Another key to success is to build in dreams that each of you is obsessed with. They can be different, but you need to have both peoples dreams in there. You have the opportunity as a business owners and a couple to do cool stuff through your business. One person has to spearhead it and the other has to cheerlead. It’s how we started our podcast, learnt new technologies, created workshops and more.
Last thing that comes to mind is to have interests in things other than running a business together! Make sure you don’t just work together and forget to hang out together doing non work things. We have gotten into podcasting, camping, home renovations, whisky tastings and hiking as part of things we love to do together outside of work.
You are a couple of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Looptail: How One Company Changed The World By Reinventing Business by Bruce Poon Tip is a book we recommend for everyone building a business. We have built a philosophy in our company about doing good while running our business at every step and into everything we do. Don’t wait until you have money to give away before you figure out the philanthropic side of your business. The better the places we live are, the better business success is for everyone. Some of the best moments have been when we are doing what we do best and giving our skills, services and time away.
We were at a design conference 9 years ago and one of the speakers was talking about him donating his skills to Amnesty International as a way to give back and help an amazing organization change people’s lives and the best way he knew how was by using his skills to grow their influence. We took that to heart and created our Trailblazer program and build as many permanent philosophies on doing good into our lives — personally and professionally.
How can our readers further follow you online?
Go to switchbackcreative.ca to learn more about us or on Instagram at http://instagram.com/switchback4ever/or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/switchback-creative/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
About the Interviewer: Nancy Landrum, MA, Relationship Coach, has authored eight books, including “How to Stay Married and Love it” and “Stepping Twogether: Building a Strong Stepfamily”. Nancy has been coaching couples and stepfamilies with transformative communication skills for over thirty years. Nancy is an engaging interviewer and powerful speaker. Nancy has contributed to The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Authority, Medium, Yahoo, MSN, Psych Central, Thrive, Woman’s Day magazine, and more. Nancy is the Founder of the only one of its kind online relationship solution, www.MillionaireMarriageClub.com. Nancy coaches couples across the globe in person and via Zoom. Nancy’s passion is to guide couples and families to happy lasting marriages where children thrive and lovers love for life.
