MARCH 2019 422business.com and 422bizmag.com ROUTE 422 BUSINESS ADVISOR39

AN ENTREPRENEURTHANKS HER WAGEEARNER HUSBAND

THE GOOD LIFEByMerra Lee Moffitt, AWMA, CMFC, CFP®

Patrick and I have been married 28 years. In that time, I have started four businesses and my husband started two.Each time we tried to keep one predictable paycheck while

allowing the other to grow a business. If you’re an entrepreneur, thankyour wage-earning spouse today for providing a steady baseline income.

While most articles regarding self-em-ployed people married to wage earnerssurrounds tax filing and deductions, themuch larger issue is mutual support andcommunication. I am ever so grateful anddo not thank my spouse enough for thegift of his W-2 income during my start-upyears.

When I started my first business, I hada new baby — I also had a business plan,a vision and a desire to succeed. Al-though both of our families had stay-at-home moms, that was not my plan. Wespent months talking our way throughthe time demands of starting a businessagainst the ‘mom’ expectations of the pre-vious generation.

My early earnings as a business ownerresembled a roller coaster. Some monthsyielded large checks. Yippee! Somemonths the postbox grew spider webs.The slow grinding crawl up the coaster ’sslope to profits. He congratulated thehappy months and provided encourage-ment always.

If you’re the entrepreneur roller coasterearner, take on the discretionary payments— as the entrepreneur I pay for schedula-ble extras: the house projects, the vaca-tions, the gifts and holidays. When thebusiness is doing well, we schedule those

things. In seasons and years when revenuedeclines, we postpone or minimize thecost of those projects that we do have con-trol over. It takes a lot of discussion.

We delegated the wage earner to paythe steady bills. Pay the electric bill, the oilbill, the car insurance . . . We’ve been mar-ried 28 years; I’m grateful for my hus-band’s support and ongoing talks. I haveworked with many couples where one isa wage earner and the other an entrepre-neur. I’ve seen many wage earners getfrustrated because it seems as though theyare paying all the bills. Especially whenthey see their entrepreneur spouses pay-ing for marketing and other expenses thatthey see as unnecessary.

Learn how to talk about the great rev-enue months — a wage earner thinks agreat month is prelude to a permanentraise. They sometimes expect every monthto be like that. Early on in our marriage, agreat month fostered conversations beck-oning one of our household projects orpent-up vacation desires. Inevitably thenext month revenues would be lower andsquelch Securities offered through LPL fi-nancial, member FINRA/SIPC. Investmentadvice offered through Good Life Advi-sors LLC, a registered investment advisor.

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Good Life Advisors LLC and Good Life Fi-nancial Group are separate entities fromLPL financial. those premature plans. Welearned to squirrel away money from goodmonths and moderate our optimism so wecould discuss the timing of special projects.

We renegotiated the household budgetnearly every year — there can be yearswhen your spouse changes jobs and po-tentially earns less. In those years I tried totake on a few more household bills.

There were recessions, and depressionswhere profits were illusive. Thank yourspouse for being understanding, and ac-cepting the restaurant moratoriums, thehouse project moratoriums, and vacationmoratoriums. We got through and came outwith a greater appreciation for each other.

Learn how to talk about your marketing— while you may be proud of your mar-keting efforts, it’s sometimes difficult forthe wage earner spouse to understandwhy you’re spending or how it should betargeted. In my business of financial serv-ices often required working in theevenings. My husband did the cooking, thechildren ’s taxi and taking care of house-hold projects. Be grateful to your spousefor those often under-appreciated tasks.

Another challenge can be if you workat home. Communicating about the quiet

space you need to focus on your business.Especially these days when working athome looks like sitting on the couch witha laptop. Writing a proposal, researchinga topic or studying for a new certificationrequires limiting interruptions.

Lastly, remember to have a weekly datenight. We try not to talk about the busi-nesses or the kids. We remember why wegot married in the first place.

Here’s the bottom line: Being marriedto an entrepreneur is just different frombeing married to someone who has a pro-fession and who is paid every week. It’simportant to talk through and be able tosustain communications through the yearsof roller coaster ride.

My husband started businesses thathave failed and so have I. Either throughluck, dogged persistence, or commitmentto our clients we have managed to succeedand to support each other. After 28 yearsof marriage, I continue to find more thingsto thank him for. Merra Lee Moffitt CFP, first and foremost is a fi-nancial educator. She is also the spouse of Patrickwho helped support the ups and downs throughopen communications. If you want the kind of car-ing, thoughtful, and educated guidance she canbring, call, click or come by at 610.488.7353,www.MerraLee.net, or 2395 Lancaster Pike, Read-ing, PA 19607.

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