working from home with your spouse - how we make it work (and with a baby!)
A lot of people think Jordana + I are crazy. Personally, I call it special (we're like magical unicorns). We literally spend 24 hours a day together since we both run our own businesses + work from home and honestly and truly LOVE it. We even had a short stint where we joined forces + ran a few programs together.
We are truly unique. We love spending time together + doing things together whether it's working, grocery shopping, exercising, walking, you name it, we want to do it together. It may help that we're both girls and so it truly is like hanging with your best girlfriend all the time!
Don't get me wrong, we've had our fair share of struggles, like any couple, but we choose each day to love each other, support each other + grow TOGETHER. I know I can be a handful sometimes (I'm a Gemini + a huge extrovert with a big personality while J is a Cancer, super chill + a major introvert), but we work. And yes, we WORK at our relationship. We don't take each other or it for granted. We make time for each other, for adventure + most of all, for PLAY. We love to play :)
How do we make it work?
We respect each other's time + space. When we are in the zone, we know not to interrupt the other person. When one of us is in the middle of a big project, the other person helps out by making food, taking care of Parker + Ruby (our dog), cleaning up around the house, reviewing the work for errors. We truly support each other 100% and do what we can to help the other person thrive. Now that we have a baby, we will occasionally take shifts so that we can have a few hours of uninterrupted work time while the other person plays with + cares for the baby.
We truly believe in one another + support each other's BIG ideas. A lot of our friends + family think we're crazy because they don't understand our business / work. We have BIG dreams + set goals that many may call "unrealistic". But we don't do that to one another - whether it's 20K per month or 100K per month that we want to have flowing into our bank accounts, we BELIEVE that we can make it happen. We help each other - we ask what we can do to help the other person achieve the goal they desire. We also do a ton of positive mindset work -- see the next point.
We do positive mindset work together. This is a big one and one that we have committed to more recently. When you run your own business, a lot of demons come up. Fear, doubt, insecurities. A lot of time, you're just sitting in front of the computer with your thoughts ... and thoughts can lead us to a bad place. So Jordana + I make sure that we fill those thoughts with positivity. We listen to motivational audios (current fav: Your World Within on Spotify), positive podcasts (love me some David Neagle: Art of Success Business School - we've attended several of his events pre-baby + they are epic), read encouraging books (currently reading: The Four Agreements + The Big Leap), watch uplifting videos (currently loving Kathrin Zenkina of Manifestation Babe). When you surround yourself with positive people + things, you can't help but lift yourself up!
We allow space for creativity. Space has a dual meaning here -- physical space but also mental space (space away from business). We currently purchased our first home + our one extra room we designated the "Happy Room". It's where we have our exercise bike as well as our office supplies + such. We wanted this to be a space where there was good energy + room for ideas to flow. In terms of the other space, we allow one another to take steps back from the business in order to reenergize, rejuvenate and reignite passions when needed. Jordana needed a change + was feeling lost in her business recently, so I let her take 6+ months off to figure things out - she helped out more with the baby while I worked and now she feels so aligned + inspired + excited in her new venture, the Nourished Bossâ„¢. I obviously took some time off at the end of my pregnancy and when Parker was born. This space is what created the idea for this blog. I needed to shut off my mind and let whatever was next for me come to fruition (yes, I was still making money in my other business during this time, which gave me the luxury to do this).
We COMMUNICATE. Our relationship is so successful probably because of our communication skills alone (our therapist even said so! Yup, we both talk to a therapist for our own individual stuff and even things we want to work on together). Seriously, we talk about everything. How we're feeling, what we need / want from the other person, what we want for our future -- even the hard conversations like if we're upset with the other person - in these moments we allow our relationship to grow + become even stronger. We all have a desire to be heard + validated, especially from our partner. Having an open line of communication allows both of these needs to be met.
This may not work for everyone, but this has been our secret sauce (we just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary last week! 3 down, 300 to go.).
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