First comes love, then comes marriage -
then comes incorporation, payroll, and staff
meetings.
The mom-and-pop shop may seem like a relic of business days gone
by, but that ever-so-traditional setup is alive and thriving in the
modern world of work. Only now, it goes far beyond the corner
candy store. Couples are banking on their partnerships in farms,
medical practices,
law firms, and yes, the corner cafe. In honor of
Valentine's Day, we checked in with some business-minded couples to
see what makes all that together time work.
DESIGNING A FUTURE
This is devotion:
Emma Gardner and Patrick McDarrah spent the
summer of 2002 driving 8,000 miles - along with their 15-month-old
daughter - to see if they could interest top interior-design
showrooms in Emma's rug designs. It worked. The rugs, along with
new products like throw pillows and blankets, are now sold around
the country and are often featured in national magazines. And, as a
nice side project, they had a second child.
The couple has been together for 14 years and married for eight,
and had often "talked dreamily about what we could do together,"
says Emma, 38. They didn't realize that Emma Gardner Design was
that something until the business was off the ground. Patrick, also
38, had been looking for a new job. "In the spring of 2002 I was
spending 20 to 40 hours a week looking for work, and we thought,
Why don't I devote the effort to this business and see where it
takes us?" It took them far enough that, when a job offer came
in December 2003, Patrick turned it down.
"Our skills are so complementary," says Emma. She designs the
products and handles all production, while Patrick does "everything
else," including marketing and distribution.