Husband-and-wife team Bridget O'Boyle and Jim Rabidue, owners of It's Play Time!, a shop that opened in March in Minneapolis' Linden Hills neighborhood, lost count of the number of times other couples have asked them, "How can you work together? Our marriage wouldn't last."
However, the couple is confident that their new business endeavor will succeed as they search for the ultimate balance between family and work. They've always shared a desire to launch their own business and felt it was the right move for their young family. They are parents to five-and-a-half-year-old Max and two-year-old Lucie.
"This is totally our dream job," says Bridget, 32. "I knew when I married Jim that he wanted to have a business of his own one day."
While exploring business opportunities, the couple came up with the idea for It's Play Time!, and found prime space at the corner of 50th Street West and Xerxes Avenue. It's Playtime! is a place where parents and children can work on arts, crafts, science, painting, and building projects purchased at the store. They founded the shop because they saw a need for more child/parent activities, especially during long Minnesota winters.
The couple has 20 years of combined experience in retail, marketing, and promotions. Despite the experience, however, it was still a big decision to leave the safety of their jobs and go out on their own.
Jim, 37, left his position as a promotions manager at General Mills, Inc., where he worked on projects like Box Tops for Education, Go Gurt, and Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks. He left behind good benefits, including health insurance, a 401K plan, and stock. "It was a huge leap of faith," Jason says.
Bridget worked part- time helping run Kids R Cookin', a nonprofit children's cooking program operated by Perspectives in St. Louis Park and had also worked at Medtronic.
As any entrepreneur knows, launching a business is risky and takes hard work and long hours. "Initially, when we started, it seemed we were both working all the time," Jim says. "We stepped back and said, 'Wait a minute. This isn't why we got into this.' So then we set up a schedule."
Bridget now typically works two or three days a week while Jim is home with Max and Lucie. Jim works four or five days a week while Bridget is home. If both have to be at the shop, they have family and friends who help out with the kids. They're beginning to enjoy the freedom and flexibility their business offers them and the ability to set their own schedules.
"It's more flexible than my old job," Jim says. "Now I get to take Max to preschool a couple days a week and meet his friends and their parents.
I was able to pop out for an hour recently to watch his spring program." They live just six blocks from their store. With the added flexibility, Jim also is able to coach Max's T-ball team.
Making it work
Jim and Bridget say they're compatible and play to each other's strengths in their business. "We're completely opposites, so this works for us," Bridget says. "He's the accountant. He's analytical and handles the finances. I'm the hostess. I'm the buyer. I'm out front, and he's more behind the scenes." Neither, they say, is the boss.
"We're both pretty laid back," Jim adds. "You've got to let some things go."
In addition to the flexibility, another advantage of running their own business right in their own neighborhood is that neither loses any time commuting. Also, Jim no longer has to travel for work. However, they admit there are challenges. The biggest they face is having to pay for their own health insurance and navigate the system themselves. "We said we're not going to let something like health insurance keep us from starting a business," Bridget says. "You figure it out."
Another challenge is that one of them is always at the shop, so some things have had to be put on hold. "We love to camp, but we know we can't go this summer," Bridget says, adding that they're training in her sister, Anni O'Boyle, as a manager to free them up a bit.
"We're also trying to build in 'together' time one day every other week where both of us are off," Jim says. Also challenging when you own your own business is, "You live your job," he adds. "It's hard to turn it off. Sometimes, we just have to say, 'OK, just stop.' You can't take it home with you every night."
The couple, who have been married seven years, have advice for other couples considering launching a business together. "Build a safety net-both financially and socially," Jim says. "You also need a network. We rely a lot on family and friends."
Planning ahead
Minneapolis life coach Barb Plunkett says couples considering working together should take time to sort through issues ahead of time. "Some of the classic questions you look at when you get married are the same types of questions you should look at when deciding whether to work together, but they are magnified exponentially," she says.
"First are finances," Plunkett explains. "What is your threshold for risk?
You need clear financial boundaries. Second is to have clear work/life boundaries. What are your work hours? Will you work on weekends? Will you build in vacation time? And third is to be clear on childcare. Do you want loose or formal agreements when it comes to caring for the kids? What happens if a child is sick and has to be picked up at school? Do you want to tag team or have one parent who is primarily responsible?"
All of these things, she says, come into play when considering operating a business together.
Compromising is key
Perry and Kari Bach of Lakeville understand this whole decision-making process. They operate Run 'N' Fun, a specialty running store
they launched in St. Paul in 1992. They also opened a second store in Eden Prairie in May. Their shops serve the needs of the University of Minnesota, most of the Division 3 colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin and many of the metro-area high schools' cross-country and track teams.
Both avid runners, they met while running and married in 1986. They eventually left jobs at Land O' Lakes to start their business, which had always been their dream. Perry, 48, phased out of Land O' Lakes a year after the shop opened while Kari, 44, stayed on for five years so the family had a steady income as well as benefits.
"Starting our own business was also a daycare issue," Perry Bach says.
"Our oldest son was dropped off at daycare from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we really wanted one of us to be with him more. When we opened our shop, one of us worked nights and the other worked days. Of course, we didn't see each other much."
Perry now typically works retail four days a week and spends another 30 hours at home ordering the footwear and doing the accounting.
Kari usually works four days a week in the stores and is in charge of ordering the apparel. They've grown to a staff of 22.
Kari would like to pass on the business to her sons one day. Jesse turns 16 this month and Sam turns 12. Jesse is helping out around the stores during his summer break. "He's pretty independent and responsible, and I think a lot of that comes from the family business," she says.
Experts say getting kids involved in the family business has its benefits. Cathleen A. Folker, assistant professor in management and entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, says research shows there's a relationship between children's involvement in the business and how they view their parents as role models.
"Getting kids involved-whatever they can do-is great," she says.
"Of course, it has to be age-appropriate, but also don't underestimate what they can do. Oftentimes, kids rise to the challenge. I started working in our family business, which was TV sales and service, at age six6. I started by sweeping floors and then began selling and testing tubes. Later, my mom had me adding checks on the adding machine. In family businesses, kids benefit because they can actually see what Mom and Dad do. Also, helping out at the family business builds kids' confidence and self-esteem.
By developing skills, they have a true sense of accomplishment. You can pay them a salary for these tasks, which gives them some spending money." Folker says it's a win-win situation.
Jesse says having the family store is "pretty cool." Since Run 'N' Fun offers Lakeville High School students a discount, he often sees kids from his school at the store. (He runs cross-country for Lakeville). Jesse isn't sure he wants to operate his own business one day, because it "seems like a lot of work." However, he has appreciated having one of his parents around as he's grown up. "It was especially nice when I was younger," he says.
The good and the bad
Despite working long retail hours, having their own business means the Bachs can schedule themselves off so they can attend many of their boys' sporting events and school activities.
"We like the flexibility," Perry says. "It's nice to be in business for yourself. Also, you're not working hard to put money in someone else's pocket. However, the disadvantage is you worry a lot. Also, the business world is always changing and you have to adapt."
Similar to Rabidue and O'Boyle, the Bachs have heard questions about how they can work together. "A friend, who also owns a running shop, works just one weekend a year with his wife [at an expo], and he's said that the experience almost kills his marriage," Perry says. "But Kari is so low key. Nothing fazes her."
"We're pretty compatible," Kari adds, "and we're pretty different. Perry is more 'get it done and get it done now." I'm more, 'let's take our time.' We compromise at a middle ground. We also each make mistakes and we're not on each other."
Perry's advice for other couples considering working together is to do something you really love, something that keeps you motivated, and to define your roles ahead of time. You also have to trust each other's decisions, and don't keep score. "In fact, it's just the opposite for us," he says. "Kari is always telling me I'm working too many hours and offers to take an extra shift, and I try to get her out of the shop on the weekends."
Kari's adds that couples need to "listen to one another, and compromising is huge."
Cooking together
Jason and Lisa Hake, owners of Sociale Gourmet, understand the importance of compromise and cooperation. Like the other couples, they left corporate jobs to launch their new business. Jason Hake, 33, worked for Piper Jaffrey for 10 years and Lisa Hake, also 33, is phasing out of 3M's marketing department. She works one day a week and will leave for good September 1.
Sociale Gourmet is a gourmet specialty store that also offers make-and-take meal assembly service. Customers can come in and prepare meals for their families in a chef's kitchen and take them home and freeze them, or they can have Sociale's chefs assemble dinner entrees, which are frozen and can be preordered. The Hakes opened their first location in Eagan in April 2004 and two new locations this summer: at 50th and Penn in south Minneapolis and a downtown Downtown Minneapolis skyway location in the Highland Bank Court building, 811 LaSalle Ave. They're also looking into the possibility of franchising their concept. The couple, who have been married a decade, live in Minneapolis and have two children, Cameron, 4, and Claire, 2.
"We always knew we wanted to have our own business," Lisa says. "Jason is from an entrepreneurial family that owns a gourmet retail business."
"Since I knew the ins and outs of that business, when we came across this kitchen idea, it made sense to us to put the two [concepts] together," Jason says.
"Also, the gourmet kitchen idea just rang so true to us," Lisa adds. "I had a long commute every day and we'd call each other and ask 'What do you want for dinner? I don't know. What do you want for dinner? OK, let's just do grilled cheese.'"
Their kids were in full-time daycare, and Lisa traveled a lot on business. "We always knew long term we couldn't maintain that," Lisa says. "I also did a lot of soul searching at 3M. I was challenging them to find me a mentor-a woman in a marketing director or higher-level position and married with children. They had a hard time even finding me someone." She says that was eye-opening.
"We knew if we wanted any type of family balance, we had to make some changes," she continues.
"That's why this concept makes sense as well," Jason adds. "It helps
promote family balance because you're not going home spending an hour trying to figure out what to cook, then cooking and cleaning up. The whole process seems to take forever."
The Hakes hired a full-time nanny while they were getting the two new stores up and running and will use the nanny part part-time in the future. They're excited about the flexibility the business eventually will offer them and plan to schedule themselves so one of them is home with the kids as much as possible.
What's the secret?
"We understand each other and our roles are continually being defined," Lisa says. "People who know us say they can see us working together, but they could never do it."
To maintain a balance between your work and your personal life, you have to set boundaries. "We have to tell each other in the evenings, 'Let's not to talk about it now.' We'll be with the kids walking to the park and we're constantly thinking about it[work]. But we'll wait and talk when the kids are in bed."
Their advice to other couples considering running a business together is to set goals together so that you're both striving for the same thing. "Know what you're working toward, because you get distracted a lot," Jason says. "We also push each other to succeed, but we're not at each others' throats. And at the end of the day, we make team decisions. It's like a good marriage. It's give and take."
