- Jalissa Lynn
Marriage & Business
Updated: Oct 16, 2019
Wife. Mom. Boss. I’ve shared about being a mom, a boss and now it’s time for Me to share about the wife part. Marriage and entrepreneurship can be a little hard. Marriage and starting a business both require the same level of commitment and support. I’ve been married over six years, and the idea of entrepreneurship has always been around. Here is where I will like to share my experience and perspective of being both a spouse who needed support, and one that didn’t support. Through my wisdom and mistakes, I‘ve learned that in order to make a marriage and business/dream work it requires a strong foundation, committment, and support on both ends.
1. Strong Foundation
So if you’re considering going back to school or pursuing entrepreneurship, first you need a strong foundation. My marriage is not only built on love, but faith. Faith in God, and faith in each other. And this is coming from a place of growth and maturity. At first, when we weren’t in good place, it was hard to trust an idea, let alone trust a person and God on such a potential life change idea. After learning to put our trust in God, and working on ourselves, we were able to move forward to bigger ideas and plans. Going back to school or entrepreneurship is going to require a lot out of you and a lot of lifestyle changes which will hit home first. And it’s best to have a strong foundation in your marriage to fall back on. Just like your business or dream needs a strong foundation, so does your marriage.
2. Committment
Both your marriage and your dreams need a strong commitment. You have to be committed to yourself as well as your union. Yes, you can be more than somebody’s wife or spouse, but also don’t forget about being a spouse over trying to be something more. Your dream or business moves shouldn‘t only be about “YOU” succeeding. It should be about the success of your marriage and family. Having that strong commitment and foundation makes it a lot easier to prioritize and create healthy boundaries between marriage, business and school life. My commitments are literally stated in my name. Wife, mom, and boss. I am committed to be a wife first before anything else then a mom and lastly a boss.
Commitments and priorities have to be in a stable place for both your marriage and business to work.
3. Support
Besides having a strong foundation and commitment, you absolutely need SUPPORT. And this is where I made my mistakes and learned from the lesson to gain the wisdom. Trust me when I say that the best thing to do when your spouse is beliving in a dream, is to pray and support them. I think supporting your spouse is the biggest way to succeed in your marriage and dreams. Online support and offline support. Online support can be something as simple as a like or share, but doing it in a way that will create the same support offline and in private, which I believe is more important. If you don’t know how or what to say or how to support, pray and think or creative ways. Because saying or doing the wrong thing can in fact kill the dream of someone you love and possibly affect that which could have changed your family for the better.
Find or create ways to show your support and appreciation. For example, if your spouse works long overnights. Maybe making a cup of coffee or leaving them with an encouraging word can brighten up their day. If your spouse is working all day, having a meal or even a cleaned house to come home to can alleviate a lot of stress. It is important to create a healthy environment that supports them in their work or simply creating a place to recharge from work. Having the support at home and in private is so important to you, your marriage, and dream. Remember in marriage you are a team, so work together and support each other. Supporting not only in dreams and ambitions, but supporting their personal goals such as, weight loss, personal career goals etc.
Supporting your spouse can really make dramatic positive changes. Yes, be their hype man, cheerleader, and fan online as well as offline!
And to those who are not married, but are considering marriage or soon to be married. Your dreams and ambitions come first. Don’t sacrifice your calling or dreams to make someone happy or as an attempt in convincing them to love you. To be honest, I got engaged and married in the middle of my academic career. I told my husband, in order for us to be married, he would have to agree that I would finished school no matter what, and he supported me every step of the way. I today have not only an Assoicates’s but my Bachelors degree too because of the support.
I personally believe that if you’re single, your significant other should support what you do, so when marriage comes it’s more of a lifestyle adjustment and not a struggle. You’re significant other should Not only be a support system but also a potential builder in the future of your business. This is important because you don’t want to commit to anyone who has the potential to destory everything you’ve worked for. Remember if they won’t support what your dreams are now, they’ll find it hard to later.
Listen I would love to be able to paint this beautiful picture that reflects us already coming into entrepreneurship being the ideal supportive spouse, but the truth is the support we show now was created from lessons learned over time. The failure in the past helped grow our wisdom and helped us move forward.
Finally, Marriage & Business can work if you make it work using the right tools. Having tools like commitment, support, and a strong foundation can make things feel like a transition and an adjusting period rather than a struggle and fight to get things done. Mostly be supportive, Support your spouse, and watch what you say and do, because you don’t want to be the reason why you kill their dream. Remember you’re in this together, teamwork makes the dream work.
I hope you’re inspired by this blog, feel free to leave a comment and subscribe to more furture posts to this series of “Wife. Mom. Boss” and also read up on past posts.
-Jalissa
- To my husband, Hezekiah, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I honestly couldn’t do this all with you. You have literally been there for me, every step of the way. I’m so excited for things and vision God has given you for this family. And trusting and beliving in Him taking that leap of faith! Thank you babe, I’m so blessed and grateful for you! I love you ❤️
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