SoCo Chamber Tackles Struggles of Owning Business with Spouse

Update (9/13 8:55 a.m. )—Running a small business in the current economic climate can be hard enough, but imagine handling those struggles while working alongside the person you love—day in and day out. 

It’s a reality for many business owners in south county and throughout the region, so that’s why the Southern Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce is hosting a special dinner this fall to discuss specific challenges facing those businessmen and women.

Initially scheduled for Sept. 20, chamber president Cindy Morgan told Patch that a scheduling conflict with the key speaker forced them to postpone the seminar to a later date yet to be announced. 

Morgan said many challenges face couples that work with one another or own businesses together.

“How do you prevent the fight at home from making your employees uncomfortable in the workplace? How do you balance business needs and family duties? How do you allocate business responsibilities so you don’t set on your spouses toes?” Morgan said in a chamber newsletter.

To address similar questions and allow a discussion among like-minded business owners, the chamber invited business coach Frank Newhard to a special dinner discussing couples in business, as well as a couples counselor to address specific issues that arise in the workplace.

Newhard and the couples counselor will address:

• Successfully dividing work responsibilities
• Work/family life balance and boundaries
• Bringing relationship issues to work and work issues home
• Turning off the business and turning on the relationship

The special dinner and discussion time is set to even mention more personal areas of conflict like, “How do you keep shop talk out of the home, especially the bedroom?” according to the newsletter.

The event will take place at the West River Center, located at 5100 Chalk Point Rd., West River, MD on Sept. 20. It will include a registration time, dinner, a presentation from Newhard and the couples counselor, following by a panel discussion time. The entire gathering is scheduled to last from 5:30-8 p.m., according to Morgan’s newsletter.

Interested residents and business owners can register by calling 301-490-7661 or emailing southcounty@toad.net.