What is it like to run a business with your spouse?

Rachael, Direct Incorporation Staff

I was able to talk with two different local Ann Arbor entrepreneurs about their experience starting and running (very successful) businesses with their spouses. While the prospect of doing so may seem to some like a dangerous venture, these two couples have been able to work side by side to run wonderful Ann Arbor businesses—and here’s what they have to say about it:

Rene Greff & Matt Greff, Arbor Brewing Co.

Photo by Doug Coombe

Rene explains, “It was quite a roller coaster ride. We were in our late twenties, and my husband was a home brewer. He was working a corporate job that he hated, so we thought that it would be an amazing thing to open our own brewery so that he could become a professional brewer. I was a philosophy major, he was a political science major, so we had no business experience. We knew nothing about setting up or running a business, and we kind of just did everything by the seat of our pants. So as you can imagine, we hit a lot of bumps in the road along the way. But for all of the stress and the problems,  it’s amazing. In a restaurant, it’s so important to have a good team. We always say we can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Arbor Brewing Co. has now been going strong for more than twenty years, so it looks like Rene and Matt have gotten everything worked out, no matter how stressful things may have been in the beginning.

Kathy Sample & Bill Brinkerhoff, Argus Farm Stop

Photo by Patrick Dunn

When I asked Kathy what it was like to run a business with her spouse, she made it clear that it had never been a problem. “Oh, it’s great,” she explained.  “One of the things people told us before we started—and it would be the same rule for any kind of business partner—is to pick your tasks and stick to them. Bill’s analogy is that it’s like playing soccer: if the ball goes by, not everybody goes after the ball. You know when you go after the ball, and the other guy knows when he goes after the ball. We know what our roles are and we know what our skills are, so we’ve divided it that way. And then we hired an awesome staff. If you don’t have great people that are committed to your mission, its not the same. That’s the important thing.”

Argus has now been in business for almost two years, and there is not a time I’ve been in the store that it hasn’t been absolutely packed with shoppers or coffee shop-goers. Kathy and Bill know many of their customers by name, and greet them in the store as if they were family. Working together seems like second nature to them.

Mike Gustafson & Hilary Gustafson, Literati

Photo by Daniel Brenner

While I was unable to speak directly with Mike and Hilary, their story is well-known to any book lover in Ann Arbor. Mike and Hilary both grew up in Michigan, and then moved to Brooklyn together. When they heard that Borders was going out of business, they wanted to make sure that Ann Arbor had a bookstore to replace it. They moved back to Michigan, started their bookstore, and ended up getting married while running their business together. Their success has only increased over time, and they are going on year number three of operating smoothly in downtown.

From these examples it’s clear to see that doing business with your spouse certainly isn’t a hurdle to success—in fact, it might just be the key to it.

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