The last pay cheque

The day my last pay cheque came from my corporate job was a landmark. I'd been warned by others who had left their paycheques to become entrepreneurs, but it arrived and its significance was....well...significant. I was leaving my job in a PR agency to join my husband and build our own PR boutique agency, Dunn & Associates Communications and Public Affairs. This was not my name choice. I probably would have come up with something like Slice or Paradox PR to sound hip and happenin'. But I do admire the simplicity and established feel of the name and I hope it conveys a conservative sensibility that makes clients feel safe.

Anyway, the last pay cheque came and quickly went, and so did my final day of office work. I crammed in as much as I could that last day - writing white papers that had been promised for months, completing expense reports and itemizing work I'd done in my final few weeks. People came to say goodbye and I was too busy to really notice. Very much like every other day of my office life. I hugged them and said goodbye, but didn't have time to really notice.  I lugged my dusty rubber plant and my framed diplomas and awards to the car and scrambled home. My new life had begun.

The following weeks were very different. Week one started and I kept a schedule, working on credentials and web copy, writing myself into my husband's existing business and expanding our capabilities. I saw a lot of my kids and a LOT of my husband. It was tempting to have staff meetings at breakfast, and to discuss corporate profile wording at dinner, but so far, we've avoided it.

After week one, the reality set in that my time was somewhat flexible. I could keep normal hours, but I could also nip out to the store and have lunch with the kids on occasion. I wrote some proposals and just submitted them. My husband and I reviewed them. That's it! No elaborate review process, no track changes. The experience was liberating. I'm the boss now baby.

I'm now in week three and I'm learning new lessons. I need a to do list. I need to have enough work to keep me from thinking about food 24 hours a day, and I need to get out and see people. Not having an office to go to is liberating, but you need a structure and you need to get out of the house. I've arranged that now, and I look forward to the potential of the coffee meetings I've booked.

As for working with one's husband? So far, it's best to find your own clients and have your own tasks to pursue. It's also best to ditch the marital argument techniques immediately. I find myself responding in ways I never would in an office, but I force myself to be a better person. Must be polite, must not mention his mother, must be productive and move things forward. I'm actually realizing my husband is a bright cookie, he has interesting thoughts to offer and he is quite incredible at his job. Who knew? My take away is that we're going to do well as business partners and maybe even learn a thing or two as spouses. The beginning of a new adventure.