A lot of people told us to stay away from this course - of doing business together - as this can ruin our relationship. And by ruin they mean Michee and I will be at each other’s throats.
Romance would fizzle out just like that, a friend of mine said snapping her fingers at my face, and she followed that statement with “You’ll end up hating each other” perhaps to emphasize and drill into my thick head that she’s being serious.
She was somewhat right but not entirely accurate.
When we put up our first business, we had arguments, yes. And most of the time, our arguments were triggered by something shallow and stupid.
But argue we did.
Although, we did not go to the extent of being at each other’s throats, it was undeniably exhausting. All that anger and negativity drains you out.
Feeling drained, defeated and exhausted, both Michee and I had a sit down talk. We tried to address the root of our arguments. We gave each other the space to talk about how we felt when I said this or she did that or my lack of reaction, or her exaggerated (at least for me) reaction.
We listened to each other and after that we came up with ground rules for settling any disagreement and argument.
It has almost been 3 years since we first launched our very first business and Michee and I are still together.
Romance has not fizzled out.
Of course, we still argue - it would be really disingenuous for me to say that we don’t argue anymore at all. That’s just not true.
Just a few days ago, we had a somewhat argument because I was editing Michee’s article as she was reading it aloud to me.
I did recognize my mistake which was; I should have made her finish reading what she wrote first rather than interrupt her with my self-important editing skills. And I saw how excited she is to share to me what she’s written.
I’ve known for a long time that she’s always this eager every time she finishes writing an article, but for some reason, I threw that context out of the window. And the moment I became an editor rather than a partner who listens, I saw her face drop. But because I’m an idiot, I kept insisting, missing the point still.
Luckily, I’m not too thick headed and apologized right away when I realized what I was doing.
In Love and In Business Together is a book I am planning on releasing. If you want to grab an early copy of it, let us know by sending an email to inamvarmy@gmail.com
