Fred Harteis News - Work together, stay together?

Fred Harteis News - Many couples have found that running a business together provides more time together and with their family, for better or for worse. Starting a business has become "very popular for family-oriented individuals," according to Lori Kiser-Block, the president of FranChoice, a franchise consulting firm.

In fact, about 25 percent of all businesses are family-owned, according to the Census Bureau's latest survey of business owners, with more and more budding entrepreneurs choosing to ditch the corporate grind to be closer to their loved ones.

"We always worked really well together," said Michele Evanger. She and her husband, Jim, met in college and got their entrepreneurial start as undergraduates when they teamed up to sell pots and pans door-to-door. "That's when we first identified that we could work well together," they say.

The Evangers, now both 40, decided to take another crack at it when they co-founded an interior design firm called Designs of the Interior (DOTI) in 1998.

"If you are a couple in business together, the one thing you can't do is leave it at the office," Jim says. "There's no getting around that, if you aren't comfortable with that, don't go into business together."

Now the Evangers, who have been married more than 10 years, say that their different attitudes toward the business complement each other. They have since franchised their DOTI stores, and 21 out of the 30 locations are owned by couples.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.