“In today’s episode, I have a special guest, Ira Gaar, my husband, and my business partner.”

Episode 158

with Brandee Gaar and Ira Gaar

Key highlights from the show:

• Ira’s journey from the cooperate world to Blush
• Putting your marriage before the business
• Keeping work life and home life separate
• Assigning specific responsibilities and overcoming challenges

What is one thing you had to get over that annoyed you about Brandee?

Not having the business procedures and ensuring all was written down.

For instance, during the business’s infancy, there was no CRM, so Ira had to create a process for contract writing. Having been in the business for 6 years already, I was the only person knowledgeable of the smooth running of the business.

It was always challenging to fill him in and answer his questions concerning what I knew in my head and getting it down into a process.

Eventually, Ira created the process for it to help not only him but also the future new employees.

How do you keep work life and home life separate?

“We both know that if our marriage is rocky, the business will be rocky, the parenting will be rocky… all of the things, will be impacted.”

At the end of the day, it’s probably one of the most difficult things we do. I don’t think we’re a shining example of keeping work and home life separate; they’re completely intertwined at all times.

We prioritize our marriage over the business, and we both know that if our marriage is rocky, the business will be rocky, and parenting will be rocky.

So we prioritize our marriage and work hard to respect each other.

The most important thing is communicating what each person needs and setting the boundaries of when and where to talk about business.

How do you two separate your tasks from each other?

If you’re in business with your spouse, when you’re thinking about your roles, consider, this might not be my/their gifting, but it is what the business needs me/them to do, so I’m/they’re going to learn it until we can outsource it.

That’s something we learned after a longer than expected time. 🙂

That’s how we eventually came up with our tasks.

In the beginning, separating our tasks was the hardest thing we had to do because Ira had just jumped in to help.

I’m everything front-facing, and Ira is all things back-end for all of our businesses.

I would say that one of the ways that we did that was by picking our strengths so we didn’t necessarily have to manage each other. If Ira could do it again he would outsource sooner and not hold on so tightly to the reins.

“If Ira could do it again he would outsource sooner and not hold on so tightly to the reins of the business.”

What was the biggest challenge to overcome as husband and wife business owners working full-time?

The summer season in central Florida is always the slowest in the wedding pro industry. Consequently revenue is always low during that season.

It really can be such a roller coaster of how much money we will have and whether we can make payroll. 

If we do make payroll, can we pay ourselves, and are we able to pay, say, our mortgage?

There are vivid memories of summers when Ira and I would sit and weren’t sure if we would make it through to that September.

This is one of the reasons why I’m so passionate about teaching wedding pro CEOs how to outline their income and how to know how much profit they have.

That WAS one of the most difficult things for me to understand, and seeing how frustrated he and I would get at each other in the summer, and how just the frustrating situation was, was enough to drive me to understand it.

Now, I’m so passionate about teaching wedding pro CEOs how to understand their finances and not have these huge peaks and valleys in their income.

Our business is the only income that comes into our household; there isn’t any other income that comes in, which can be scary.

So if you’re out there and this is the reason you’re too afraid to retire your spouse or to have them resign, I want you to know if you can understand your finances and if you understand how much it costs you to produce your packages and what your profit and expenses are, I promise you, you can make a plan, and you can achieve it!

No more anxiety and fear about your business!! Know your numbers!! CLICK HERE for Brandee’s Budget Planning Worksheet!!

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