Married to the job: a spouse and business partner all in one. How three couples make it work.

When Jeanette Clemens speaks of her "former boss," she does so with fondness and admiration: "He works his tail off. He loves to build pools." When she was first hired, she took care of the office work, keeping the books and pursuing sales, while he handled the pool construction.

After

"He was so sweet," Jeanette Clemens recalls. "He told me, 'I want you to come and go as you please, and you don't have to sit in the stuffy office all day.' He knew, by proposing, that I wouldn't work for him anymore. We would be in this together."

Jeanette and Troy Clemens comprise one of many partnerships in the pool and spa industry that mix marriage and business. Troy bought the Daphne, Ala.-based company in 2002 and considers Jeanette a crucial component in the firm's growth. They believe their union strengthens their company, Clemens Custom Pools, more than any ordinary business partnership would.

"I just can't see being successful without her," he says. "It's a definite team effort and it takes the both of us to do it."

A growing trend

Experts say entrepreneurship, in general, has been growing more popular in recent years. Today, 12 percent of all businesses are entrepreneurial-based, says Kenneth Harrington, director of the Skandalaris Entrepreneurship Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He says business experts also have witnessed a disillusionment with the corporate lifestyle and more promise in innovative entrepreneurship activity.

"Most of the husband-wife businesses are more likely to be characterized as a lifestyle business than high opportunity," Harrington says. He explains that a regular business partnership that is not marriage-related would typically target high opportunity, and involve heavy investment, aggressive growth and a larger company. However, he says that husband-wife teams tend to focus on a common passion that reflects a more philanthropic lifestyle.

The trend in husband-wife partnerships in the pool and spa industry has been growing since, well, the industry began, according to veterans.

"Most pool builders were an extension of an excavation company, so they had their own equipment and would build a pool for someone," says Jeff Fausett, president/CEO of Aquatech Corp. in Huntington Beach, Calif. "The children would learn the trade by sitting next to dad, and then the wives became part of the team as well."

Fausett adds that, unlike large homebuilding corporations, the builders and service technicians in this industry tend to have family-run operations. Research from P.K. Data backs him up. Approximately 80 percent of pool businesses are family-owned and operated, either by a single owner, a husband-wife team, or inherited by children, according to studies conducted by the Duluth, Ga.-based market research firm, which has tracked the industry since 1992.

Other studies have highlighted this growing trend in husband-wife business partnerships. The U.S. Census Bureau found that 3.6 million husband-wife companies were up and running in 1997 (the most recent year for which such statistics are available). Jointly owned sole proprietorships in general, whether as husband-wife teams or business partnerships, are increasing at a steady rate of about 5 percent a year, according to the Small Business Administration.

Balancing act

What keeps these couples operating their marriages and businesses smoothly? "We depend on each other in trying to set up our business, so it can run as a business and not as a mom-and-pop store," says Michele DesRochers of DesRochers Backyard Pools Inc., based in Wilmington, Ill. "From the day we got married, we were in business for ourselves. Family is the business and business is the family."

Other husband-wife teams tend to agree. "The business is as much in her interest as it is for me," Troy Clemens says. "A partner is not going to look out for your interest as much as he will for his own. When it's your wife, it's different."

Nevertheless, Bob and Cinda Montgomery of Assured Aquatech Pools in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., try to draw clear boundaries between work and home. "We try not to take our work home with us," Bob says. "Now that we have cell phones, I try to get all my work calls done on the job before I get home, rather than be on the phone all night."

He began his business as a pool cleaner for the neighbors to finance his college tuition bills. Shortly after graduation, Montgomery's company expanded into repair/maintenance and, later, construction. His wife joined the company upon marriage, handling the banking and bookkeeping. With the expansion of their company, they have been able to hire employees to take over many of the responsibilities that used to blend into their home life.

Role playing

Though couples enter into business relationships together, the division of labor still runs along more traditional gender lines in the home and office, says Dr. Kathy Marshack, a psychologist and author of the book Entrepreneurial Couples: Making it Work at Work and at Home.

At work, she says, the women "handle 'women's work,' such as secretarial and bookkeeping functions, while their husbands handle 'men's work,' such as equipment maintenance and [major] decision-making."

Harrington attributes this business role model to the fact that so many men previously had hands-on experience working in construction. But nowadays, in terms of decision-making, the primary leadership role depends on who brings the expertise to the table, he notes.

Michele DesRochers, whose business started in a garage, chuckles as she turns to ask her husband exactly what her job description entails. "I started out being the one testing the water and being in the retail stores, while he was in concrete construction and did some swimming pools," she says, pointing out that their jobs expanded into management positions as the business grew.

Today, her husband, Mike, acts as chief operations officer and divides the responsibilities among their 50 seasonal employees. She continues to handle various other areas, ranging from financing to ordering and dealing with the warehouse.

While Jeanette Clemens takes care of the office work, as well as the household duties, she does not view this as a traditional split. Instead, she and her husband apply their stronger skills to the tasks at hand. "I have several years of business school, and he has several years of construction experience," she says. "He loves to build pools, and I love to do office work."

Many husbands and wives, however, agree they are equals and true partners in the business. "She doesn't look at me as a boss because she'll tell me off. I couldn't fire her because I wouldn't get far," Bob Montgomery jokes.

Mike DesRochers concurs. "I couldn't do it without [Michele]. She knows too many things, anyway," he says with a laugh.

Getting along

Marriages require work, as does running a business. Maintaining a professional relationship with a spouse draws a different set of rules for a husband-wife team.

"When you're married that long, you know what buttons to push and what not to push," Bob Montgomery says. "I have to be careful of my directions and my tone of voice because she'll get riled easily."

Michele DesRochers adds, "You always snap at the person you're closest to. It's nothing major. It's just typical because we're always in each other's faces. But after 30 years, you understand it has to do with stress and being self-employed, and not about the other person."

Bob Montgomery says that when he and his wife find themselves in a tense situation, they "use the count-to-10 approach, or drive around the block and cool off." But the situation usually works itself out, he adds.

Finding spare time to spice up the romance outside the office is important, says Marshack. Spending time apart also helps balance the relationship.

Bob Montgomery's wife often plans trips and vacations for the two of them. "If she didn't do that, I would be working 24/7," he says.

The Clemens' plan weekly dates, either for dinner or movie-watching. "I enjoy it when it rains, so he stays home and works on plans," she says. "But if I were actually working at his side of the job, it would be quite a conflict being together constantly."

The flip side of that is the DesRochers', 100who spend a lot of time in the office together now that Mike has turned the construction responsibilities over to their son. "We're together so much, it doesn't seem right if I don't see her for about 30 minutes," he says.

RELATED ARTICLE: Five tips for a successful business marriage.

1 Find an up-to-date business model to follow.

This is vital because a couple's business success can be thwarted if they're following an outdated model of their parents or grandparents, or have no model of guidelines at all. Experts recommend taking classes related to family businesses, or working for a company you regard as successful so you have a model in mind to emulate.

2 Separate home from work as much as possible.

Leave business problems at work, and marital conflicts at home. Be sure each partner is doing something he or she enjoys, and divide the less popular responsibilities evenly.

3 Plan quality time together--and apart.

Make a dinner date, get away for a weekend of go on a vacation Also, take quality time apart to refresh and recharge.

4 Open up the communication lines.

The most successful couples in business together cite constant communication as the key. Learn to listen, as well as talk, to each other.

5 Seek professional help if the relationship is not working.

Family-business consultants specialize in marital counseling for couples who also work together. These professionals can help introduce skills and techniques for resolving conflicts in the business and marriage--R.Y.