When Your Husband Does Not Support Your Business

It is hard enough to start your very own home-based business, but it is three times as hard to do it when your husband or partner is not supporting your venture. You may need him to watch the kids to meet a deadline or to help out getting supper on the table when you need to deliver fifty gift baskets first thing the next morning.

But many moms find that their husband just won't help out or even offer any emotional support when it comes to starting a home business. But why is this?

Some husband's feel threatened with the possibility of your success. What if your home business really takes off and you become the family's prized breadwinner, with your husband's income suddenly becoming the supplementary one?

Others just don't want to see you take time away from household duties. You might be able to live with the bathroom being cleaned every other week, and grocery shopping becoming a once-a-month ordeal, but your husband may view it as the fact that you are neglecting your "wifely" duties.

Other husbands just can't seem to get their mind around the fact that just because you work within the home doesn't mean that you still have the same number of hours to devote to household chores every week. And they will resent when they are asked to start pulling their weight around the house such as loading the dishwasher or taking out the recycle bin.

If your business is generating enough income, you might even consider hiring a person to come in and do the "nitty gritty" cleaning once a week or a couple of times a month. You may find that it is more cost effective to hire a cleaner rather than lose those hours of working time on your business.

But what can you do to help solve this situation? First and foremost, you must both sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk. Don't do this after he has just finished yelling because there is a science project growing in the bottom of the fridge, or after you have accused him of not helping out enough. Doing it then will just result in barbs being thrown back and forth with no real solution being found.

Some moms suggest having this discussion in a restaurant, as it will keep yelling to a minimum (hopefully!) and prevent most from just getting up and leave, effectively ending any discussion on the subject.

But some just will never change. Whether they are old-fashioned, secretly terrified of your success, or just plain resentful that you get to stay home all day, some will just never change. You will have to come up with your own personal compromise, or evaluate how you can run your business while still running your household with little disruption.

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