Above: The Anderson Team’s Alisha and Paul and their two children
People say that working with your spouse is a recipe for disaster, but that’s not the case for the Anderson Team. The Andersons, Alisha and Paul, started their team in Mesa, Arizona, in 2018 and have already risen to the Top 1% in their state and the Top 10 in Mesa. Recently, they shared some of the secrets to their success with me—not just as business partners, but as spouses and parents.
- Intentionality. High school sweethearts and married for 20-plus years, the Andersons have always been driven to succeed together. But when they had children, the metrics of that success shifted. “It became a question of, ‘How do we do something where we can be present?'” Paul said. The answer was to start a real estate team together.
From day one, the Andersons set things up to accommodate the lifestyle they wanted for their family. Everything from team structure and compensation to their individual roles serves that purpose.
- Clear roles. Perhaps the most significant key to the Andersons’ success as a couple in business is their delineation of roles. “Define your lanes and where you like to be,” says Alisha, “and hire out or delegate the rest.”
This arrangement allows Paul and Alisha to focus on what they love to do while fostering a productive environment for the rest of the team. It also allows for compartmentalization. Leaving work at work and trusting that the partner has their responsibilities in hand will do wonders for any working couple.
- Coaching. Alisha and Paul say that having a coach is not just a good idea, but an essential third voice in the business. “Our coach becomes the tiebreaker a lot of times,” jokes Paul.
Having a more objective third-party opinion and additional expertise removes the strain that hard decisions can place on a relationship, helping both partners focus on the mutual good they’re working toward. The Andersons have made coaching a central element of their business plan, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building a business with your spouse, but the Andersons follow and apply fundamentals I would recommend to anybody. They are quick to acknowledge that building a family business isn’t for the faint of heart, but by being intentional, establishing and respecting roles, and working with a coach who understands their needs, they’re seeing the benefits they hoped for when they set out on this journey.
Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. Contact him at Verl@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com, or go to https://workmansuccess.com/ to learn more.
