Managing Money, Managing Morale
Can I just start by letting the cat out of the bag? I’m not the best manager of money. In fact when it comes to managing money, even the worst financial advisor would be tempted to approach me singing, “Anything you can do, I can do better…”. I can figure out how to start-up a venture and reach the break-even point, but that’s the end of my challenge. And many times, that’s been the end of several ventures. Recently, I learned that most entrepreneurs, small business owners, husbands and wives reach a point where managing money becomes all about managing morale. I learned this lesson the hard way.
Last year in preparation for marriage, my wife Jamie (then my fiancée) and I started a joint account. She managed our personal finances while I managed the business’ finances. After we got married, managing the accounts became too much for her and I took it over for a couple of months just to get us out of the red and back into the black. Looking back, those were the worst months of our life. My strength is start-up, so I was managing our money like it was for a start-up business venture. I believe the term is a shoestring budget. So I cut out all fun activities, trips and anything that didn’t involve working and paying bills. My wife put up with my management style for a few months and then decided that enough is enough. So, she took the accounts back over.
One afternoon in early spring, I called my wife and threatened to quit my job. (And…uh…it’s important to realize that I’m self-employed). I was so frustrated with the stagnation of business that I told her I was tired of owning my job and was going out to get a full-time, 9-5 job and never look back. She realized that I was not playing games. So, she told me not to do anything until she got home. I wasn’t even allowed to return to my office. After work, she picked me up and took me out to have some fun. We went out to eat at a local Italian restaurant and then headed straight to the bowling alley. After that, I started to feel better. And then she admitted that she had to take me to one more place, but it was a surprise. Can you imagine how I felt 10 minutes later when we pulled up in the parking lot of Wal-Mart? But as we walked around the store, she began picking up the ingredients for my oatmeal raisin cookies. Once I figured out she was about to make the dessert that I had been craving for 2 months, my face lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. On that day, I realized that my wife knew something about managing money that I had to learn.
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