Howie and I have been working together for over 20 years. As time goes by and our business evolves, the #1 question we get from friends remains the same. How do you do it? To be honest, I really don’t know. When asked we always say it works for us. And it does. The pandemic has now made working from home for millions all over the world much more than just a pipe dream, but a reality and new way of life. Today, July 28th marks the date of our 29th wedding anniversary, so it seems like a nice time to reflect on how we’ve managed to raise our family, maintain a business and appear to be somewhat sane after all these years of working from home together.
1. Friday Lunch! - Historically, this is our time to draw the week to a close. Sometimes work or family life may change the day, but once a week we try to take a break and go out for lunch. It’s a tradition that’s become very special to us.
2. We each have our own workspace. We are both very loud talkers so naturally most of our disagreements come from not being able to hear when the other is on the phone. It is a necessity that each of us has a separate office with a door that closes.
3. When things go right. During the day, we always make sure that good news travels quickly to each other. We compete together and not against each other.
4. Our cat, Jelly. Since Howie is known for spoiling all the Chubinsky pets, Jelly is no different. I sometimes must fight for a little bit of Jelly time during the day.
5. When things go wrong. When either of us has a business disaster we have learned that patience is key. We support each other and try to figure out how to avoid a similar issue down the road.
6. When one of our kids throws up at the wrong time. Today we are empty nesters, but until recently we drove our kids to activities, daycare, doctor appointments and all the rest of it. We split responsibilities as much as possible and depending on the situation, we choose to switch things around. Taking a day or two off happens even when working from home. We view it as necessary so that neither our family nor our business takes too much of a hit.
7. Eldercare. Yup, we have had that, too. We found it a little tougher than managing young children. We accepted that occasional unplanned downtime was even more important during the eldercare years.
8. Protecting weekend time. We try to do that, but it is not always possible especially if the week went off track with unexpected issues.
9. Our home gym. We love it but we NEVER use it at the same time. We value the privacy of working out.
10. If given the chance to start over, would we choose to work together again?
The answer.....in a heartbeat! 💕
