stronger marriage

When you have a business maintaining storm drain systems the natural progression is to make wine, right? That’s what this week’s guest Ric and Michelle Campos of Campos Family Vineyard in Contra Costa County did. While they had no previous experience in agriculture and wine making, Michelle did have owning a winery on her vision board. Because it seemed like a cool thing to have.

But even though it was a dream of hers, when the previous owner of the winery told Ric that God told him to sell the property to them, they said no way. They didn’t have the money or experience to run a winery. 

Long story short, not only did they buy the winery, it has become a pillar of the community, source of hope during COVID, raised significant money for great causes, started a school, and built a church. So now they run three businesses and still have time to balance each other, kids, and grandkids.

Being married and running a business can keep you very busy. We get it. But because of this busyness, the one of thing that gets put on the back burner is having fun. When you stop having fun, life can become a grind. Vacations are non-existent, good luck doing a weekender, and date night, what’s that?

This episode is dedicated to you busy entrepreneurs that need to learn how to have fun again despite the schedule you keep. We discuss some of the things we do to be intentional about having fun even when traveling for work and when at home. 

It’s time to make marriage and business fun again.

Most business owners I know start their business so they can have other people run the business while they take frequent vacations, go on missions trips, and be home with the family. But something interesting happens along the way. Instead of the owner running the business, the business runs them.  Ten years later, the owner is still heavily involved with the day to day with barely time to catch their breath. Meet Brett Snodgrass. Owner and managing broker of Simple Wholesaling. A real estate company he left his school teaching job for and built from the ground up. He built a great company with a great team but found himself involved with the day to day more than he liked. So he took a big risk and became intentional about moving from the dugout, managing the day to day of the business, to the owner’s box overseeing it. Within two years of his decision, he did it. 

Listen to this interview and find out how he did it and what that has freed him up to do in this next inning of his life.

Happy 100 episodes to us and you for listening for the past two years. In this episode, we want to talk about what we’ve learned about marriage and business from doing this show, and the wisdom from our guests. Just getting to agreement to do this podcast with each other was a conversation in itself. So there are a lot of lessons on teamwork with just that topic.

But we’ve also had some amazing guests we’ve had the privilege to meet and become friends with. We’ve had so many takeaways from them but there are too many to mention. So we highlight the few that come to mind. You’ll notice some hyperlinks below. These are some of the episodes we highlight to make it easy for you to find. 

Marriage isn’t a business, right? Or isn’t it. Think about this, you have to bring in income, you have expenses, there are operational needs, leadership challenges and disgruntled employees on occasion. In principle your marriage has everything a business has. So would it be out of the question to bring some best practices that create a healthy business into the marriage? Especially creating a healthy culture.

Let us introduce you to Jason and Kirstin Frazell. Jason is a former sales executive for Fortune 100 companies who is now a leadership and executive coach. Kristin is a sales executive and leader for a major tech company.

They share some of the challenges that being busy professionals can have on their marriage and family but how they’ve used some best practices from their leadership careers to stay connected as a family and grow together.

You definitely need to listen to this interview with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback coach Clyde Christensen to the end. An amazing interview on leadership and have a winning attitude on and off the field. 

As an NFL coach, life is busy. Lots of travel, late nights, and working on weekends. So how do you maintain your personal life, keep your marriage strong and make sure your kids feel loved? Coach Clyde shares how many players and coaches win on the field but lose at home. Just like many entrepreneurs. What’s the point of having all the trophies and accolades when your personal life is a mess? 

So this interview explores how he's developed the winning formula on the field and off the field at home. We also get into some other leadership issues like how do you coach millionaire players and gain their respect? One question that has been on my mind is how receptive is the G.O.A.T. (Tom Brady) to coaching? He’s accomplished all there is to accomplish so does he listen? The answer is gold for all entrepreneurs. 

We cover a lot of ground in this interview from faith, family, leadership and football. So click play and listen to this episode. 

Imagine going from 28 locations to expanding globally? That was the task this week’s guest Howard Behar was given. He is the former president of Starbucks International, Starbucks North America and board chair. Not only does he know what it takes to be successful in business but who it takes. If you read his book, “It’s Not About The Coffee” it’s clear that the people are what makes the business successful. In fact, Howard’s motto during his tenure at Starbucks was, “we’re in the human service business.” This interview on leadership is likely one you haven’t heard much about. It’s not just about leading in business but at home as well.  We cover a lot of ground in this interview from how influential his wife, Lynn, was in his professional success, how she helped him make key decisions, the family plans they develop to stay on the same page and support each other’s vision, and of course great leadership tips for business. During this conversation, Howard shares some keen insight on how to move on from past failures, cultivating innovation amongst the team, and how to not get stuck in systems and procedures.

So grab a cup of coffee and listen to this week’s great episode.

As we go through marriage and business, there will be moments of risk taking. And if you’re like us, one spouse is more risk averse than the other. How do you deal with that because many arguments start because the risk taker may think the risk averse spouse is trying to hold them back or doesn’t trust them.

We’ve learned that keeping lines of communication open to talk through the fears caused by risk taking not only appeases the risk averse but actually helps create better solutions. 

We took a risk just recording this episode. This week’s topic was totally unplanned. It's the first and maybe the last time we do this, unless you like it. This started as our “random thoughts about marriage and business.” We just hit the record button and started talking. 

By the end of the episode we discovered that the major theme of our conversation was about taking risks. Let us know if you like this format? Unplanned and unscripted.

If you knew today was your last day on earth, how would you treat your marriage and business? As busy entrepreneurs, we get so caught up in achieving and tending to the business that we neglect the things that matter most. We take things for granted. Your spouse will be there when you get home. The kids will have another game to attend. Hawaii will still be there next year.

 

We kick a lot of things down the road instead of doing them now. What if you knew today was your last day on earth. What would you do? Or what if you knew today was your spouse’s last day on earth. What would you do?  

Do you want greater balance in your marriage and business? Download a FREE guide by clicking this link. https://marriedentrepreneur.co/better-balance-mastermind

What do you think of when you hear the word “interrogation” and how does this relate to marriage and business? Do you think waterboarding, pressure, deceit, yelling, or punishment? What if I told you it was built around trust?  This week we get to interview ex-army intelligence officer and interrogator during the Iraq war, Daniel Hammond and his lovely wife Carolina Batres. Both are entrepreneurs in their respective companies but also have joined forces in a non-profit that is addressing irregular migration from Honduras and other central American countries. 

Daniel shares some interesting facts around what it takes to be a successful interrogator and how those skills transfer well into marriage and business. Trust is a central point of developing strong relationships. Without trust, it would be really hard to stay married to someone or do business with people, right?

So join us in this fun interview with Daniel and Carolina. Trust us, you’ll like it!

Daniel’s cyber consulting business:
https://www.etherealrodent.com/ 

Carolina’s textile import business
https://www.vcbimports.com/

Live Light Campaign for Central America
https://lifeliftsoulutions.org/ 

Keys to building trust with a terrorist:

• Build rapport
• Active listening
• Value the other person
• Do as you say

What better time to start a business than in the midst of a pandemic, right? Well, that’s exactly what this week’s guests did. Alejandro and Karys Batsakis are Yale MBA grads and corporate professionals who risked it all during the early days of COVID and started the men’s sleepwear brand SirCadian.

This is a story every entrepreneur couple needs to hear. It’s one thing to build a business together but it’s another thing to do it well. Learning how to work well together can be very challenging when your gifts, skills and talents are different. While the differences can complement each other, they can also rub each other the wrong way. 

Click and listen to their story of losing a great job, starting a business out of frustration and learning how to do the dance of working together and being married.

Episode 74 - Stephanie is thrilled to welcome bestselling author and international speaker Carol Kent. We tackle many topics around the theme of external circumstances bringing strain on marriages, and the great crises of life.

Carol shares with openess and vulnerability about the unfathomable struggle of her only son's lifetime incarceration for first degree murder. In this context, she is co-author of her latest book, Staying Power.

Too often, when a life crisis hits, a marriage suffers--even a healthy one--and all the personality profiles and couples' therapy in the world won't keep your marriage from experiencing the tough stuff. So how do you and your spouse face the stresses put on your marriage and not only stay together but come out on the other side even more loving and committed?

“This book addresses the choices, practices, and principles that can make a marriage stronger when faced with the types of crises that come from outside the marriage through no choice of the husband or wife — life crises that we all are hit with at some point,” write the authors.

 If you've enjoyed this episode, you will LOVE our Gospel Spice series! Check out the first episode of each season (it will launch in the same app you are using to listen to this episode):

 The Gospel of Matthew: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/3281/link/

https://www.podcastics.com/episode/3281/link/

 

The Psalms: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/33755/link/

https://www.podcastics.com/episode/33755/link/

 

The Gospel of Luke: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/40838/link/

https://www.podcastics.com/episode/40838/link/

 

The Book of Proverbs: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/68112/link/

https://www.podcastics.com/episode/68112/link/

 

GOSPELSPICE GIVEAWAY WITH CAROL KENT

Carol is giving two copies of her bestselling book, Staying Power, to two Gospel Spice Podcast listeners! Go to gospelspice.com/giveaway to enter for a chance to win. Winner announced in our next episode!

 

GET TO KNOW CAROL KENT

“What makes my heart sing?” asks Carol. “Speaking to groups looking for messages that include humor and hope that speak to today’s challenges by pointing to God’s Word.” She says, “I think women need to laugh because life is challenging, but I also think they want to go deeply into God’s Word and find out how to live in the middle of relationship struggles, difficult choices, and hidden fears. Women are longing for authenticity and practical strategies for living out their faith. I’ve spoken at large arena events for Women of Faith, Extraordinary Women, and Women of Joy.

You will find Carol at carolkent.org - Go check out the amazing wealth of resources that are available there, on so many topics! Make sure to purchase Staying Power everywhere books are sold.

Go to speakupforhope.org to find out more about this amazing prison ministry.

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The Gospel Spice Ministries exist to inspire Christ-followers in our generation to delight in the glory of God by knowing and experiencing Jesus more intimately. We provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.

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