Better Together
Today is Lindsey Nix’s (my wife) 7 year anniversary with Nix Companies!!
Seven, just as a number, doesn’t have any more significance than 6 or 8. If you are wondering why I chose the 7th year to write this post, I don’t have a good answer. I just felt compelled to. Maybe as I’ve aged another year, I’ve become more appreciative of the blessings in my life, maybe it’s the great book I just read “Who’s looking out for you”, maybe it’s all the praying I’ve been doing to help keep my priorities straight (Lord knows I need it), maybe it’s just that after 7 years, I’ve realized how Damn hard this journey is, and there is absolutely NO way I could do this without her.
Next to my Dad, brother and I, Lindsey is now the longest tenured team member currently employed at Nix. By the end of May will be pushing 90 people. She’s been by my side (or often even out in front) through it all. In the early days she was in on every interview, (and she still is on the key hires today). I’ve learned to trust her instincts more and more. She’s supported me on the toughest days and never doubted the heights we could reach on the best days. Over the years, she’s been head of finance, HR, and marketing. She’s paid the company bills and ran payroll from a tiny hospital room while our first born was in the NICU. On more nights than I can count, long after the kids and I would head off to bed, (after her job as ‘Mom’ was done for the day), she would get back to work, often until midnight because there was no one else to do it. In the early days, when a big customer was slow to pay, she would carry the biggest burden and worry about how we would make the next payroll. She kept our heads above water all day, and kept the house in order after that.
Because of her support and many others, we’ve been blessed with some success in recent years. Now, we both get asked to speak from time to time and when other entrepreneurs ask me for advice, one of the things I’m never afraid to tell them is….”If you are married or thinking of getting married, you better have a damn good partner! Choosing your spouse is the single most important business decision you will ever make and it’s so often overlooked.”
Its not for the faint of heart. We’ve had many tough times at work and at home. We certainly will again in the future. We’ve tried planned date nights where we don’t talk about work. That lasted about 30 minutes. Work is part of our lives together. That would be like going on a date and not talking about the kids. And as for that “work life balance” people talk about, that’s the biggest crock of B.S. I’ve ever heard. There is no such thing as perfect balance. You just manage it. I happen to believe the faith we share and our very similar core values are what supersede all else and carry us through. We’ve been so fortunate to have some other married business partners that have supported us over the years. We’ve looked up to them and called on them for advice and support. (you all know who you are)
So many business owners can’t imagine working with their spouse. Some have even made rude remarks to me about it. I pay them no attention. I would liken that to traveling and seeing the most beautiful sights you’ve ever seen, but not having your spouse there with you to see it too. It just wouldn’t be as sweet!
This post is first and foremost a huge THANK YOU to my amazing wife and business partner. And secondly, I humbly hope, it might serve as a tiny piece of inspiration to any other couples out there grinding every day, trying to build your own dream together. Keep fighting the good fight. It’s so worth it when you get to look back together on how far you’ve come!
#marriedprenuers #nixcompanies #forgingahead