In this episode, Chad Franzen interviews Josh and Becca Hadley about their journey working together as a married couple. They share insights into balancing business and family life, setting boundaries, and defining clear roles. The Hadleys discuss the joys and challenges of entrepreneurship as partners, offer advice for couples considering a joint venture, and highlight the importance of communication, shared vision, and prioritizing their relationship. Personal anecdotes reveal their daily routines, family priorities, and fun facts about each other, providing an honest look at blending marriage and business.
Chapters:
Introduction and Guest Welcome (00:00:00)
Chad Frandsen is introduced as the interviewer; Becca and Josh Hadley are welcomed to the podcast.
Working with Your Spouse: Initial Thoughts (00:00:21)
Becca and Josh share their experiences and feelings about working together as a married couple.
Early Days of the Business (00:01:54)
Josh describes how they started working together, their routines, and the excitement of building the business.
Balancing Roles and Avoiding Friction (00:03:29)
Discussion on the importance of clarifying roles and responsibilities to prevent conflicts.
Work-Life Boundaries and Daily Routines (00:04:46)
Chad asks about setting workday boundaries; Becca and Josh explain their flexible approach and daily schedules.
Family Priorities and Involvement (00:07:01)
Josh emphasizes prioritizing family, coaching kids’ sports, and the importance of being present as parents.
Advice Received About Working Together (00:08:24)
Becca and Josh recall advice they received about working as a couple and the importance of maintaining balance.
Advice for Couples Considering Business Together (00:10:23)
Josh and Becca offer advice to couples thinking about starting a business together, stressing clear roles and shared vision.
Working from Home: Pros and Cons (00:12:39)
They discuss working from home, its benefits, challenges, and how it affects their work-life transition.
Personal Insights: About Each Other (00:13:43)
Chad asks Becca and Josh to share something listeners wouldn’t know about the other, revealing personal and fun facts.
Closing Remarks (00:15:52)
Chad wraps up the interview, thanks the guests, and offers best wishes.
Links and Mentions:
Company/Tool:
Rise 25
Book/Quote:
No success in the world can compensate for failure in the home
Transcript:
Josh 00:00:00 Today I’m excited to introduce to you. I have two special guests with me. We have my wife, Becca Hadley, and then we have Chad Franzen here of rise 25, who has done hundreds of interviews with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs. We have flipped the script, and he is going to be interviewing Becca and I today. So welcome to the podcast, Chad.
Chad 00:00:21 Hey, thanks so much, Josh. Great to be here with both of you. So, Becca, what is it like working with your spouse?
Becca 00:00:28 Yeah, I love it. I know almost every single person I talk to always says, I don’t know how you do that, or that didn’t work for me or were divorced or whatever it is. We I think it’s been one of the best things for us. I think we had a strong foundation before we began working with each other, and it kind of started off slow. And Josh was working in corporate America. We were working together at night, but for us, it’s been it’s been fun.
Becca 00:00:51 It’s been our hobby, I think since both of us are doing what we love, it’s very fulfilling and then even more fulfilling to do it together. I think one of my favorite things is just the opportunity to, like, travel together to different conferences like we’ve had so many like couples trips that are business trips. and it’s been so fun. We’ve seen so many places together. I think we’re also learning new things together at the conferences we go to and the things that we listen to, the podcast, everything that we do together. So I think it takes our relationship even to the next level, which is really fun. Now, that’s not to say that it’s always easy. We definitely have our frustrations or our arguments or sometimes, like when we’re on a date. In my head, I’m like, stop talking about the business, let’s be on a date. So it’s just finding a balance and making sure that, like in our relationship that we have like family time specifically and date nights and business time.
Becca 00:01:41 And for us, honestly, it has been an incredible blessing. I’ve loved every minute of it.
Chad 00:01:45 So great. Yeah. Why don’t we get back to that in just a minute? Kind of the the boundaries or whatever, like work and home or whatever. But, Josh, what are your thoughts on working with your wife?
Josh 00:01:54 Yeah, I think that it’s been an amazing experience. And I think that, like Becca talked about, it’s Is important for us. I think it like has actually brought us closer together because we’ve been working on like a similar vision. Like I would say, like kids brings you together, right? You and your spouse together on like a similar vision of like, we want our children to to succeed, but also with the business. We want our business to succeed. And so it’s been fun. Like I like Becca mentioned, like it was what was it literally a year after we had been married or like, yeah, it was one year after we had been married was when we kind of like got started into the business and working together.
Josh 00:02:36 And it was fun. You know, we didn’t have kids at the time. We had a child on the way at the time, but for us, it our kind of life looked like this. I would come home from work at American Airlines, and then we would sit down together at night. And at the time I could have a TV show on in the background and be all right with that. But we would put on something fun, and then we would just be working together and we would be chatting and saying, hey, look at this cool thing I found. You know, hey, you know, and at the time, we were working with custom wedding invitations and brides. And so it was always like whenever we got to sell or somebody paid their deposit or they got booked on the calendar, it was like this big win. And I’d go run over and tell them, it’s like, we got another one. And it was just like an exciting time for us. And, you know, we would stay up late into the evenings until like one, two in the morning, just working on the business together.
Josh 00:03:29 But we loved it and that’s what our life revolved around. And and now as we have children because of the, you know, hard work, I think that we put forth early on, it’s paying dividends in terms of us being able to be more present at their sporting events and having more flexibility in our schedule. But to Becca’s point as well, like, it hasn’t just been all rainbows and unicorns, not necessarily like there’s there’s friction at times. Right. And that friction, a lot of it comes down to, you know, are we on the same page in terms of like the vision and where we’re going with the business, but also like in clarifying our roles? I think that’s been one of the most important things, like if Becca were trying to be the CEO as well and she were like super possessive of like, this is my business, I have to be the CEO. Then that could cause a lot of friction. And I feel like that’s what happens a lot of times is you’ve got a husband and wife and they don’t necessarily clarify the roles.
Josh 00:04:27 They’re like, I want to be the leader. I want to be the leader. And then they both start stepping on each other’s toes. But because Becca does so well at design, she does that. And then she knows that I’m capable when it comes to running and leading the business. And she lets me do that. But then we also form the vision of the business together. Would you agree?
Becca 00:04:46 Yeah.
Chad 00:04:46 For sure. Did you do you ever feel like you have to like say say okay, the workday ends at 6 or 530 or something, or is it? You know, it’s something you’re able to kind of plow through.
Josh 00:04:56 Regardless, I wish we could say the workday ends at a certain time.
Becca 00:04:59 I don’t know, I love it. We don’t. I mean, so when we put our kids to bed, depending on, you know, what’s happened that day, whether it’s sports or whatever, unless we have a date night, like we take some time to connect, and then generally we both still will work a little bit before bed.
Becca 00:05:12 But for us, it is a connection, like Josh said. Like, well, we’ll sit down and watch a show together and then go on a walk and chat about anything throughout our day. But for us, like, I don’t feel like it needs to end at a certain time. Like, it’s not one of the it’s not really that type of relationship for.
Josh 00:05:26 Us, but it’s the way that we also like run our family at the same time. Right? Because it’s you don’t wake up and just go to the office, like, or our office and get to work. Like your first thing in the morning. Like, why don’t you tell people? Like, what is your day to day schedule look like? And then I’ll kind of share mine.
Becca 00:05:42 Yeah. So I handle the kids in the morning. So we have littles. We have a 18 month old, just barely four year old and then a seven year old. So two of them are in school. So I, you know, get myself up ready to go through my own routine.
Becca 00:05:55 Then I get the kids up and ready, get my kids to school, and then my littles that are still home. I spend time with them. That’s what’s most important to me. You won’t find me working generally most mornings. I mean, here and there, things come up. Or if I get a babysitter for a certain project or whatever. But for the most part, I’m with my kids in the mornings, which I love. It’s so fulfilling and I’m so grateful for the flexibility of it. And then I put my girls down usually. And then I work during nap time, my girls nap time, so I get a little bit in there. We have a really good system with the babysitter, with the nanny that comes a couple days a week, and so we generally will have her for a couple hours. That allows me to work a little bit more, and then we have a hard cut off for family time when she goes home and both Josh and I go and we play with the kids.
Becca 00:06:36 Our kids are super involved in sports and dance, and we love to go out and do activities and stuff, so we make sure that we have that balance of family time. And then once we put the kids to bed, Josh, they make sure we have time to connect before we kind of get back to work and usually end up staying up later than planned. But it’s fine.
Josh 00:06:52 But I think that’s the important thing, though, about, you know, our schedule is that for Becca and I. Yeah, it doesn’t stop at 6 p.m., right? And it’s like, all right.
Becca 00:07:01 It’s not a 9 to 5.
Josh 00:07:02 No Yeah, because the way that we want to raise our kids is like, we want to be involved in their lives. Like, I coached three sports teams with my son, coaches, hockey team. I coach his baseball team, I coaches basketball team. But I love it. And it’s something that I love to do because my dad was always my coach, and I built a relationship with my father, and strengthened our relationship.
Josh 00:07:26 And I want that for my children as well. So I plan on coaching my girls as well and their sports, because at the end of the day, you know. No. what is it? No. no. Success in the world can compensate for failure in the home. That’s a quote that I love. And it’s true. Like, we could have had the designs. Could be $100 million brand. And if our kids said or my.
Becca 00:07:50 Relationship.
Josh 00:07:51 Or our relationship falls apart, like Becca and I’s relationship falls apart, or, you know, our kids become distant from us. They’re like, my mom and dad were never around. We were always just like the nanny always took care of us. Like, if that’s the recollection, then I will have said like we failed at the end of the day. So what? We have $100 million brand. At the end of the day, it’s all about family and creating those memories and raising them as our children to be better than we are.
Josh 00:08:17 And I hope that they outperform both the Becca and I in our ambitions and what we’ve been able to do.
Chad 00:08:24 Have you guys received? Did you guys receive any advice from people when you when they found out that you were going to be working, you know, as a husband and wife? When my wife and I got married, we got all kinds of advice. You know, the primary thing that stands out to me is don’t don’t go to don’t go to sleep angry. Something like that. Did you guys get any advice on working together as a couple, and what was the best advice you received, if you could think of it?
Becca 00:08:46 Yeah, I think a lot of people always mention, like making sure that you have the balance in your life. because we do need to have the time of connecting. And I think one thing that’s really helped us is we have gone through like waves that like, haven’t been as great or whatever. whenever, at least for me, Whenever we bring back, like date night and just, like going out and doing something fun.
Becca 00:09:06 Truth be told, Josh is actually better at planning date night than me. I will admit he can plan some really fun date nights, but I think having that balance, along with the balance of family and the balance of work is so important. And you know, some weeks like or some months we don’t have the opportunity to go on a date and some months we get to go every week. But making sure that it continues to stay a priority for us, because I think connecting in all those different realms at least really helps me. I feel like we’re having the quality time, we’re having the family time, and we’re still having like the work time. So just always keeping in mind that balance, whether things are going well or they’re not, has been really good for me.
Josh 00:09:40 The only advice I remember is don’t go into work with your boss or with your spouse. A lot of people don’t work with your spouse. Yeah, all, all the time. It’s like, I can’t tell you the number of times we show up at a conference.
Josh 00:09:52 I don’t know how you guys do this. I can’t imagine working with my spouse. And I’m like, I can’t imagine not working with my spouse. Like, what do you talk about it? Date night. What do you talk like, what do you do in your free time? Like, I love that our free time is spent building a business and like Becca has her own kind of new business ideas for the future that she’ll be working on and myself with, like the podcast that I’ve been sharing with her. And it’s like, it’s fun that we’re both just like we’re movers and shakers. We like to build things and create things and bring things to life in the world.
Chad 00:10:23 So if, if you were to come across some young couple and they were thinking about getting they were thinking about, you know, starting a business together, but they were like, we’re hesitant because everybody tells us what a nightmare it is. What would be kind of your, elevator pitch or encouragement to say, you know, go for it.
Josh 00:10:39 I would say you can’t do it, but you’ve got to have very clearly defined roles, right? Have a shared vision of the business and then step into it with clearly defined roles. And honestly, that’s good advice for anybody that’s looking to partner with any sort of partner in any business. Because if you are just, you know, if you have this fun idea with your buddy, one of the first things you need to do is say, all right, let’s clarify roles. What is it that you’re bringing to the table? And what is it that I’m bringing to the table? Because if it’s the same thing, I don’t need two. Josh is running the business. In fact, that would be terrible, right? And so it’s nice having that counterbalance of ideally that partner would be, hey, I’ve got somebody that loves operations, right. That’s my spouse. She runs all the operations. And I’ve heard actually a lot of people that that’s what their spouse does is like, my wife loves the operation, so she runs the entire team.
Josh 00:11:35 I’m the entrepreneur. I’m the visionary. So I’m bringing ideas to the table. I’m sharing, you know, kind of the vision and where we’re going. Then my wife is the one that makes it happen now that that can work. So I would just say, like, just as you would in any role, if you were to hire somebody for your business or partner with somebody, you would first have a clearly defined like job description and make that happen and agree that, you know, when there’s going to be some conflict, like figure out how you’re going to meet in the middle and just take a break sometimes. So that’s my advice.
Becca 00:12:10 But I think more in like the relationship realm of it, I would say totally do it. It can be so much fun. That’s true. But make sure that you still, just like I said, with my advice, that you take time for one another and make it fun. Live it up. Go to conferences together. Go out to business dinners together.
Becca 00:12:25 Make it fun. Make it an experience, and also be forgiving, you know, just kind of regular relationship advice. But maybe advice that you have to use more often is be forgiving and support each other and don’t hold a grudge. And it’s all going to be what you make it, I think.
Chad 00:12:39 So you guys have a great looking office or background there. Do you guys work from home or do you drive to an office?
Becca 00:12:45 We work from home and we love it. This is it has its pros and cons, some crazy times with kids and dogs, but we love it.
Josh 00:12:51 We are around each other all day long.
Chad 00:12:54 So. So I guess I’ve already asked you about shutting it off. You know, I work from home, my wife works from home. We don’t work together and I feel like I can shut it off. She’s like working until 9 p.m.. you don’t need that commute to help you, like, transition from work life to home life.
Josh 00:13:09 There is there there is that.
Josh 00:13:11 I mean, the transition is me driving well, walking down the stairs. But like, typically it’s driving to a hockey practice or driving to baseball practice or a baseball game or something like that. That’s, you know, that’s what I love is like typically the the hard stops are are presented by the kids schedules and the sporting events and whatnot, which again, that’s that’s a priority for us.
Becca 00:13:34 Yeah, I think at least for me, I’ve, I’ve literally never been employed by someone since college. So it’s all I’ve ever known. Yeah. So I love it.
Chad 00:13:43 Sure. Great. Hey, last question for you guys. Becca, what is something about Josh? Josh is pretty, forthcoming on the podcast. What’s one thing about Josh that maybe listeners wouldn’t find out if they’re regularly tuning into the podcast?
Becca 00:13:57 Oh, that’s a tough question.
Josh 00:14:00 It’s good. I’m excited to hear your answer.
Becca 00:14:04 I would say. I mean, the more you get to know Josh, the more that you know, he puts his heart and soul into everything that he does, for sure.
Becca 00:14:12 I think he works harder than anyone that I know and cares more about his family and even our team members. I think he’s one of the most caring people that I have ever met. He cares about their well-being and their happiness, and he truly wants them to succeed. And he treats everything the same way. Our son’s baseball team. I would say he’s by far the best coach out there with the practice plans that he sets up and he gives them. He picks a kid to have an award every game, and he spends his free time helping our son build a tree cart to sell at his baseball games. Like, he just he wants everyone to succeed, and he puts his heart and soul into helping others succeed. And he truly, genuinely means that. And that’s how he lives his life and and everything that he does. And on a fun note, on a Friday or Saturday night, you might catch him in an old men’s hockey league. So two bits of us. Bits of secrets for you.
Josh 00:15:00 That’s right. Come check out the Old Man Hockey League. It’s not very pretty to watch, but it’s fun to play in.
Becca 00:15:06 Sometimes I get a babysitter and go. Sometimes.
Chad 00:15:09 Very nice, very nice. well, I guess I have to ask you the same question. Josh. What about Becca?
Josh 00:15:14 Man. Now you’re flipping the script.
Becca 00:15:16 Chad I don’t know anything about me.
Josh 00:15:17 So Becca has, an obsession with pets and animals. Her TikTok. So obviously TikTok continues to feed you whatever content you seem to spend most of your time observing. So if you get a hold of Becca’s TikTok account, all you will see are dog videos or pet videos. And that’s all she sends me all day long is like, have you seen this funny pet video?
Becca 00:15:42 Like cute.
Josh 00:15:42 Dog? And half the time I’m just like, I don’t get it, I don’t get it. She just she loves it. So she loves animals. In another life, maybe you would be a vet.
Becca 00:15:51 It’s true.
Chad 00:15:52 Okay, great.
Chad 00:15:53 Hey, it’s been great to talk to both of you guys. thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it. And, Yeah. Best wishes on everything moving forward.
Josh 00:16:02 Thanks, Chad. This was fun.
Chad 00:16:03 So long everybody.
