We are all used to the fact that usually a woman sacrifices her work for her husband’s career: helps him in all endeavors, supports, gives advice, takes responsibility for raising children. The reverse situation is for the most part surprising and perplexing. However, as the journalist Annie Reed found out, in the twenty-first century there are more and more couples where the husband helps his wife to develop a career and even sacrifices personal interests for the sake of his wife. In her book Mom on Freelance, Annie talked about three such couples.
Jason and Sarah Aquisombe
Jason worked as an insurance agent, and Sarah was involved in interior design. Opposites are attracted - this is exactly what can be said about their pair. He is an extrovert, a sociable man who at the same time avoids risk, appreciates stability and prefers to lead a measured lifestyle. She is an introvert, creative and adventurous girl who loves a creative approach in everything. Sarah does not like to do routine tasks such as paperwork, she prefers to think more globally and generate new ideas.
Jason was quite comfortable working in a large corporation, while Sarah sought to freelance and find clients herself. After the birth of the daughter, the husband had to switch to a three-day work schedule to help his wife with the education of the baby. When the child was four years old, Sarah invited her husband to quit stationary work and help her with business development. Own start-up would allow them to manage their time, not to depend on bosses, gain financial independence and pay more attention to their daughter.
Jason agreed. Now, in fact, he is an accountant, administrator and manager for working with clients, and she has the opportunity to concentrate on creating unique projects.
Tom and Frith Quinn
Tom taught at the university, and Frita was freelancing before the birth of her first child: in addition to her own online store, she also maintained a blog. When the first-born appeared, the woman realized that she couldn’t cope with affairs on her own and asked her husband to switch to a four-day working week. Of course, even this day negatively affected the salary of a man, but there was no way out.
Two years later, Frita became pregnant a second time. Here the couple was very lucky: the law on the possibility of joint leave to care for a child had just been issued. Tom "went on maternity leave" for six months. The wife was wildly delighted: although sales in the online store fell, but the blog was in incredible demand among readers. The woman began to actively develop it and realized that such a business brings good income.
At the family council, it was decided to dismiss Tom from his main place of work. The fact is, paying a kindergarten cost almost the entire salary. Then what is the point of further teaching? Especially when my wife is developing a blog so successfully.
At first, it was difficult for the spouses to work together at home. Frita was used to creating content alone and in silence, and here the household was at home all the time. Fortunately, over time, the couple managed to build an optimal schedule. Now the man is engaged in legal and legal issues, and the woman is directly involved in blogging. In just a year of such work, the income of the spouses has tripled!
Adrian Chatel and Lucy Werner
Young people met at work: she just opened a business, and he was a creative director. Passionate romance led to the birth of a child.To help her lover, the man took a leave to care for the baby. When Adrian returned to work, Lucy realized that she did not have time to develop a startup, so she had to move away from doing business for a while.
After the birth of his second child, Adrian could no longer take a vacation, because he worked in a new place. Lucy fell down, taking care of the children. She practically did not see her husband: he left early, but arrived late. When one day he did not have such a busy week, the couple sighed with relief. Then they got the idea to start developing a startup Lucy.
Joint cooperation
Adrian quit his job and began to help his wife in promoting and promoting the business. Now the couple has a rather successful consulting project for beginner startups. It is planned to publish the first book of Lucy soon.
Spouses try to at least sometimes separate a career and a personal life. Every week they go to a restaurant for a romantic dinner, where they do not say a word about work.
The experience of the author of the book "Mom on Freelance"
By the way, the author of the book “Mom on Freelance” Annie Reed herself knows firsthand what it is like to work with her spouse. Her husband, Rich worked as a director of documentaries and in parallel an engineer. When one of his projects was nearing completion, the man complained that he was tired of disappearing in the office all the time and not seeing his family.
Annie was just pregnant with her fourth child. At the family council, they decided it was time to switch to freelance. Thus, Rich began to make films on weekends, and in the evenings to edit them. The spouse had more time to engage in the creation and development of online courses.