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Background: I've been an at-home spouse raising kids and trying to decide what I *really* want to do with my life while my husband went to graduate school. He got his PhD, became faculty at a big research university, then quit to become a director at an even larger high tech company. He has vast professional networks and is constantly toying the idea of starting his company. He's somewhat involved in a former coworker's (ex-video game executive producer) budding start-up... mostly as a favor, but also because he's expecting to go down the road with a different product idea in the future.
So my issue is that I've been working towards a nursing degree for the past year or so, still in the pre-reqs, and it's a very comfortable occupation choice. However my husband has made it very clear that he would need my help if he started a company. I believe this to be true. He's obviously the visionary and the brain of the operation but I'm definitely more suited to be the operational manager (I'm the one who manages our budget, has the correct information about what's affordable or when something will be affordable, etc..). So now I"m trying to figure out if I should just give up the idea of nursing (which is okay) and look at some sort of business degree, but I'm not sure what kind??? Or if something like accounting would be better.
I feel like this is a risk, but knowing that he's dead set on starting something, I feel like it's an even bigger risk if I'm not a part of it. We work really well together, it's just that sometimes he misses the trees for the forest and I'm the missing the forest for the trees kinda person.
Any advice???
The best advice I can give you is what Sheila E Johnson did when she let her dreams fall by the wayside to fund her husband's. She got everything in writing! She made him sign off on any joint venture, every idea she implemeted and acknowledge every step of her input, blood, sweat and tears and once B.E.T Entertainment Television got so successful that he wanted to sell and do a "Waiting To Exhale" on her (Divorce her--virtually leaving her penniless with a cheap pay off!)--she pulled out every last receipt, promissory note and document to her exact extent and involvement with his 'dream' was...and won! It made her the first black female billionaire...shortly ahead of Oprah!
Like she said, it was business and she never lost sight of that (as too many women do and in the end they lose). She protected herself, her worth and made him recognize just how powerful she really was; not someone who he could walk all over, take the pie and the pan and leave her the Graham Cracker crumbs. Here's some of her story...
Your husband would not be a good leader if he co-founded the company with you instead of someone who has skills that can be used immediately. It sounds like you are a potential *future* asset because you still need to learn something before you can be of value to the company.
In biz terms, from what you posted, it sounds like the strategy for building the start up team is needing some review.
Background: I've been an at-home spouse raising kids and trying to decide what I *really* want to do with my life while my husband went to graduate school. He got his PhD, became faculty at a big research university, then quit to become a director at an even larger high tech company. He has vast professional networks and is constantly toying the idea of starting his company. He's somewhat involved in a former coworker's (ex-video game executive producer) budding start-up... mostly as a favor, but also because he's expecting to go down the road with a different product idea in the future.
So my issue is that I've been working towards a nursing degree for the past year or so, still in the pre-reqs, and it's a very comfortable occupation choice. However my husband has made it very clear that he would need my help if he started a company. I believe this to be true. He's obviously the visionary and the brain of the operation but I'm definitely more suited to be the operational manager (I'm the one who manages our budget, has the correct information about what's affordable or when something will be affordable, etc..). So now I"m trying to figure out if I should just give up the idea of nursing (which is okay) and look at some sort of business degree, but I'm not sure what kind??? Or if something like accounting would be better.
I feel like this is a risk, but knowing that he's dead set on starting something, I feel like it's an even bigger risk if I'm not a part of it. We work really well together, it's just that sometimes he misses the trees for the forest and I'm the missing the forest for the trees kinda person.
Any advice???
I think that if he's asking you to go all in, then you have to have a sayso in what happens. It has been my experience, almost 100% of the time, that academicians make terrible entrepreneurs. Don't know why, but it's almost as if they don't understand the true workings of the business world and can't be bothered to learn them. It's the triumph of theory over practice in so many cases. And the guys who think they're unique usually aren't.
Mind you, I'm not saying that necessarily is your husband. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on. I would be asking questions like the following:
1) Does he have a really good business plan? Has he put it in front of a 'firing squad' of VC people who really know his line of work?
2) Can he summarize his unique selling proposition in one sentence? For that is the foundation of his brand, something that will determine whether or not people want to buy his services or products.
3) How's your capitalization look? Take your projected expenses and multiply them by three. Take your projected revenue and slash it in half. If your numbers still look decent, then you might be on to something.
You seem like a really smart woman. I would pose your questions to him and see his reactions to them. If he is giving you answers in a helpful way, allowing you to test his assumptions, and maybe changing his point of view on things because of your input, then he might have what it takes. If, on the other hand, he rolls his eyes, refuses to see any point of view beside his own, and blows off any misgivings, then I would enroll in nursing school because you're going to need every penny you can make.
My wife is a RN, works one night a week (12 hrs). Her take home pay is around $900 every two weeks (2 shifts). Works great, she still is able to be a mom at home and take care of everything. If she ever had to go full time, would make 3x that much. So you could always go per diem.
Takes a special person to be a nurse. No way in hell could I do it, I am not compassionate enough. One of the only careers you can go to school for 2 years and start off making $25+/hour and be able to get a job almost anywhere.
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