The Invisible Partnership: How To Work With Your Spouse Without Getting Divorced

By William de Ora

The Invisible Partnership reveals the secrets of how to successfully live, love and excel in business with your life partner, beyond your wildest dreams!

Louise Woodbury and William de Ora skillfully and creatively make the invisible, visible.

You will be informed, guided and unfailingly inspired as Louise and William open up powerful new understandings of collaboration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William de Ora
• Release date: Aug 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452382654

William de Ora

Wiliam de Ora is the co-author of The Invisible Entrepreneur and The Invisible Partnership. He is also the co-founder of Quantum Dynamics, one of Australia’s leading consultancies specializing in fast-growth small-to-medium sized businesses.With a 20-year background in creative, strategic and research roles, William has worked with almost every major product, service, government and business category.William’s core strength is his ability to take his clients’ businesses well beyond their expectations. He has a unique ability to understand his client’s personal and business drivers and shows them how to harness those drivers in order to get tangible results.This is not the type of experience you’d get from an everyday business consultant. William leads his clients to ask “What if?” and many end up exceeding their initial goals and dreams for their business. He does this by working with clients to create a clear pathway, allowing them to turn their goals into reality. But more importantly, he challenges his clients so that many experience not only business growth – but personal growth as well.He has worked with businesses in areas as diverse as airlines to automotive, banks to baby care, beverages to building products, politics to personal care, real estate to rural, hospitality to household products, toiletries to tourism – to name just a few.William has previously been the creative director and head of his own advertising agencies and has worked with a range of blue chip companies and small businesses. He has carried the creative responsibility for numerous landmark brands, including ANZ, Campbells Soup, CSR, Fairfax, Formfit, Heinz, AV Jennings, Kodak, Medibank, Mitsubishi Motors, National Australia Bank, National Mutual, SA Tourism, Sorbent and Tooheys. Working with leading ad agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam, Clemenger, MOJO and more.Born in Sri Lanka, during his early years William was raised with Buddhist Monks. As a teenager his family moved to the UK, where later, William studied Graphic Design and began his career in the advertising industry.This blend of Eastern philosophy and Western commercialism makes Williams way of thinking unique, and very different to that of many other consultants. In working with owners of small business, William brings solutions to owners of small business that taps the potential which lies dormant within them. He helps them explore possibilities that are often not even on their radar.Working with William de Ora challenges your way of thinking. Importantly, as a client, it’s a relationship that will give you greater profits, peace of mind and, ultimately, a more fulfilling life.

Book preview

How To Work With Your Spouse Without Getting Divorced

THE INVISIBLE PARTNERSHIP

By

LOUISE WOODBURY

& WILLIAM DE ORA

Introduction by Janine & Jeff Allis founder of BOOST JUICE BARS

Foreword by New York Times Bestselling Author Barbara De Angelis PhD

* * * * *

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

The stories, individuals and business information used in this book The Invisible Partnership are all based on fact. Any modifications are for commercial/confidentiality reasons or simply to highlight relevant matters.

This publication is sold with the understanding that neither the publisher nor the authors engage in rendering legal and/or accounting services. It is recommended that such services should be sought from the relevant qualified professions.

Any restructuring of a business, partnerships will carry some level of risk. The views presented in this book are of a general nature only and do not take into account any individual circumstances.

Copyright © 2010 Louise Woodbury and William de Ora

All rights reserved. The right of Louise Woodbury and William de Ora to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 200(cth).

Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

The Invisible Partnership published by Quantum Dynamics

ISBN 978-0-9807919-0-7 First edition, September 2010

Also by Louise Woodbury and William de Ora:

The Invisible Entrepreneur

ISBN 978-0-646-49043-4

Quantum Dynamics ABN 13 878 338 207

PO Box 26, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia

Cover design by Phil Atkinson, illustrations by Darren Strauss, typesetting by Indigoblu.

This book is available at a discounted rate for premiums and sales promotional purposes. For more information, please send your enquiry to [e-mail]

To book Louise Woodbury and William de Ora as keynote speakers: [e-mail]

Website: www.InvisiblePartnership.com

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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THE INVISIBLE PARTNERSHIP

How To Work With Your Spouse Without Getting Divorced

D E D I C A T I O N

This book is dedicated to the partnerships of

Susan and Anthony, Rosemary and Danister.

Our parents.

* * * * *

F O R E W O R D

By Barbara De Angelis Ph.D.

No.1 New York Times Best Selling Author.

Also, author of fourteen books, published

in more than twenty languages.

If you are reading these words, it means that you have made the very wise decision of purchasing a very wise book: The Invisible Partnership – How to Work With Your Spouse Without Getting Divorced. This book is truly a gift to couples who want to have a breakthrough in their business and their relationship.

As a bestselling author, I receive and turn down countless invitations to write forewords for other people’s books. But within minutes of meeting Louise and William at a conference earlier this year, I knew I was in the presence of a very special and highly conscious couple. So when they asked me if I would consider writing the foreword for their new book, I told them that it would be my honor to do so.

Creating a loving, intimate and lasting relationship with a spouse is one of the greatest aspirations and challenges we each face in life. But when your love partner is also your business partner, these challenges escalate enormously. The Invisible Partnership is an important book for all life partners who have chosen to combine an intimate and personal relationship with business aspirations.

Louise and William have walked this journey, in courage and togetherness, and with clarity and candor, they discuss the issues that can prevent life partners from working together happily and harmoniously, as well as offering powerful tools and understandings to help you create the success you deserve—with your business and with one another.

The Invisible Partnership will provide you with the steps to get past the struggles and obstacles that present themselves to couples who are working together in business. More importantly, it will offer you hope, that with good advice and a willingness to do the work that is required, your partnership, both personal and professional, can grow and thrive into what you always dreamed it could be.

I wish you all joy, abundance and love on your journey.

Barbara De Angelis Ph.D.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

By Janine and Jeff Allis

The founders of Boost Juice Bars,

operating in 18 countries including

Britain, Singapore and China.

It is our privilege to write the introduction for The Invisible Partnership: How to Work with your Spouse without Getting Divorced because this book addresses the real needs of real couples working together in real businesses.

In fact this book is about people just like us.

We believe life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Life is a journey of endless possibilities and if you can ‘think it, then speak it, then act it’ and believe enough in your passion, you will achieve everything that you want out of life. As we like to say in our company, Boost Juice, It’s not the juice, it’s the journey.

The core purpose of The Invisible Partnership is to help life partners build a partnership that respects equality within the relationship, enables two equally talented and strong individuals to operate powerfully together and be able to realize their true potential by being aligned and operating as one.

Louise and William are a living analogy of the silverback and the queen bee. We think this is a great metaphor because we too believe it is possible for two very strong individuals to work together powerfully.

It’s simply about being willing to identify and harness your individual talents and skills. It’s also about the importance of operating with honesty, transparency and respect. If these principles become your foundation for success, then the world will be your oyster and life will be an extraordinary adventure.

Having a strong and lasting partnership is critical to the success of a business run by life partners. The relationship must be strong because in a family business run by couples each person needs to have a say in his or her destiny. Each person is an inherently strong individual and they each need to make their full contribution to the relationship and the business.

A core principle of our partnership is honesty and transparency and respecting each other’s differences. Louise and William provide a powerful insight into what it takes to coexist powerfully and complement one another despite this being a huge challenge for couples working together 24/7.

At the core of this adventurous journey is work and business. We worked hard and long hours to get our fledgling little business off the ground. In the early stages we only earned a pittance. What kept us going in the beginning? Naivety, faith and commitment to a dream.

As we traveled along our journey and watched our business grow, we saw lots of unhappy people. Maybe they were unhappy because they put too much emphasis on having a lot of money. But we knew that money doesn’t really make people happy.

We knew that the key to happiness is forming good relationships. In other words, partnerships make the difference.

The problem is that the stress and long hours of business can often undermine relationships. We understand what is like to be a couple working together in the same business. It is never easy. Day after day you are pulled in every direction. Everyone is looking for answers. Given a thousand and one things to do, you can be distracted and even decimated by your business commitments. We know. Just like you, we have been there. So have the authors of this book, Louise and William.

Despite the challenges, we are still fervent advocates of building partnerships. When we move Boost Juice into a new country, we start by building partnerships. We choose to develop partnerships rather than sell franchises. We find partners who love what they do as much as we do. In short, we believe that success and failure depends on people.

To build these partnerships, we ask one thing from the people involved with us: transparency. When there is transparency, there is trust. And with trust you can face any challenge. Trust gives you an abundance of choices without compromising your principles.

Trust is the key ingredient in a lasting partnership. Trust is the glue of life. Trust is the foundational principle that holds all solid partnerships together.

Another reason why the relationship must be strong is because a couple working in business together will be side by side 24/7. Disagreements in the work environment can easily escalate and affect the couple’s home life. Likewise, conflicts at home can gravely impact the business.

The Invisible Partnership is a book that will lead you through all the facets of developing this kind of dynamic and flourishing working relationship, one that will revolutionize your home and business life.

William and Louise share openly the story of their own life rollercoaster of working together and staying happily married. As a result, this is not just some textbook full of management jargon. It’s a discussion of real life for real people who are wanting the truth without sugar coating.

The Invisible Partnership will guide you on your journey toward building a powerful partnership—no matter what circumstances you might be facing. If you are willing to live your passion with your partner, you may well surprise yourself with how your aspirations can become a reality. We did. And so can you!

Janine and Jeff Allis

The founders of Boost Juice Bars

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How To Work With Your Spouse Without Getting Divorced

THE INVISIBLE PARTNERSHIP

by

LOUISE WOODBURY

& WILLIAM DE ORA

* * * * *

C H A P T E R O N E

Can You Really Blend Business and Marriage?

Can life partners work powerfully together while

running their own small business?

This book is written to those brave people who are doing two of the most difficult and challenging things in life together: building a sustainable business and being married!

Being married is a significant challenge. Operating a business in these uncertain times is a daunting feat. But for life partners to run a business together and maintain a healthy marriage would seem like climbing Mount Everest, something that only a few elite people could accomplish.

Why does Combining Marriage and Business Require such Heroic Effort?

The main reason is that life partners who work together inevitably blend their deepest, most intimate relationship into the world of business. The traditional line between work and family disappears.

When the couple is at work in a professional setting, they are (hopefully) still in love. When they are at home, they are still a professional team. If there is conflict at the office, those same problems will follow them home! And if there is discord at home, those difficulties will affect them at the office.

However, despite these challenges, life partners who work together have the potential for an exciting and fun adventure like no other. If the relationship is strong and loving, they will be able to enjoy one another around the clock. They will have the most trusted business partner one could imagine. They will be able to share the adventure of running a business and watching that business impact a community.

Unfortunately, when it comes to starting a business or sustaining a marriage, there’s not a whole lot of optimism these days. If you believe the statistics, 50 percent of all marriages fail. In the beginning, couples have a starry romantic vision of a happily-ever-after life, only to be slapped into reality by the challenges and demands of every day living.

As for running a business, the statistics show that 80 percent of all small businesses fail within the first few years. There’s no doubt that getting a business up and running is both exciting and challenging. But, again, this honeymoon period soon encounters the hard realities of the business world. Entrepreneurs today face overwhelming challenges, along with incredible opportunities.

So, is it really possible for life partners to successfully live, love, and work together?

Absolutely, categorically, yes!

While the statistics we’ve mentioned are discouraging, it’s important to remember that we are always free to create our marriages and businesses exactly the way we want them to be. Yes, we need to face the facts. However, successful marriages and businesses don’t just happen.

Both domains require 100 percent commitment to ongoing growth and development, absolute dedication, transparency in communication, and above all else, alignment. With these elements in place, a strong marriage and working relationship can become a reality. And William and I are proof of that fact.

Working Together Without Having to Compromise

It’s possible that you’re reading this book because you’re deciding whether or not to work with your life partner. Or you might be a person who is already running a business with your spouse and you want to figure out how to run the business and still keep the romance flowing in your relationship. Whatever the case, The Invisible Partnership is a book that will show you how to work together and still love each other every day—without having to compromise. It’s a book that will help you discover and assimilate those invisible secrets that enable two people to work together toward a successful business and simultaneously have a happy marriage.

Let’s be clear about the word happy. This isn’t some lightweight, flakey feeling. Happiness in a marriage is about acknowledging and understanding who you are, the roles you play, and the importance of being in alignment with each other. It’s about being able to be on the same page. More than that, it’s about both partners being so comfortable with each other that they enjoy operating in the same space together all day and every day.

Choosing to read this book is your first step toward this kind of life. Choosing to apply this book is your next step to experiencing the life you’ve imagined. However, reading the book and not applying it won’t be enough. You must have a desire and a commitment to uncover, explore, find, and unleash the invisible potential in your relationship and make it a visible and tangible partnership.

It’s been our experience—both on a personal level and based on many years of consulting with business owners who are also life partners—that a strong relationship is the foundation for a strong business. (And, we’ll explain why throughout this book.)

For most people, the core elements of a relationship reside below the surface of our conscious thoughts and feelings. These relational factors—both positive and negative—play a powerful role in the quality of our lives. And when life partners are working together in business, those relational factors will affect the quality of the business.

What Does it Take to Have it All?

So, in this book you’ll explore how two equally skilled, talented, and strong individuals can have a successful working partnership by understanding and working on the simmering, bubbling feelings and reactions that impact the quality of the relationship—both professionally and personally.

The key question of course is what does it take to have a successful marriage and a successful working partnership—especially when it’s a 24/7 journey? Well the short answer is you. And the long answer is you. Life is full of opportunities. But you have to be able to see them in order to seize them. You must be willing to look beyond what is happening now, beyond what seems inevitable, and begin to believe in what is possible!

The flipside of this question is another question: Why don’t life partners easily work together in their own business? And the answer to this question is what this book is about. In a nutshell, a key reason that relationships fail is because of the emotional drivers involved when people choose their life partner. Similar emotional factors also