- Sabina Hitchen hired her husband as a vice-president of strategic partnerships in 2020.
- She was looking for someone with his skills, and the company has developed since he joined.
- They work in separate parts and prioritize the dates to make it work and not affect their marriage.
This test also filed is based on a conversation with Sabina Hitchen, the founder of Press for success, aged 45. The following has been modified for duration and clarity.
I worked in public relations for years before starting my business, Press for Success, a public relations platform and a community, in 2017. My husband, Alex, has been working in the media since the age of 18.
We met in 2012 when I was running from a rain storm in New York and went to a restaurant where he had walked in the other entrance – it was like a Romcom. I just wanted to read with a glass of wine, and he came and sat with me. We haven’t stopped talking since.
When we finally decided to make the “Facebook civil servant”, we realized that we had 200 friends in common, but we never met. Even with its history, I did not expect to hire it for my business. Now it’s my employee.
Like most couples, we used to weigh on the work of the other
He was there when I had the press idea for success; He even named it when we were newly married.
A year before the pandemic, he left his job 9-5 in the media to start the media council.
When the pandemic struck, our daughter was very young and I didn’t want to leave my job. I love being a mother, but I saw so many women leaving their work to take care of their children, and I knew that it was not the right decision for me.
We decided that my husband would leave her job instead
My husband has become the full -time caregiver of our daughter so that I can build my business. He resigned in July 2020 and we lost around 60% of our income because I returned to my business after working with less steam as a new mother.
I worked 24/7 to become our main bay support and started to do enough to compensate for your lost income.
A year in this configuration, he suggested that we returned to New York and he would start working in the consultation (we had stayed in Maine during the pandemic to escape the city) or we would discover something else. It was then that I planned to hire him as vice-president of strategic partnerships and collaboration for my business.
His skills correspond to what I needed
I did not want to hire him because he was my husband or needed work – his skills correspond to the needs of my business. I needed someone who understood the media and public relations and could inspire people and order a room. We decided: “Let’s just see what’s going on.”
He joined my small team and has taken a slight reduction in salary, but we see it as an investment in something bigger.
We have seen a therapist to make sure we will approach it correctly. She told us to give us six months to see if it was good, and if that was not the case, we could move away without it being a failure in our relationship.
It worked. There are days when one of us was injured or upset, but we do not hold a grudge and do not exceed it.
He has always been encouraging in my career
I used to say: “My husband works with me”, and he said: “No, your husband works for you.” I thought it was so sexy. He knows that I have been doing my business for years and respects what I have built.
Compartmentalization makes work together without seam. We can make heads on a work idea, then leave it to go to a family barbecue where I can be who I need to be as a wife and mom.
We take our daughter to school every morning and on the way, we sing Kidz Bop and we start with her. As soon as it is only we in the car, we are talking about workshops that we plan and the challenges of our members.
We also separate physically by working
We tried to work in the same space at the start, but I interrupted it constantly. Working separately while Alex is in an office during the day allows me to miss it. Having separate spaces gives us part of the mystery.
We are also working on separate things: he works on partnerships and collaborations while I run the community and planning workshops.
Even working on individual projects, I had to give up a lot of ego. I thought: “What will he think of my teaching?” And “it’s my scene”, but when I shared the scene with him, he turned on and people loved him.
It was incredible, but I had to tell him that he can’t call me darling while we are live.
We also favor meetings
At the beginning, whenever my parents kept babysitting, we worked in our meetings. I forgot what it was to go out with my husband. Now we plan a fun evening at night every week.
Doing business is like forced therapy on yourself, which is the same as marriage. Many people say that it is a risk of working together, but it gives us power on the fate of our family.
Since he joined the company, she has increased in any way, including income. What has started as a course platform is now a flourishing membership community with a new platform, an application and soon for real-time text alerts.
I can do what I like with the person I love in a higher goal, which seems incredible.
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