If you own your own business, does that mean your marriage is bound to fail? Official statistics are not kept, but many experts believe that the divorce rate for business owners and entrepreneurs is higher than the rate seen by the rest of the population.
One reason is that many business owners invest all of their time, energy and emotion in the company. Even if the couple has children, it is that company that is really the baby for the business-owning parent. To be successful, people put in 80-hour work weeks, they skip vacations and they miss family functions.
This may help the business thrive, but that type of devotion to something that is not the family can cause marital strife.
In fact, it has been said that the partners of business owners often feel the same way about the business as they would about an affair. They’re jealous. They’re resentful.
It’s easy to see why. If a spouse feels like he or she gets no attention while the other person is constantly working or thinking about the business, it can cut into that relationship. It can make two people drift apart.
Of course, financial issues are one of the biggest reasons for divorce. A new business can require a lot of financial sacrifices, from increased debt to decreased income to start-up costs.
All of these reasons may contribute to the high divorce rate for entrepreneurs, though every situation is unique. It is very important for business owners to know all of their options during a split, especially since they’ll want to protect the company in every way they can.
Source: My Best Relationship, “Why the divorce rate is higher among entrepreneurs,” Jenev Caddell, accessed May 25, 2018