CoupleCo: Working With Your Spouse For Fun & Profit

This is a special edition of CoupleCo. We’ve engineered this show for shameless self-promotion! Blaine helped write a satirical business book created by Dan Hill. Dan is a very smart guy who has consulted to over 100 of the world’s biggest brands on the topic of reading emotions through facial coding. He also collaborates with his wife, Karen Bernthal, who’s an artist and a designer. That's where the CoupleCo angle comes in. So, how potent is Dan’s advertising prowess? Honey has had a career working in big ad agencies, and Dan had her wondering if everything she knows is wrong. This conversation is also about Dan’s book, aimed at corporate-speak BS: “Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo.” Honey has worked in corporate America and is a tough audience—and this book made even her laugh. And finally, this convo is peek at what we're calling “the collegial CoupleCo.” Dan and Karen are not exactly business partners, but they’re always collaborators.

Opportunities, priorities, profit—all kinds of greatness is afoot. But that also means: something’s gotta give. Will it be this show? Nope. Well, not really. But we are taking a dose of our own advice and attenuating everyone’s favorite show about couples in business together. And honestly, it’s not just because we’re feeling queasy from being stuck in the hot, humid freak show that is South Jersey…

Why are a pair of married capitalists talking about Marxism, and what does that have to do with the price of CoupleCo-ism anyway? In this episode, we avoid the adolescent jokes surrounding the great question, “How big is big enough, anyway?” In your business, is it OK to want to remain small? We ask ourselves this question as we hang out with friends who’ve started really big companies. The answer has a lot to do with your priorities in life, and another, more important question you need to answer for yourself…

How did this happen?! On the 20th Anniversary of our wedding, Blaine Parker and the Fabulous Honey Parker turn the tables on themselves and reveal the answer to the Single Most Important Question of their CoupleCo interviews: “How did you two meet?” The reason it’s so important is without the answer to that question, there’d be no CoupleCo to follow. And since our answer includes dueling hangovers, a clever ruse involving a used car, and a famous comedy club, it might just be worth listening to…

Should you do the dangerous deed of becoming a CoupleCo? Maybe your answer is here: it’s the 2021 Independence Edition of CoupleCo Uncorked! There are upsides to being in business with your spouse. Besides the fun! You’re your own boss! You can take risks! Set your own hours! But, there are also downsides. Hear our take on CoupleCo Independence after 15 years of doing this. Maybe it’ll sway you one way or the other. Maybe it’ll make you close the doors and go back to your 9-to-5. Who knows? Listen in and take a chance…

Innovative, paradigm-shifting, champion-inspired cult camper moving and shaking! Jen and Chris Hudak have moved Escapod travel trailers, shaken up their own world, they’re changing world of teardrop campers, and they’ve built a collaborative business model in a burgeoning CoupleCo effort that began in a garage, expanded to an antique gas station with one employee, and now occupies an enormous space filled with employees in what was once a Ford dealership. In two years, they’ve expanded production exponentially, moving from selling dozens of units to hundreds. And they still can’t meet the overwhelming demand. In short: the Hudaks are crushing it. In this episode, we discuss the realities of success, what it really means, and the emotional preparedness it requires. And what happens when, despite your desire to remain totally independent, you really do need to consider using OPM (Other People’s Money)?

All hail the scrappy underdog! In the two years since we first spoke to them, Chris and Jen Hudak have exploded. They’ve instigated an exponential increase in production of their cult-favorite travel trailer, survived a pandemic, and brought a baby to be in the world. What more could they want? How about a groundbreaking evolution in their already excellent product? These two are champions, they are unstoppable, and they bring new perspective to what it means to be successful collaborators…

Comprehensive CoupleCo convo some award-winning expert travelers? How does that even happen? What is award-winning expert travel, anyway? Therese Iknoian and Michael Hodgson are epic travel bloggers as well as award-winning entrepreneurial journalists. (Therese was even part of a Pulitzer-winning reportage team.) These two have segued from traditional news professions into profitable nex-gen careers spanning the globe and discoursing on all things travel…