In this week’s episode of Balance: The Journey of Entrepreneurial Couples, Tanya Simon interviews Lisa and Truman Warner. They are the owners of 1-300-GET-TINT, founded in 2008 with a simple passion for all things automotive. Their company has been nominated for several awards including The Trust Business Award.

Main Questions Asked:

• How did you guys meet each other?
• How long has it taken to get to where you are in business?
• Have you connected with other groups for support?
• What are your thoughts on work life balance?
• How long has it taken for you to get to this point in your business?
• What are your three biggest tips for the listeners?

Key Lessons Learned:

Gaining Experience

• Work experience is a good way to develop an idea for a business. You can figure out what works and better ways to do something.
• Be careful who you bring into your business.
• Personal development is the best way to build a great business, you are often the bottleneck preventing your own success.

Challenges

• It can take a long time to get to a point where you are able to work on your business instead of in your business. You have to be patient.
• Working with your partner is an idea that is very polarizing, many people can’t imagine running a business with their partner.
• Running a business can be very difficult, you need to have support for the inevitable challenges you’re going to face.
• When working with a staff, establishing a system of communication so that the employees know what to do in most situations. Establish your separate roles early on.

Tips and Advice

• Find other people who have similar goals and ideas for support.
• You can test drive running a business together, take on a smaller role at the beginning and see how it goes.
• Try to get to a point where you can work on your business instead of just in your business.
• Look for people with integrity when you’re hiring, virtually everything else can be taught on the job.
• Keep the lines of communication open between each other.
• Take time for each other, go out on date nights every once in awhile.
• Take ownership of what happens, you are responsible for your actions and results.

Life versus Business

• Having a staff you can rely on allows you to step away and actually live your life.
• Your work and life won’t always be balanced at all times, one side will become a higher priority at certain times which is fine.
• You should be able to make compromises in business and your personal lives, negotiation is an important skill to work on.

Links to Resources Mentioned

http://www.trublutint.com.au/

meetup.com