On the one hand, with the love, support and talents of your spouse, it's possible to accomplish much more with your life than you can accomplish on your own. A successful marriage for entrepreneurial couples requires room for personal and professional growth, says Kathy Marshack, author of "Entrepreneurial Couples: Making It Work at Work and at Home" (Davis-Black).

"These are couple who are aggressive achievers. They want to leave their mark on the work and they are determined to live life to the fullest. There is no room for complacency in an entrepreneurial marriage."

On the other hand, you're treading tricky waters when your lifelong mate is planning your company¹s fiscal future along with the evening meal. A business disagreement can affect your personal relationship or vice versa.

If both of you are involved in the business, who takes care of the household and kids? How do you separate work from home life so there's time for each other? How can you be brutally honest with your partner about business decisions without hurting feelings?

These are just some of the issues that entrepreneurial couples face. Whether you're a copreneur (a couple who owns and manages a business together), dual entrepreneurs (where you're both self-employed) or a solo entrepreneur with a supportive spouse, you have unique dynamics. The world love and work are not separate.

Even if you are the solo entrepreneur, personal and professional worlds overlap. Take Don and Marla, a couple in the book. Don is the entrepreneur and Marla is his supportive spouse (often thought of as the unsung hero) who manages the home front. "Don provides the material goods for the family. Yet without Marla to manage the household and children, Don would not be free to develop his entrepreneurial interests."

And this is where trouble can brew. Since entrepreneurs are so driven, they can become so consumed with their businesses that they ignore their families. A supportive spouse is often the one who must hold the marriage and family together so that the entrepreneurial spouse can devote his or her undivided attention to the business venture's success, says Marshack.

Recognizing that the worlds of love and work are not separate and that you cannot make one more important than the other, is extremely important. You cannot let the business run your life. You need to plan a life that includes your personal goals, relationship goals, family goals and career or business goals. And be careful that you don't get locked into getting all your rewards from work.

You may need to develop systems for maintaining a healthy balance in your life. Some couples don't talk about work at home, reserving relationship issues and family talk for after hours--preferably at home. This ensures that the important issues get discussed. Some couples make a point of developing individual private lives that include other people. One partner in the book is working toward a college degree at night. The other skis regularly with friends and is president of a local charity board.

But understanding these dynamics and learning how to balance the competing demands of love and work will only do so much. As Marshack says, the real power lies within each individual to create a healthy integration of intimacy, family life and meaningful work. In the process of making your whole life work at the business and at home, "you are creating and reshaping reality with each decision and step you take."

© by Andrea Kay