The pros and cons of starting a business with your significant other

Jodie Fox is an entrepreneur and author of Reboot: Probably More Than You Ever Wanted to Know about Starting a Global Business. Formerly the co-founder of the customisable shoe brand, Shoes of Prey, she joined editors Cec Busby and Adam Bub on the First Act podcast to share her insights from the phenomenal rise – and fall – of her business, as well as the unique challenges of building a business with your significant other, especially when the relationship fails.

Jodie Fox founded Shoes of Prey in 2009 with her then-husband, Michael Fox and co-founder, Mike Knapp. After a genuinely phenomenal rise to global status, women worldwide were clamouring for the chance to design their own pair of shoes, which talented artisans then created.

In her book, Jodie documents the epic rise and sudden 2019 collapse of Shoes of Prey while sharing the lessons she has learned from both success and failure.

Buy Reboot: Probably More Than You Ever Wanted to Know about Starting a Global Business at all good bookstores or online.

Chatting with Cec and Adam on First Act about what she’s learned from her bumpy business journey, Jodie also revealed some handy insights on forming a business with your spouse or significant other, including the challenges she and ex-husband Michael faced when they decided to divorce just two years into their business venture.

“I will start by saying that I still count Michael as a friend to this day,” says Jodie. “And I’m really proud of the whole journey that we went on. We were both still really young, and we made the decision together.”

Going into business with your significant other

Jodie says there were some clear benefits to starting a business with her husband, though separating work and home life presented some challenges.

“There were lots of pros and cons, for sure,” Jodie admits. “As one example, if I heard him typing on his laptop at 9pm, even if I’d started to wind down, I was like,’ oh my gosh, I should be working.”

However, overall, Jodie says she found the pros outweighed the cons.

“When you’re throwing yourself into a journey like that, there would be a lot of challenges if you were with a partner who didn’t understand those challenges. It’s difficult to communicate exactly what they look or feel like unless you’re going through it as well. So that was definitely a benefit.

“Another thing was that so few of us get to see our partners in action professionally, and that was cool as well. Things like going into Nordstrom or David Jones don’t happen at the drop of a hat, and Michael spearheaded those campaigns beautifully, which was truly extraordinary to see.”

Listen to Jodie Fox on the First Act podcast:

Divorce and business – how to make it work

When it became clear to Jodie and Michael that their personal relationship would not last, the tough decision was made to divorce – but what did this mean for their flourishing two-year-old business?

“The business was still very young,” says Jodie. “My main concern was that I didn’t want people to feel like this would be a rocky place to work because of our divorce. Divorce is always confronting and challenging, but we both cared hugely about the business and wanted to be a part of it. And we still cared about each other.”

Jodie says that carefully managing the announcement to their teams was essential to avoid panic amongst their staff.

“We had already separated and were living in separate places for two months before telling the team,” Jodie reveals. “Because we told everyone that, I think there was some comfort because most people hadn’t even picked it.

“We thought about inviting one person in at a time because it seemed like such an intimate piece of news to share with people. But we realised that everyone would think they were getting fired because others would come out looking shocked and strange. So we did it a team at a time – which still really wasn’t that much better,” Jodie admits.

“We were very direct and open about it; that we had decided to part ways, but we were both going to be staying in the business and explained how we were going to handle that.”

Splitting amicably is an admirable endeavour, but Jodie admits it wasn’t always plain-sailing.

“Of course, there were times that we would bother each other. Usually, that would result in talking about it straight away. We might say, ‘Can we just go to the boardroom for a quick chat?’.

“We also had to figure out some rules,” says Jodie. “For example, neither of us was allowed to have dates come to the office. I know that might sound silly, but we were looking for ways not to set off these crazy emotional landmines for each other that would make the office a place where we couldn’t focus.

“I’m exceedingly proud of that because it meant that things never really festered. Amongst all of those tricky feelings and emotions that come with such a separation, at least in the workplace, we had some measures that made it workable.”

Jodie has now started a family with her new partner and is in a much happier place. She reveals true vulnerability while recounting the story of her business’ sudden collapse – you can listen to the First Act episode in full here.

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