Could you work with your spouse? My wife Amanda works at The Childrens Hospital and I run Dan Egan Homes, a team with Keller Williams Realty. This article is more about marraige than real estate but I loved it so I wanted to share. Check out Joanna's take on working with your spouse...
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Don’t get me wrong, working with your spouse comes with its own set of challenges, but it’s very true that Chip and I balance each other out. Our jobs are unique, and we’ve found that we work best side by side. Sometimes Chip will have to give me little daily reminders, like not to sweat the small stuff, and I’m the one who is usually reminding him to sit down and take a quick break.
I remember one time, years ago, Chip was asked by the local news to do an interview for a human interest piece on flip houses. Chip told them confidently that he’d love to be interviewed. This was just a few days after I’d just had one of our kids, and I was not interested in being on TV, so when the cameras showed up at our house, I excused myself to our back bedroom.
I was listening at the door to this interview, thinking Chip would be great. He’s never met a stranger, really, and he doesn’t get nervous about much of anything. But basically he was stuttering and stumbling over every word that fell out of his mouth. The interviewer would ask a simple question about our flips and he couldn’t even form coherent sentences.
After a few minutes of this, I heard the interviewer get frustrated with Chip, and Chip asked if he could take five. About ten seconds later he busted through the door.
“JoJo you’ve gotta get out here. I can’t do it.”
Let me remind you, I was not dressed. I’d just had a baby.
“Chip, no way. Get back out there! He’s not asking tough questions! You know the answers. Pretend the cameras aren’t even there.”
This is the day we learned that Chip was camera shy. And also the day that we realized we definitely work better together than we do apart.
The interview ended about as well as it started. I honestly don’t even remember if they were able to piece together enough footage to air the interview.
To read more about how camera shy Chip started out, be sure to pick up a copy of The Magnolia Story this October, or pre-order here. Trust me, filming the “sizzle reel” for Fixer Upper was an adventure you don’t want to miss reading about! And to get a free exclusive listen to the audiobook Chip and I recorded, click here!
Also, here’s a short video from an interview with Jefferson Bethke where we shared why we love working together.
