Being an emerging entrepreneur can be a lot. Pursuing an ambition to run a successful business means that you have to be prepared to learn, sacrifice as well as enjoy the successes that are sure to come if you persevere.
As a solopreneur, from my vantage point it’s hard to see any negatives in sharing the journey with my other half, but is that really the case? We recently interviewed the amazing husband and wife duo behind the award-winning global travel and food platform, Hey Dip Your Toes In (HDYTI), Omo and Eulanda Osagiede, where they gave us the goods on what it’s really like to work with your spouse as your business partner.
Melan Magazine: Tell us about your wonderful platform?
Eulanda: We co-run Hey! Dip Your Toes In; a food culture and travel blog. We are proud to have won the Best Food & Drink blog in the 2016 UK Blog Awards (UKBA) and were highly commended in the travel category.
How long have you been a couple?
We met through online dating, early in 2012, and have now been married three years.
How long have you been in business together?
We had no clue it would become a business, but we started the blog in March of 2015. However, we finally woke up to the opportunities constantly knocking at our door, and decided to buckle down, and take it seriously as a business last August.
Please give a brief outline of your business
Although HDYTI started out as a blog, we’ve now cultivated it into a digital publishing platform where we create content campaigns for food and travel clients within the global tourism sector. We’ve also branched out into hosting workshops, retreats, and guest speaking. The next step for us is to create digital resource products… We just need a few more hours in the day.
What’s the division of labour? i.e do your skills complement each other’s?
Since social media is a huge part of our marketing ecosystem, we spend at least 20-25% of our time there. Omo manages Twitter, I manage Instagram, and we both manage Facebook. While Omo takes on the bulk responsibility of writing blog posts, answering interviews, and writing guest posts, I’m responsible for HDYTI’s visual appearance and branding (inc. photography, video, graphic design). Even with all this, there’s still the travelling, meetings, and events we host. It’s definitely full on, so we’re currently building our #HDYTI squad of content creators.
What would you say are the benefits of working with your partner?
Working with each other has connected us to the heartbeat of our business in ways we never imagined. HDYTI has helped to strengthen our communication with one another, plus it’s exciting to build something together, and watch it grow! Also, it’s nice to take advantage of a ‘cheeky break’ now and then when we’re both working from home (perks of running a business together).
What have been some challenges?
Sometimes we don’t see eye to eye on world issues, or how something should be presented. We’re learning that it’s OK to not agree. It pushes us to understand other opinions outside our own.
We also have the challenge of one of us being full-time and the other part-time in HDYTI and this means we can’t always travel together.
Do you have a way to keep business separate from your personal life?
We schedule time daily to connect with one another. It’s not fancy, nor does it often involve us leaving home. It’s as simple as working out together, watching one of our favourite shows, or cooking a meal together. However, we definitely enjoy going out to see a show together or attending events that aren’t blog related (no working on date nights people).
Can you give us three techniques that you follow that help you make it work?
- Prioritise time for one another.
- Seek to identify the areas that you naturally excel in (this will help when challenging tasks confront you).
- Don’t let business become the only entity that you’re giving your all to (it’s hard to do this in the beginning).
