When a Spouse Joins the Business: Making Partnership Work

We share the real story behind bringing my husband into Linden Creek and why it only works when it’s a strategic move. We break down how we split CEO and COO responsibilities, protect alignment, and keep impact as the reason we push through the hard days. 
• spotting leadership and people-development skills that belong inside the business 
• joining the mission instead of joining for romance or convenience 
• defining COO ownership of operations and corporate staff leadership 
• clarifying CEO ownership of vision and high-level direction 
• narrowing priorities so great ideas do not kill traction 
• choosing impact over money as the core driver 
• handling how working together changes marriage, communication, and intensity 
• keeping CEO and COO unified so culture stays strong 
If you are one of those crazy people like we are that decided to work with your spouse and build a business, comment below. We'd love to hear your stories on this too. 

Transcript

Why It Must Be Strategic

0:00

Bringing a spouse into your business is not a romantic decision. It's a strategic one. And the best version of it doesn't happen because somebody needs the help or the saving. It's because there's value added in the partnership that happens. That was good. So it's how he does it. I know. Welcome back to In Good Space. Let's have a day. I am Elisa Sparks, the CEO and founder of Linden Creek, and I am here today with my husband, my CEO. Yep, nope, you're the CEO. That's correct. Not me. Um, my COO, my partner in crime. Um, and we're excited today. We want to share with you a little bit of our journey around why Mr. Sparks is here and whether or not he was willing to be here. He is here. And so we're gonna dive into that today. So, you know, as we reflect on our journey, let me tell you my side of the story of how we got here. You were in a business development role for another organization, and we were recently married, and I remember you'd come home every day um be handling work calls or calls with your team. Um, and they loved you. Like we would sit in the car sometimes and like

How He Got Recruited In

1:18

you'd have it on speaker and be handling whatever. And I listened to the way that they like respected you, they were excited about what they were doing, they were energized and the way you like held them accountable, but like fed into them in this beautiful way. And I remember being really impressed by that. Um, and then there hit this season where you were like, Yeah, sales are up 30%. Oh, sales are up 40%. And I'm like sitting here going, What are you doing and making somebody else all of this money? Like, I could use that skill set over here at Linden Creek. Like, we're building something cool. We were really in the infancy stage of franchising. I knew what was going to be required of Linden Creek in this next season and journey in years to come. And I was like, that skill set right there does not need to go to somebody else. Like, that needs to come right here to Linden Creek and be part of this. And so I nicely asked you. Nicely. Um, do you think that Linden Creek would be a cool addition to your resume and portfolio? Yeah, yeah, I think that's that's basically how it went. Um, my version of the story is just the other side of that coin, right? Um, I was watching you build something. Um, I was uh you were quietly crafting it in a lot of ways. And I think, man, when was this? So this was in in 24. We only had a couple of locations at the time, right? And so I kind of knew where your North Star was and where you were trying to go. Um, but then I think I really saw the whole picture. Um, and I think with it, like I saw the gravity of the decisions you were making. I saw the impact it would have not just on our family, but on our teams and on our future franchise owners. Um, and so I think really for me it was buying into the mission, right? This wasn't a romantic decision. It wasn't I just want my husband by my side or I want to be with my wife kind of thing. Um, it was really me understanding this is where Elise is going. Because I married into this. Like the Linen Creek was pre-Allen, it pre-dated me, right? And so, you know, when I married you, I understood, or at least I thought I did, like the gravity of what was going to take place. Um, but as we got into it, it became clearer and clearer and clearer. Um, and so I joined the team. That was fun. Well, and I remember the conversations early on, you're like, Alisa, I don't stage houses and I don't design. Like, that's you don't. That's not what I do. I don't know what I'm doing. And I was like, pause. But what you do do is feed into people and develop them. And like what we are about to do as a brand is feed into a whole bunch of people and develop them and strengthen the skill sets they have and support them in the skill sets that they're going to continue to develop. And so for me, it was really fun to get to watch that transition. Um, and now that you're, you know, obviously a part of Linden Creek, what's been most fun for me is watching you come home energized in the moments where like you had those valuable, impactful relationships with somebody on our team or one of our franchise owners and like you become energized by their wins and their successes. 100%. Um, and so it's been really fun to get to watch this evolution as we've started to work together and have really fine-tuned our roles within the organization to make it make sense.

Roles That Actually Fit

4:17

Love design, but think like a business owner. If you're ready to leave your nine to five and want to do something that's buildable and scalable, check out linden-creek.com slash franchise and see if Linden Creek is the right fit for you. So on that note, let's kind of define for everybody what we do every day. Yeah. In terms of roles and responsibilities and like how we have learned to navigate that. Sure, sure. So my responsibility really is overseeing our corporate staff and our corporate team, running the operations behind the scenes. Um, they are just a phenomenal group of humans. I think it's, you know, as a business grows and scales, and we've talked about this in the past, like you have to find the right people that are going to fit you in your different seasons. And so that's been a bit of an arduous journey in a lot of ways. There's been a lot of remaking, a lot of rebuilding, a lot of redefining. Um, but I can say unequivocally now, our leadership team is a group of people that I enjoy leading on a daily basis. They are exceptional humans. Um, it takes it's one thing to be married to a woman with this kind of vision. It's another thing to um choose to work for that person. Um, you know, I'm in it by osmosis, right? They don't have to be in it, you know. And so for them to catch the vision um and get excited about it and bring meaningful, valuable input to propel this massive thing in a forward direction, that's exciting for me to be around. And so, yeah, I get the pleasure of developing them. I have interaction with our franchise owners as well. Um, there, as we record this podcast today, there are 14 franchise owners across 24 locations. And um again, like I remember you speaking about it when we were in our infant stages as a franchise. Um, Lyndon Creek had already been established in Raleigh. It was a household name in Raleigh. But like, you know, you were starting to bring people into the fold that were in different territories that you hadn't even been to, you know. And I remember you saying in the early on that you were just gonna obsess over giving them the support that they needed, right? So that they could be successful. And I've watched that happened and I've caught that fire. And what's cool now is our team has caught that fire to be able to feed into these 14 today individuals, and that'll grow to much more. Um, so that's my responsibility on a daily basis. You're the one that's responsible for I'm really responsible for visioning. Um so you know, it's interesting. I think it took us both some time to learn what our strengths truly were um and where where we made the most sense. Cause we both were in careers where like we were in management. We were responsible for generating sales, we were responsible for leading teams. So it's like we do the same thing. How does this work? But when we really paused and reflected on our greatest strengths and weaknesses, um, I have a million fantastic ideas of places that Linden Creek could go and things that we should do every single day. Um, and I write them down and a lot of them never come to fruition. And if they all did, my team would kill me. We would not survive and like no, there would never be any traction, right? So just because I have some fun, exciting idea of like a way for us to level up and be a different version of ourselves and grow and strengthen things doesn't mean I get to execute all of them. And you've done a really great job of going, cool. But like together we make decisions and go, okay, of these million, which one are we gonna focus on? Right. Which one are we gonna obsess on? And I'm great at going, here's where it's gonna go, here's a potential, let me just high-level cast the vision. But when I dig into the details, I get bored. I miss the little fine the fine um writing, right? Like there are pieces and parts where I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine, let's go. And you obsess over the details that make it successful. And so it's been this really cool two-way partnership where I'm like, cool idea. We're like, okay, let's be in alignment, let's pick what makes sense. And then you execute and make it happen, and the team makes it happen. Um, and so we've found this collaboration that works really well, but our personalities are totally different too. So I think that's been something that's been fun for me to get to watch as we've developed Linda Creek too. Like, I was thinking about um a couple of weeks ago, we got to call a new franchise owner, and um, I called to say, hey, congratulations, welcome to the family. And mine is like, congratulations, welcome to the family. I'm so excited you're here. Like very proper and very sweet and very polite. And then I hear you in the office next to me because you wanted to make the next phone call, and you're like, Yes, let's do this. This is gonna be amazing! And I was like, Yeah, we are so different in the way we speak to people, the way we communicate, the way we energize, but both are good. And it's been really fun to have that balance of the two in this because I think there are advantages to both aspects of that. Yeah, 100%. My personal why is watching other people be successful and maybe realizing a potential in themselves that they otherwise wouldn't have found. If I wouldn't have helped them, maybe tweak this a little bit or encourage them in this way or motivated them that way. Um, and our franchise owners are a huge part of that as well as our corporate team. Um, super proud of them. Yeah, and you know, transparently, one of the conversations you and I have had a lot of times

Impact Over Money

9:13

is like, why do you do this? Like there are days, you know, in full transparency where it's a lot of work. It is hard. Sometimes you feel like you are getting punched in the stomach again and again, and you're just like, why are we doing this? And you know, you and I have said, like, it's not worth the money. Like, we're not doing this because you're gonna make all this money playing this game. Like, that's not what this is. For us, this is impact through and through. And so I think something that gets me excited is like we're so aligned in the fact that we just want to have the biggest possible impact in as many lives as possible in a beautiful way. And and the moments that we take the step and see impact and then take another step and see more impact, that's where we get excited. That's where we get energized. That's where like the days where you're just exhausted and you don't necessarily want to like keep standing up and going, you remember those moments and you just keep walking forward. I think another thing to realize when you're working with your spouse is you don't bring a spousal partnership professionally together because it's a desperation move, you bring it in because it's a strategic move. Yeah, right. And I think that that was something that you had to see in me and vice versa, you know, because when you even with different skill sets, um, when you're aligned in that strategy, then you rally around the mission and it creates a whole different animal. Um, it's two people rowing and pushing in the same direction, right? Who may be very different, which we are, um, and that it helps you get to places faster uh in a more fulfilling way. Yeah, I agree completely. There is just something about that partnership um and and going after a big impact together that that brings power to that.

Marriage Changes When You Work Together

10:53

Correct. I think one of the other big things is there's a difference in um, you know, when we come home at the end of every day with different jobs, like that was good and that was fine, and we would brain dump our day and support each other, right? And you tell me about work and I we'd brainstorm ideas together, and vice versa. I'd tell you about what was going on in the office and you'd brainstorm strategies and approaches, but something different changes and happens when you're both at work seeing and feeling the same thing, and you come home and you strategize in a different way. Um, you just care in a different way. Um, every decision that you and I are making from, you know, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or whatever our day looks like um is something that is directly impacting the team. It's something that we obsess over. And so it it changes your relationship and your marriage, you know, it changes the way that we communicate in the evenings because we've both become so intense and so hyper-focused in how do we do this better and how do we uh serve better and how do

CEO And COO Alignment

11:50

we build faster. Right. I think one more thing to point out, too, uh, as we wrap this episode is you know, the the importance of unification between the CEO and the COO. Uh that has to be the case. The team gets energy from that, um, positive or negative. And so if you and I are in a disagreement and fighting, you know, and and bringing that attention to the workplace, that does not foster a strong culture. I think, you know, culture filters all the way down and it has to start with us. And so how we communicate to each other, how we talk to each other, how we encourage each other, um, we want our team to see that alignment. And I think they have, um, to your credit, um, I think that it has filtered all the way down. And so I think it's a powerful thing because it allows you to be aligned in mission and purpose. Yeah, and you know, working with your spouse is like a crash course um experience on marriage too. I mean, I think the number of conversations we've had to have, the experiences we've had, even though it's only been, you know, like two years, feels like 10 consolidated because we have to be so in alignment. We have to be vision focused, we have to make sure we communicate well. And if we don't communicate well, we see it in the office, and so we know we have to fix it at home or whatever it may be. And so um, it's been this fun, like rapid growth, rapid educational experience for us at a personal level, yeah. Um, outside of just like all the fun that's happening professionally, it's not always fun, it's necessary. It's pretty fun. It's pretty fun. Yeah, cool. Well, I hope this conversation was something that just gave you transparency around the who and the why of us um and where we are today. But it's been a really wild and fun journey. If you are um one of those crazy people like we are that decided to work with your spouse and build a business, comment below. We'd love to hear your stories on this too. Until next time, this is In Good Space.