Business From Beyond: If you died tomorrow, could your spouse continue your business?

This is a topic that has been weighing heavy on my mind lately, and after a recent discussion (literally, 4-5 minutes ago) with my girlfriend, I figured it’d be best to type this article out.

Do you have a spouse that has no interaction with what you do on a day to day basis? Maybe they have their own job, or maybe you’re the sole provider. In my case, I am the sole provider. My girlfriend has severe anxiety, which causes her to not be able to work, so I provide for us. I love it, and honestly, even if she was able to work, I wouldn’t want her to. I love the fact that we can spend so much time together. But, what would she do if I died tomorrow? Would she be able to pick up where I left off and keep the business going?

What I think we should do (at least, what I’ll be doing myself soon) is put a packet together of resources and information for our spouse in case something goes wrong and we don’t make it. Now, I know it’s a bit weird thinking about dying, but lets face it, we’re all going to go sometime, and I know personally that I’d much rather have the comfort of knowing my spouse is taken care of and can move forward without me. So in today’s article, we’re going to go over items of importance and put together some ideas on what could be inside our ‘business from beyond’ packet (yes, that name is just a lame joke – sorry).

Lets break a few things down first (I’ll use my girlfriend as an example, just fill in the blanks for your spouse as needed, adding extra items you feel they’ll need to know).

• She has zero experience with photoshop
• She would go crazy looking at any form of coding (php, css, html, ect)
• As far as client interactions go, she’s really polite and level headed so I think she’d do well here
• Invoicing and accounting would be a lost cause
• She would have no idea where to begin, or login to any of the apps/programs I use

So, now that I have a base for what she could and couldn’t do, I have to lay out a plan that will detail to her the ever step that it takes to run the business, get clients, fulfill jobs for clients and keep everything running smoothly, as if I never left.

Not knowing photoshop is ok – coding too

I am not suggesting that you try to teach your spouse how to code, design and create websites, logos or print material. There’s really no need to. There are tons of killer designers and coders already out there who could do that for him/her, and allow them to focus on the more important aspects of the business – the money.

Here’s how to invoice and keep up with accounting

Most of us (I will assume – let me know in the comments section if I am wrong) use invoicing software like Freshbooks or Invoice Machine, and since these apps are really kick ass products, they tend to have a “how to” video or two lying around that your spouse could look over. You could even have them sit down one night and show them how to do it, or watch over your shoulder as you handle these things. The same goes with accounting. Find some how to videos for them and pile them together for your spouse to look over.

Things they’ll need to know

First things first, your spouse is going to have to know the following:

• Where are all of the logins for the business (email, paypal, invoicing, project management, ect)
• Where can you find awesome coders, designers and writers to outsource work to
• Where are the places to best find work at (job boards, forums, ect)
• Where do you keep up with industry news and information?

Breaking things down, it starts to get a bit clearer on what would need to be explained and how things could keep moving forward, even if we weren’t here. Lets tackle the first item on the above list and see how much easier we can make it on them if we weren’t here.

Business logins

I’d suggest making a quick and simple list, similar to the one below that details how to login to each of the places your business has accounts. From emails, to invoicing, project management, payment processors and social media profiles. All of them are important, and all of them are parts of your business that your spouse will need to know.

• Email: http://www.gmail.com – user/pass
• Payments: http://www.paypal.com – user/pass
• Project Management: http://www.37signals.com – user/pass
• Invoicing: http://www.invoicemachine.com – user/pass
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com – user/pass

Add as many items to that list that you need. Obviously there will be more, but make sure they’re all listed and easy to get to.

Outsourcing all of the work

Now comes the part that you really need to put some thought into. If you’re like me, you know of a bunch of kick ass designers, coders and developers who you chat with on a regular basis and know that if needed, they’d be able to do what you do, if your spouse contacted them. Get their names and information together, put it into it’s on section of the packet and make sure things are as detailed as possible. I’d even advise contacting these people to let them know you’d like them to be on the list, and if at any time they get a new job, or wouldn’t be taking freelance work anymore, they should contact you to let you know (and if you’re cool with them and chat with them on various sites and through email, you’d probably be able to know these things anyways).

What I do for a living is mainly wordpress websites. Not just simple blogs, but full blown wordpress websites that have magazine style home pages, options panels and various custom php functions. So, places like elance and sitepoint forums won’t be of much help. What I’m going to do is custom cater my needs, find a wordpress coding company (or freelancer, who just runs a “company” site) and keep their details on file. I’ll have a few, and will make sure my spouse knows to shop around.

I’ll also need a kick ass designer who can create killer website designs. The same as above applies for this as well. I’ll get a list together, make sure my spouse knows to shop around and will make sure I’ve got a few different people on the list.

Where can they find new work?

Being honest with yourself for a minute, if your business has been running for a year or more and still doesn’t get new clients through word of mouth or through search engine rankings you’ve acquired, you are doing a few things wrong and should be reading other articles first. But lets say that even if you’ve got a steady flow of repeat customers and referrals, your spouse wants to keep growing the business, where do they find new work?

Job boards are a gold mine of job leads. It’s like heading to a lake to go fishing and knowing that all of the fish are under this big rock – all you have to do is cast your bait and at least one of them will bite. I wrote about job boards in the last article here on Guerrilla Freelancing, so I’d just use that as a reference for this point.

Forums are also a great place to find work. Places like the Freelance Switch Forums and Sitepoint are perfect places to check out and have links to (remember, we’re adding lists for each of these sections in the packet).

I also make sure that in my twitter profile, I have 5-6 saved searches that allow me to see who’s talking about work that I could be doing. If you do this (items like “need a copywriter” or “php developer” are good places to start – with ” ” marks around it), make sure you let your spouse know, and write up a brief example of how to contact them and keep it from seeming like a pitch (even though they may be asking for one, it’s best to not pitch).

How to keep up with the industry

I have an rss feed reader that has over 1,000 different websites in it, in varying categories. Now, this may be overkill for your spouse, so I’d suggest getting the top 5-10 websites in your niche and make sure they’re listed and easy to find. Let your spouse know about places that discuss trends and places that will give out warnings on bad products or how to spot a real, legit product from a rip off that someone is selling without permission.

For me, these are the ten websites I’ll make sure my spouse knows about.

• Spyre Studios – not only because the content is awesome, but because Jon is a great person and is also a person on my oursourcing list
• Smashing Magazine – I think this site is listed for obvious reasons. It’s a killer resource for designers.
• Seth Godin – For marketing, there’s no one better to listen to. I’ve got numerous books by Seth in my office and my spouse has read a couple as well.
• Freelance Switch – One of the original websites focused solely on freelancing, FsW is a staple in the industry and my spouse hears me talk about them a lot
• Web Design Ledger – Henry is awesome, the content is killer and it’s one of the few blogs I actually read every article from.
• Zen Habits – Lets face it, dealing with the job I have, she’s going to have to keep herself calm somehow
• Chris Brogan – Another insightful person who really knows what the hell he’s talking about. Definitely a must read
• WP Tavern – This is a website focused solely on wordpress, which is what I base my business off of, so it’s on the list for obvious reasons.
• Men With Pens – For copywriting and marketing, I’d suggest this site to anyone. The information is always useful, and every person there, from the staff to the community, is awesome.
• Woork – This is a killer blog, with a gigantic amount of web design resources. It’s showing up last in the list, but it’s definitely not he least important.

Anything else?

Are there any other things you can think of that you’d add to the packet? Maybe you can note how you use gmail for business email and that you’ve got 3-4 saved canned responses for job leads and follow ups? Or maybe you can mention how you can outsource ghostwriting services to get articles for submission on larger blogs so you can keep links and traffic coming to your site? What is missing from the packet, and what would you add? Let me know in the comments, because as long as I’m alive, I’ll be refining my packet to ensure everything is up to date and has the largest amount of information possible.