CoupleCo: Working With Your Spouse For Fun & Profit

Latest Episodes:

What If Life Brings A Hammer? Sep 02, 2020

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What happens to your business if life gets in the way? Who owns the business? Who runs the business? Could you suddenly find yourself in business with an in-law you don't like? What if you wanted to just take off six months to recover from the grief of losing a partner? There are all kinds of issues that CoupleCos might not think about because they're deep in the day-to-day of running the business. But sometimes life smacks you in the face. And life-planning with legal insights is smart. Shreya and Colin Ley, the Lawyer Humans at Lay Roots in Seattle, talk to us about putting these things down on paper and getting them off your mind.

More Fire And Knives: Dan Ibach & Courtnay Scott Gray of Chop Shop Park City, Part 2 Aug 26, 2020

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Chop Shop is a high-end butcher shop with table service. It's also a passion project for the three couples doing it together. We're talking to each couple separately about the journey. Dan and Courtnay have an unusual story. They knew they'd be getting married by the end of the first date. And Dan was part of a small military unit. He was often leaving home for months at a time, which created stress. But these two don't mess around. They get down to business and call 'em like they see 'em. So, what's it like plunging headlong into a new business during COVID 19? It could be a dangerous dream filled with fire and knives—but probably no live fire with automatic weapons. Life or death experience leads to perspective. It also makes complaints about the meal pale by comparison.

More Fire And Knives: Dan Ibach & Courtnay Scott Gray of Chop Shop Park City, Part 1 Aug 19, 2020

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We are revisiting the danger of working around fire and knives—this time with people who have never before done it. But she trains enormous and potentially dangerous animals, and he is good with firearms. Daniel Ibach and Courtnay Scott Gray are part of the team of couples opening gourmet butcher business Chop Shop Park City. They're working with Paige and John Courtney. John's a Chopped Champion, and she's been a front-of-house manager and sommelier for some amazing restaurants. Dan and Courtnay have no food service experience, and are launching a gourmet food business in a big-money resort town during COVID. Maybe we mark this down as crazy? Dunno. You're going to find these two no-nonsense, quick-as-lightning decision makers…

Ballerina & Business Guy Go Whole Hog: Hannah and Daniel Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, Kamas UT, Part 2 Aug 12, 2020

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You'd think it might be a battle of wills. Who sees this coming? But a Julliard-trained ballerina and pageant queen marries an MBA with entrepreneurial tendencies, and they start a family farm. This is the story of Hannah and Daniel Neeleman, who moved from New York to rural Utah. They now raise Angus cattle and Berkshire pigs, and send their pastured products to meat lovers nationwide. We start this episode where we left off last time, about to find out how having agricultural entrepreneur parents affects their five young kids (soon to be six).

Ballerina & Business Guy Go Whole Hog: Hannah and Daniel Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, Kamas UT, Part 1 Aug 05, 2020

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She's a Julliard-trained ballerina who has worn the crown of Miss New York City. He's a history major with an MBA and an entrepreneur bent. Hannah and Daniel Neeleman are former inhabitants of New York and Connecticut, respectively. Now they live in rural Utah, where they raise Angus cattle and Berkshire pigs. If you like meat, this is a big deal. If you're vegan, we're sorry. At least you get to know that these are pastured animals who lead a lovely life until the day of reckoning. And they taste amazing. This is the episode with happy pigs and cows, the MBA and the Ballerina, and some seriously tasty meat. (It's safe to say that after you hear this, you may want to sign up for their home meat delivery club.)

Docs To Save Your Bacon with Shreya & Colin Ley Jul 29, 2020

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If you're a couple in business together, chances are good you haven't done any of these things. They're simple, useful, can cover your butt and save your bacon. What happens to the business if something happens to one of you? With luck, very little—if you have laid some simple groundwork. But, without paying attention to these simple tips, you could lose everything…

Fun With Fire & Knives: Paige & John Courtney of Chop Shop Park City, Part 2 Jul 22, 2020

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This is the conversation for anyone who's ever fantasized about crushing it by opening a food business—and considered going into business with a spouse in a high-stress, all-consuming career. We're back with Chop Shop "power couple" Paige and John Courtney. With careers spent in big restaurants, they're now in the resort town of Park City, Utah, preparing to open a nose-to-tail butcher shop. Besides dry-aged beef and the meat of lovingly raised animals, they're planning to sell and deliver prepared foods and serve a limited menu. They're also launching during a pandemic, and they're in business with two other couples who've never been in food service. Not awe inspiring enough? John is also a Chopped Champion. His career working with fire and knives has been crowned with the $10,000 grand prize of Food Network throwdown shows. Paige jokes that her fame is in being John Courtney's wife. But she has had her own stellar career as a front-of-house manager and a sommelier for some amazing restaurants.

Fun With Fire & Knives: Paige & John Courtney of Chop Shop Park City, Part 1 Jul 15, 2020

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Ever fantasize about having a restaurant? Or starting a business in which you have no experience? Or wonder, "Are we just crazy?" Here's your show. Like food and cooking? Even better. Chop Shop Park City is not yet open. Bonus: launching during a pandemic. The Las Vegas Review Journal called Paige and John Courtney a "power couple." With careers in big restaurants, they're now dancing with danger. John is a Chopped Champion. Paige has worked for famous names of the Las Vegas strip, and been a front-of-house manager and sommelier for some amazing restaurants. Now, they're launching a gourmet food biz in a big-money resort town with partners inexperienced in restaurants. Fun ensues...

Couples In Love, In Business, In Independence Jul 08, 2020

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With US Independence Day just past, we thought we'd talk about the idea of independence as a couple in business together. We talk about how independence is often born of conflict, and how it lead to our own business. One couple we know chose independence from an oppressive industry business models for both themselves and their employees. Another couple chose independence for working mothers by hiring them whenever possible. A couple with a manufacturing business who decided to remain independent of outside financing—and are now crushing it. And a couple whose business is about gaining financial independence, both for themselves and their customers.

Educated In Argument: Tera & Byron Ames of Ames & Ames LLP, UT & NV, Part 2 Jul 01, 2020

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This week, we are back in Kamas, everyone's favorite Utah cow town, to resume our conversation with Tera and Byron Ames of the law firm Ames & Ames. These two are one of the most dynamic couples we've spoken to in over 100 episodes. They are delightful, candid, fun, funny and revealing. In this episode, we get some of the most important advice ever for a couple considering being in business together. And we get some of the best and most revealing anecdotes about being a couple on this roller coaster journey of co-entrepreneurism. We get more laughs, a few tears, and even a little profanity…