Team work: it can be difficult, but also fun. Husband/wife business teams can work.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: TEAM PLAYERS

"We're both committed to the highest quality, we're both really picky--so picky--about everything and we're both so driven in the hospitality business. He always says to me, 'How did we ever find each other?'"--Kathy Lavelle Co-Owner Lavelle's Bistro

When Kathy Lavelle takes my call, I explain to her that I am writing a story about husband and wife teams who own and operate businesses together. I'd heard of Lavelle's Bistro, the popular Fairbanks restaurant she and her husband run, and in fact--she may not remember--but the three of us actually met at a wine-tasting several years ago.

"Is there a time when I can chat with the two of you?" I ask. Unfortunately, she says, her husband Frank Eagle is out of town for the next week.

"But he has a way of sort of running away with the conversation, so why don't I just handle this while he's gone?"

Although her husband may not agree when he reads this for the first time, according to business counselors, when it comes to combining marriage and business Kathy's decision to not include Frank in the interview was exactly the fight thing to do. Defining each others' roles, including determining who typically deals with the public and the media, is one of the key recommendations to follow that are more likely to lead to success. Of course, what works on paper and what works in shoulder=to-shoulder, day-to-day operations is not always the same thing.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

ALASKA HARBORS MANY WEDDED TEAMS

In Alaska there are hundreds of examples of husband-wife couples that run some of the most successful businesses in the state. How does a personal relationship survive in the workplace? What's it like to be together day and night? How do you separate personal and business relationships? Who's the boss? And how do these husband-wife teams resolve conflict? Most of them will tell you they wouldn't have it any other way. But to onlookers, they can't think of anything they'd rather not do. Marriage is difficult enough, they say, why increase the risk? But those who live it say if the business and the marriage are successful, they are doubling their success.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"We're both committed to the highest quality, we're both really picky--so picky--about everything and we're both so driven in the hospitality business," Lavelle says of their partnership. "He always says to me, 'How did we ever find each other?'"

It's not for everyone, Lavelle is quick to point out, and it is not always easy--it is...