Unlimited Partnership

Why are more and more couples risking romance to launch a business together? How do the successful ones make it work? Five couples - and one ex-couple - share their stories and strategies.

Robert and Deborah LePera
No shop talk at dinner
Robert and Deborah LePera
Acorn Food Services
Philadelphia

Deborah LePera and her husband Robert launched Acorn Food Services in 1990 and now employ a full-time staff of 100. Rules are essential to keeping home and business life on track: Dinner marks the end of the workday. No discussion about business is allowed at the table. And weekends are sacred.

The partners' goal is to maintain a growth rate they're comfortable with. "We look at what is profitable rather than just taking on business to say we're growing," says Robert.

A few years ago they adopted two infant boys, prompting Deborah to cut back to about 20 hours of work a week and spend more time at home. Even though sales fell by half, Robert was pleased with her choice. With the kids now in school, Deborah upped her week to 30 hours but is still focused on balance: "We'd like to live like this over the long term," she says.

Last updated January 10 2008: 10:16 AM ET

Divide and conquer

No shop talk at dinner

Spend time apart

Get professional help

The trust factor

After the breakup

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.