Working with a business partner can be challenging, as no two (or more) individuals will agree all the time.

And disagreement can lead to trouble.

That potential can be multiplied when one's business partner is also one's spouse. The results of such a partnership can either be disruption and chaos or teamwork and success.

Two local businesses characterized by husband/wife ownership offer good examples of success.

Coinforce.com

"We've both got skin in the fight," Jordan Haines said during a telephone conversation. "There's a level of trust with your spouse that you don't have with just another business partner."

Both military veterans, Haines and wife Donna own Coinforce.com, LLC, (www.Coinforce.com) a worldwide company that produces challenge coins for both military and non-military customers.

He also said that his wife is the more community oriented member of the team, whereas he likes to manage the workings of the business.

On the other hand, the biggest challenge the Haines said they face is taking time off or going on vacation. "Having time for ourselves is not always easy," the Haines wrote in an e-mail.

Challenges aside, couples in business stand a good chance of success.

According to the Small Business Administration, during the 1980s the number of businesses run by married couples increased more than 90 percent.

In 1995, approximately one-third of the fastest growing private companies were owned and operated by husband and wife teams.

Mattress Depot USA

Dan Smith, co-owner of Mattress Depot USA, is illustrative of this trend.

In business since 1998, Smith has worked steadily to found and run his own business.

"I had this vision in the back of my head," Smith said, "to run my own company."

In 2002 Smith and his wife, Torey, launched Mattress Depot USA (www.mattressdepotusa.com) when they rented a warehouse and bought a trailer of factory seconds and close-out mattresses.

Since then, they haven't looked back and now have 16 locations in the Pacific Northwest.

"The positive side of our business relationship is that she is involved in the office side of the business," Smith explained.  "She has a good accounting background, and her attention to detail leaves me free to work the business."

Smith also pointed out that their differences - she is "by the book" and much more detail-oriented, whereas he is more spontaneous - have made their business a success.

"Like I, she has a stake in this business, and we work very well together," Smith said.

As to the negatives, Smith said that business demands do place strains on their relationship.  "We are accountable to each other, and that can be stressful, but we work through that and succeed," Smith explained.

Both the Haines and the Smiths understand the necessity of maintaining separate areas of responsibility and then letting the other do his or her job.

"I need her; she knows what she's doing," Smith said.

Haines agreed.  "We both work very hard, and this business would not succeed without the other."