Michelle and Mike Bailey
Michelle Bailey, 42, is PA to her husband Mike. Together they run domestic cleaning service Oven Proud in High Wycombe, Bucks
‘Mike used to work for a company called Ovenclean, but we decided to branch out on our own and Mike and a few others set up Oven Proud. It’s a domestic cleaning service for ovens, hobs, extractors, microwaves and BBQs. While Mike and I run the service in High Wycombe, other couples run services in other areas of the country. Each couple is responsible fot its own advertising, employment of extra people and diary management, so it’s like running your own business.
‘Along with four other men – one of whom is his brother – Mike does the actual cleaning. My job is to take the calls, oversee all the guys’ diaries, complete the job sheets each week and deal with any customer problems. We pay someone to help with the phones in the mornings and I also employ a woman to see if customers want a re-visit, which is very important to us because we depend on repeat business.
‘I used to work in credit control, then when we had our son 12 years ago I became a childminder. This job is great because it’s also based from home, which I had got used to. It fits around the school run and I’ve got to know the customers. It’s a friendly, family-orientated business.
‘Because Mike is usually out cleaning ovens, I don’t see him much during the day. He has his role and I have mine. When he gets home, we talk about the bookings and then we make a conscious decision to cut off from work.
‘The only downside of working with Mike is that when we hit a quiet spell, we both suffer. With most couples, if one person’s work suffers financially, the other’s often makes up for it. Likewise, if we’re really busy, we’re both snowed under. But the advantages make up for it. We’re a great team and it feels good to be in control of our own business. We don’t make a fortune from it, but we make enough to get by.’
Nancy and Jason Gardener
Nancy Gardener, 32, is PA to her husband and Olympic champion Jason Gardener MBE. Together, they run Bullet Management Group. They live in Bath
‘I was a model for 10 years in London, but six years ago when our daughter came along we decided to move to Bath. Jason still had his athletic career at the time and I started working as head booker for a friend who’d set up a modelling agency in Bristol. We became the biggest modelling agency in the South West. But when my son arrived three years ago, juggling became too much and I decided to become a full-time mum.
‘Then the recession hit and Jason was affected badly. By now, he was doing motivational speaking for an agency and he just wasn’t getting the bookings. He noticed at events that people still really wanted him, so we decided to set up our own motivational speaking company, Bullet Management Group, and the new website www.jasongardener.co.uk went live in March. So far, so good. In fact, we have some very large companies on board.
‘I deal with all the admin. I handle the invoicing, negotiating with clients, responding to requests, organising Jason’s diary and everything else that goes with being a PA. I love it, not least because working with Jason means working from home. Also, Jason and I are really good friends. We get on really well – it’s why we got married. The children get to see more of both of us, which they love, and Jason and I seem to have strengths that complement each other. I’m very creative and excel in things like putting together presentations, whereas he’s good at the talk – it trips off his tongue.
‘The main downside is childcare – well, the lack of it. Molly is at school, but there are always school holidays to think about. Harry goes to nursery, but that’s not all the time and there are still occasions when I have to bundle them off into the garden while I take a call!
‘Working with your husband, especially in a new business, does mean long hours. We often work until 11.30pm – him pinging ideas around and me composing emails. But it would be far more scary to have started this business and be twiddling our thumbs waiting for work to come in.’
Justine and Bjorn van der Horst
Justine Van der Horst, 30, is PA to her husband Bjorn Van der Horst (pictured). They run the Eastside Inn restaurant in Farringdon, where he is head chef. They live in London
‘My husband and I met years ago when we both worked at the same restaurant in Connecticut in the United States, so working together is nothing new for us – we just hadn’t expected to do it again so soon! I moved into sales and Phil remained a chef, and the idea was that one day, in the distant future, we might run a restaurant together, perhaps in the South of France. But an opportunity suddenly arose in London and we thought, “Wow, let’s do it!” We opened last May.
‘Phil is the head chef and my job title is restaurant director, which means I do all the front of house tasks, as well as being Phil’s PA. I do invoicing, payroll, a bit of HR and all the admin he needs – stuff like writing up the menus. We have a very large open kitchen, so we interact morning, noon and night.
‘Of course, there are times when we want to kill each other, but we have to think about the business. Conversely, there are times when we want to be lovers, but we have to think about the business. It’s unbelievably difficult to separate our business and personal lives, but we quickly learned it’s important for our relationship that we try. So we set aside date nights and lunch dates solely for the two of us where there’s only one rule – we don’t discuss the restaurant.
‘Because my husband and I know each other so well, we know exactly how to motivate each other and that means we’re pretty good at motivating our team too. I know our 17 staff never get bored, even when we have slow times, which are inevitable in restaurant life.
‘One of the things I love about Phil is that he’s an extraordinary chef; one of the things he loves about me is the way I’m open, caring and friendly with our customers and that I do all the back of house things efficiently. Also, we both worked so hard to get this place going, which automatically creates a strong bond. I would say that working together has definitely made our marriage stronger.
‘Sometimes people ask if it feels like he’s the boss. Anyone who knows chefs will know they are always the boss – and I’m OK with that.’
Rochelle and Phil Peachy
Rochelle Peachy, 46, is PA to husband Phil. Together then run www.iloveyouraccent.com, a UK/US dating service. They live and work between Maida Vale and Miami
‘My husband and I have always spent a lot of time in America and increasingly we noticed that Americans were saying to us, “I’d love to meet a nice English girl” while lots of people back home in the UK would say, “I’d love to date an American guy”. I mentioned the idea of a UK/US dating site to my husband and he liked it, especially as his business in real estate was slowing down because of the recession. We came up with the name – www.ilove