Pop the Question. It Will Help Your Business (Opinion) Getting married is a good idea if you're an entrepreneur or want to run your own business. The below-market labor and advice are just some of the reasons why. Our columnist explains.

By Scott Shane

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Pop the Question. It Will Help Your BusinessValentine's Day is a perfect excuse for anyone to link his area of expertise to love and marriage. So today, I am writing to tell you why getting married will help you become a successful entrepreneur.

I have not developed any new insights about love, relationships or marriage. (My wife will readily attest to that.) I'm still just an entrepreneurship professor writing about how to be successful in running a small business. But in honor of Valentine's Day, I looked at what the entrepreneurship literature says about marriage. The message: Getting married is a good idea if you're an entrepreneur or want to run your own business. While there are certainly psychological reasons why being married can help entrepreneurs, I'm going to stick to the economic ones.

Being married will make it easier for you to start a business because you will have access to a spouse's money. Most new businesses can't raise much capital from external sources and have to rely on the founder's typically insufficient savings account. Research shows that such liquidity constraints block some people from pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. But being able to tap a spouse's savings helps overcome this obstacle.

Related: Valentine's Niche: Say It With Beer and Beef Jerky?

If a spouse has a job, people also are more willing to start a business and accept the inherent risks. If the business fails, there's always the spouse's paycheck to fall back on. Similarly, a spouse's health insurance can be very beneficial. Because most people have to give up employer coverage to start their own companies, marriage can fill the insurance gap and thus encourage entrepreneurship, as Rob Fairlie, professor of economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and colleagues found in their research.

Beyond encouraging people to start businesses, marriage also helps them succeed. Undercapitalization is a major reason small businesses don't perform well and fail. But married couples can invest more in their companies because they usually have access to more capital than singles. Higher levels of equity capital, in turn, make it easier to satisfy banks' debt-to-equity ratio requirements and get loans.

Being wed also gives an entrepreneur access to labor and advice, usually for much less than the market rate. Who other than a spouse is going to work for free? In addition, spouses are often motivated to work harder than employees because they want to maximize the profits of the business they have a direct stake in.

So today I am taking advantage of my one chance to play "Dear Abby" and offer romantic advice. If you're an entrepreneur or think you might want to become one, go out, buy a ring, get down on one knee and propose to the one you love. It will help you achieve your entrepreneurial dreams.

Related: Framing a Business Around a Glamorous Boudoir Trend

Scott Shane

Professor at Case Western Reserve University

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University. His books include Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live by (Yale University Press, 2008) and Finding Fertile Ground: Identifying Extraordinary Opportunities for New Businesses (Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005).

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

Woman Goes Viral After Recording Her Disastrous Call With HR After Being Let Go: 'They Tried to Gaslight You'

Brittany Pietsch posted a nine-minute-long clip of her firing from Cloudflare on TikTok, and it went viral. The company's CEO responded on X — and also went viral.

Business Solutions

Upgrade Your Work Laptop or Computer's OS With Windows 11 Pro, Now for Less Than $25

Outfit your office's computers and laptops with Microsoft's latest OS: Windows 11 Pro.

Thought Leaders

How This Family-Run Company Has Thrived for Five Generations

Marty Ozinga, the CEO of Ozinga, explains the legacy and future of the powerhouse construction materials company.

Starting a Business

They Grew Up in a Financially-Challenged Single-Parent Home and Now These Twins Run a Multimillion-Dollar Real Estate Business. Here's How They Turned Hardship Into Inspiration.

How Jeremy and Joshua Mathis overcame adversity and turned their challenging upbringing into a foundation for real estate success.

Marketing

4 Ways AI Is Revolutionizing Targeted Advertising — And How to Balance It's Ethical Implications

AI-powered targeted advertising revolutionizes marketing with hyper-personalized promotions. However, ethical and transparency questions hover over this progress.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.