The Impossible Partnership

As much as you love your BFF, there’s always a chance that going into business with him or her might sour things. Before you take the plunge, pick up some cues from those who defied the odds and made it work.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
As much as you love your BFF, there’s always a chance that going into business with him or her might sour things. Before you take the plunge, pick up some cues from those who defied the odds and made it work.
TanPeck Ying, 28
Caleb Leow, 27
TanPeck Ying, 28 Caleb Leow, 27

PS: I love you

As it is, a relationship is difficult enough to handle. Throw a budding business into the mix, and it just seems like a recipe for disaster. For Tan Peck Ying, 28, and Caleb Leow, 27, however, it seems like they’ve mastered the fine art of balancing their work and romantic relationship. They’ve been running their company, PSLove (www.pslove.co), for two years now. It started out as a monthly period kit delivery service, but after receiving rave reviews for MenstruHeat (a trademarked heat pack for menstrual cramps and backaches), they decided to take a whole new direction. Now, you can find their brainchild retailing at selected Guardian outlets islandwide.
What should our readers know before starting a business with the person they’re dating?

Caleb: We had been dating for three years before we started PSLove, so we were stable on the relationship front before going into this. It’s advisable to know your partner well first. Things are complicated at the start of a new relationship, and when you add a business partnership to it, that’s just one more layer of complexity you have to deal with. It’s a serious commitment to make things work and still stay together as a couple. Just have a heart-toheart before you do it, and be honest about your expectations of each other.

Has the business ever caused the two of you to fight?
Peck Ying: Yes, especially in the first six months, when we had a lot of disagreements because we were still trying to understand each other’s working style. But we know it’s because we want the best for the business, so we kept reminding ourselves of that and fought productively.
Fight productively? How do you do that?
PY: Understand why you’re fighting, and always use your vision for the company as a guide. Does what you’re quarreling about bring you closer towards that vision? Use logic, and have the statistics and information to back your arguments.
C: A romantic partnership and a business partnership is very similar. As long as you guys have the same destination, it’s fine to quarrel about how to get there.
You see each other almost daily at work, and after work. Do you ever get sick of each other?
PY: It’s not a problem for me. When we’re at work, we’re in our own zones.
We haven’t gotten sick of each other yet… right, Caleb?
C: (laughs) Yes –
PY: It also depends on the couple. We don’t mind talking about work off-the-clock, so it has sort of spilled over to our personal lives and that’s OK with us. But it’s not going to work for every couple.
C: We’re two fellow workaholics, that’s why! (laughs)

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Magdalene Loh, 25
Wong Yingying, 26
Magdalene Loh, 25 Wong Yingying, 26

On their best behaviour

Having known each other for six years, since their polytechnic days, Magdalene and Yingying took a giant leap of faith and quit their graphic designer jobs to work on their dream of being business owners. The result? Behave Behave (www.behavebehave.com), a two-year-old online store that carries clothes designed for “honest misbehavior’ (their words, not ours).

When did you guys decide to start Behave Behave?

Yingying: Back in 2014. We had full-time jobs, but we had this desire to do something on our own. We talked about how we didn’t want to work for someone else’s dreams, but our own. Then it just clicked.

Magdalene: We quit our graphic design jobs. We felt like if we did this as a side project, we wouldn’t be able to give our best to the business because it involves so much work. Also, if we quit our day jobs, we would be really desperate for it to work! (laughs)

And what is owning a business with your BFF like?

Y: It was really tough when we first started. We didn’t know any entrepreneurs we could seek advice from; we only had each other. It was a lot of trial and error, at first. I remember the first time we went overseas to find a manufacturing factory. We were so stressed out because it was make-or-break. We’d call home every night and cry!

M: Yeah, it felt like all hope was lost sometimes. Another thing was that we knew each other as friends, but we had never really worked together before, so it took some time for us to understand each other’s working style.

What’s something that you’d never know about each other if not for this venture?

M: That we complement each other really well!

Y: Magdalene is meticulous, and I’m not, so she’ll handle the creative side of the business. I handle the business and marketing side of things.

M: Yingying has very big dreams. She’s quite the visionary, and she’ll think very big. For me, I’m more conservative with business decisions, so I feel like we balance each other out.

Is there anything our readers should know before going into business with their BFFs?

M: Being in a business partnership is a lot like being in a relationship. You have to be honest with each other. If not, it might affect your friendship.

Y: You also need to know that when you fight because of the business, it’s not personal. It’s because the both of you want what’s best for the company and it’s just a difference in opinion. You should also know when to stop fighting.