Modern Dilemmas: Working together is wrecking our marriage

It appears to me that you have tried very hard at both building a successful business and loving your husband enough to step up and speak up when you know things aren't right. If you would have left the situation any longer, one of you may have ended up walking out and that's hard to come back from.

It's also hard to have had high expectations, see success and then realise that the price you are paying is too high, but here's what I believe. Readjusting how you two work together can change things around for you. Coming together as business partners and being real-life partners needs a set of well thought out ground rules that you're both committed to.

The rules of working together successfully include; respecting each other's opinion, space, good days and bad days, strengths and weaknesses and sense of timing. Agree on those to start with and agree not to bring work home. In the evening, clock off as business partners and only be husband and wife, as tempting as it may be to discuss things over dinner. Separate the two with strong guidelines and boundaries that support both of you as individuals and as a couple.

As you have already got the business off the ground, the temptation can be to keep going full steam ahead and to a certain extent that's right but first you both need to take stock of exactly where you are now and where you are heading. Instead of focusing on what's going wrong and arguing, sit down and plan your year ahead. Include your personal and professional goals, writing them separately then coming together to compare.

Seeing where they differ (if at all) will highlight your relationship gaps and the obvious place to start reengineering how you think, act and react to each other. Break down each goal you wish to achieve, making it doable, taking out the stress so you can start to enjoy what you have both created.

Don't forget to plan holiday time, too! Remember you got married because you love each other and you started a business because you were passionate about the same thing. That's a lot to fight for

and enjoy.

Alexandra Watson Leading Happiness Coach, best-selling author and Co-Founder of National Happiness Day helps celebrities, Olympic athletes

and business professionals with dilemmas and personal issues