Till death do us part
Across Cape Cod, there are hundreds of married couples who have entered business partnerships. Cape Business asked three of them to share their stories.
Door-to-Door Transportation
Ron and Janice Semprini met in April 1987. “I saw a beautiful woman sitting across the bar from me at a local nightclub,” Ron recalls. “I nonchalantly walked up and asked her to dance. Much to my amazement, she said, ‘Yes, I’d love to.’ And that was the beginning ….”
It was the beginning of far more than a marriage. Since they said ‘I do’ in 1989, the Semprinis have partnered in not one, but two businesses – a limousine company and a food service enterprise that leases and operates the Barnstable County Airport café.
“In 1977, I started a small restaurant and catering business at Cranberry Valley Golf Course, which lasted for 15 years,” said Ron. “In 1990, the state and local government adopted a new procurement law, and the next year, I lost the franchise to a higher bidder.”
It was a disappointing experience. “I left the restaurant business for five years.” Then, “an opportunity arose to take over the restaurant at Barnstable Municipal Airport,” Ron recalled.
He secured a 10-year contract and immediately began a three-month renovation. “We opened our doors for business on March 5, 1997.”
“It was vitally important to establish ourselves from the beginning by being open consistently 7 days per week, 12 hours per day, every day of the year, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day,” said Ron.
“Business was growing very rapidly until 9/11. Obviously, being located at an airport, we sustained a tremendous hit.”
Ron could have secured a U.S. Small Business Administration recovery loan, but declined because he wanted to avoid debt. “After five years, we still have not fully recovered, but business has improved.” During this time, he recognized a corollary opportunity.
“The relationships we have established in the corporate aviation industry through our restaurant and catering business led us to establish a limousine and transportation service for corporate clients and the general public,” he explained.
Nearly two years ago, as Ron’s limousine service was growing beyond the hours in his day, Janice decided to take the plunge.
“We jointly decided my services would be more beneficial if I devoted 110 percent of my time to his business ventures. To date, we both feel that making this career change was the right decision.”
“The diversification of both businesses has cohesively blended very well for us,” said Janice. “Working together as a married couple has allowed us to develop our strengths in ways that might not have surfaced had we worked separately.”
Ron emphasized that both partners knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses before they began working together. “We are fortunate that we have a balance in our personal relationship where we are able to listen to each other’s concerns, personally and professionally, without any type of power struggle or defense mechanisms for the most part,” he said.
How do they delegate responsibilities? “First and foremost, we agree to do whatever it takes for the success of the business,” said Janice. “With that in mind, we divide or share the administrative, public relations and marketing tasks by utilizing whoever has the greatest strengths in these areas.”
“One of the keys to partnership is commitment,” said Ron. “Both of you must be 100 percent committed to the growth and success of any business. But in the same vein, each must allow for personal and private time together and separately.”
“Know where you stand financially, understand the risks involved, and decide whether each person is up to the challenge and sacrifices involved,” added Janice. “Statistically, most businesses fail or have a five-year time frame before results are realized. Most importantly, learn to have patience.”
Their business success depends in large part on the health of the Cape economy.
“I believe the statistics look good for 2006,” said Ron. “Inquiries and reservations are up. In general, despite national and worldwide issues, people and families still need to take vacations and enjoy recreational activities, which Cape Cod is the perfect haven for both,” he said. “Even with the slowdown of the real estate market, investments and revitalization are still occurring within our local villages and main streets. We are increasing our exposure in the community through trade shows, networking and advertising.”
Cape Destinations
This is a second marriage and a second life for Peggy Garrahan and Jay Kavanaugh. They began Cape Destinations as event planners, but almost immediately, they learned that to be successful in attracting groups to the Cape, they needed to ensure reliable transportation.
“So we began to purchase equipment,” explained Garrahan. It helped that Kavanaugh is an accomplished mechanic. That assured the couple that as they acquired 20 vehicles, the cost of maintenance would manageable.
And every dollar that they could save on maintenance allowed them to realize their other key business mantra – avoid debt. Until very recently, every one of their vehicles – limousines, vans and even old-fashioned trolley cars that travel up and down Falmouth’s streets in the summer – were purchased without loans.
“Our belief has always been that in order for a business to survive on Cape Cod it cannot rely on one market. So we assembled a complete range of vehicles to appeal to all market segments,” said Garrahan.
Peggy and Jay met in 1996 through their work in the event planning industry; they started Cape Destinations in 1998 and married in 2000.
“We started Cape Destinations in July 1998. At the time, Jay’s Equipment Repair was still operating and that is what helped fund the beginning of Cape Destinations. Our goal was for Cape Destinations to stand on its own within three years,” said Garrahan. “By 2001, we had drastically scaled down the repair business, and today we only work on our own fleet of vehicles.”
Their evolution was influenced heavily by 9/11 as well. “September 11 changed the corporate travel industry and we again had to adjust our business goals. We turned to the local market and expanded our services to social travelers, school groups and weddings,” she said. “Today, we still offer destination management services, but transportation is the larger percentage of our business.”
Currently, their fleet has grown to 25, travelling just shy of 500,000 miles a year. These include a bus and a state-of-the-art luxury vehicle that includes digital television and equipment for companies to use for meetings.
“A husband-and-wife working arrangement would present challenges no matter where you live,” observed Kavanaugh. But being on Cape Cod helps, he emphasized. “We are lucky to live in an area that we love.”
Being married helps in a business like theirs because it is 24/7, 365 days a year. “During the season, we average 15- to 18-hour days,” said Garrahan. “This industry leaves no room for mistakes – you can’t be late in taking someone to meet a flight or have a limousine in any less then pristine condition for a bride. The success of the business has to take priority over everything.
“I honestly don’t know how you could have that level of commitment to a business if you were not married to your partner,” she said. “I think in working together we have strengthened our marriage and we know that we can completely rely on each other to get the job done. We are working together on the end goal of our future.”
But that 24/7 life also means you have to enjoy each other’s company and keep a strong sense of humor, she added.
Another challenge is finding time to be a couple rather than business partners. “Our girls are grown, so it’s easy for us to spend long hours at the office because no one is waiting for us at home. The challenge is setting aside time that is a work-free zone,” said Kavanaugh.
“You need to know from the beginning that there will be good days and bad days and going-half-mad days, but at the end of every day when you put your heads down you know that everything you did, you did together. What could be better?” said Garrahan.
Like their counterparts at Door-to-Door, Cape Destinations offers up a rather bullish prognosis for the upcoming season based on their bookings. However, fuel prices remain the unknown factor.
WeNeedaVacation.com
The Talmadges have made vacations their second lives, both as a married couple and business partnership. Their current venture is growing as fast as the Cape’s second-home economy.
Their online venture, WeNeedaVacation.com, has expanded from an initial base of 200 listings in the summer of 1998 to 3,000 Cape and Islands listings in 2006, 20 percent more than last year.
Friends introduced them in 1987 and they married the following year.
Their joint work was inspired by the Cape. “We bought our [second] home in East Orleans in 1996 with the intention of renting it out in the summer,” recalled Jeff, who also lives in Wellesley. “We established WeNeedaVacation.com a year later when we realized that the Internet would be an excellent means of advertising vacation homes.” He and a colleague built the interactive site.
“Although we don’t live full time on the Cape, we do love spending time at our Orleans home, both relaxing and working,” said Joan. “There are many family businesses on the Cape, so our working relationship isn’t all that unusual.”
“We feel that we have an excellent working relationship, and it’s very gratifying to know that we’ve built this business together,” said Jeff. “As business partners, we understand completely what the other person is experiencing. And we have ‘board meetings’ while we walk on the beach or take our dog for a walk.”
Like so many couples in business together, the Talmadges identify one of their biggest challenges as removing themselves from the business. “It’s very hard not to talk about it all the time. Especially difficult is having an in-home office, since we’re always at work, in a sense,” he said.
At work, Jeff is the chief technician and Joan is the service provider for homeowners. They share the strategic decision making.
“Be sure your ego is intact, have clearly defined roles, respect one another’s opinion, and have a passion for what you do,” they said. “Above all, put your relationship before the business.”
The Talmadges are well positioned to evaluate the 2006 economy. In fact, Jeff prepares very detailed forecasts based on second-home rentals, and shares them with his customers. “Our 2006 data suggests that this is likely to be a robust season for renting vacation homes.”
At the same time, “gone are the days of the family spending the summer on Cape Cod,” he emphasized. “Even the two-, three- and four-week vacation are a vanishing breed. As people’s lives get busier and choices for destinations grow in an ever-shrinking world, the one-week stay is now the staple of the Cape and Islands vacation.”
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