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Co-working couples abound in chiropractic. Find out how they
blend life, love and career objectives.
By Jennifer LeClaire
Jennifer Peet was Palmer Peet’s college instructor before she was his
wife. In fact, she was also his boss before she was his wife. Today, she’s
both his wife and business partner.
The Peets met in chiropractic college in 1982. Jennifer was a young teacher
and Palmer was a hungry student. Then, during his last year in chiropractic
college Jennifer hired Palmer as an intern at her new practice and before too
long he fell head over heals in love with his boss.
“I only had to ask Jennifer out 37 times before she finally said yes,”
recalls Palmer. “Persistence pays off. I asked her to marry me on our
second date and I’m sure she thought I was crazy. But it only took two
weeks for her to see the light and we got engaged.”
The co-working couple has been married for 23 years now. (Palmer says it only
feels like 53 years, but who’s counting?) The duo has three children and
reports marital bliss despite the fact that they drive to work together, eat
lunch together, go home together and, well, spend nearly every waking moment
together.
“We never considered working separately,” Palmer says. “When
you marry somebody, you are in love, and you want to spend the rest of your
life together. Part of that life is work. It just didn’t make sense for
us not to work together.”
Jennifer and Palmer are not quiet attached at the hip. She has her patients
and he has his at their Shelburne, Vt. practice. They cross paths in the hall,
in X-ray and during patient consults, but a busy practice keeps them in separate
adjusting rooms. The way they see it, the patients are getting two doctors for
the price of one and the Peets report that their patients appreciate the set
up.
Of course, their live-work relationship has not been without its challenges.
“One of the harder aspects of practicing together is helping the staff
deal with having two bosses,” Jennifer says. “Palmer might tell
them to do one thing and I might tell them to do something else.” But
a light-hearted Palmer jokingly reveals that it’s not much of a problem,
really, because he’s instructed the staff that, when in doubt, they should
always follow his instructions.
The Peets say they don’t argue anymore (the first five years of their
relationship was a different story). They’ve learned to give each other
space at home and at work and talk through any disagreements that arise. When
they step across the home threshold into the workplace, their sole focus is
serving their patients. Still, the lines between home and work can be somewhat
blurry at times. The Peets say they eat, live and breathe chiropractic.
| Common Challenges and Smart Solutions
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They work to keep the relationship fresh by setting aside relaxation time in
their Florida vacation home. They are also exploring some local recreational
activities together. “Palmer is totally out of his comfort zone because
we are taking ballroom dancing,” Jennifer says. “She made me do
it!” Palmer replies.
The duo sees about 200 patients a day, on average, and admits there is a little
friendly competition between them to see who can care for the most patients.
“We are definitely competitive. We keep it fun, but we don’t keep
separate records. Palmer would feel badly about it,” Jennifer says. “No,
Jennifer would feel badly about it,” Palmer quips.
Jennifer and Palmer do just about everything together. Palmer says they are
just about as co-dependent as you can get. So with divorce rates skyrocketing,
how has this chiropractic couple managed to build a successful practice and
a successful marriage simultaneously? Trusting God. Their advice to young chiropractic
couples is simply: work together at working together.
“I’ve seen too many marriages fall apart because the spouses work
on separate days and they are not in rhythm with each other,” Jennifer
says. “They don’t give their marriage the proper attention and it
backfires.” Palmer agrees, adding, “Remember why you got together
in the first place—because you love each other.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Joe Clarino and Dr. Deb Cirone are happily married, but unlike
the Peets, they are hardly co-dependent in their Sugar Hill, Ga. practice. They
don’t drive to work together— Clarino comes in and leaves an hour
earlier than his wife—and they spend plenty of time apart. Clarino likes
to work on an old car in the garage while Cirone enjoys shopping. And, obviously,
they don’t share a last name. But they do share a vision for excellent
patient care.
“I know that if something has to get done and I can’t do it, then
she’s going to pick up the slack because she’s my wife,” says
Clarino. “A partner may feel like they are getting slighted. We have each
others’ back 24/7.” Cirone, who kept her name because she comes
from a long line of respected chiropractors, admits that “24/7”
does have its drawbacks. “Instead of going home and having a regular husband
and wife relationship the business follows you,” she says. “It does
make it difficult.”
Difficult is relative after going through chiropractic college together. The
duo met in high school, fell in love and lived together during college. When
it came time to open a practice after graduation, they duo will tell you (in
unison) that it was a no brainer. They’ve been married four years now,
working together for six, and knowing each other for 18.
“We jumped into practice together head first,” Clarino says. “When
we went to school together, all the chiropractors in her family bet that we
wouldn’t make it because the stress of school is so demanding. Then we
graduated and we realized that if we could do that together, then we could operate
a business together. We understand each others’ stresses and what causes
them.”
The biggest challenge for this young couple is not sharing household chores
(that’s 50-50 down the line) or juggling the 375 patients each week, or
even dealing with staff. No, the biggest challenge has been learning how to
separate work from love.
“We have to make date night to remind each other that we are a couple
and not just business partners,” Cirone says. “It can get monotonous
if you don’t learn to separate work from love.” They’ve learned
to transition from chiropractor to spouse and refuse to talk about the office
on the weekends—but they do talk. In fact, they agree that open lines
of communication are invaluable in both aspects of their relationship.
What happens when they have an argument? “I have this great big rope and
I tie him down,” says a laughing Cirone. “Until he listens to me,
he doesn’t get up.” Clarino says that’s not too far from the
truth, but quickly adds that when they come into work they don’t bring
the strife with them. And after a few dozen adjustments they’ll cross
paths in the hallway without even remembering the fight. Later they talk it
out and come to a mutual compromise that settles the issue.
Unlike some co-working chiropractors, there’s no competition between Clarino
and Cirone. The first thing they tell their patients, who are often surprised
to learn that the doctors are married, is that they have a choice. Cirone says
some people like her adjustment better and some like his better. Some take the
first available D.C. It makes no difference to the doctors.
Clarino and Cirone have several secrets to success in life and family. Every
day they put each other on a pedestal, make sure to express their love to one
another, avoid placing unreasonable expectations on each other and respect each
other on the home front and in the workplace. For this chiropractic couple,
it’s all about work-life balance.
“We’ve applied a philosophy to our lives called ‘choosing
to cheat’,” Cirone says. “You can’t be 100 percent at
everything. You have to choose where you are going to let certain things go
so the things that really matter can be placed in the forefront. Our marriage
and our practice are our top priorities.”
Drs. Dan and Shawn Powers have a similar—yet uniquely different story
to tell. These co-working chiropractors met 28 years ago while Dan was helping
Shawn’s brother move. It didn’t take them long to tie the knot.
They’ve been married 27 years and working together 21.
They both worked in separate offices before deciding to go into practice together
because, as Dan says, “it just seemed logical” after they paid off
their school loans. The duo says they have the same passion—to serve people
and change the world through chiropractic—and add that they feel almost
like they are one person.
“We realized that we each have different gifts and skill levels and different
desires to do different things,” says Shawn, from their busy Austin, Texas
practice. “In the early days, we were both trying to do everything, and
that caused a lot of turmoil. We had to work out our roles and responsibilities
and how to communicate to our assistants about priorities.”
This co-working couple doesn’t spend quite as much time together as they
used to since Shawn started coaching other chiropractors several days a week
in addition to seeing patients. It was somewhat of an adjustment for both of
them, but they still interact throughout the day as much as any other Mr. and
Mrs. Chiropractor with a steady stream of patients would. And they are just
as prone to disagree as other co-working couples, too. But professionalism prevails.
“Two things we learned early on that have helped us over the years is
to keep our marriage in first place and treat the office as a sacred place for
healing,” Shawn says. “If we don’t agree about something,
then we always go with the person who had the strongest intuition or gut feeling.
We honor that and it has served us well through the years.”
The Powers say their patients enjoy the warm atmosphere in the office. There
are no assigned patient-doctor relationships. Whoever is available does the
adjustment and the patients like it that way. That eliminates any bent toward
competition (except on the track—Shawn admits that Dan runs faster) and
places the focus on teamwork toward their mission and purpose: to serve patients
and o love one another.
“Shawn has certain gifts and it would be silly for my ego to get in the
way for her using those gifts, because it just makes good business sense to
use them,” says Dan regarding her transition into coaching. ““I
think that is one of our secrets to success. We don’t let our egos get
in our way.”
The duo agrees that taking frequent breaks, vacations and special evenings out
are a must in order to avoid the humdrum, repetitious lifestyle that can set
in from living and working together. They also spend time apart. Dan likes to
go fishing and Shawn belongs to community organizations for women. Dan likes
to golf. Shawn likes to shop. Dan gets the paper. Shawn loads the dishwasher.
They hire a maid to do the rest so they can focus on each other.
| Cornell Study Demonstrates Co-Working Works Couples
are working together—in shared businesses or as corporate cogs—more
often than ever, according to a study by Cornell University’s Employment
and Family Careers Institute. In terms of professional success, the results
are positive. And typically, says co-author Stephen Sweet, there’s
a notable egalitarianism in how they prioritize their jobs. |
The Powers have some sage advice for other couples considering practicing together:
Find your model. When they first started the practice together consultants told
them to work alternate days and offered plenty of other advice—very little
of which they implemented. They had to find their own rhythm.
“Don’t put yourself in any one specific box,” Shawn says.
“Create your life and your practice the way you want to do it.”
Dan agrees, and adds, “There really has to be a separation of duties,
and you have to trust the other individual that they are going to do the best
they can and get the job done.”
And if you don’t want to work together, then don’t let anyone make
you feel guilty about it, either, they say. It comes down to marriage first.
Our co-working chiropractors have different methods and means, but they all
agree on one thing: if the marriage is strong, then the practice will fall into
place.
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