3 Tips For Successfully Dating An Entrepreneur

By Christopher Walker


culled from:goodguyswag.com
I’ve been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember.
As a kid I would buy wholesale skateboards on eBay for $10 a piece. I would then sell them to the neighborhood kids for $40 each, and upsell them trucks, wheels, and hardware as well.
Every Halloween, my siblings and I would build a haunted house in our grandparents’ basement and charge people a dollar to go through it. We’d then run over to the gas station and buy candy with our earnings.
As I went through school my entrepreneurial tendencies became overshadowed by “doing things by the book,” focusing on med school and an eventual career.
However, when something is in your nature – a drive as deep as entrepreneurship – it’s impossible to ignore.
So after college, instead of going to med school, I started a hi-tech startup with some friends. Now years later I am fully back into the life of an entrepreneur, supporting myself off multiple online companies.
Life has been so exciting.
However, one thing above all else has bothered me for years…
Before my current relationship, I had not been able to hold a relationship together for more than 6 weeks. 
I would meet great women, and we would enjoy dating, but eventually my independent tendencies would push me away from them.
There’s a reason most entrepreneurs experience loneliness and depression regularly. The road less traveled is inherently an independent one.
I’m currently in an incredible relationship, one that’s lasted now about 3x as long as my longest relationship prior.
So what’s different? Why is this relationship successful, when the others failed so predictably?
Here are my three top tips for successfully dating an entrepreneur: 

1. Understand one another’s needs

Understanding the needs of an entrepreneur can be difficult if you are not one yourself. And that’s true of any profession. It’s no wonder many people choose to date selectively within their “field” or profession: actors, musicians, executives, teachers…
As an entrepreneur you must be sensitive to your woman’s needs – most commonly being present, being empathetic, and truly caring about making her happy.
If you’re dating an entrepreneur it really helps to understand that they are hard wired for independence – just understanding this will help you be empathetic to their actions. Working long hours, not taking breaks, and forgetting things outside of their business venture or project are bound to happen. Just try not to take these things personally, and believe they are not wanting to spend time with you.
Many entrepreneurs will use work as an excuse to hide from their failing relationship. But in a successful relationship they won’t feel the need to hide, they will be honest with you about the time they need to run their business and both parties need to be respectful of those needs.

2. Communicate daily

As an entrepreneur it can be incredibly easy to become so consumed by your work that you “disappear” for days or even weeks on end. 
When I was single I could easily just vanish into my apartment to finish my projects on an aggressive timeline. I would rarely talk to people during this time, instead focusing all of my energy on the task at hand.
This is fine when you’re single, but when you are in a relationship that you care about you must communicate with your partner daily.
Even small, fun texts every day help keep the fire alive and build anticipation for upcoming dates, dinners, and fun outings.
If you’re dating an entrepreneur, it helps to know that entrepreneurs can easily get sucked into their work to the point of being MIA from any social interaction. Communicating often, but not too often, is key to keeping the relationship healthy.

3. Every action and interaction should be “building” not detracting

Entrepreneurs are builders. We are the kids who would sit with Legos for hours and hours on end, building elaborate cities and scenarios.
Great relationships are built. They don’t just happen. Most failing relationships have one thing in common – the two individuals begin interacting in ways that detract, not add, to the strength of the relationship.
For example, fighting over meaningless things. Bickering and getting caught up in things that cause a rift.
Successful relationships are built by tiny, daily acts of building up one another. Just like in your business venture, you must focus on making your relationship better today than it was yesterday.
This could be (and usually is) something as simple as giving your significant other some flowers, a small gift, or just telling them how much you like what they’re wearing today.
It doesn’t take much to make somebody smile, but all those little smiles add up to something much greater.
Entrepreneurs can be in successful relationships. The recipe for success is respect, empathy for one another’s time and personal needs, and daily, open and honest communication.