It's an ordinary Saturday morning, and while most Americans are sleeping in or leisurely catching up on housework, errands, or grocery shopping, husband-and-wife photography team Matt and Nat Thomas are waking up at the crack of dawn, getting ready for their busiest day of the week.
Matt is in the kitchen cooking up a high protein breakfast; while Nat is ironing Matt's clothes. Dressed and fed, Matt has moved onto cleaning his lenses, packing batteries and clearing all memory cards. Nat is signing a congratulations card, double checking the laptop batteries, memory card reader and of course, packing snacks and water for the day. With a triple check from both Matt and Nat, they are out the door and off to a busy day of photographing wedding bliss.
MattnNat Photography specializes in wedding and lifestyle photography in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Married six years and in business together for five of those years, they also specialize in making their own marriage and unique lifestyle work.
Only a hop, skip and jump away in Philadelphia is a newlywed couple, Danielle and Kevin Malone, who are already embracing the concept of working with your spouse, except Danielle and Kevin also have their own full time jobs. Between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Danielle is a full time graduate student at Drexel University and Kevin a full time editor/jack of all trades at Lunchbox Communications. It is when they come home at night that their production company, 23circles, begins.
It might be surprising to know that about one in five small businesses are run by husband and wife teams. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, there were approximately 1.2 million husband-and wife-owned small businesses nationwide in 2003. A pre-existing trusting partnership and opportunity to create together make entrepreneurship well-suited for many couples, but making this very different partnership work requires a different set of skills, as evidenced by several couples running their own companies across Pennsylvania.
“You don't have to go through that awkward period of finding people to work with you that you might or might not get along with,” says Danielle Malone. “I'd also imagine it has a lot to do with the economy and the fact that a couple can put both of their savings into the business, eliminating a need for a bank loan or an outside partner.”
23circles is a production company, started in 2007, when Kevin had to film his senior project for Temple University (where the couple met) and he asked Danielle to produce his film.
“23circles is the best part of our professional selves rolled up into one little package,” Danielle says.
For MattnNat Photography the idea to start a business came six years ago when they were volunteering in Australia, where Matt and Nat met, and they were asked to photograph a family member's wedding with nothing more than a point-and-shoot camera.
“We couldn't charge anything, and knew next to nothing about photography. We actually lost the camera the week of the wedding so we took the plunge and went out and bought a Canon 30D with a kit lens and started learning” says Nat.
When Matt and Nat came back to the states later that year and moved to Lancaster, Matt's hometown, they knew they had to keep shooting weddings. It had ignited a passion.
“We looked at the pros and cons of starting our own business but ultimately we considered what would be the worst case scenario,” says Matt Thomas. “Business fails, financial ruin, we have to start over again. Then we decided we can recover from that, we have each other and that's what matters.”
It was 2008 when the Malones wanted to make a documentary film about a Pennsylvania baseball hero, Christy Matthewson and his hometown Factoryville.
“Kev was hooked on this idea for a film since the first time I had taken him up to see all the Christy Matthewson Day festivities. We started pitching the idea around Factoryville and had many people interested in the project. Many offered us checks too,” says Danielle Malone.
In order for 23circles to start filming and raising money for this documentary, it had to become an official entity, so they used the crowdsourced fundraising platform Kickstarter and raised $3,000 of starter money for crew and equipment. Once it had starter funds, 23circles produced its first feature length documentary, “Christy Matthewson Day,” which premiered in August in Factoryville.
The bedroom-turned-office inside their house is where the couple resides from around 6:30 p.m. to midnight or later. Right now, 23circles doesn't publicly bid for jobs but they are hopeful to prepare for bids in the near future.
“We create media projects because we want to put our own work out there.We created the business because we could, and we do what we like with it. That's the beauty of owning your own business, I guess,” says Kevin.
Keeping the Romance Alive
For Matt and Nat, keeping the spark between them isn't difficult. Being surrounded by love and weddings all day everyday reminds them of why they love their jobs and each other.
“The most rewarding part of my job and working is seeing Matt grow and learn. We get to share the things we're most passionate about,” says Nat.
Matt says, ” Working together improves your marriage because marriage is what you make it and needs to be worked on whether you work together or separately.”
Danielle and Kevin feel lucky and grateful to know when they leave their day jobs, they are coming home to their business and life partner.
“It's a pretty great feeling to know that you've created something with the person you love the most,” says Danielle. “We're at our best when we work together, so if we're proud of the work we're doing – we're going to be proud with the end result.”
Of course it's not always so blissful. Matt says the most difficult part for him is knowing when to “put down the work and just relax.”
“I worry that I don't make enough time for just us without including the business,” he says.
Says Nat: ” Sometimes you just don't agree, which is one thing in our personal lives, and completely different in business. I have a hard time separating business and personal, Matt does not, so it makes for some interesting conversations sometimes.”
Kevin Malone says he and his wife learned quickly while editing Christy Mathewson Day that editing together won't always be an option. They tried, but wound up debating every single edit.
“There comes a time when you have to look at each other and say ‘right now, we're just business partners' – and that's when you make the toughest decisions and have the fiercest debates,” he says.
Says Danielle: “When those arguments and discussions are over, you can look back again and go back to being a married couple that works together.”
Both of the couple-run businesses we spoke with are looking up. MattnNat are aiming to book destination weddings and run workshops to teach others about photography. 23circles is in planning mode, dreaming up ideas for documentaries, its own office and seeking more project jobs.
Danielle Malone recalls a quote from the film The Notebook, where Noah says “It's not going to be easy. It's going to be really hard and we're going to have to work at it every day.”
“You have to go into it thinking that your partner is just that, your partner,” she says. You respect their thoughts and ideas because you respect them. It's definitely hard, and you definitely have to keep at it. But I can't imagine ever working with anyone else because at the end of the day – after a 10 minute standing ovation at the premiere of your first feature film – that's the person you'll be going home with. And that makes you incredibly lucky.”
KELLY CLAYTON is a senior at Elizabethtown College who plays field hockey, writes on a variety of subjects for publications and is the Editor of Tru(4)ia Magazine. Send feedback here.
PHOTOS:
Fashion shoot by MattnNat
Matt and Nat Thomas
Photos 3-4 by MattnNat
Kevin and Danielle Malone
Danielle Malone (second from left) and WNEP's Ryan Leckey with Factoryville residents.
Christy Matthewson Day poster
All photos courtesy of MattnNat and 23 Circles Productions