COUPLES AT WORK

Imagine spending 24 hours a day with your spouse.

More and more couples are opting for the 24-hour lifestyle in which they building a strong business on a strong relationship.

These especially compatible couples are exquisite communicators who think it's fun to hash out business ideas and solve problems together at the office and in the home.

This growing phenomenon pops up in every industry, from pizza parlors to high-tech companies. In the immediate area couples operate financial services, printing companies, medical services, real estate operations and much more.

When Steve and Jan Gerard look out the window of their upstairs offices in downtown Cape Girardeau, they have a great view of the Mississippi River. Housed in upstairs offices at 1214 N. Main is Gerard's Financial Services, which offers financial planning seminars and financial services.

The Gerards are registered financial representatives and have been working together in the business for the past half-decade.

In the west end of Cape Girardeau, Dr. Jeffrey P. Appleman and his wife, Dr. Kathleen K. Appleman, head for the same office on most days.

Dr. Jeffrey P. Appleman opened his podiatric practice in two Southeast Missouri locations in September of 1998 at Cape Girardeau and Dexter.

About a year later, he was joined by his wife, Dr. Kathleen K. Appleman.

Dr. Appleman spends two days a week at Doctors' Park at Dexter. But most of the time is spent at in the 300 block of Silver Springs Road.

Dual-career couples may be a phenomenon of the 1970s, but entrepreneurial couples became the phenomenon of the 1990s.

According to the Small Business Administration, non-farm jointly owned businesses are increasing about 5 percent a year. In 1985, there were 482,993 jointly owned proprietorships, excluding farm businesses in the U.S.

Almost a decade later, in 1994, the SBA reported 758,743 jointly owned businesses run by couples.

Additionally, the SBA noted that in 1994, these jointly owned businesses reported more than $38 million in receipts.

Many books are entering the markets to address this growing trend of entrepreneurial couples.

"Couples at Work," by Dub and Janet James offers a look of what is to work with someone you love; "The Couple's Business Guide" takes a look at a number of couples who have "started and stayed" business; "Entrepreneurial Couples," provides some actual life stories of couples; and "Work With the One You Love" offers experiences of the joys and difficulties of couples in business.

Most entrepreneurial couples may not need the books. They're making do, says Kathy J. Marshack, a therapist and the author of "Entrepreneurial Couples."

Couples who co-own a business may average more hours of work per week.

One estimate is that they will average 87 hours of combined weekly work, compared with about 74 hours on the average of dual-earning couples with paid jobs. Some couples may work as many as 100 hours a week.

"But it works," said Jan Gerard. "We're best friends. We married best friends and have been partner in a lot of things since. We've always been partners. When we started building our first house, we worked together."

Jan Gerard, a native St. Louisan, was previously a teacher, and her husband, Steve, was a farmer in Southern Illinois.

"We were partners in farming, too," said Steve Gerard. "We raised a lot of vegetables in addition to row crops."

Steve Gerard eventually got into financial planning and in 1990 opened his own business in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Once the Gerards decided to join forces in business, the duo attended classes together. In 1995, the business became Gerard Financial Services.

Included in their services are financial planning seminars, designed to teach people the ways they can minimize their taxes and maximize their investments.

Inflation's impact on savings, compound interest and how it works, stocks and bonds, mutual funds and taxes are among topics at the Successful Money Management Seminars, which are conducted for groups.

These financial planning seminars are different from most," said Steve Gerard. "We don't try to sell people something. We teach them about all types of investments."

"Joining forces" meant some adjustments for the Gerards, "but I wouldn't want it any other way," said Steve Gerard. "Jan had some ideas that changed my way of doing things here."

Steve and Jan have their own offices, but the door in between are always open.

The Applemans met in medical school, at the University of Osteopathic Medicine & Health Sciences. He was from Des Moines, Iowa, and she was from St. Paul, Minn. They fell in love and married.

"We completed medical school and were assigned to the same hospital -- St. Louis Deaconess -- for residency," said Jeffrey P. Appleman.

After completing all requirements, Jeffrey Appleman opened Appleman Podiatry at Cape Girardeau, complete with a satellite office at Dexter.

A year later, his wife joined him in the practice, on Silver Springs Road, near the West Park Bowling Lanes.

"We had worked with each other in school and at Deaconess," said Dr. Jeffrey Appleman. "It was only natural that we continue our practice together.

"It's great," he added. "It's working out well."

Dr. Appleman is in Dexter two days a week.

The Applemans treat their medical partnership like other physician partnerships.

"We have our own clients," said Jeffrey Appleman. "If I'm out of town, Kathleen can take care of my patients."

"I have my patients and he has his," said Dr. Kathleen Appleman. "But the patients know that we will both be here if they need us. We can lean on each other. We can confer with each other.

Spending so many hours together requires special considerations, but the Applemans have adjusted.

The Applemans say they work to preserve a normal family life, which includes 1-year-old Kate Appleman.

"We have a nursery here," said Appleman. "Kate comes to work with us every day."