There's a quiz I give couples to help assess the likelihood they'll be able to work successfully with their husbands or wives as full partners in business. Regardless of how happy their marriages are, few readers score very high on that test. I include my husband and myself in that category. We'd have great difficulty working so closely.

Working side by side in the same business can bring you joy and prosperity; it can also send you to divorce court.

The key to success for many couples is to define how many hours a day you want to be "side by side" -- literally. I know couples who spend the whole day that way -- sharing an office, working on projects, and meeting with clients together. They're inseparable.

Lest the idea of seeing that much of your spouse make your skin crawl, take heart. You can have a close working relationship with your spouse and almost never be at his or her side! Meet Susan and Ron Witman, co-owners of Susan Witman Select Quality Consignments, in Lancaster, Pa.

Susan launched her now-thriving business 17 years ago, after she discovered she was allergic to dyes used in modern clothing. That was before consignment shopping was fashionable. She and her husband Ron now run three large consignment stores. Ron helped her at first on a part-time basis while working in the restaurant and building-maintenance businesses. For the past 10 years, Ron has worked full-time with his wife.

I came across them because I buy most of my children's clothes in their stores. I noticed that if I visited one store, Susan was always there. If I visited the other store, Ron was always there. I never saw them together, and I never saw one in the other's store. I wondered: Is this the secret to their success?

I met one morning with both of them together to learn how they mastered the challenges of being an entrepreneurial couple. Their solution: to give each other an enormous amount of autonomy. Although they have a common vision for their business and talk frequently by phone during the day, they run their stores much like separate businesses. Why? Ron explains: "Both of us are take-charge people." So they stay off each other's turf. Asked if they ever worked in the same store, Susan laughs: "Do you mean for a whole day?"

For all their need for autonomy, they clearly have a loving marriage. During much of our interview, Ron stressed how incredible he thinks his wife is -- how generous, how committed to the business. After working together all these years and raising four children, he's still smitten.

Susan and Ron are a reminder that entrepreneurial couples can love each other in many ways. If you need some physical distance from your spouse, it's no measure of the depth of your love. With creativity, you can mix autonomy and control, privacy and partnership. As Ron observes: "We are always in sync, but we don't work hand in hand."

Have a question on how to handle the pressures of running a business and the impact on your personal life, marriage, and family? Contact Azriela Jaffe at AZ@azriela.com. Please put "BW Online question" in the subject field. Your real name will be kept confidential if you request, but please give an E-mail address, phone number, and your hometown so she can contact you for more information. Because of heavy volume, Azriela cannot guarantee that she will answer every query.