6 Businesses Run by Couples

5. Brant and Amy McMullan
Ocean Isle Fishing Center
Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.
Brant and Amy McMullan have taken their passion for fishing and made it a career. The couple owns the Ocean Isle Fishing Center at Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., just north of the coastal South Carolina border. But the entrepreneurialism doesn't stop there. Brant also owns Capt. Brant's Fishing Adventures, a charter fishing boat that was the predecessor to the fishing center. Ocean Isle also offers water sport rentals and a retail store and has an attached restaurant.

"We have a very large tourist business at Ocean Isle and we're servicing the fisherman as well as the general folks that come down that like to see the fishing boats and be around them," Brant says.

In November, the McMullans, along with another couple, Ashley and Steele Park, opened a BrightStar Care franchise in Leland, N.C. But in that business the McMullans serve more as investors and have less to do with daily, hands-on operations.

Brant and Amy have their respective duties at Ocean Isle, but there is always overlap when extra hands are needed. Brant says it's not uncommon for him to ring up purchases in the store, while Amy helps on the fishing charters when needed.

Most importantly, "we're the firefighters of the business -- that is, if there are any problems, we are the end answer if they can't get resolved before they reach us," he says.

Needless to say, the McMullans are busy people. With so many business ventures, the two admit it's difficult to carve out time away. But they are avid sport fishers (Amy has set world records), and this interview took place while the couple and their two young children were on vacation in the Florida Keys; the respect the McMullans have in the fishing world has helped the credibility of their business.

"It's not like we separate out our personal life from the work," Brant says. "The work almost is the life."

Especially if it's just an extension of what you love to do, Amy says. "If you make a living at what you love doing, how can you be unhappy with that life?"

Their lesson for other couples: "Keep things in perspective. [The business] it is not the most important thing. There will be small battles. As long as you don't turn them into wars, you can get through it," Brant say.