MENTORS Magazine

(MENTORSMagazine) #1

70 | MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 1


action and community building opportuni-
ties for clients.

We are also extremely community oriented.
Next year, we’re launching our nonprofit,
LifeBoost Charity Fund. Christopher is active
in various cancer support and nonprofit or-
ganizations and Darcy serves on the board of
the Marin Foster Care Association and writes
for a local non-profit mother’s magazine,
The Crier.

We’re often asked for advice to married cou-
ples looking to start and to successfully man-
age a business together. Here are “dos” and
some are “don’ts.”


  • Understand there will be hurdles
    in and out of the business; don’t focus
    on what is going wrong in your life.

  • Do define areas for each spouse to
    develop and to be the “expert” to facili-
    tate autonomy and reduce overlap.

  • Don’t think that you can separate
    your business and private lives. Lever-
    age the communications opportunities
    rather than fight them.

  • Do, however, set time limits and
    working hours.

  • Measure success by how well your
    clients and staff are achieving their
    goals by working with you.

  • Don’t be afraid to reject conven-
    tional wisdom.

  • When confronted with hurdles of


any sort, embrace them, learn from
them and move beyond them; you
learn a little from success, but you learn
much more from stumbling and over-
coming.
We are an entrepreneurial couple. We love
our business. We love our family. We love
our community. The success of our business
ten years on is a testament to how embrac-
ing what you face in life and in business can
be the foundation of your success. It’s why
we’re here and why we and our clients
thrive.

Darcy Alkus-Barrow and her husband Christo-
pher are the co-founders and co-managing
partners of Foundation Homes Property Man-
agement, which is located in Kentfield, Calif.,
USA. The firm, founded in 2010, manages
more than $150 million (U.S.) of single family
home long term rentals in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
http://www.foundationhomes.com
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