Ep. 217 - Success At The Expense of Your Marriage and Family with Krystal Parker
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Release Date: 07/23/2025
Ep. 249 - The Truth About Financial Freedom: Why More Money Won’t Fix Your Work-Life Balance
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Financial freedom is often painted as the ultimate goal for entrepreneurs—but what happens when you actually reach it? In this episode, Robert and Kay Lee Fukui sit down with Mike and Carolyn Neubauer to unpack the real story behind building wealth together as a married couple. From humble beginnings—him as a firefighter and her as a stay-at-home mom—they share how they transitioned from trading time for money to creating a life centered on freedom, flexibility, and family. But their journey wasn’t smooth. Their first real estate investment nearly strained both their marriage and...
info_outline
Ep. 248 - Why Company Culture Matters More Than Money in Business Growth
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
In this episode of Thriving in Tandem, Robert and Kay Lee Fukui unpack one of the most overlooked drivers of business success—and one that directly impacts your marriage, time, and overall fulfillment: company culture. While most entrepreneurs obsess over sales, marketing, and profit margins, they often treat culture as a “nice to have.” But as they reveal, culture is not soft—it’s strategic. It determines whether your business feels energizing or draining, whether your team thrives or turns over, and ultimately whether your business supports your life…or consumes it. Drawing from...
info_outline
Ep. 247 - The Productivity Mistake Every Entrepreneur Is Making
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Want to live a better balanced life and win in marriage AND business at the same time? Purchase our (audio) book Tandem: The married entrepreneurs’ guide for greater work-life balance. Download the 5 Daily Habits to Thrive in Tandem Need some insight into how to balance it all? Schedule a free discovery call. Many entrepreneurs believe that the key to better performance is simply working harder and longer. But what if the real secret to creativity, clarity, and better decisions is actually learning when to stop working? In this episode of Thriving in Tandem, Robert and Kay Lee...
info_outline
Ep. 246 - Blueprint For A Successful Marriage and Business
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Want to live a better balanced life and win in marriage AND business at the same time? Purchase our (audio) book Tandem: The married entrepreneurs’ guide for greater work-life balance. Download the 5 Daily Habits to Thrive in Tandem Need some insight into how to balance it all? Schedule a free discovery call. Everyone is searching for the secret formula to success—the one strategy that guarantees a thriving business and a fulfilling marriage. But just like building a house, lasting success doesn’t come from the finished product people admire. It comes from the detailed...
info_outline
Ep. 245 - Daily Habits Of The Rich and Famous Like LeBron James, Tim Cook, & Sarah Blakely
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
High performers don’t succeed because they’re rich and famous — they’re rich and famous because of their habits. In this episode, we unpack the daily disciplines of leaders like LeBron James, Sarah Blakely, and Tim Cook. While their industries differ, their patterns don’t. They prioritize sleep, movement, mental clarity, structured mornings, gratitude, and intentional family time. These aren’t luxury routines. They’re foundational disciplines that fuel long-term performance. What stood out most is that none of them separate professional success from personal well-being. LeBron...
info_outline
Ep. 244 - 3 Common Reasons Business Struggle
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
In this episode of Thriving in Tandem™, Robert and Kay Lee unpack three of the most common reasons businesses struggle — drawn from their own entrepreneurial journey, client experience, and research from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If you’re a married entrepreneur feeling financial pressure or team tension, this conversation will hit home. 1. Cash Flow Problems (Not a Sales Problem) Contrary to popular belief, most struggling businesses don’t fail because of poor marketing or low sales. They fail because of cash flow mismanagement. The Chamber of Commerce research highlights: Cash...
info_outline
Ep. 243 - The Real Story Behind Matt Damon’s The Informant: A Whistleblower, Prison, and a Marriage That Survived
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Want to live a better balanced life and win in marriage AND business at the same time? Purchase our (audio) book Tandem: The married entrepreneurs’ guide for greater work-life balance. Download the 5 Daily Habits to Thrive in Tandem Need some insight into how to balance it all? Schedule a free discovery call. In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Robert and Kay Lee sit down with Mark Whitacre and Ginger Whitacre, the real-life couple behind one of the largest whistleblower cases in U.S. history—famously portrayed in the film The Informant!. But this episode goes far...
info_outline
Ep. 242 - How a Daughter’s Question Changed A CEO’s Life with Ford Taylor
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Want to live a better balanced life and win in marriage AND business at the same time? Purchase our (audio) book Tandem: The married entrepreneurs’ guide for greater work-life balance. Download the 5 Daily Habits to Thrive in Tandem Need some insight into how to balance it all? Schedule a free discovery call. In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Thriving in Tandem, Robert and Kay Lee Fukui sit down with Ford Taylor, chairman of the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce board and founder of FSH Consulting Group. Ford shares his remarkable journey from scaling a struggling...
info_outline
Ep. 241 - How to Survive Major Life Transitions as a Married Entrepreneur
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
Big life transitions—leaving a corporate career, launching a business, moving across the country, selling property, or even shifting seasons in marriage—can either strengthen your relationship or slowly fracture it. In this episode, Robert and Kay Lee share candidly about their own journey—from a 25-year corporate career to entrepreneurship, and now a major move from California to the East Coast. They unpack the emotional tension that naturally arises when one spouse is more risk-tolerant and the other prioritizes security—and how those differences don’t have to divide you. For...
info_outline
Ep. 240 - Sex, Intimacy & Marriage: How Entrepreneur Couples Rebuild Connection Without Burning Out with Tony and Alisa DiLorenzo
Thriving in Tandem: The podcast for married entrepreneurs
In this candid and timely conversation, Robert and Kay Lee sit down with Tony and Alisa DiLorenzo, co-hosts of the top-ranked One Extraordinary Marriage Show, to tackle a topic many couples think about—but few openly discuss: sex, intimacy, and connection in marriage. Drawing from nearly 30 years of marriage and over a decade of coaching couples worldwide, Tony and Alisa reframe intimacy as far more than a physical act. At its core, intimacy is about closeness, safety, and emotional connection—and when those are missing, sex often becomes the symptom, not the root issue. The conversation...
info_outlineWant to live a better balanced life and win in marriage AND business at the same time? Purchase our (audio) book Tandem: The married entrepreneurs’ guide for greater work-life balance. https://www.thetandembook.com/
Download the 5 Daily Habits to Thrive in Tandem https://marriedentrepreneur.co/5-daily-habits-download
Need some insight into how to balance it all? Schedule a free discovery call. https://marriedentrepreneur.co/lets-talk
In this deeply vulnerable and inspiring episode of Thriving in Tandem, we’re joined by Krystal Parker, President of the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. Krystal shares her raw journey from corporate executive climbing the ranks of a Fortune 200 oil and gas company to discovering the devastating cost of success when it came at the expense of her marriage and family. What looked like professional triumph on the outside masked a crumbling home life and personal disconnection from what mattered most.
As Krystal takes us back to the peak of her corporate climb—fueled by power, ambition, and external validation—she candidly reveals the blind spots that hurt her marriage ending and relationship with her young daughter. But in the aftermath of that breaking point, Krystal discovered what true leadership and intentional living looked like. From restructuring her work-life rhythms to raising up her team, and ultimately placing God and family at the center, her story offers hope and a powerful reminder that redemption is possible.
Whether you're in a season of hustle or navigating growing pains in business and marriage, Krystal’s testimony is a call to evaluate where your time and heart are going. She shares practical boundaries she and her husband now implement, how she keeps her daughter a priority, and the critical difference between using work as worship instead of worshiping work. This is a must-listen for married entrepreneurs who don’t want to succeed in business only to lose what truly matters most.
Key Takeaways:
-
Success without alignment can destroy what matters most. Krystal's corporate rise came with sacrifices she didn't fully see until her marriage and family unraveled.
-
You are irreplaceable at work but you not at home. Delegating empowered Krystal’s team and freed her to re-engage with her daughter and home life.
-
Boundaries and intention create lasting connection. Krystal and her husband carve out intentional moments—even in busy seasons—to stay united and keep God at the center of their marriage.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Thriving in Tandem Podcast
02:01 Crystal Parker's Journey in the Oil and Gas Industry
10:11 Challenges of Balancing Career and Family Life
12:00 The Turning Point: Becoming a Solo Parent
18:07 Finding Balance in a New Marriage and Career
23:53 Lessons Learned and Final Thoughts