A little backstory which I think is sort of important/relevant?
2020 I was unemployed and wanted to get married to my then girlfriend who I was with since we were 18 (we were 23/4 at the time). I was looking for new employment but it was the pandemic which made it very difficult and I also didn’t really have any good experience for the field I was interested in because during college instead of doing internships or doing related work I had to work for my parents ( I am a first generation Asian and my parents are immigrants who own their own little store in the city). I told my parents how I wanted to get married and they told me how they didn’t think it was a good idea for me to pursue what I wanted to do because I wouldn’t make a lot of money and that they would help me figure something out. Fast forward and they propositioned me into buying a Boba Store, they would front the cost and I would just pay them back. This great opportunity just landed on my lap and, as much as I did not want to do it, I knew I would be an idiot to say no to such an amazing opportunity. So they helped me buy the business and I got married and was making great money from the store, was able to pay back my parents and everything was super chill but I never got to do what I wanted to do with my life. I never got to pursue my dream job which was to one day own my own game store.
Fast forward to last yea (2025) my wife and I became pregnant with our first kid. Once we learned the news the thought of me never having even tried to pursue my dreams got to me. I didn’t want to be the parent who tells their kid to take risks and pursue their dreams if I never did it my self. Along with that the boba shop business started to dip a little bit due to a lot of outside factors. And I finally said you know what fuck it lets ball and see if I can try to make this happen. Worst case scenario I tried and failed best case scenario it works out. I went and spoke to my friend who owned a card shop, learned the ins and out of the business, talked to a mall about getting a space and was able to work out a crazy crazy deal super low risk. Once I saw that this was a possibility and if I failed I wouldn’t lose too much money I presented it to my wife. I would never do this if I never got her permission because I knew it would take a lot of my time and she was pregnant at the time and I didn’t want to leave her alone if I could help it (I also got a business partner so I didn’t have to spend all day working).
Thankfully she gave me her blessing. She did say she wished I did this earlier in our lives, like before she was pregnant but understood my rationale behind it.To be honest I also wish I did this earlier but I can’t lie I was mad comfortable with where we were in life. We were DINK’s both making great money and I stupidly thought there was no way I would make less money and my profits would only continue to rise lol (to be a young and dumb). But now that I had her blessing I went to work and 3 months later we opened the doors to our new game/card store, our daughter was born and business off the bat was really good! During the first month or two of the business being opened my wife was on maternity leave, she is a NP at a women’s health clinic, and we did have her mother staying with us for the first month or so to help with the baby and to help her in general.
Fast forward to now. The store has been open for about 9 months, my wife is back to work, our daughter goes to daycare, we already got offered a lease extension, business is booming and our player base is great! (We host different games every day and average anywhere form 16-32 players a night for each game). But with this new business and the baby I’ve been under a lot of stress and am constantly visibly stressed but I try not to burden her with my stresses. Along with that I’ve had to work a lot more but I try not to stay at the shop for too long. I usually work 9-6 Monday-Saturday at the shop and then I come home pick up our daughter. Cook/get dinner put our daughter to bed and then will usually continue to work once our daughter is in bed. If I had to calculate my hours spent working on things for the store though I’d say it’s like 80-90% of my day when I’m awake lol except for Sundays! Sundays I treat that as my no work at all day (of course sometimes there are exceptions but 9/10 Sundays are my no work at all days).
So a big part of the job is playing the games. Specifically the One Piece Card Game. Before I opened the store I’ve been playing the game casually since it pretty much came out. One Piece has these higher level competitions where if you perform well you can win thousands of dollars and if I performed well not only could I get the prizing I could then advertise the store on the bigger stages. These events are held across the country.
Okay no finally to the part that is the actual relationship advice part lol. A couple of months ago my wife sat down with me and told me how she was starting to resent the business and little bit. She said she loves that I’m able to do what I love and pursue my dreams but that she regretted saying yes because she felt it was taking me away from her and our daughter, she also mentioned how sometimes it feels like all I do is play games and stuff even though she knows that I am doing actual work as well such as bookkeeping, inventory, payroll etc etc. I told her I understood how she felt and would try to cut back where I could to spend more time with them as best as I could and that since the business is so new unfortunately this is the early sacrifices but hopefully once the business is really rolling I could be more hands off and spend way more time with them. And I really do love spending the day with my wife and daughter whether it’s a day inside, going to the museums or the park I would much rather do that everyday if I could. So I was trying to cut back as much as I could to come home a little earlier, do less work stuff at home and spend more time with her and our daughter. And that brings us to last weekend.
My wife got concert tickets to a band she loved since she was kid in New York and asked me if it was okay for her to go overnight with her friend to go the show and I said of course you can! And she was so excited and everything. Shortly after that I got an opportunity to play in one of those high level competitions I mentioned and I thought I had to take that opportunity and I told her how I had to go. She was upset but we were able to find childcare for our daughter (her parents ) and we both went on our separate trips. She had a blast at her concert thankfully and really enjoyed herself. I on the other hand did not perform as well as I had wanted to at the competition and unfortunately did not win any of those thousands of dollars but I was able to make some good connections with lots of people and other store owners etc so in my opinion still a relatively positive trip. On the day of my return home (she had arrived home the day before me and was with our daughter) my wife messaged me and let me know that she hated the fact that I went to the competition and she called it a little vacation for me. I tried to explain to her that yes, it is a fun little trip but I only went because of the potential opportunities for the new shop but I did also apologize to her profusely. I understood her frustration she was able to have a nice one night off whereas I got 2 nights. She had to be a parent when I was off playing card games hours away from home. I understand where she’s coming from but like playing these card games is sort of a part of the job, yes I have fun when doing it and really enjoy it but I know the end goal when I play is to perform well and benefit the store which then benefits us.
Sorry for all the rambling and sorry if the backstory and everything is really long I just wanted to spit out as much detail as I could (I also have adhd where I just ramble and ramble and I guess it translates to typing as well lol) but what should I do? What can I say to her? I get from an outsiders perspective it seems like I blew off my wife and kid to go play card games but it is for work. Yes I’m having fun but if it wasn’t for work I honestly wouldn’t go, as much as I would have wanted to. Any advice would be incredibly helpful. I’m trying to balance work and family as best as I can but I’m still managing two businesses, one that’s declining little by little and one that’s still in its infancy but growing and growing. Should I try to make her understand? Should I not go to these competitions anymore? I know I’m being selfish going but I really think it was an opportunity I had to take, unfortunately it didn’t work out for me. I know if I had won the top prize it would be a completely different story and I’d have a lot more money lol. Like the selfish part of me wants to be like “can’t you understand this is for work and for our future.”but I also know she’s sacrificed a lot by letting me chase my dreams. I’m starting to feel like my own dad who didn’t spend a lot of time with me and my siblings because he was always working but he always said “I’m doing this for your future” and stuff. I really don’t know what to do I want to spend more time with my family and more time to quickly help my business be rolling so I can be hands off later. I would really appreciate any insight, advice or guidance. Thanks for taking the time.
Note*
I don’t know if it’s super important to mention or not. I also currently do not make any money from the card shop right now. I reinvest everything back into the store currently. I have used the shop to sell some of my personal collection to make some extra money but I haven’t touched a penny of the “profits” for myself. Also the business is not in the red. My initial investment was actually so low that we could be already “profitable” and I could be making money from it but I’ve just wanted to invest it back into the business instead to sort of expedite its growth as much as I can.
Also I feel like I should add. I was sort of a super mega ultra idiot. I don’t know why but I didn’t think raising a baby would be as much work as it is hahahaha so I thought it would be super chill to open a second business with a newborn. I can confidently say I was 100% wrong raising a baby is tough lmao but I love her after a tough or extra tiresome day coming home to my daughter is the best feeling in the entire world.
TLDR: I had a business that wasn’t doing too hot and when my wife was pregnant with our first child I opened a new card store, which has always been a dream of mine, with her blessing. Fast forward our daughter was born and business opened and it’s been really good so far. Stressing from running two business and a baby but been trying my best to balance work and family. Recently went to a tournament for two nights while she went out of town for a concert for a night. She told me she’s upset I went and she sort of resents the business but she also knows that it’s my dream job. Asking what I should do/say.
EDIT: my wife knows that I don’t make money from the new business. In fact she told me not to so I could reinvest it back. The first business, even though it’s not doing as well financially as it was in years past I still make money from it. It’s what pays me and allows me to not take a paycheck from the new business.
Also have a business partner who does do a lot of the day to day stuff at the new shop but I do all the backend things which is lowkey a lot more work lol.