Can’t I Just Separate Business from Pleasure?

Ray Access has been in business for more than seven years, and in that time, friends and clients have overlapped several times. Friends have become clients, and long-time clients have become friends. Additionally, some friends have worked for the company, and some of the long-time contract writers have become friends. It happens. But when it happens, you have to take precautions to ensure that neither relationship suffers.

It’s common for small businesses to lean on friends and acquaintances when they’re just starting out. You may value friends and clients differently, depending on what they were first to you, but that’s a nightmare scenario. You don’t want to lose a friend because of business, and you don’t want to lose a client — or a productive employee — for any reason.

Are Friends and Clients Mutually Exclusive?

The short answer is No. It’s perfectly copacetic to have friends as clients and vise versa. The trick is to maintain the lines between the two roles. Some examples include:

• You can’t go out to dinner with a client-who’s-a-friend and just write off the entire meal if it wasn’t for business.
• It’s not wise to give your friend-who’s-a-client a special deal that hurts your business.

The real threat to friends and clients involves money and trust. Just as finances can break up a marriage, so too can it ruin a friendship. You may find it impossible to confront friends who are clients about an overdue invoice. Similarly, friendship inspires a certain amount of trust. Destroy that trust, and you destroy the friendship and lose a client. If you expect more from your client or your client expects more from you, someone is going to end up being disappointed.

How Do I Avoid the Pitfalls with Friends and Clients?

There are a number of proven tips to maintain the friendship of your clients who started out as your friends. There are also some tips for keeping your clients happy, whether they’re friends or not. Friendships are relationships you enjoy. Clients are professional relationships. There are ways to nurture both, such as:

• Be clear in your communications. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Make sure you’re understood and make sure you understand. Repeat everything back to your friend if you must. Don’t take for granted that the message you shared or the message you heard got through intact.
• When in doubt, put it in writing. You may not need contracts for all your clients — and certainly not to maintain a friendship, but it’s not uncommon to put the terms of a business arrangement down on a page. More than anything, it can set deadlines and prevent misunderstandings.
• Be proactive about problems and potential problems. Don’t make assumptions. When a problem or question pops up on your business radar, get it out in the open as soon as possible. Your friends and clients will appreciate your candor, and if there was something to the issue, you deal with it before it grows in scope.
• Take your business seriously. If you take your business seriously, you do your work as a professional. Don’t miss deadlines just because your client is a friend. Similarly, don’t let a friend-who’s-a-client slide on a payment. It’s the first step to not getting paid at all. If your friends value your work, then they should pay on time.
• Set definite boundaries. There’s a time for work and a time for play, but of course there may be overlap. It goes back to being clear. If you charge by the hour let your friends and clients know when you’ve started the clock — and when you’ve stopped it.

At certain times, you may question your decision to take on a friend as a client. If you feel taken advantage of, perhaps the friendship wasn’t as strong as you imagined. Talk it out — but do it at a time when you’re not feeling angry or threatened. A calm conversation can clear the air … or give you the gumption to pull the cord and let the relationship wane. There are many benefits to mixing friends and clients, but it takes some work too. Good luck.

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