GermWorks - Web Design & Life

Recently on Freelance Switch which is one of the best rescources of business venture and freelance for web/ bloggers, progammers etc they had a blog posted about how to enlist your friends and family to help advertise your business/ skills. I always thought that was a given but in reading some of the comments you can tell that some people do not do this for various reasons.

Examples why enlisting family and friends is important:
I grow up in church and still attend every week and so I grew up around a great social networking environment. Cockerill Lock is one example of a job from church. This is an ongoing partnership with New Creations having much more ventures happening which we are now the graphic and web designers for.

Admate Geraldton was created for a family member

Phillipwray racing is currently being created for a family friend which is also going to be an ongoing income earner as I am contracted as the webmaster.

These are only three examples but I think it shows that family and friends can help especially if you are starting out in any business venture. What we at JP2 Designs did was to give each of our friends and family a bunch of business cards and let them help be your sales people.

Negatives of Family and Friends as clients:
This does inpose a problem though and that is that making the hard call on a client especially when they think your service is free or cheaper than normal. I once heard a teacher say that ‘mates rates’ is double because they want you to do well. Also I know of friendships and family ties being broken over business which is always a risk.

The Solution:
The best solution is to find a balance, as families and friends can be hard and the demanding on your services and friendship. If you can get beyond this problem I would suggest you to get your friends, family and other colleagues that you know to help you, if you get too much, you can always decline. If you think this will be a problem and you do not want to take the risk, I would suggest you to just let them act as your salesmen.

Have you any stories, ideas, suggestions on this topic, if so please share.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Like what you see? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get daily updates!
Or hear for an explanation about RSS, thank you for visiting.