Can business and friendship mix long term?

How do you mix friendship and business? Recently, I have had a rough go at making this work. It really comes down to trust, doesn't it? In January, I left a career of more than a quarter century to fulfill a dream of owning my own business. I partnered with a friend and trusted confidant to provide branding, marketing, and advertising services to clients. What do you do when you start a new business? You talk to the people you know. I am starting to think that may not have been the best idea. 

I understand that this is a more general statement and every situation is unique but this is a big deal for a lot of small business owners. It takes a special breed to open yourself up to the kind of failure that is inherent to owning a business. Pile on top of that those who should be helping and supporting whenever possible, will blatantly go to a competitor or buy from Amazon. It really hurts your feelings as a small business owner. It shouldn't but it does. 

As a sales manager, I have always been of the mind that to be successful in sales, you must be great at building relationships. Humans crave connections to other humans. It is innate to who we are as a species and while you are building a sales relationship, it is only natural that some of these relationship will grow into friendships. I believe you shouldn't stop trying, it is the pinnacle of the sales journey. But why is it so hard to maintain the business/friendship balance once you are there. We come back to trust.

I trust that my clients will make the best decision they can about their businesses. I happen to think that their best decision will be me and my team. I desperately want to find ways to work with them and sometimes that leads to giving more than I should. But what happens when your good deeds and hard work is taken advantage of by a client who is a friend? How do you come back from that? Whether it is not paying an invoice and ghosting you or sharing confidential information with a competitor, the real question I guess is how do you come back from that and maintain the friendship. Or the bigger question, is should you. 

I want to believe these people are going through something rough and are just embarrassed. Surely they are not purposely hurting our businesses. The honest truth is they may be but how you react is the most important part of success. Take the friendship factor out of the equation and do what you must for your business. Be kind and willing to work with them until it becomes clear that they don't deserve your help and go find more clients that are worthy of your time. This may be a costly lesson but that is what collections and attorneys are for. Collect all of your information and give them every chance you can to make things right before you move on. They may not have been the friend you thought they were. 

You deserve great friends who build you up and support you. Your business will be healthier in the long run because of they type of clientele you choose to make friends.

Tim Hennessy spent 25 years in broadcast television, has been an advertising agency owner and a political campaign and grassroots community manager. Currently, the President at Hennessy Strategies. Founded in 2020, Hennessy Strategies is a full-service branding and advertising agency serving a diverse client base of innovative companies, candidate, elected officials, change-making nonprofits, and entrepreneurial start-ups from Southwest Florida.

Learn more about Hennessy Strategies at hennessystrategies.com.