The Good And The Bad!

Yup not easy

I don't have any family near me so that solves that.

Friends, eh that can get sticky. Those that I work for know this is my living. If I want to do the friend thing I tell them, other than that they are told pricing in advance. I give them some slack on the pricing. But I make sure my expenses are paid first. If I am there or the men are there half a day or more. Then I have to get profit.

No family around me which is a good thing. Friends Well they mow there own lawns but I do help on occasion in trimming and landscaping. Why? No money involved. Most help me out in a pinch if I need an extra part brought out to me or if I am running behind they have all been able to help out a little (No money invloved). What comes around goes around. Lessons learned, If you stop learning them you are 6 foot under pushing dirt not mowing.

I dont have any friends.

greenmachine102 i myself have also learned this the hard way family think you work for free they dont understand this is your living its makes me sick also they think eveeything extra is free

Originally posted by Black Water
I dont have any friends.

Click to expand...

I'll be your friend........

Then we both have one..........

Thanks man. Now i feel all warm and fuzzy. Ahhhh, good times.

I waited five months to get paid by a "friend" for a big one time job I did way back in April. That was the first and last time for a friend, unless of course I don't plan to charge them & just do it as a favor - something kirbyslawn mentioned in a thread not too long ago.

I will work for family and friends no problems. I have gotten burned a bunch of times in the past. But, you take the good, you take the bad and there you have, the facts of life.

I don't have a problem working for family or friends, my attitude is 'business is business', period.
When the shoe is on the other foot, I expect the same attitude from them. Only consideration I may give or expect would be in scheduling = getting an appointment a little quicker.

It is time to move beyond this initial level of start up. Target THIER friends and neighbors as customers . Ask for referrals so you can stop working for peoplle who feel you owe them something. I paid my dues by never compromising quality to build a reputation that commands a good price. Some of my worst customers{petty complaints and cheap] were family and friends. No matter what I tried to make quality of work my benchmark. When you begin to get customers outside of this circle you can begin to stop taking thier sh#$. They will ask you to do something for nothing and you can give them a price because your not afraid of loosing thier business anymore. This is your next hurdle to success. Break the dependence on family and friends for work. It is a game of negotiation and the minute you take a dollar from "family and friends" everything changes. G -LUCK