Hi there beautiful people,
I am with you as always even though I have had to take little time out for my spiritual consciousness which I once talked about here. On this journey, I have realized that I am blessed with a good number of friends. The number of “friends “on social media can be misleading so I am thankful for real people who not only follow me but that we have a connection .
The truth is people get carried away by the number of friends and followers they have on social media and forget or should I say neglect their real friends. Thankfully, I have been able to categorize my friends into 3 major segments:
1. The people I have met in person with whom I share some connection with and I am interested in keeping in touch with regularly.
2. Friends of friends that I meet at an event or through work and I am interested in pursuing further friendship with.
3. Strictly work based connection with whom I am comfortable with at arm’s length.
All my friends emanated from different areas of my life – church, school, work, events, business, social media etc. I also like to critically examine the relationships in my life by weighing the value each brings so that I don’t waste time and energy nurturing the wrong friendship that can unintentionally bring me down or make me aim lower. I believe ultimately in making myself happy while trying to please others.
Attitude is one key ingredient that I look out for when making friends. Do they make me feel great after each conversation; can we talk about everything honestly? Can they offer helpful advice, will I feel empowered and not stressed, threatened or exploited.
I have had a good number of instances that I have had serious issues in defining friendship in business, trust me if I penciled that down here it would really be a very long post. Anyways, I have done a general analysis of my thoughts on the subject.
Here are a few issues to note when dealing with friends in business:
State your normal price and offer them discount otherwise you might be wasting energy, time and resources, I will advise you do a 20% discount .Handle your transaction as professional as can be, learn to speak your mind .
If they don’t appreciate you, move on and don’t allow yourself to be humiliated, mocked or disgraced especially when your dignity is attacked .
Some people will do anything to use you for their person gain. Beware!!!
Always take out time for yourself (Me Time), whatever decision you are going to make still depends on you, learn to be your own best friend and think peacefully without pressure.
Create a balance with your friends in order for them to respect your business.
Establish boundaries.
Encourage each other especially on personal growth and improvement.
Learn to accept the truth from each other.
Listen to each other and help resolve problems.
I have been blessed with some long standing friendship from high school, some of whom I still keep regular contact with till date .My friend Aramide Oluwateniola Harrison is one of them, she represents true friendship. I have known her for over 25 years. She is a chartered account and a great sister from another mother in whom I am very proud. She has been my number one fan, marketer and supporter.
I love you so much and may God perfect all that concerns darling.
I would love to know how you handle friendship and business.Please share your experience below.
Hugs and Kisses,
Misidreads.
Yemisi,
This is a fantastic post! Brilliant write up , just yesterday I was complaining about a related topic , with friends and business one needs to learn to create boundaries, friends need to also learn to appreciate the business we do and not take it for granted! My dear God bless you for this.
I am glad this helped .Amen *hugs*
Weldone Boss Yemisi, God bless you.
Thanks MJ.
Awww,I am indeed honoured and blessed to have u as a friend too! Its rare to have good friends,and its been a blessing knowing and loving you. May God perfect all that concerns u too, luv u muchos!!!!! P.S send me dis pishur ASAP, DP tinzz…*hugs*
Ok ,i am sending right away *hugs*
Nicely written and on point. Well done Yemisi
Thank Jaga beauty.
Great writeup Yemisi. This has been quite challenging for me mixing business with friends who just don’t get it. Thanks
Thanks
Yea,you are right……welldone Yemisi
Thanks
hmmmmm friendship and business. Thanks Yemisi for this great post. i tell my friends the cost price of the things i sell to them and i add a tiny bit of gain for myself still some don’t appreciate that. Someone once told me i am an emotional business woman and in business there are no emotions involved. I have gained somethings from this post and i wont forget them
thanks
Great Jay.Thanks for stopping by.
Nice one Yemisi! Certainly blessed to have descent friends. Been having issues with my new business and new friends (2yrs and less) , whenever they see foodie pictures on my BBM rather than follow the link and learn the recipes, they start bugging me about when they can come over and eat it, I have had some turn up at my doorstep unannounced and ask for a breakfast recipe made for them, one sent her son over with a bowl and called me stingy afterwards despite giving her 2 spoonfuls of the soup (shame didn’t let me send her son back empty handed) . It’s extremely annoying and I have had to push all of them back regardless of what they say or think. Grateful for my old friends cos strangely they are the only ones who ask ‘when will you start selling so I can order’ @Jaga is one of them…you too Yemisi 🙂 (haven’t forgotten our training plan) .
I cant get over your comment, laughing so hard at friends dropping by unannounced.I am still waiting for my class ma,Thanks for sharing *hugs*
Hi all,
thanks for sharing your thoughts and advice.
I mean the pace at which this world is going. People seem to ignore boundaries or think boundaries are non-existent. Being ashamed or remorseful of selfish actions is a non-existent characteristics of an unrepentant person.
Having from my experience and also seen the business relationship between reality stars Kandi and Kim. Dotted line and contract has to be set in place.
This piece is very timely for me and it blessed me tremendously. Building my business has been challenging especially when it comes to charges and I tell you,friends and family have proven the most difficult to work with.This post has given me a stronger reason to maintain my standards without being on any guilt trip if and when friends don’t appreciate the discounts you give them.Thank you Yemisi.N.B:You bear my best friend’s name!I like you
Thanks for stopping by and i hope i meet you and your my name sake soon.*kisses*
This is a nice post, thanks for the time.
Thanks Chi.