Mixing Friends With Business

written by 1st year WIT Teen Natalie

Some may say that you should never mix business and friends. While I don’t agree with that, I do think there are some important things to think about if you decide to mix. For me, I was very overwhelmed and didn’t have time for a social life, so I thought it would be a great solution. I would be able to start a business and hang out with my friends. I think it was a valuable learning experience, but if I were to do this again there are a couple things I would do differently: 

First, if you want to start a business with your friends make sure you all have a similar mindset. By this I mean it’s important to make sure your friends have the same goals and expectations. Do they treat it like a club or a business? Are they willing to put in the time? Are they going to goof off or be serious? Are they in it for a week or the long haul? These are definitely important factors to have in mind if you ever take this into consideration. When I started a business with my friends I didn’t realize how different we were. We would meet up for 3 hours and get nothing done. They wanted to include more people, even though we were barely making any money as it was. When I would try to be serious and get to work, I felt like they would see me as bossy. I was getting very frustrated, so I talked to my mom. She told me that I should treat it less seriously, and then maybe start my own business on the side. I’m glad I realized that it wasn’t just my business and that I should respect my friend’s feelings. In the end, it died out, and I’m glad it went down peacefully rather than in flames.

Do 

1. Make sure you’re all on the same page

• Same goals and expectations

• Values align

• You’re all serious 

1. Take their feelings into consideration

2. Everyone involved should be passionate/interested in whatever the business is about

Don’t

1. Jump into something without understanding your friends work ethic

2. Take control and boss everyone around

3. Let it affect your friendship

4 WIT Tips I would use

I also think that if I were to start a business with my friends again, I would definitely use the WIT Tips.

1. Showing Up - You chose to be a part of a business with your friends, so you have to show up for them. 

2. 10-10-10 - Will you benefit from this in 10 days, 10 months, or 10 years?

3. Step Into Your Greatness - You know what you’re capable of, and even though your friends may not be as serious about the business as you, you still have to put your best foot forward and try to make it work.

4. Set Yourself Up For Success - Talk to your friends and set expectations on your roles, your plan, and your goals. 

Sara Sigal (also in WIT + Founder of Booklings) has some experiences with working with friends, so I asked her for insights and advice. Here’s what she shared:

• Communication is key, you always need to make sure everyone working for you understands what is going on and how to carry out necessary things for your business to be successful.

• Be honest with everyone working for you. In order to run a successful business, people working for you need to be putting in their best effort. If you think they could be doing something better or be putting more effort into something, then you need to tell them.

• Lead brainstorming sessions with everyone if you need to solve a problem related to the business. Multiple minds are better than one, and it will make your employees even more invested, involved, and beneficial to the business.

• Lastly, have frequent team meetings so everyone is one the same page and is aware of how the business is evolving.

Let me know if you have any advice on this topic! Have you worked with friends? What did you see work or not work. Please comment below.