Part of the value of your personal network is knowing many people with different professional skills. However, whenever a personal relationship engages on a professional level, you need to be careful to not combine the worst of two worlds.
A “personal professional relationship” will usually have more allowances than a strictly professional engagement. These allowances can be positive (like mates rates) and negative (like slower delivery), and the key to a successful outcome is ensuring that the balance is favourable.
Unfortunately, both sides won’t usually discuss the terms of engagement as extensively as a professional engagement, and it’s easy for this balance to fall to the negative for one side, or both.
To make the most of a personal professional relationship, I’ve found that it’s very helpful to begin with a singular piece of work. Ensure both sides enter as if they’re engaging on strictly professional terms. This includes being very clear on remuneration and the terms of delivery. It’s also wise to engage in work that is non-critical, so that the underlying relationship isn’t damaged if the engagement goes awry.
If the work goes well, you can choose to extend the arraignment. And if it doesn’t go well, it’s easier to pick things up again on just the personal level.
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