I'm sure a number of us have encountered that one friend or have those friends that feel entitled to free goods/services from you just because they are called your "friend". Well my rant today goes out to these said "friends" of ours.
Dear friends of friends, stop asking for free products/services from your friends just because they own the business! Do you know what they call that manner of behaviour? "Enemy of progress" behaviour! Stop it!
If anything, you are supposed to be begging your friend to collect your money in exchange for their amazing service/good; You are supposed to be their number one supporter! If at all the service will be given for free or at a discount, let it be their decision, not you guilt tripping them into it. Don’t be the one person that will disregard all their hard work all in the name of friendship. Please how many friendships can I take to the bank in exchange for money? If you know where I can find such friendships, please do well to point me in that direction.
On a more serious note, friends, support your friends businesses, stop asking them to give you/do things for free especially if you know that the business is their source of livelihood. If you are also a business owner and don’t want to pay in cash, you can always agree to do a trade by barter, service for product, product for product or whatever form you wish. Just don't expect something for nothing because that is totally and utterly selfish.
Why am I going on a rant rave? So I designed something for a friend once (name withheld for obvious reasons), something I would usually charge money for, but because it was the first time and of course, because friendship, I did not ask for money. I just took it that I was setting a good business foundation with this friend by showing him the quality of job I could offer without requesting for payment. Little did I know that this dear friend of mine had intentions of using me. This dawned on me the second time I got a message and phone call from him talking about another design and absolutely nothing about payment. With the way he was doling out instructions it was as if we already had a business arrangement or something. The work this time was actually more than the previous time and of course I casually chipped in "hope this job is coming with money oh" his response? "I was actually just thinking about that, don't worry in due time", ladies and gentlemen you wouldn't believe that this guy did not even say let him use his church mind 😒 to drop small thing, even if it's just for internet data. *sigh* May God deliver us from these type of friends and if you are this type of friend, please change your ways!
It's not like i’m a saint myself, there are times when i've asked a friend to do something for me without paying (I’m sorry Sumaina, I still owe you big and I haven’t forgotten, I promise) but as you can all see from this blog post, I am a repentant “Friend user” lol. Okay I’m still repenting and this post is speaking to me as much as it is speaking to you. Whenever we approach a friend for a product or service, we should always have it at the back of our minds not to
expect or ask for free stuff. But if said friend insists on giving you for free, then by all means grab it with both hands.
Have you had any funny experiences with friends as regards your business? Share your story with me in the comment section, I would love to hear all about it.
Let's stay connected.
Labels: Rants and Bants
