Your friends and family are, without a doubt, the first and easiest group of clients to get when you’re starting your services business. Some might find it easy to turn these connections into their first paid projects. For others, not so much. And even if you don’t find it difficult to approach them for work, there are plenty of reasons to be cautious, but mainly, working for them will damage your relationship. Here’s a practical approach to getting that first group of clients from friends and family, along with tips for managing the project so everyone’s happy.
To get the projects, obviously, you have to ask. But it’s best not to be pushy or directly pitch them on a project. This is true for any potential client or prospect, but it’s especially true for friends and family. Here are two ways to let everyone know you’re available without being pushy:
- Send out a soft announcement via email, social media, or even via hand written note sent in the mail (“taking on new projects this spring if anyone’s planning work”)
- Offer helpful advice when they mention home issues, either in person or on social media.Â
Once they know you’re available and you start seeing some interest, here are a few things to watch out for:
- Friends and family often assume preferential pricing, which can undervalue your work
- Maintaining professionalism with people who know you personally
- When something goes wrong, you risk the relationship, not just a client
-  Informal relationships encourage “while you’re here” additions
- Collecting deposits and following up on invoices feels uncomfortable
When you accept the work, you want it to go well. Keeping a good relationship is important, but you also want to get paid, and, secondarily, you want to make a good impression so they’ll be a long-standing referral source. More on that here. To help make all that possible, it really comes down to preparation. Don’t take this opportunity for granted. In some ways, these jobs are the most important ones to do. Here’s how to prepare:
- Formalize everything: use the same contracts, quotes, and documentation as regular clients
- Be transparent about pricing: if offering a discount, state it clearly as a percentage off standard rates
- Require deposits and normal payment terms: money issues destroy relationships fastest
- Document scope meticulously: write down what’s included, treat additions as change orders
- Over-communicate: don’t assume familiarity means you can skip updates
- Know when to say no: if the relationship can’t handle the professional dynamic, decline and refer elsewhere
Planning really is everything. Before you start work for friends and family, have a plan for everything above. Do you have your contracts ready? Do you have your standard rates figured out? Do you have a way to do a formal estimate and quote? Use these valuable projects to help you figure things out before you work with people you don’t already know. And if you do it well, those opportunities will present themselves. Hopefully, through introductions from your friends and family.