Friendship and Business: Are These Two Concepts Compatible?

We have often written about examples of successful family businesses that have brought substantial profits to their founders thanks to strong family ties and, consequently, the cohesion and unity of the team. Today, we will talk about combining business and friendship. Cases where friends start a business together are not uncommon. Sometimes friendship only enhances the development of the common cause, but very often troubles at work or a crisis in personal relationships can lead to the downfall of both. Is it worth organizing a joint venture with a close friend or hiring them as a subordinate? We will tell you about the drawbacks of such a symbiosis that can have negative consequences in the future.

Subordination

This point primarily concerns those who hold a higher or lower position in the hierarchical system than their comrade, for example, hiring a longtime friend as your deputy or even a regular employee. In such conditions, you will have to clearly distinguish between your friendly and corporate relationships, as overly familiar and confident behavior of a subordinate due to your friendship can disrupt discipline in the company, affecting the quality of their work or worse, the functioning of the entire enterprise.

Stressful Situations

Regardless of your company's line of work, various conflicting and stressful situations are inevitable during business operations, triggered by any detail from internal enterprise strategy to market conditions. It is important to remain calm and composed, capable of making key decisions. Often, people transfer work-related stress to their personal relationships, becoming irritable and blaming others for their failures.

Clash of Interests

By hiring a friend or working with them as equals, sooner or later you will have to prioritize. Unfortunately, you may find yourself having to decide whether business or friendship takes precedence. While in some countries bureaucratic nepotism and cronyism are normal or at least common, such an approach will negatively impact the success of the company.

Criticism Issue

One of the inevitable working aspects is providing constructive criticism on the quality of work. It may happen that you will have to point out flaws and mistakes in your friend's work. There are even situations where a person is catastrophically failing to fulfill their duties, and the best solution is their dismissal. Note that not everyone can take criticism well. For many, your remarks will be quite painful. It is also possible that your friend may not take your advice seriously and put in enough effort to rectify the situation.

In any case, no one can guarantee whether you will be comfortable working with close friends or not. With the right approach to the situation, you will be able to strengthen both your friendships and your business, being successful in multiple aspects of life at once.