Friends and their projects

[digiphics]

Ya know this topic "Friends and their projects" cracks me up, just because you're friends doesn't mean you get a break on price. Do you have friends that constantly ask for virtually free work? They know we all have bills to pay! #venting, #coffeebreak, #friends

[colettelewis]

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@Gerald S wrote:

Ya know this topic "Friends and their projects" cracks me up, just because you're friends doesn't mean you get a break on price. Do you have friends that constantly ask for virtually free work? They know we all have bills to pay! #venting, #coffeebreak, #friends

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What topic? I don't ask my friends to pay me - ever. What are you on about? 

[prestonhunter]

Upwork's purpose is to help clients find freelancers.

If somebody is your friend, Upwork doesn't need to help you find them.

[jr-translation]

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@Nichola L wrote:

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@Gerald S wrote:

Ya know this topic "Friends and their projects" cracks me up, just because you're friends doesn't mean you get a break on price. Do you have friends that constantly ask for virtually free work? They know we all have bills to pay! #venting, #coffeebreak, #friends

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 ________________________

What topic? I don't ask my friends to pay me - ever. What are you on about? 

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I guess the friends you did not know and who only show up when they need your help. It really depends on the type of favour they are asking. Spending little time proofreading a cover letter is no problem but the other day I turned a "friend" down. She was asking for a translation of a knitting pattern which would have been ~3h work. So I just asked her if she has permission to have it translated. Just a line or two would have been fine or a general description but I did not feel like working that long for free.

DH on the other hand spends a lot of time on my project called "computer" he's a nerd so let him have his fun. I know he has his own virtual machine on my laptop, but I have no idea what that even means. Is there a friend out there who can explain. DH doen't even try. Whe we first met and he ask about my computer all I could thell him was that it was grey.

[e_luneborg]

I have done some "free" work for friends. Not really free, but I would charge them in beers instead of money. 🙂 

That's quite some time ago though. Even if I want to help out I don't really have time for free work anymore. 

Now most of my friens and relatives (have a sister that owns a magasine) just ask me if I know of any freelancers within their budgets. I usually just tell them to post the job here.

[bobafett999]

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@Eve L wrote:

I have done some "free" work for friends. Not really free, but I would charge them in beers instead of money. 🙂 

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 Do you tell them how to win in casinos?  I am all ears.  You can guzzle as many beers as you want.

[e_luneborg]

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@Prashant P wrote:

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@Eve L wrote:

I have done some "free" work for friends. Not really free, but I would charge them in beers instead of money. 🙂 

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 Do you tell them how to win in casinos?  I am all ears.  You can guzzle as many beers as you want.

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Haha! No. As I've told some friends before: The best way to earn money from casinos is to write about them, or work directly for them. (Writing about them pays more than working for them though, unless you're the CEO.)

But I know a lot of people working at online casinos, and sometimes their Norwegian translator is sick or something, and then they will ask me for help to translate an email campaign or an sms or somethig else that is urgent, and that takes me 10 minutes. After that it's a nice evening drinking free beer with friends. 🙂 

[resultsassoc]

Friends contact me directly with questions, and I answer them. I don't write code to create large programs, and I don't translate nuclear power plant designs. I identify and fix business issues. Most of the calls I get are from entrepreneurs whom I have mentored. I'm nearly always available to them for quick questions.

A "friend" asked me to tell him why his new enterprise system wasn't working right. I told him it was probably the parametric settings. "The what?" I quoted him fees and expenses for a week on-site to fix it. Funny, he wasn't willing to do that.

[wendy_writes]

Preston nailed it when he wrote "If somebody is your friend, Upwork doesn't need to help you find them."

Some of us are lucky enough to have made friends via Upwork, and like Bill, I answer their questions whenever possible.  99.9% of the time the questions are more of a 2nd opinion or a very minor tweak. I would not ever dream of charging anyone - friend or not - for that kind of thing.

When friends have asked for more extensive work I normally offer a deeply discounted rate.  It's hard to send wine thru the mail.  😉

[mwiggenhorn]

Being in the legal field, I get this a lot.  Because I cannot legally give advice, it's easy to tell them to consult a lawyer or file a complaint themselves in small claims court.  But some people are quite persistent.  A lawyer friend completely cut off a mutual buddy for continually asking for free last minute work.  Ridiculous.

[prestonhunter]

"Never place friendship above profit."

- The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, #21

[colleenezzell]

I'll always offer a discount to the friend who gave me my start in this business. She's a published author and could have easily hired an established editor; instead she knew I was looking into doing freelance work and she offered me the opportunity to edit what was her current book in a series. She was pleased with my work and referred me to another author for whom I edited a first book - her autobiography. This author is hard at work on her next book, and she's asked me to edit it. I reminded her that the rate I charged her for her first book was a one-time-only "Friends and Family" discount and what my current rate would be. She was agreeable, and I'm just waiting for the manuscript.