I started my illustration “career” by working with friends and it’s still a big part of what I do. But it’s something I know can be tricky and fraught if you don’t do it right. So here are my four top tips for working for, or rather with, your friends and loved ones*.
Make it fair
You need to be fair to yourself and fair to your friends if you’re going to work together. Don’t feel like you have to take on work if you don’t have time, or even if you don’t want to, and certainly don’t feel like you need to take on work for free. Work together to set a fair brief, a fair price and a fair timeline so that you’re both comfortable.
Be clear
Once you’ve worked out what works you need to make sure you’re both on the same page. Set out what your friends should expect, in the same way that you would if you were working with a “normal” client. Except with friends you need to make sure its crystal because it’s easy to slip into doing a little bit more, or accepting that extra redraft because they asked nicely. Going back to that first point you need to be fair to yourself. While we’re on the topic of clarity make sure your loved ones are clear with their briefs, it’s easy to assume you’re on the same page because you have the same in-jokes so take an extra minute or two to avoid making an ass out of anyone.
Do good work
If you’ve set a fair deal you need to do the best work you can. You should always do your best work, never forget that. But here it’s doubly important because if you do a good job for your friends you can bet they’re going to tell their friends about your work too. So much of my work comes through contacts made through friends sharing my work. Do good work and more work will find you.
Keep it fun
Don’t forget to have fun! You’re working with people you love, doing something you love! Making something together should be a positive experience, so don’t lose sight of that or your friendship as you’re going. If you can feel the work jeopardising that take a step back, go back to step two, and head out for a coffee/drink/laugh, then get back to it.
*Adam JK has so loads of great advice on this, and lots of the other aspects of working in the creative sector in his book Things Are What You Make of Them.
Amazing tips here. It can get soooo tricky while working with friends.
It really can, hope they help when you embark on your next friend-business-ship
I don’t think I’ve ever actually worked with friends, apart from when required to in school. (Should I take that personally? haha.) I feel like this post is a good thing to keep in mind though because I’m sure my automatic train of thought when working with a friend would be “nah, no need to worry about anything because we’re all good”! Setting guidelines in advance is probably for best because a lot can be assumed otherwise, and no one wants their friendship to be ruined by differing expectations of a job. Great post!
Hahaha definitely don’t take it personally! Working with friends is certainly easier in some ways because you can just get right down to it, but those boundaries are so important so that you don’t end up jeopardising a friendship or working yourself into the ground doing “just one more” thing!