ADVICE / 7

KATIE’S ANSWER: dealing with money and friends can be very awkward. it can be uncomfortable to talk about and if they don’t pay you it will upset you and possibly ruin the friendship. i try to avoid it by trading my skills for my friends skills. a friend asked me to design her some business cards recently but couldn’t afford to pay me. she is a talented seamstress and made me a dress instead. another friend wants a pretty header for her blog and icons to put around her site. she has delicious baking skills and has offered to bake my birthday cake in exchange for my graphic design and illustration skills. i trust these people to follow through on their promises. it’s a chance i take. if a friend offers to pay me i treat them like a client. we sign a contract, and i work towards firm deadlines and deliverables. when we’re working or discussing their project we don’t mix in our personal lives. keeping them separate has helped get the projects finished and keep my friendships intact. BRI’S ANSWER: when this topic comes to mind i can think of some really amazing trades with friends and then a few that made me want to pull my hair out one by one. If you are going to trade with a friend, make sure that you respect the way they do business going into it. and it’s important for both parties to feel like the trade is fair, or else resentment and straight up awkwardness comes up. and like katie, I always make sure to keep deadlines and remain professional. after all, working with friends can be very inspiring and fun! it just can get very complicated as well, so tread lightly. and please don’t think that you can’t charge your friends. I started a rule with myself a while back {after a couple sticky situations} that if I am not going to do a trade then I give a standard “friend discount” of 20% off. it has worked for me. real friends won’t take advantage of you. (illustration by katie evans. here are all the advice posts over here and we love to hear your questions in the comments!)