Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Friendly Business

I just sent a bill to one of my friends for some work I did on his website. I really like to help out my friends if I can and I also like to build websites. The problem is I hate charging friends for the work. I think the next time I see that person they'll be like, "There's that prick that charged me. I thought he was a friend". Even though this is totally ridiculous. Maybe it would be easier if I were selling an object but in this case it is all intellectual property. The friend tells me what he wants his website to do and I type a bunch of stuff that makes it happen (Extremely-Simplified). It's such an easy thing for me to do that it makes me feel guilty when I then ask my friend to pay me. If it were someone I didn't know I wouldn't care at all and would probably charge triple or quadruple what I charged my friend. It's kind of a no win situation for me. If I charge for the work I feel guilty, if I don't I'm a chump. So this time I guess I'm mostly a chump but at least I'll be able to sleep at night and not feel uncomfortable the next time I see my friend.

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