Page 213 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

The point I’m trying to make is you must have a demarcation line between friendship and business with your staff, your team members or your licensees. It is a lot more difficult when they have developed into friends, but commercially you have no other option.
I found that out the hard way and to much disappointment after ten or so years of running a Solatube installation network where I used to go and stay in people’s homes and take them out for dinner. At a conference, a group of licensees stood up and expressed their concern about some issues in the relationship between themselves and the company. It was not programmed, though as always, we had asked them before the conference if there was anything they wanted to cover. From my point of view, there were no serious issues that couldn’t be worked through, but they got rather personal. I got quite emotional about it because I’d financially helped through the years all the ones who had questioned my integrity. So that taught me a very important lesson. It taught me to be more commercial and that at times you may even have to be a Rhodesian soldier and end a relationship. So set the line between friendship and business. Keep things commercial and make sure there is a good boundary between friendship and business in these situations.
Looking back (‘For every adversity there is a seed of opportunity’), the issue with the licensees made me and the business stronger going forward. It became more commercial and it forced me to put in stronger KPIs for higher performance.
Despite the Rhodesian Factor, I must say I developed some amazing friendships with people through business, and I think those relationships are stronger than ones made outside business.