Family members as clients

D

DBP

Well-known member
I just had a situation come up and I'm curious what you all think. I'm in a position to where I was offered work from my wife's step brother, and there's no good reason for me to say no. So far, he's been fine.

But I can't shake the feeling that I just .... don't like it. It makes me uncomfortable, and I really wish I could just stay out of it. Something with mixing family and work/client stuff doesn't sit well with me. The further it goes, the more uncomfortable I become.

Am I just being over dramatic? Has anyone else dealt with this before?
 
Something is making you feel this way. Doing business with family can be a way to hurt family ties. If it goes wrong with other clients, you walk away and forget about it. If it goes wrong here, it may be as simple as hard feelings that fade away to lifelong feelings that distance relatives. I've not done this. But along similar lines, I never borrow anything valuable from a friend. I'd not want to be in the position that I break it or lose it.
 
Malcom Gladwell has an entire book on this called "Blink", about trusting your intuition as a shortcut to important things that our conscious mind can't pick up.

It sounds like this wasn't just initial reservations - which is one thing, maybe a fear of things going south - but it sounds like more. It sounds like there's this consistent and persisting dissonance between your logical brain (it should be fine, it's money and work, and I could use that) and your intuitive gut (something isn't right, don't do it). It's not just a fear of a possible what if, it's a sense that something is off and it's not a good idea.

Trusting one's intuition over pure logic has been a bit de-popularized in the western world, but that's why I like Gladwell's book - he attempts to use story to bring back some of the science and empirical evidence to substantiate this. There really is something to it and it shouldn't be ignored.

On a pure logical note - even if you lose out on a little cash now, it's unlikely that it's THAT much in the grand scheme. And the risk of drama or something going south could be a major time suck (literally and emotional energy wise), and time is our most valuable (and non-renewable) resource.

In short - my vote - trust your intuition.
 
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