The greatest disservice you can do to yourself is to not charge money for your work, even if it’s for your close family friends.
Some years ago, I fretted taking payments from my family friends. I was of the thought that I’ve known their family for years, when I was in school, how could I charge money now? Their father is a friend of my father and they do things for each other. I found it odd that I would charge money from them. So, I would make things and give it to them for free.
And that turned out to be a huge mistake on my part. Forget being thanked, many issues arose.
- Some people misused me at times. One got work done worth lakhs and didn’t pay.
- Some felt I lacked confidence which is why was giving for free.
- Some took my things and didn’t use at all, though I made them with a lot of care and affection.
- Then there were a few people who kept on adding things to original requirements, thinking it’s free so get it done.
People don’t value what you give for free.
Hence, you must always charge from people. Profit is not a bad word. Your business will actually sustain in the long run, once you begin to charge for your services and deliver great quality consistently.
Yaju Arya Dot Com 