Business with friends, LinkedIn tarot & Bees
Have you ever been told “don’t mix friends and business?” A cursory Google search would suggest that this is common advice, but is it actually good advice?
Our hot take: no. 🔥
You probably know that we - the Laurs, if you will - are friends and that WT/SB is a business. In fact, it’s not the only business we work on together and we both work with friends all the time. We do it for a very good reason: the qualities we’re drawn to in friends are often the ones we seek in collaborators. We like to work with people who are smart, diligent, and caring, and who have integrity; and those are pretty great qualities in friends, too.
That's not to say it’s always easy, but the idea that it’s more challenging? Hotter take: that derives from a distinctly male way of doing business that masquerades as feelings-free. 🧨
But if you’ve ever cried on the job (🙋🏻♀️🙋🏼♀️) you know there are plenty of feelings at work already. So instead, the implication is that you don’t have to care about other people’s feelings at work as long as they’re not your friends, and we disagree!
Here are 3 reasons we think doing business with friends can actually be pretty amazing:
Friends often already have a planning style together and a language to address hard topics and work through conflicts.
It's easier to work through problems when you know that the person on the other side of the equation has good intentions.
Working with someone whose feelings you're invested in and already practiced at respecting is actually a strong foundation for a people-first work culture.
What are your thoughts on working with friends? Reply to this email and let us know! And scroll down for the podcasts we’re loving, a so-bad-it’s-good movie rec, and a tarot reading for your LinkedIn profile.
🪢 Laura + Lauren
Interesting Insights
World’s longest invoice
71% of freelancers struggle to get paid, so the Freelancer’s Union has put together the world’s longest invoice, where you can add your unpaid bills. (We’ve never dealt with unpaid bills when working with friends, just saying.)
Dating a Potential Co-Founder
This detailed co-founder questionnaire — with 50 questions spanning across six categories — is a great tool to understand co-founder compatibility before taking the plunge. (Lauren and her business partner did this before starting Seamless Brand Consulting.)
How to Define Your Personal Value Proposition
It can be hard enough to describe yourself concisely, let alone declare the value and impact you can make. But as an entrepreneurs it’s critical to career success. (H/t to WT/SB member Kit Huffman for this one!)
Things We Loved This Week
Laura’s Things
🔮 This LinkedIn Tarot reader - apparently I'm The Hermit who has "reached a crossroads in [my] career."
🎞️ The greatest Reel ever made?
🎵 This song that has me teary whenever I listen to it. Even when you know a relationship wasn't meant to be, thinking about the one you thought was "The One" brings up lots of feels.
🤯 This podcast ep that blew my mind at least 4 times.
Lauren’s Things
👯♀️ I would first and foremost like to second Laura's podcast and Reel recommendations. They collectively launched approximately one million messages of two very different varieties.
🤓 A totally different part of my personality also loved this podcast, that introduced me to the "fediverse" and I think I'm in.
🎨 Brookyln-based artist James Needham's photography X collage works that are so my aesthetic.
🐝 This movie that was the plane-ride-home movie selection of 100% of the Paris trip participants, and the not one, but two episodes of How Did This Get Madedevoted to it.
💡 The genius of Skims not because I want to buy either the left or right leg variety of this product, just because I can't believe they thought to make it.
