How do you deal with family and friends who wants discounts? I own a small cookie business. I make about $200-$300 per order for my work so these aren’t cheap cookies. I get family members and friends sometimes messaging me to do custom cookies for them for events for such a small (basically just covering my expenses without making me any money at all) amount or sometimes I feel they even expect it for free and it’s really awkward for me to tell them my actual pricing because I know they won’t spend the money. However, my time is valuable and making these orders is very time consuming - time I can be working on another order that’ll bring me a lot more money.
So, how do you deal and gently tell them “no” or “it’ll cost you XY amount” which would be pretty much the same as any other client? I have done a few free orders for close family and friends and a few really cheap ones but I’m done with this. I’m busting my ass for nothing.
So… I’ve learned over the years with friends and family “discounts”. Don’t.
If you want to bring some of your product as a gift at special events… awesome! But that is going to be extremely dependent on your product/service…
However, a good family member or friend trying to support your business isn’t going to use you as a cheap service… they will be happy to pay full price if they need your product/service on a regular basis, as they will be happy to see you succeed over a competitor (assuming you are good at what you do)…