[Richard N. Bush]

I really hate doing business with friends for this very reason. I've hired friends of many many years only to have them sit around on their asses doing crappy work, and giving me no choice but to "encourage" them to find a new line of work to get into.

Some friendships have survived this, some haven't. I partially blame myself for hiring them in the first place, and won't do that again.

I have occasionally still contracted some work to friends though, but it's been very specific work for a set price, no hourly fees. Strictly a "I want this in 2 weeks, and here's what I will pay for it." That works better, and I go into it with the attitude that if the work sucks I'll still be paying for it, but I won't contract them for anything else.