Ever heard “ain’t no friends in business”? Well there certainly is NOT!
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- So we have all the parts for the K16 build now and we get towards the end of the Figaro machining but who has experienced today topic?
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i HAD A FRIEND (a REAL friend) who was an auto-electrician and had his own one man shop specializing in rebuilding of starters, alternators and (back then) generators.
He had a big red on white sign that read:
Customers get charged the INVOICE AMOUNT.
Friends get charged a 20% surcharge.
Family get charged a 25% surcharge.
Customers with "attitude" get charged a 40% surcharge.
He also had a rubber stamp and a red ink pad and would stamp it on the back of all his quotes and invoices IN FRONT OF THE CUSTOMER and get them to initial it.
When I lost my wife and baby daughter he put a sign "Sorry but there has been a death in the family and we are closed for a period of mourning" on the door and for 3 weeks he did not leave my side.
Later I asked him how much he had lost his reply was "Don't worry about it. At least it didn't cost me another friend."
If anyone has only 1 friend like that in their entire life time they are very fortunate.
Unfortunately a drunk minister did a u-turn on the freeway and I lost the best friend I would ever have.
#truth
Part of life mate. Your circle of friends gets smaller as you get older. Most men our age have a very small circle of very good friends. Friends who will do as much for you as you do for them in a heart beat.
Very very true , I though it was just me as hardly see anyone except work colleagues, & tbh I don’t really want to see some of them either as horrible vile creatures who stab you in the back as much as look at you not good 😮
I count my friends on one finger now .. that's me 🤣
True words, then they start dying on you.
Your eyesight fades with age, but you gain the ability to see right through people.
Years ago, I was Finance Director of a medium sized motor dealers. A customer who was late in paying his account told us he was a friend of the Chairman. So I checked, and my chairman told me his friends always paid on time. Customer paid up!
You always have a lot of friends when you have any kind of ability that people find useful, I call them User.
The "no friends in business" goes both ways. As a customer it's important to maintain an aloof professional relationship where you're not worried about upsetting the business owner when stating your expectations and requiring remedy if they fall short. I've encountered a few that will take it personally, one even tried to assault me for blighting their ego, but that's a 'them' problem.
It's like someone reading from my very own script, I'm 35 this year worked in the motor trade since I was 16 had quite an involvement around motor racing and building restoring cars, mostly the classic fords a big passion of mine but also found a big love for doing the old xe/let conversion vauxhall stuff also. I slowly started to find that not only do mates expect cars built from the ground up for nothing but even my own boss with little or no incentive. O.k as a youngster I was gaining knowledge but there's a fine line where knowledge and knocking yourself out for someone is crossed. I was building cars that were worth good money on shite wages. As for friends opinions from others get in the way of jobs that are already being done for nothing and the minute something goes wrong arguments break out and everyone else knows best. The age old saying kindness taken for weakness. It's a trap ive fallen into many many times, sad reality really because people know exactly what they would be paying if they had to go elsewhere and know exaclty what your skillsets are worth.
Was in business for a long time and had many many good customers but very few friends!!! We found that as soon as money comes into the equation then the so called friends part goes out the window!!!
Everyone's your friend when they want something. There ain't no friends in business. Too true. You do right in charging a fair price for any job. Keep up the good work.
True friends are very rare in life overall, let alone in business.
I have a few friends who started off as customers, suppliers or employees , but the friendship only became solid after the commercial relationship fell away.
The worst experiences I have had was that I twice made the mistake of employing friends.
It ended in tears both times - stupid me!
I've found out that when things go to pieces, so called "friends" have disappeared. Great video Lee!!
When you stop helping friends the phone stops ringing even though you never charged them because they were friends. But the time comes when you are surplus to requirements.
Another line to live by is “good paper make good friends”. It’s the only way to prevent ambiguity that cause arguments and helps keep business relationships on the straight and narrow.
Just thinking of the old Yorkshire expression here - "Hear all, see all, say nowt, eat' all, sup all, pay nowt, and if tha ever does owt for nowt, allus do it for thysen".
Clearly there has to be that thing called "Trust" in any business relationship, friend or not a friend or business life would be impossible. A friend will expect you to charge the correct amount and not load it up, maybe a small reduction for goodwill, but will pay promptly when work is complete.
There is also Polonius's advice to his son in the Shakespeare play "As you like it" that goes a long way to explaining money relationships between friends - "Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend".
I remember seeing a little poem on the wall of the pump jockey's cabin at a filling station near Aldermaston sometime in the mid-60s. It was surrounded by bounced cheques.
"People came and I did trust 'em
I lost the money and the custom
To lose them both did grieve me sore
So I've decided to......
Trust no more !"
Difficult, isn't it !
Consistency is the key, no 'mates rates', no arguments 👌
I have been self employed over 25 years and one of the biggest lessons i had to learn is to be business like in your dealings with everyone. Treat everyone the same, it is hard to learn but there will always be someone who will take advantage of your good nature. A real friend will pay the going rate and not expect any favours. We all have to eat!
When you walk in this door, you put your business hat on! No reasonable person will expect you to do something for nothing, rude to do otherwise. You’ve found out people will test your resolve, hence always confirm back conversations!! VITAL. You’ve come a long way Lee, much better understanding about running a business now!
I can remember my boss, big boss at the time, when I started in the commercial world, I went from working in the Council to a daily customer facing service role, "be friendly with your customers, but they are not your friends" and recounted being stiffed by a customer (blamelessly) with whom he thought had mutual trust and had had the odd out of work beer.
As I have grown older, possibly cynically the truth is not all the people you are friendly with are your friends either! and unlike your adolescence, when your gang is almost your family, that goes away and if someone is pissed off with you, Tough , there problem, you dont have to sort it out if you feel you are in good faith.
Did a semi loft conversion for a long time friend no cash upfront agreed Ill just charge you for materials......sweated my nadgers off boarding and flooring his loft for improved storage space....took a year to get even half the money. That was the end of that friendship.......never work for friends is my motto.
If you can count your friends on one hand, you are, really, really lucky.
Been there, bought the T shirt.
That's over 60 years for me.
The 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 K series engines are all Rover. In fact they all use the same crankcase but with different liners and crankshafts to get the required swept volume.
A true friend will not expect a reduced cost for work and will pay the standard rate to help support you and your business
John is correct we need to see the big end grinding process.
It is much better to be respected rather than liked
The fact that it's a friend or not is somewhat irrelevant :-) It essentially boils down to individual integrity. You will come across a number of really exceptional people in your lifetime. Some may be friends, others simply off the street :-)
Sin you going out on the jet ski in
Ilfracombe the other day no sooner you got out to sea the heavens opened on ya 😂
Proper friends would be happy to support your business, and the only way to support your business is not ask for a discount!
Absolute truth Lee! I've seen it as I'm at an age where its harder to get contracts doing what I do, being a white male in South Africa, and suddenly loads old friends disappear... Then you look at things and think how many times did I have a meal by them, and how many times did they pop over and we cooked up steaks etc over the fire. Now that my fridge ain't full and other stuff is not available to give they're gone!... Glad I learned sooner than longer...re. amount of work. As a business owner you always going to be worried. You either just have enough work now but what about next month, or we too busy how we going to get it done, or we a little quiet (which chgs by the hour)!?
Great videos Lee, ain’t no friends in business is a double negative meaning you do have friends!
Friends and favours, you're never short of being asked when you're in business. It took me quite some time to get round to charging for my time.
Basically if you're prepared to work for nowt, you're like a woman that does it for nowt, always busy!
I'd you're going to do something for free, do it for yourself, and then not very often.
Another great video, thanks
same reason I stopped repairing PCs for friends of family. People bring you dead computers and they expect a free one if it can't be fixed, or they blame you for breaking it even though it leaves in the exact same condition it arrived in. I now charge anyone full service price, $129 call out plus $100 per hour. If they complain I remind them the other option is someone who charges more or a new computer, which apparently offends people now and then 🤷♂
it is true that there is no friends in business but out side business you still have to be careful these day everybody seems to be after money and THAT is the root of all evil after 75 years on this earth these times are the worst ever trust nobody except your self , thanks for the video
Super video today. Best of the best. ❤
Remarkably captivating as always guys.
I'm self employed sparky, I had to tell people, I'm not a registered charity, I make my living charging people. Immediate family, such as parents, brother, sister, inlaws, sons and daughters, they pay for parts, anyone else they pay for parts , labour and any other cost incurred
There is a great deal of difference between a friend and an acquaintance, friends in my book we help each other and don't keep checks and balances on each other, whether we see each other every week or every decade we are friends for life. Acquaintances on the other hand only turn up when they want something for free and when you are in need they can't be contacted, acquaintances are the ones to keep at arms length but real friends will be there for you when ever you need their help.
Ever heard keep your friends close and your enemies closer
Worse than 'friends' is family. My Dad had real problems with Family coming and expecting cheap/free jobs but also tended to complain a bit. I didn't have that problem with either friends or family. Everyone coming to me expected straight business rates so I guess I was lucky.
You my friend
Nice
13:52 Looking back to your previous video on this engine it appears the factory crankshaft is indeed forged steel. Good luck!
My Dad always said business would be great if it wasn't for customers! When I ask friends to do a job or what ever for me, I always ask how much do I owe them and always pay them what they ask without a quibble.
nice new bike you've bought yourself mate ;)
edit: I'm a panel beater and painter, I'm friendly but I don't do mates rates.
I'll be interested to see how you check piston protrusion,from what i remember once the heads off you cant turn the engine over or maybe it was you shouldnt in case the liners move
You can make and use little clamps with spacers for the bolts to hold the liners down with the head off.
I look after my friend's. BUT only if they have millage in them, for me.
Mutual respect yes, friends no mate
Heartbreaking for it to end that way
Just think, Lee, you won't need to bother with, or order, those bench-loads of new parts in the future, when the business goes all-electric!
K series is available in 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 👍
And 1.1 as standard, we often used to do 1.9's and some companies did 2.0's, etc. 218bhp and 8500rpm sounds pretty good at full chat.
i run a smalll business,ive found that when someone asks you for "a favour",that favour never gets returned,i even charge my own family now as they were tending to take the piss as well
You have lots of friends, until something goes wrong (from the "friends" perspective. Then they cease to be friends.
You need to change your greeting at the start of video to include girls. There must be at least ONE.😂
I think your channel is great! I especially like the office chats about business. Cheers 👍🏻
Think its just a generic use of the word guys meaning viewers of any ilk.
Regardless of friendship, anything done in a professional capacity must be done and invoiced accordingly.
For larger transactions, then get an impartial third party to decide the relivant sale/purchase price.
Honest man in a crooked world comes to mind.
Very true Lee, the joys of running your own business unfortunately. But don’t us business owners / self employed people all earn mega money.
Ive done work for many customers and never really had a problem with them but i have fell out with a few friends and family down the years because they expected it done for nothing
👍
its sad we live in a time were u have to be guarded with friends, hell, u have to be guarded with family not paying or doing what they said they would do. why cant people just stand behind what they say, because all we have in life is our word.
I have an aquantance who has his own workshop. Whatever he asks for payment,I always pay a good bit more. ALWAYS.
I had a 216 gti with the 1.6 twin cam K series engine. Some Rivers did come with the SOHC Honda engines though! 😃
*Rovers
Yes the 1.6 K Series came later…. but the Rover 600 1.8 model had the Honda engine not the K…
Your running a business it is your livelihood everyone pays the standard price they should not expect preferential treatment. Keep your head on straight mate.
surprised that an engine assembly room is open to outside dust and that you don't have plastic bags over the blocks etc that are on the assembly stands, the places that I have used both do this
it’s a workshop not a Surgery
Family is the first !!! Don’t be in business with your family.. it takes very special people to be in business with family and usually you will find even in family business that there is always 1 person that lays the laws done to keep it peaceful. Aka MAMA
Ask anybody who works in IT we often end up as family IT support! There are people who you will help & those who take just take the _sample_ (sometimes you do a trade - I swapped building a PC, they bought the parts, for boiler service!)
Second that. I have an old friend, not a bestie. I've ended up rebuilding his PCs over the years after they've screwed them up, all gratis. His trade is as a chef, often wondered what the response would be if I knocked on his door, and said "my daughter's getting married, wondered if you would do the catering for nothing mate"
@@Phantom-mk4kp I'd expect a decent meal
I and others have said this before on here ..... and no such thing as "mates rates"
There needs to be a separation. Some personality types are better at distinguishing the separation than others. For years, I've done work in my garage for customers and friends. The friends I've done work for I've drawn a boundary, I'm not an emergency service, and I can't get them a deal at my job/business. It's not a fine line if I can help a friend in a driveway, on a ramp, or lift, and there's little risk to bodily harm no problem, get the parts, pizza and beer and let's do this. But crossing the threshold at my job means they have to respect the process and will be charged appropriately. I also will not do in a driveway what I've quoted at my job, doing so crosses the friend - business boundary. Having the boundary has allowed me to have and keep some very good friends, as for those who don't respect the boundary, I'm sure they have some great friends as well.
Do you know the difference between a good friend and a great friend?
A good friend helps you move house.
A great friend helps you move a body.
Great video 👍 If you ask the "friend" to do something for free or "quid pro quo" then you find out what's what 😊
Everyone has friends and enemies. My old Mum had a saying that i absolutely agree with. It is " never give a crook a second chance, they will doit tooo you twice". 👍👍👍👍
I am of the opinion that you always pay your way in life, if you are doing a "favour" then you are not earning, your time costs money, regardless of who they are, a true friend wouldn't have put you in that position!
There are no friends in business, that is why contracts exist!
My friends know and respect that I will charge them the normal rate when I work for them doing my daily job….
I like to do them a favor when it comes to helping them out with a job outside my daily routine; we don’t talk hourly rates, I do you a favor, you will do me a favor……
i have a 1600 cc its a k series .
In God we trust all others pay cash
At the end of the day Lee. People don't realise that operating a business costs money. You've got overheads that have to be paid .
Regarding the K series. There was 1.1 , 1.4 , 1.6 , and 1.8. . Thex1.1 & 1.4 had a single cam version.
I walk alone, just having my family. If I have “friends”, all they’ll do is to bring their broken ass cars. It’s a good topic for discussion though.
A fairs week work for a fairs day pay🤔
Nope they did a 1.6 k series but they also used a 1.6 Honda single and twin cam.
Know the old saying, you are a diamond, well its very true a true friend is like a rare and very good diamond some thing to be treasured, lots about that look good but are just cheap fakes and the cost of them is just time and money wasted. Hard to believe but i lost or should i say had my house that i bought legally stolen/taken from me by a brother and sister. My view now is even someone that you know you can trust with your life dont trust them with your money.
What happened with the C63 block?
Rick from Swindon comments on similar issue more intellectual theft he looked after your Lamborghini
I’ve got loads of friends I respect them and they respect me they help me out I do the same for them…. Sounds like you need new friends !,,
And again, I forgot to say, you don’t give credit to your friends one you lose a friend to lose the money
Suffered it ,Did a burst pipe for a friend of my mother .Had to pull floorboards up to find it ,Took three hours repaired the burst put the floorboards back ,Went to see the customer and she said your mother said i was to give you this £10.00 ,never again ,
The exact same happened to me. But I got an emergency call whilst having my supper went straight round finished at midnight what a job I was given £15 never never again. How people have the brass neck???????
And never be fooled in to believing the manufacturers and their agents are true friends. As soon as they realise you are doing well with one of their products they will waste no time pushing it to your competitors. Keep your cards close to your chest.
Your friends will drive it deeper than any normal customer
Any friends i work for dont expect anything for free . They are the ones that respect your time and expertise .If they are looking for some0thing for nothing they arent your friend so send them packing . Dont beat yours0elf up about it , its not worth it
I ran my own car repair business for decades, I tried to, run under the mantra, that in business you don't have friends or family only customers.
Even family can take the piss as well 🤯😡🤬
Strange old world we’re living in nowadays. Folks I know, and folks I don’t know, are always coming to me looking for “a deal”. But, when I look to them for help, it’s full whack, and fees to boot. Sad
Any chance of showing how you calculate your volumes?
top tip .. do not do any (i.e. NEVER) work for friends and / or acquaintances
Please give me job. I could do all the nasty stuff so you two can get on with the technical side.
Well, I'm about to become quite unpopular, ok, already am so I could lead with the joke that this isn't a problem when you have no friends...... But seriously, a true friend, isn't going to ask you to do things for free or expect it, because they care about you and your business. If anybody wants something for nothing, they are solely looking out for their own back side. Now, if you or I choose to go the extra mile, (or kilometer... lol) that is completely our choice, and a real friend will be very grateful, possibly even insisting on paying at least something.
It isn't just in business where "friends" are out to screw you, it is life in general. I find the ones who constantly plead poverty are the ones with pots of money and are greedy for yours.
The problem with "favours" is the electricity company and the tax man don't accept them to pay their bills.
Don’t do favours and get paid up front or people will screw you over. The worst people to do business with are friends and family. Beware!
You’re correct, there is no friends in business you can go to Tesco and buy your shopping with favours
Cartels curupion and cash british business
you dont need non paying (so called friends) customers
I know all about it, got totally f'kd over by so called friends, new career needed
Was your friend a conservative 😂
Nice simple V8..............yeah ok disaster waiting to happen believe me blessing in disguise
Don't work on cars for friends anymore Don't even work on family cars anymore they expected parts to be free