Recently, a member of The Coaching Jungle group posted something about the dangers of "froaching".

Froaching is when you coach your friends (and often for free, or with fuzzy payment terms). 

She talked about the problems she had when she was coaching her friend without a clear set of intentions regarding goals, payment, etc. 

Unfortunately, I see a lot of coaches getting burned by froaching. 

It's an easy trap to fall into. Your friends know that you're a coach, so they approach you and want your help with something. 

But they don't take it as seriously as other clients might.

After all, they've known you for a long time, have seen you at your worst, and might have even been one of the naysayers trying to talk you out of starting your coaching business back in the beginning! 

Things aren't exactly starting with a clean slate.  

I used to see this problem pop up back in my real estate days too. I knew a lot of agents who refused to work with their family or friends, and referred those people out to save the hassle. 

I'm not saying that you should never work with friends. I am saying that you should be careful in such cases, and lay out what is expected from both parties before you start to work together. 

Speaking of working together, here's how we can do it: 

Marc