Question of business or charity?
by elliottrichmond
This almost feels like a stupid question but… should a business charge another business for services regardless of their emotional or relational connection? I seem to have been challenged on this subject recently and frankly my head tells me one thing and my heart the other!
The distinction between the two is very clear to me but should I feel bad about it if it’s another business using my services for the better of their own business? No! If it’s a question of education and not for financial benefit then I have to ask myself a different question, is this a good thing for my business? is this a good thing for the other party? is this an investment not only for my business but for the other party.
As tenuous as this must sound it is a very important question in my opinion. There are far too many businesses out to profit and nothing else seems to be as important other than the profit! What happened to the scholarships, investment in people, education, apprenticeships?
I think the conclusion is that if someone is willing to invest their time to learn something from you then, not only should you be honored that they’ve chosen you to learn from, you should also feel that inner excitement and passion you’ve forgotten about, you know that thing that started you doing this thing in the first place!
If on the other hand it’s for financial benefit then it should be reciprocal, the job is worth what the other party is willing to pay for it no? Or am I completely off the mark here? For example if a software company or car salesmen came to me and asked me to help them sell products that, were at there cheapest $2000 a pop, should I charge accordingly as it’s a B2B proposition?
