It shouldn't sting! Doing a good job is the first step in building a relationship, so you should absolutely work hard and take pride in your work. I'm only able

It shouldn't sting! Doing a good job is the first step in building a relationship, so you should absolutely work hard and take pride in your work. I'm only able to leverage my relationships to make easy money because my clients trust the quality of my work (and I ensure the quality of the people who are hired through me). Doing good work builds trust, but unfortunately many people stop at that. I'd recommend reading The Trusted Advisor [1]. It was originally written with management consultants in mind, but it is a good guideline in general for how to walk the line between personal and work relationships. Basically, you should look at your clients as you would a friend: be their friend, know their problems, and help them with those problems. Become invested in them and their success, and they will invest in you. Business is ultimately about people, but I feel many technical workers focus on the technology and get screwed over as a result. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Trusted-Advisor-David-Maister/dp/0743212347 http://www.amazon.com/The-Trusted-Advisor-David-Maister/dp/0...