Dual Relationships

As your build your career, it make sense to look to your Friends, family, neighbors, and other you know for clients. After all , you already know these people, and you have established a basic level of trust with them.However, working with people you already know can be problematic. At some point you might find it difficult to juggle the dual roles as in the example above of personal fitness trainer and neighbor.A relationship that extends beyond the limits of the professional interaction is called a dual relationship. Your client may be someone you go to basketball games with or someone with whom your wife owns a company. Your client might be the mother of your son's girlfriend. These are all examples of dual relationships. Some professionals say it's important to avoid dual relationships with clients. However, unless you live in a huge metropolitan area and can build your client base by working with people you otherwise never see, you are likely to have some dual relationships with your clients. So it;s probably more realistic to learn how to manage them. To manage dual relationships, it's important to understand your boundaries.