Most people know that it’s important that you keep your personal and professional lives separate. Though it’s fine and recommended to add the occasional personal touches in the work you do, most of the time, it’s not always a good idea to mix the two.
A healthy balance should be achieved whenever you put the two together. In social media, for example, it’s not a good idea to post personal updates on your company’s page, but you can very well do so on your personal one. Of course, if most of the content is public and most of your contacts there are your professional ones, then it’s probably not a good idea to fill it with informal updates about your daily life. This is especially true if it’s for your personal brand… too much personal information may result in people un-following you or deciding that you’re not worth their time.Also, when it comes to the online world, remember that anything you say may be used against you, and your personal touches may end up tainting your professional image if you don’t censor them.
Profanities and vulgar language, for example, are something you should avoid if you want to keep a professional image. Though your friends would simply laugh with you if you use them, your boss, colleagues or clients may not be so amused. These are the things that you should definitely avoid when interacting with other professionals in person, as well as in the online world.
Sometimes though, it’s hard to separate your personal and professional life when the two intersect. For example, you may be partners with your friends in a business you put up, or your boss ends up being your wife’s ex, or something similar. Though being partners with your friends in business isn’t bad idea, it can become one if you end up becoming angry with one of them over a matter, and it starts to negatively affect your professional relationship.
So how do you handle it? The key here is to do your best not to let it affect the business. As two mature adults, you should be able to discuss what went wrong and agree to keep the problem between the two of you.
Of course, it can be very hard to work with someone you don’t get along with personally. In the end, if all else fails, it may be best if one of you simply walks away from the business, in order to keep the harmony there.
This is why it’s not always a good idea to do business with people who are close to you, since this can result in disagreements that leak from your personal relationships to your professional ones.
Truly, the key to maintaining a professional image is to make sure that you think before you say or do something, and always remember that anything posted on the Internet could possibly affect your personal brand. Remember that when you’re sharing personal information, it’s best to do so only with your friends and family, and always try to keep your personal and professional lives separate.