Friends Forever? Business and friendship can be a very volatile combination if you're not careful.

Ideally, when true friends do business, all the natural laws of negotiation are suspended. The gladiators lay down their swords, and water flows uphill. The buyer demands to pay more, and the seller even insists on taking less!

But the real world instructs us differently: Friendship is better for business than business is for friendship. Valued relationships will often explode or dissolve when business deals get rocky.

At best, it's a scenario that promotes unrealistic expectations and hurtful miscommunication. For one thing, odds are you're more likely to have a spat with a friend you're making a business deal with than one you're not. There are simply more opportunities for you and your friend to get your signals crossed.