Choosing Kindness: A Morning in the Life of a Business Owner

Some mornings, the reality of being a business owner really hits you.

Today was one of those mornings.

Running a business means juggling a lot of moving parts, and sometimes it feels like everyone needs something at the exact same moment. The phone rings constantly, emails come in nonstop, texts pop up, bills need to be paid, and problems need to be solved. We truly try our best to be available and responsive, but the truth is—we simply cannot answer the phone every single time it rings.

What we can do is get back to you.

We even have a live person available to text with you, which is often the fastest way to get help. Through text, she can assist five or six people at the same time, compared to helping just one person on the phone. That means more people get help faster.

But some of the little frustrations that pile up during the day might surprise you.

For example, we shouldn’t have to put a sign in the bathroom asking people not to flush anything other than toilet paper. Diapers, tampons, and pads don’t disintegrate, and when they get flushed, they create major plumbing problems.

Or when we send an email to multiple people, it really helps when you choose “Reply All.” If only one person responds privately, it can leave the rest of the team out of the loop and slow everything down.

And as a business owner, when I call to pay a bill, it shouldn’t take ten minutes on the phone. Ideally, I should be able to pay it online in a minute or two.

These might seem like small things, but when they stack up throughout the day, they can push anyone to their limit.

This morning I had to try really hard not to bite someone’s head off. Instead, I had to consciously choose kindness. And I know many of you have days just like that.

Sometimes it only takes one little thing to push you over the edge.

But sending nasty text emojis because you received a bill doesn’t make things better for anyone. We send those bills because we have to keep the lights on, pay our staff, and continue caring for the people who depend on us.

We truly want to make things as easy and smooth as possible. But in order to keep serving our community, those bills do have to be paid.

So today’s lesson—for me and maybe for you too—is simple:

Choose kindness.

Choose kindness even when dealing with a business, because you don’t know what kind of mess we’ve already had to wade through that day.

And we’ll choose kindness right back, because we know you’ve probably had a rough day too.

At the end of the day, we’re all just people trying to get through it.

Let’s be kind to each other. 💛