09/26/2026
Vulnerable post: I have to get this out of my throat chakra.
Running a small business is nothing less than 100 hours a week. It’s beyond just seeing people, meeting people, adjusting to people. Running a business is top tier leather skin a daily drive and adjustments on the fly. Growing up in business with my dad I learned a lot so thinking I was going into this mastered was where I was wrong.
Business teaches you, you don’t teach the business. Being vulnerable to maintain the peace gets exhausting. Taxes, paperwork, training, back end, overhead, physically working, 100s of emails, messages, inventory, all of it, is either bred into you or not. Maintaining business while people have their own opinion of how it should be ran and then projected on to you is also exhausting.
In retail we are abused (literally) every day. Either someone wants a deal, someone didn’t like your rules, some said something about an owner, someone wasn’t happy because we didn’t bend to their demand. Someone didn’t follow the instructions given to them in an amenity, someone is just having a tough day to come in and project.. it takes tough skin.
Yet, we (business owners) still hold space and adjust. We still see your side, perception and want to assure integrity. We want to create an experience that leaves a lasting impression. We care, we will always offer, support and nurture you as you walk through our doors.
In business .. everything is my fault. I take accountability for everything.
But taking advantage or critiquing of small business publicly is not the way to go. It has a trickle effect for each employee and their family, it’s potentially crushing the foundation of their financials and future impacts of financials for small business.
Constant daily example’s.
This punch card is expired .. give it to me FREE anyway.
Here’s this bad review because I couldn’t get my (OSHA approved) ear plugs in the right way.
Open up the schedule anyway.
The plotting of customers/clients against my team. This one said this to take advantage of that one.
I spoke with Lee already and she said yes, when there was no communication with said person to begin with.
I’m scheduled 1 hour but can you GIVE me two.
Thief’s!
My gift card is lost can you just give me another one?
People just review them or blast them on socials instead of talking the situation out with an owner.
This is the thing. You will drive thru any fast food chain and not get the genuine service you deserve, your meal will be wrong, you’ll complain, BUT you will go back because it’s convenient.
If you loose a gift card from target, do you think they will just give you a new one? No. But we will still go back to target. We know this but people think as a small business we should do it anyway.
If you don’t like the mileage on your car can you just take it back and get a free one?
If you drink 1/2 a coffee and decide you don’t like it, do you get a free one?
If you steal from a corporate company there will be repercussions but people think they can take advantage of small business.
Every business owner I know is struggling to stay afloat. Every business owner I know is always adjusting to ensure quality, quantity, integrity and keeping people happy while sacrificing a little bit of themselves everyday.
So if you got this far reading. I’d like to thank you all for your support. Thank you all for showing up with limited expectation’s and enjoying the space we love to share with you. Thank you for sharing a kind word about us and any small business. Thank you for sharing your experiences and allowing us and all small business to thrive. Thank you for being kind to our teams who sacrifice taking care of you to put a meal on their table. Thank you for all of the lessons in business, the learning curves and tough skin.
Small business is not for the weak and I know I’m speaking on behalf of every small business out there. So as patrons, please be kind and understand running a business is not the same day to day. We move with adversity to adjust and maintain. We learn as you learn.
We are just humans too trying to create space for all of you. And 99.9% of the time business owners want to see YOU happy and make things right.
Please be kind. Please try and understand. Please support any small business that you are able to.
Thank you for my vulnerable release. Have a great day!
