🔴 Watch the Full Be Locally Loved Conversation:
🎧 Listen to the Full Be Locally Loved Conversation: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xYXE0NxbdDFsWq1GAHA9k?si=pkOSfQu2SsOzhjoIDuuNKw
How to Build Resilience as a Business Owner
When your business is struggling, the natural instinct can be to go quiet. You may feel embarrassed asking for help, asking for more time, or admitting that you're having a hard time.
But resilience isn't about handling everything alone.
I've learned that sometimes resilience means having the courage to have the conversation you'd rather avoid.
In my conversation with Tori Clark on Be Locally Loved, she shared how courageous conversations helped her navigate some of the most difficult moments in her business. When she inherited a charter bus company that was heading toward bankruptcy, she was only 24 years old. She had to make incredibly difficult calls—including telling people the company owed them millions of dollars and asking for more time.
That takes courage.
And it also takes communication.
Resilience Requires Honest Conversations
One of the most powerful things Tori shared was that if you can't communicate through the hard times, you're probably not a great communicator in the good times either.
Sometimes a courageous conversation sounds like:
"I'm really struggling. Can you help me?"
"I know I owe you money. Can you give me more time?"
Or simply, "Can you pray for me?"
Asking for help doesn't automatically mean you've failed. Sometimes it means you're being honest about where you are and giving people the opportunity to respond with understanding.
We All Need Grace
Tori also talked about the importance of giving grace—to yourself, your team, your customers, your vendors, and your partners.
Every business owner will experience difficult seasons. None of us has everything figured out all the time.
Grace doesn't mean ignoring problems. It means remembering that there are human beings on the other side of every business relationship.
And that brings me to one of my favorite parts of our conversation: Tori's domino story.
The Domino Effect of Kindness
When Tori was a child, her father was struggling financially and trying to get more time to pay their mortgage. Eventually, their home went into foreclosure.
While her father was inside the bank, Tori would sit with the receptionist, who would give her a lollipop.
Years later, Tori was interviewing someone for a CFO position for the struggling charter bus company she had inherited. During the interview, they discovered that the candidate had worked at the same bank.
Then the woman realized who Tori was.
She was the receptionist.
The little act of kindness she had shown Tori as a child had come full circle years later.
That's the domino effect of people: a small act of kindness can create a ripple that you may never see.
You don't have to do something extraordinary. Send the encouraging message. Check on someone. Give someone grace. Have the difficult conversation.
You may never know where that domino falls next.
What I Want You to Remember
Business is about more than marketing, sales, and numbers. It's about people.
So if you're in a difficult season right now, remember:
Have the courageous conversation.
Ask for help when you need it.
Give yourself and others grace.
Look for opportunities to encourage someone.
Be someone's domino.
The smallest thing you do today could become part of someone else's story tomorrow.
