A tale of smoothies and business

Two days ago I left the gym just before 9am. I was thirsty and hungry when I walked by a smoothie stand.

A smoothie sounded amazing and my tummy agreed. So I walked up and said good morning to the nice girl at the stand.

She had her arms across the countertop, looking at her smartphone, she smiled and said how can I help?

Can I have a smoothie please? She said no. The stand is not open.

It was 8:54am. Everything was ready to go.

But her shift did not start until 6 minutes later.

Just like that, I was denied my delicious fruit smoothie. So I left.

Walking home, this got me thinking on how many opportunities we miss everyday just because we are not flexible enough or the business rules do not permit it. Or our own.

Do you think the owners of the smoothie place would be pleased if they found out about our interaction? I sure as hell wouldn’t.

We must keep reminding ourselves that we are all just people helping people. We all have something to offer that someone else needs. This is the basis of society and capitalism.

No harm in helping.

By helping we build a business, we build relationships.

We can either be all businessy and play-by-the-book type of person.

Or be the person who’s here to help, business and growth will follow.

I’m all for the latter.