It’s 8:46 PM, and an email lands blaming your business for something that you are understand wasn’t entirely your fault.

What you do next shapes your reputation more than any plan you’ve ever written. In this episode of Building Clarity, a podcast ranked #3 on Spotify for dads and pressure management, I unpack how to handle difficult customers, harsh reviews, and tense conversations under pressure, drawing on lessons from running my own business and how that relates to raising kids.

You’ll leave with a simple approach to customer service, communication, and conflict resolution. As a friend reminds me, customer service is not a science, just a lost art.

When someone’s upset, are you trying to be right, or trying to make them feel heard?

Think of the business leader you admire most, and ask what really sets them apart.

It’s rarely talent, it’s the things no one can take from them, their character, habits, mindset, and attitude, because they’ve stopped letting what others think, what others have, or the pull of instant results make small things matter too much.

So what are you still handing over to people who barely know you, and what would change if you finally took it back?

Every business owner eventually asks the same question: should I be working on my business, or in it?

The curious part is that anyone who gives you a single answer is almost certainly wrong, because the right one depends entirely on where your business is in its life, the same way a newborn needs a hovering parent and a four-year-old needs the opposite. I trace that shift through my own story at The UPS Store, where my most valuable hours moved from behind the counter to the conversations, coffees, and community events that bring in people who don’t yet know we exist.

The real skill isn’t choosing a side, it’s learning to read honestly where you are today, and noticing when the business has quietly asked something different of you.