Driving through puddles is one thing I never thought would teach lessons in business ownership. Nevertheless, when you have children, your eyes tend to see perspectives in the most creative of ways.

As we drove on rain-soaked roads, we proceeded to drive through a puddle, resulting in an unexpected car wash. My husband and I might chuckle, if even acknowledge it at all, but my four-year-old was awe-struck. Her face lit up as though she had just been given a pony on Christmas morning. We then proceeded to drive through yet another puddle, much smaller. Her reaction was once again that of pure joy.

What did this remind me? As time progresses while running a business, we tend to stop celebrating the small wins and only focus on the “milestones”. Simple reminders like this encourage me to celebrate every win, big or small. In the end, they are all ways our hard work has paid off.

As we continued our drive, my child’s reaction and comments made me think more about my own business journey.

As we drove through sprinkles of raindrops and dark clouds passed by, her thoughts were that a storm was coming. She didn’t realize the clouds just meant some precipitation would fall, but a storm was not to be expected.

Just like in our business, it may seem like the clouds of difficulty are coming our way to wash out the hard work. If we would just take a closer look, sometimes the storm is actually passing right over us, only allowing small trials to help shape us and our efforts.

And when we do go through the hard times, being surprised by waves, if we’d look closer, we would realize the wave is a splash, not meant to take us under.

Business is a journey you don’t need to go through alone. Agencies like Sandpiper, friends, family, and mentors are there to guide you through it.

Don’t go alone.

-Ashley Stidfole