After a year that tested our patience, our priorities, and our faith in humanity, here’s how small business owners can make a difference where it matters most.
This year was a doozy. We watched people struggle with uncertainty, argue over just about everything, worry about their families, and try to make sense of a world that rarely seems to slow down. Meanwhile, business owners kept showing up, paying their people, serving their customers, and trying to make a living without losing their minds in the process. If you’re one of those people, I hope you take a moment to recognize what that took. As the year winds down, I’m thinking less about what entrepreneurs need to do to grow their businesses next year and more about what the world needs from us as human beings. Because behind every business, every transaction, every decision, and every set of numbers are actual people trying to build a good life. And I think we have more power to help them than we sometimes realize.
1. Pay Attention to the People Right in Front of You
It’s easy to look at everything happening in the world and feel overwhelmed. There are big problems, complicated arguments, economic pressures, and challenges that no single person or business can solve. You might wonder what difference your little company can possibly make when the problems seem so enormous. I understand that feeling, but I’ve come to believe that we don’t have to solve everything to do something meaningful. We can start with the people we encounter every day.
Think about your employees. They’re not just the people who complete the work and help generate revenue. They have kids who need their attention, parents who may need care, bills that keep arriving, and personal challenges they don’t necessarily bring into the office. Your customers are people, too. They’re not simply leads in a pipeline or transactions on a spreadsheet. They’re trying to solve a problem, make a living, serve their own customers, or get home in time for dinner. When we remember that, we make different decisions. We listen a little longer, offer a little more flexibility, and recognize that sometimes the right response isn’t another policy or a perfectly worded email. It’s a conversation with another human being.
This is where mindfulness comes in, and I don’t mean that you need to sit cross-legged on your office floor while your phone vibrates itself off the desk. I mean paying attention to what’s actually happening instead of rushing through every interaction while mentally moving on to the next thing. Before you respond to a frustrated customer, pause long enough to understand the problem. Before you assume an employee isn’t committed, find out what’s going on. Before you dismiss someone’s concern because you’re busy, remember that they may have been working up the courage to raise it. We can’t know what another person is carrying unless we’re willing to pay attention.
Going into the new year, try this: Make one interaction each day more human. Put your phone away during a conversation, ask a question and genuinely listen to the answer, or give someone the benefit of a little extra patience. You won’t solve every problem, and you won’t get it right every time. But you may make someone’s day better, and that matters more than we sometimes give it credit for.
2. Use the Advantages of Small Business to Make a Real Difference
Big companies have big bureaucracy. Being small means you’re the owner, the decision-maker, the customer service department, and the person who has to figure out why the printer won’t work.
Being small has an advantage that is easy to overlook: we can be close to the people we serve. We can hear directly from a customer, understand what’s frustrating them, and make a decision without sending the issue through layers of management. We can recognize an employee’s circumstances and find a practical solution. We can try something new, change course when something isn’t working, and respond to a need without waiting for permission from headquarters. That flexibility is valuable, and it gives small business owners an opportunity to make business feel more personal.
Consider what that looks like in practice. Maybe a customer has a problem with your product, and instead of hiding behind a policy, you find a fair way to resolve it. Maybe an employee is struggling to manage a family responsibility, and you can adjust a schedule without compromising the work. Maybe a local organization needs help, and you can offer your expertise, make an introduction, or contribute something your business is uniquely positioned to provide. None of these actions requires you to save the world. They require you to recognize an opportunity to help and have the willingness to act.
As you plan for next year, take a look at where your business has room to be more responsive to, well, people. Ask your customers what makes their lives harder than they need to be. Ask your team which rules or processes get in the way of doing good work. Then consider what you can change. The solution may be simple, and you have the authority to make it happen today.
3. Give People Real Answers, Not More Runaround
It’s incredibly frustrating to reach out to someone with a question and then get sent to prompts or transferred over and over. If you’ve ever spent an afternoon trying to resolve a simple issue with a large organization, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Somewhere, a robot has probably thanked you for your patience for the seventh time.
Small businesses can offer a different experience. We can make it easier for people to reach someone who understands the problem, has the experience to help, and can offer a practical next step. We can be honest when we don’t know the answer, point someone toward a useful resource, and follow through on what we promise. That doesn’t mean we always have the right answer immediately. It means we take responsibility for helping people find one.
That’s part of what I want Better Call Mike to represent: a way for people to get answers and guidance without unnecessary barriers. Entrepreneurs have questions that can affect their livelihoods, their employees, and their families. Sometimes they need an experienced perspective, a practical solution, or help seeing a problem differently. Giving them access to useful answers can save them time, help them make better decisions, and remind them they don’t have to figure everything out alone. Besides, while it’s AI, it’s been trained. By me! So it has my IP and real answers on demand.
Whatever your business does, ask yourself whether you’re making life easier for the person who needs you. Are your instructions clear? Can customers reach someone when they have a problem? Do you explain what happens next? If you can’t help, do you point them in a useful direction? These may sound like ordinary details, but they’re often the difference between someone feeling cared for and someone feeling like a number.
The final thought:
The big picture starts with the small actions we take every day.
When I reflect on a difficult year, I find myself thinking about how much of life is outside our control. We can’t personally fix every economic problem, resolve every disagreement, or guarantee that the coming year will be easier than the last. We can spend our days arguing about what other people should do, or we can look at the part we actually have the power to influence. For entrepreneurs, that part is closer than we think: the people we employ, the customers we serve, the communities where we operate, and the choices we make when someone needs our help.
As we head into the new year, let’s remember that business isn’t separate from life. It happens among people, and the way we run our companies affects those people in real ways. We have an opportunity to make work a little better, solve problems a little faster, and treat each other with a little more care. We may not be able to change the entire world, but we can change the experience someone has when they encounter us.
That seems like a pretty good place to start 2027.
You’ve got this.
-Mike
