Life is messy and it makes our businesses messy too. This has been a hard week dealing with the loss of my brother as I hit some new bumps in the road. In addition, we have employees dealing with health issues — these are my friends, and their struggles become mine too.

What I’ve learned through messy seasons is that your team and your values carry you through. Strong financial systems matter here too — when you’re not at your best personally, you need the business to be structured enough to keep running without you having to hold everything together by hand. Build that structure before you need it.