Trust Is Built One Kind Conversation at a Time

Yesterday was a full day.

Most of it was spent with other people. That is the best kind of day I have.

An afternoon with a man who still digs through his own leads

I spent the afternoon at an East Texas business with an owner who has been in his trade for many years.

He knows his work. He knows his customers. What wore on him was the part in between.

Leads that come in at odd hours. People who fill out a form and then go quiet. Weeks where the phone barely rings and he cannot tell why.

He was not complaining. He was just tired of digging.

So we sat down and looked at what he already had. He already had software he liked, and it worked. My job was not to sell him something new. My job was to plug into what was working and make sure nobody who reached out had to wait until morning to hear back.

That is what serving a business owner looks like most days. Listen longer than you talk. Build around the man, not around your own idea.

Trust takes time, and that is all right

Driving away, I kept thinking about something I have had to accept.

When you ask a business owner to let you into their customers, their numbers and their phone, you are asking for something precious. Most people are slow to hand that over. They should be.

Trust is not something you can rush. You earn it by showing up again. By telling the truth when it is not the answer they hoped for. By doing the small thing you said you would do.

I used to want everything fast. I am learning that the slow road is the one that holds.

The stop I did not plan

On the way home I swung by the church. I was not planning to stay.

There was a message being preached that night. I realized I still had my camera and microphones in the truck from the day's work. So I offered to record it, clipped on a mic, set up the camera and let it roll.

I did not plan that. I believe God sets those things up ahead of us. All I had to do was say yes ma'am and get to work.

It was not a big thing. That is the point. Most service is not big. It is having what someone needs and handing it over.

One kind interaction at a time

Earlier in the day I had been out filming by the water. A lady stopped to ask what I was doing. I told her I was putting some videos up to show folks how beautiful it is out here.

When I told her my name, she asked if I was Ryan Nichols. I said yes ma'am. And we had a good, kind talk.

Not everyone is going to like me. That is all right. But I want every person I meet to walk away feeling respected.

One kind interaction at a time. That is how trust gets built. It is also how a community gets knit back together.

Something you can do this week

Pick one of these and do it before Sunday.

• Offer your skill to your church. If you can run a camera, work a sound board, cook, mow or keep the books, tell someone in charge. A lot of small churches across East Texas run on a few tired volunteers.
• Call back the person you have been meaning to call. A neighbor, a customer, an old friend. A two minute call tells them they matter.
• Help a local business owner get found. Leave an honest review. Share their post on your own page. Tell a friend where you got good service.
• Be kind to the next stranger who stops you. You never know what that conversation means to them.

East Texas is built on people who show up. Let's keep showing up for each other.

Ryan