Principle of the Week: When Your Why Has Names · The Principled Entrepreneur

Principle of the Week: When Your Why Has Names

I got emotional.

Alright… more than a little.

But that’s what happens when I see Jodi cry.

During our podcast with Stephanie Buckley, owner of Petit Jean Coffeehouse — voted the #1 coffee shop in Arkansas two years in a row — we actually had to stop recording just to pull ourselves together.

Stephanie’s success doesn’t follow the normal playbook. She isn’t in a busy downtown. There’s no drive-through line wrapped around the building.

What she has is community.

Not the trendy version. The real thing.

She knows her customers. Their kids. Their stories. People don’t just come for great coffee — they come to see their friend, Stephanie.

That kind of connection leaves a mark.

Then the conversation shifted.

I mentioned that a lot of women in business carry constant mom guilt. When they’re working, they feel guilty for not being with their kids. When they’re with their kids, they feel like they’re letting someone down at work.

I see Jodi wrestle with this, and honestly, I don’t always know what advice to give.

Both ladies looked at each other… and started crying.

After we gathered ourselves, Stephanie shared what changed everything for her:

Make your kids the reason you work.

She included her boys in the business. Starting the coffee shop was actually their idea. And when a previous business began taking too much time away from her family, she sold it.

Nothing was more important than being a mom.

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.” — C.S. Lewis

And Andy Stanley said it this way:

“Your greatest contribution to the world may not be something you do, but someone you raise.”

You can build a hundred-million-dollar business and people will call you successful.

But the legacy that really matters is hearing your children say:

“They were a great mom.”

“They were a great dad.”

That kind of legacy outlasts money, recognition, and success.

When your why has names, success looks different — and it lasts forever.

Be Principled,

Caleb