Your Business Isn't Broken—It's Just Backed Up

Backups in your business? Here’s how a kitchen sink disaster taught me to shift perspective, find help, and keep moving.

Have you ever had one of those moments when a simple mistake snowballs into what feels like a full-blown disaster? The kind that leaves you thinking, “How did I not see this coming?” I certainly have, and it taught me something surprisingly valuable about how we navigate obstacles—both in life and business.

The Great Easter Sink Disaster

It was Easter Sunday and I had a house full of family and friends. To say I made a meal to feed an army is an understatement because in my house, everyone is welcome to the table.

But in my haste to get on track with the day (and meal), I made a huge mistake—I put 10 pounds of potato skins down the disposal. Do you know how much starch is in 10 pounds of potato skins? Neither did I, but it was enough to completely clog the kitchen sink and back up the drain.

There I was, Easter dinner nearly ready, everyone gathering around the table, and my kitchen sink turning into a small, murky pond of potato-infused water. Not exactly the scenario I envisioned for the day.

Lucky for me, we have a good friend who is a plumber. Dialing him in a panic, he was all for coming to help. Over he came to get my dinner back on track. But it was late in the day and the food was ready to be served.

So that’s what I did. People were eating. Vince (my plumber friend) and I were in the kitchen, him working and me “supervising” while trying to coax him to eat dinner first.

It was loud and chaotic. My family tried to act like nothing out of the ordinary was happening—it was just another day at our house.

At the end of the day, the disposal was unclogged, I was given a lengthy list of dos and don’ts, and I did get my friend to take a large goodie bag home.

What struck me years later wasn’t that the crisis was averted—it was how this whole potato skin fiasco mirrored so many business challenges I’ve faced and seen my clients struggle with.

When Your Business Hits a Clog

That backed-up sink isn’t so different from what happens in our businesses when systems fail, clients disappear, or projects go sideways. Our first reaction is typically frazzled, followed by a frantic search for immediate solutions.

But here’s what my Easter dinner incident really taught me:

1. Perfection Often Creates Our Biggest Problems

I created that plumbing disaster because I was rushing to finish the dinner while taking care of everyone else. I skipped steps I knew were important (e.g., throwing the potato skins in the trash) to achieve some idealized version of the event.

Sound familiar? In business, our drive for perfection—the flawless website, the perfect client onboarding, the ideal pricing structure—often leads us to create the very problems that later feel overwhelming. We rush important processes or skip crucial steps because we focus on the end result rather than the path.

2. The Right Relationships Matter More Than Perfect Planning

My Easter dinner was saved not by my impeccable planning, but by having the right relationship long before I needed it. I didn’t have to Google “emergency plumbers on Easter Sunday” because I already had Vince’s number in my phone.

This is something I see struggling entrepreneurs miss constantly. They focus so intently on their business plan or marketing strategy that they neglect building genuine relationships with peers, mentors, and even competitors who could help when things inevitably go sideways.

Your network isn’t just for referrals—it’s your emergency response system.

3. Keep Serving While You Solve

Perhaps the most practical lesson from my Easter plumbing drama was the importance of continuing to function while addressing the crisis. I didn’t cancel dinner because the sink was backed up. The meal went on, people were fed, and the problem got fixed simultaneously.

In your business, this means you don’t have to halt everything when facing a significant obstacle. Identify what can continue moving forward while you address the specific issue at hand. Your clients don’t need to experience your internal chaos.

4. Your Crisis Feels Bigger to You Than Anyone Else

While I was having a minor meltdown about my sink, my people were happily eating and chatting, almost oblivious to my distress. What felt like a catastrophe to me barely registered to any of them.

This perspective gap happens constantly in business. What feels like a five-alarm fire to you (a website glitch, a delayed launch, a difficult client conversation) often barely registers with your audience or customers. This isn’t to minimize real problems, but to right-size them in your mind.

5. Every Obstacle Leaves Its Lessons

I walked away from my potato skin disaster with something valuable—a clear understanding of what should never go down the drain. The obstacle itself became another lesson in life.

Your business challenges work the same way. When you navigate through them, you gain specific, practical knowledge you couldn’t have acquired otherwise. These lessons become part of your business knowledge, preventing similar issues in the future and even becoming expertise you can share with others.

Reframing Your Business Clogs

So what do we do with this potato skin wisdom? Here’s how to apply it when you hit your next business obstacle:

Ask better questions. Instead of “Why is this happening to me?” try “What systems need adjustment to prevent this in the future?”
Leverage your relationships. Who already knows how to solve this problem? Reach out before spinning your wheels alone.
Create a two-track approach. Identify what needs to pause while addressing the obstacle and what can continue moving forward.
Capture the learning. Document what you learn from each challenge so it becomes an asset rather than just a painful memory.

Notice what still worked. Even in the midst of my plumbing crisis, people were fed, conversations flowed, and memories were made. What parts of your business are still working beautifully despite the current challenge?

From Potato Skins to Perspective

That Easter Sunday taught me that most obstacles contain hidden opportunities—not in some vague, inspirational-poster kind of way, but in very practical terms. The opportunity might be a clearer system, a stronger relationship, a better boundary, or an important piece of knowledge you couldn’t have gained any other way.

The next time your business encounters an unexpected clog, remember the potato skin principle. The obstacle itself isn’t the full story—the real opportunity lies in how you navigate it, what you learn, and how you apply that learning moving forward.

What’s your potato skin story? I’d love to hear about a time when a seeming disaster in your business revealed an unexpected opportunity. Your story might be exactly what another reader needs to hear.

Need help navigating your current business obstacle? I offer 1:1 strategy sessions designed to help you find clarity and create a practical path forward. Learn more about working with me