Love- the key to Business Success

I’ve heard many spiritual teachers say that love is the key to success in business.  I love the idea that no matter what type of work we do, the only real job we have is to love people.

When I first moved to my new house several months ago, I was unfamiliar with the area. I didn’t have any preferences in terms of the businesses I frequent. I didn’t have a favorite place to get coffee or buy groceries. I made my decisions about where to go based on convenience.

This was true each time I needed to put gas in my car. I’d stop wherever was closest and had the best price.

Several weeks ago I stopped at a tiny gas station which is about 5 minutes from my house.  It’s in the opposite direction of the route I normally take when I go to work, but that day I happened to be near it so I stopped.

The gas station attendant comes over to me. He is a tiny little man, probably in his late sixties.   His is the weathered, wrinkled face of one who has lived a full life. When he comes up to my window, I smile and say good morning. He greets me back politely enough.  “I’ll have a fill up, regular please”, I say to him.  “No”, he replies, shaking his head solemnly.  I am a little taken aback wondering if maybe they’ve run out of gas. Before I can ask what he means, I realize that his face is transforming before my eyes.  He is breaking out in a smile of almost unbelievable brilliance.  His mouth turns upwards, moulding his cheeks into an obviously familiar pattern of creases and folds. As his cheeks reconfigure themselves, his eyes recede a little, yet they seem brighter. I suddenly understand what that often used phrase about twinkling eyes really means. He erupts into the most endearing giggle I’ve heard in a long time and I realize that he is just teasing me.

This is my first meeting with my friend Uri.

He proceeds to fill up my car, and while we wait he chats with me. He asks where I am from. Africa I tell him.  He tells me is from Turkey. There is a instant recognition of a connection there. We are both immigrants. He has a rich accent and he calls me honey.  He tells me all about his “baby”, a burgundy Mercedes which sits in the gas station garage. He has owned the car since it was brand new 23 years ago, and he tells me, that he has done every single bit of work it has ever needed with his own two hands. I  express my admiration for his skills and tell him how beautiful his baby is.  Someday, I say perhaps he can do some work on my car. He asks why my husband can’t do this work, to which I respond that I have no husband. He seems upset by this, how can a lovely girl like me have no husband. He shakes his head mournfully. This is not right. I must find a good husband.

I’m not there for long, it doesn’t take more than a 5 minutes to fill up my little car, but by the time I leave I have fallen in love with him.  I am charmed. When I drive away I feel a warm glow, the kind which comes from making an unexpected yet true connection with another human being. I am smiling hard and I feel happier than I did before I met him. “OK, bye bye honey. You have nice day” he says as I pull away.

I go back to fill up the following week, and our exchange is just as warm. Just as lovely. This time he goes to hand me back my credit card, and as I reach for it, he snatches his hand back. Again his faces melts into that amazing smile and he giggles. He loves to tease. As I prepare to leave he says “OK, bye bye honey, I see you next week. Because you come every week”. Now on days when I need to get gas, I go to Uri. I am willing to go out of my way to do so.

Sometimes I drive by and he is sitting on the bench in front of the gas station. I slow down and wave at him.  He always waves back enthusiastically and even though I can’t see his face I can feel him smiling at me.Â

This morning I went to fill up, and it occurred to me that  these moments,  brief as they may be, are such a gift to me.   Today, before I drove away, he grasped my hand warmly with his and  offered his usual farewall “OK  honey, bye bye, I see you next time. You have nice day”.  In that moment  I  felt truly loved.

As  I see it, Uri is not in the gas pumping business. He is in the business of loving people.   How amazing that I go to him to get gas, yet I leave there having experienced what feels like a truly divine connection. It’s the type of feeling that fills me with hope for humanity. In these moments I see that the only thing that matters is love.

Uri has made me a devoted customer. Even if  his  prices are higher than others, I will still go to him.

So maybe  loving people is the key to business success.