What Happens When You Aim North but End Up South
Business will always be chaotic. Sure, set goals—but don’t miss the view when winds changes direction.
In 2020, chaos taught us to pivot
This weekend, I found myself in the middle of something someone described as beautiful chaos. Which felt about right. Chaos has always been my m.o.
Back in 2020, chaos was the word of the year. Remember? Pivot. Every small business owner I knew was using it like they were NBA cheerleaders: pivot our hours, pivot our offerings, pivot our entire model! My own business had just relocated our café to a new location and we mapping out a huge summer. Then the world flipped, and everything became improvisation.
I’ll save the full café story for another day, but that year imprinted something on me: sometimes chaos isn’t the enemy, it’s the invitation.
A road trip led us to a balloon festival in Colorado
That same energy showed up again this weekend, when Rick and I stumbled into an entirely new mode of transportation.
We’re on the tail end of a six-week road trip, and one of our last stops was visiting family in Colorado. They rolled out the red carpet: Little Mountain Bakery, scenic hikes, and a hot spring soak. But the highlight? A Hot Air Balloon Festival.
In typical Rick-and-Sonya fashion, we somehow befriended a balloon pilot. Within thirty minutes of arriving, we weren’t just spectators. We were riding shotgun in a pickup truck, part of the balloon crew.
We said yes to the crew, and suddenly we were in the basket
The balloon was matte black, streaked with colourful drips. Dawn broke in a thorny field on the edge of an industrial park. Fog clung to the Rockies in the distance. Around us, thirty balloons were in various stages of becoming: some still fabric on the ground, some slowly breathing, some already rising like enormous, silent creatures.
“Who wants to go up?” the pilot asked.
Both Rick and I nearly fainted with excitement. Who wouldn’t?
When it was my turn, I swung my legs over the basket. The pilot leaned close.
“I want to see if we can touch the water today.”
Turns out, touching water is the mecca of ballooning.
He pointed north toward a glittering lake. Then he pulled the gas and we lifted, weightless.
The pilot aimed north, but the wind carried us south
Here’s the thing about hot air balloons: you can point all you like, but the wind is in charge. The pilot aimed north. The balloon carried us south.
From above, Colorado stretched out in colour—greens, reds, golds—but I couldn’t stop thinking: this is business ownership. We set goals. We make plans. Then life shrugs and carries us in another direction.
I’ve lived this pattern more times than I can count. Long before the pandemic made “pivot” a buzzword, I was already pivoting:
Staff quitting mid-shift.
Menus that tanked.
Family crises.
Road construction blocked our entrance for an entire summer.
Deliveries that never materialized.
Each time, I had to reset my plans on the fly.
Despite aiming north, the pilot had no way to force us there. The wind had other ideas: send Sonya south. Eventually, we drifted over a golf course pond, startling a dozen ducks and irritating golfers who didn’t appreciate a floating shadow over their tee-off. It wasn’t the lake he had in mind. It wasn’t picture-perfect. But it was unforgettable.
That’s the lesson. The real win wasn’t hitting the exact lake. That’s why people call ballooning “beautiful chaos.” The win was simply getting in the balloon and seeing where it would take me.
And getting in wasn’t luck. It was a string of small choices: setting my alarm, saying yes to the festival, chatting with strangers, chasing the balloon through fields, doing the grunt work as part of the crew, and finally climbing into the basket when fear whispered stay on the ground.
I almost climbed out when fear hit, but I stayed in
When the burner roared above my head, I almost climbed right back out. My heart was pounding hard enough that I’m sure the balloon pilot thought I was a liability risk. But I stayed in, of course. Sometimes courage looks less like a bold leap and more like gripping the basket rail with clammy hands and deciding not to quit.
Of course, I’m here to tell the tale. Lol.
The real win isn’t the lake, it’s getting in the air
In business, it’s the same. We obsess over the picturesque “lake”—the perfect revenue number, the ideal team, the flawless launch. But those things are less important than being in the basket. Being in action. Saying yes when opportunity appears. Letting the winds redirect you without climbing out halfway. (eek!)
Goals matter. They give us something to point toward. But what actually changes our lives are the moments we lift off. The moments we commit, even knowing we can’t control where the winds will take us.
Business will always be chaotic. But if you let it, it can be beautiful chaos.
In 2020, I thought my business would go one way, and now in 2025, I’m sure glad it went the other way. It’s been a beautiful, chaotic journey for sure.
Business owners can’t control the wind, but they can control whether they fly.
✨ If you want to feel braver in your business, try this with AI 🎈:
Prompt:
I want you to help me take bold action in my business this week.
First, ask me 5 yes-or-no questions to clarify where I am right now. Keep them simple and direct.
Then, based on my answers, list five bold actions I can take in the next seven days to put my business “in the basket” — actions that create real momentum, even if I don’t know exactly where they’ll lead.
Be encouraging but practical.
Thanks for reading! Next week, I’m kicking off a new series on the benefits and dangers of using AI in your business. I’d love to hear from you:
Have you tried it yet?
What’s worked (or totally flopped)?
What questions are you still wrestling with?
Hit reply and share your experience, and your story might shape where the series goes.
-Sonya