Whenever my family visits Santa Cruz, we go to a coffee shop called Cat and Cloud.
It's on the lower westside and shares a three block stretch with three other coffee shops.
Yet this one is consistently the most crowded.
And the reason why has everything to do with how people feel when they walk in the door.
I noticed it in two small moments.
A few years back, my wife and I showed up to grab a cup of coffee before heading to the beach for a walk.
Turns out their building had lost power so they couldn't accept any credit card payments.
In a normal business this is a crisis: doors locked, signs up, stress.
Yet here you wouldn't have known. As soon as I walked through the doors it felt like a party:
"Welcome! We can't accept payments. That means free coffee!"
They prioritized the person over the transaction.
The second instance happened when I showed up early in the morning to get some work done
I walked in shortly after they opened and ordered a fresh cup of single origin from Costa Rica.
When the barista turned around to fill my cup, he realized that the pot was empty.
Yet another moment where most people default to convenience
He could've easily said, "Hey man, I've got to brew up a new batch. Give me 10 minutes."
Instead he said, "You come here for coffee. Coffee has to be ready. The cup is on the house and in the meantime here's a small taster of another roast to sip on while you wait."
Engaging with a business that acts this way feels different. It feels more like love and less like a transaction.
Dare I say... it feels human.
And that contrast has never mattered more because the world is shifting.
Society is drowning in noise. We're watching businesses use AI to fabricate testimonials and manipulate vulnerable people. We're seeing deep fakes and voice replication used to extract value instead of create it.
Trust is quickly becoming the world's most valuable resource because it's becoming the scarcest.
You have to choose a side, personally and professionally.
You can operate from Lust.
Lust is life-taking. It is self-serving. It seeks to control and extract. It looks at a customer or an employee and asks, "What can I get out of this?"
Or you can operate from Love.
Love is life-giving. It is rooted in truth, wisdom, connection, and trust. It looks at a human being and asks, "How can I serve this?"
And this difference between lust and love is something people feel the moment they get proximity to you, your business, and your work.
Your team feels it. Your clients feel it. Your prospects feel it. Your employees feel it. Your family feels it.
People don't follow you or buy from you because you work hard or know more. They follow you or buy from you because of how they feel in your presence.
Love creates clarity, capacity, and momentum.
Lust creates pressure, reactivity, and resistance.
Business and leadership are better in every way when they feel more like love and less like a transaction.
In an economy of artificial noise, being human is the only competitive advantage that can't be cloned.
To your success,
James
