Would you thank God for a tragedy in your business?

Keily Murillo Fuentes and her husband Josué García founded JK Dry Cleaning and Industrial Laundry in 2015, a family business located in the coastal town of Ares, in the Spanish province of A Coruña.

After years of hard work, the business grew to become a reference of good service in the region, a popularity acquired by covering several sectors such as the hospitality industry.

But in November 2019, an electrical malfunction set fire to JK's industrial warehouse, which seriously affected its center of operations. The tragedy precede the explosion of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Today, Keily Murillo has many reflections on what happened. “Thank God that the warehouse burned down”, she says.

But what led this entrepreneur to express such words of gratitude? Spanish news website Protetante Digital went to Ares to know her story.

Question. How did JK Dry Cleaning and Industrial Laundry start?

Answer. It was born out of the crisis. There was a very bad economic period in this part of Spain and we were living on our savings. I asked myself the question: “What can I do?” In the end, I came up with the idea of offering a home dry-cleaning service to help housewives.

In my own home, I started washing, drying and ironing clothes. It went so well that my husband Josué saw a business opportunity and decided to rent premises.

Q. How did you grow so much?

A. With another question: “Who does the laundry in hotels?”

One day, I picked up the yellow pages and started calling various hotels. I found the manager of one of them who explained everything to me without any meanness. I also learnt a lot from the internet. We started this adventure by serving a small hotel and it went so well, that we decided to expand our range of clients.

To do that, we also had to increase our responsiveness, so that we learned more about industrial machinery.

We went from having a simple washing machine to having 3 industrial machines for the same process, and from having a simple shop to having a warehouse.

Q. Then everything started to go from good to better?

A. Not really. The business got so out of control that our spiritual life and family life suffered. We are four, we had a little girl and a little boy and we were not giving them quality time.

It was all work. There were Sundays when we did not even go to church. I was aware of it, but the work dynamics and commitments caught up with us.

Q. What did you do?

A. I prayed and asked God, “Do you want me to go on?” At that moment, a big hotel in the county called me and confirmed that they wanted to be our client. I assumed that was the way to go.

The strange thing was that soon after, tragedy struck.

Q. The fire.

A. Yes. It is amazing how it can all be over in just half an hour. We lost more than 20,000 euros worth of clothes.

At that moment I did not understand what the Lord wanted to tell me. Despite the confusion, I kept the faith. My life is in the hands of the Lord, for better or for worse.

Q. How was the recovery?

A. We relied on the solidarity of many brothers in Christ, both financially and emotionally. We were also supported by other laundry companies who helped us meet our business commitments by lending us their facilities at no additional cost.

In the midst of the tragedy, the Lord told us that He was with us. In the end, the fire only damaged our packaging machine and many garments, the rest of the washing machines remained intact. This surprised even the inspectors.

Q. What changes did you decide to make?

A. Despite the losses, which were many, we decided to make investments to recover our business, but this time, to manage it under the philosophy of “less is more”.

We continue to look after and pamper our customers. Maybe in some seasons we bill less by saying "no", but we are at peace by not sacrificing quality of life and family time.

It is difficult for us to talk about this issue. There are people who look for our services and they might think that our "no" sometimes means that we do not want to work enough, but that is not the case. The Lord has simply laid out this path for us to better manage our time and we must obey, and this decision has led us to rest more in Him.

Q. Do you go to church now?

A. Every Sunday. I am the director of the worship team at my church in Ferrol and my children serve there with their musical gifts. I am really grateful.

Q. How is the laundry going this year?

A. Better than ever. The JK Dry Cleaning and Industrial Laundry has a highly qualified and professional team, all the staff is perfectly trained to achieve the highest quality in the result of our laundry.

Today we offer a laundry service that sanitises all the washable material used in hotels, restaurants, nursing homes, student residences, sports centres, hairdressing salons, beauty parlours, etc.

In addition to washing the linen used in these centres, we also offer a rental service, where we have a large stock of sheets, bath towels, bathrobes, hairdressing towels, etc.

All this, thanks to the mercy of God and the best possible management. We cannot complain.

Q. What conclusions do you draw from this experience?

A. That we should worship the God of blessings and not the blessings of God. We were so busy that there was no time to enjoy the blessing.

My husband got up at 4am and finished work at 8 at night. In time, the Lord clearly revealed to me that this business growth was not to take me away from Him.

Another thing I also learned was to say no. You cannot cover everything. You cannot do everything, I needed time for my husband and children.

Today, I thank God that the warehouse was burned. In fact, the pandemic was the icing on the cake of these events that were necessary for us, and allowed us to process all that the Lord wanted to reveal to us. Only then we were able to make the necessary changes in our business.

Q. Any advice you would like to give to our readers?

A. To understand that business is given by the Lord. We must be within His will because outside of it, it is failure. When God asks you to stop, do it. Do not wait for Him to stop you.

If you are in trouble, remember that God is merciful. Ask Him: What do you want me to do with this business?

Connect the Lord with your work life. If your work robs you of peace, that is not the way.

And finally, it is important to understand that your worth is not in the money or the preparation you have, your worth is in the Cross of Christ, the rest is added.

This article was produced for the Líderes Empresariales section of Protestante Digital, an initiative of the Gospel, Economy and Business (Tres-E) group in Spain.