FUN day!

Today is a really special day at Signature HomeStyles. Our employees are celebrating ‘sports day’ and wearing shirts from their favorite teams. Other employees are distributing peanuts, the symbol of every baseball game we ever attended regardless of the team we cheer for. We have these special days every now and then just to reassure everyone that work should be FUN.

And today Frank Bielic from “Trading Spaces” is in our home office. What could be more FUN than that! Frank is always a bundle of FUN! We have a shirt for him too! He’ll join us in our company meeting, will be touring the office, will be on some phone calls, and will be meeting with product development to learn how we design our products and to share some of his own ideas.

Yesterday Frank visited the home of a Signature HomeStyles Hostess in Covington, Indiana. She is the Hostess who won the $1,000 shopping spree and Frank went to her home to help her spend it! And they had FUN! Frank rearranged furniture just like he does on “Trading Spaces” and arranged products from Signature HomeStyles mixed in with favorite accessories she already had. Voila! Three rooms were refreshed and she is so happy that she’s having a party in two weeks so her family, neighbors, and friends can see the transformation.

Daily we are bombarded with news of things that just aren’t fun. How powerful it is when we can make each other smile or share a story that makes people chuckle. Little pieces of joy when shared by lots of people can add up to bundles of joy! And that’s what we do when we do our Signature HomeStyles Shows. The evening of the Show is a FUN get-together for family, neighbors and friends. When our products arrive to each customer, they either help families to organize or accessorize the most important place in their lives…their homes.

Make every day a FUN day by spreading sunshine to someone else. The FUN will always come back to you!

Have a FUN day!

Here are some fun photos from Frank's visit with Senior Executive Director Carole Brown's Hostess, Michelle Fonner:

Frank takes a look around Michelle Fonner's home and offers advice.

Frank moves furniture to make the most of the room.

Frank hangs our Botanical Dreams Painting Trio above Michelle’s bed.

Frank hangs a Trunner® and Wall Wizard® inserts as new drapery.

Frank decides what to tackle next. Look at that lovely new window treatment!

Our Patina Wallpocket with the Ivory Spray of Flowers add a nice touch to this small wall.

Michelle and Frank chitchat about the finished room.

Good job Frank! What a beautiful wallscape!

Senior Executive Director Carole Brown and Frank pose for photos.

The work is done! Michelle and Frank outside the house.

Yea! Tax day!

Yea! Tax day!

Today is April 15th and it’s best known as ‘income tax day’…not always the favorite day of the year for many people as they scramble to meet the midnight deadline. The 15th of April is also the day that’s right in the middle of our anniversary month…our 37th year of business!

My travels out to do meetings with our President’s Council achievers have taken me from Minnesota to Iowa to Oregon. Along the way I spent a day at Iowa State and visited their entrepreneurship community. As part of their learning experience they have set up their own coffee shop carved out of an angular closet in a hallway of the building! They not only offer coffee, they have snacks, sodas, and some baked goods. They are taking all the steps needed to form a company, manage a company, and plan for the future success of the company. What a great learning experience before they graduate and begin to build their lives!

As I spoke with the students, it occurred to me that I wasn’t too much older than most of them when I began Signature HomeStyles 37 years ago. In the process of building my business, each time I stumbled I knew I had learned a great lesson and would not make the same mistake again. Each time I failed I knew it drew me that much closer to success. I’ve just finished reading “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch (a great read…I highly recommend it!) and he cleverly writes, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” Well, I got lots of experience in those beginning years!

One of the students asked me if I feel successful. I responded that I certainly do! The reason is that I know the difference that my company has made in thousands of lives; not only my employees and Representatives, but the lives we have touched through our charitable contributions and my personal commitment to scholarships for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Signature HomeStyles truly is an incubator for entrepreneurs…a company with a structure that allows people to be their own boss, with work flexibility, time for personal priorities; and most importantly, the opportunity to dream and DREAM BIG! And as we create more jobs with more people making more money, more people will be filing taxes!

I’m proud of the entrepreneurial spirit that defines Signature HomeStyles and the fact that on the 15th of April there are people who will be filing taxes for incomes that once were only a dream!