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!