Making a Difference…Our Mission

What a powerful story we have! To think that 38 years ago this multimillion-dollar international company started with $1,500 from my teacher’s retirement fund! And to make our story even more amazing, it started off so fast that just a few weeks later I was running out of money and my next door neighbor secured my future by loaning me $600 out of a shoebox she had tucked under her bed! Like so many of our Signature HomeStyles Representatives today, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom with my first child, Cari and my business was launched!

The story and the progress in the beginning years formed the foundation for a business that would become an award-winning company and one of the most highly respected in the direct sales industry. The values that drove the company in the beginning: home, family, financial stability, honesty, integrity and faith are cemented in our mission and our value system. They are the cornerstones of our strong foundation and the driving force of our bright future.

Our New President Cari!

And I am proud to announce that our future is further cemented as my daughter Cari takes on the role of President of Signature HomeStyles. She will have full responsibility for day-to-day operations and implementation of our strategic plans. I will continue as Founder and CEO focusing on the things I love: people, products and telling our incredible story!

Cari has been with me every step of the way absorbing the values that built this great company and exemplifying the work ethic that has driven us to success. Most companies don’t have this incredible opportunity and I believe that we are unique in our mother-daughter ownership and leadership of a direct selling company.

We also are unique in that Cari is taking on this role as part of a long succession planning process that began over 10 years ago. She has worked in or supervised every department in the company and for the last several years she has taken on a leadership role in sales and marketing. I’ll never forget Cari’s kitchen table tour to meet with our Leaders with six-month-old Joseph in the car seat!

As we enter into the warm summer months, followed by the beautiful fall months and culminating in the season of giving, I am proud of our company’s history, thankful that I will continue this incredible journey with my daughter at my side, and grateful to all of you who continue to honor the values of the company.

I truly thank God for blessing this great company and keeping us in His Hands as we journey together into our bright future.

Our mission to make a difference is in great hands.

Ready, Set, GO!

WOWEE!

Things are really hopping here as we get ready for Convention!

The excitement builds as each project gets completed and the final statistics come in. What a Convention this is going to be! Belinda can’t wait to get here and Frank is excited to be coming back.

And what an Awards Night this year is going to be! Company historic records have been broken, and many Representatives have set new records! Top achievers will be leading training in workshops for all attendees to learn their secrets to success.

I thought you’d enjoy a sneak peek at what we’re doing. We’re all like a bunch of busy bees…

At the office we have product all over the place being boxed up to take to the hotel.

Sneak previews are getting stuffed in envelopes.

We’re busy with final details for registration.

The workshops, meetings, and speeches are being fine tuned.

And the power point presentations and videos are being finalized.

We have staff practicing dance routines.

We’re crunching numbers for final tallies.

Preparing our greenery!

And counting out cash for the cash machine!

We’re ready for a fabulous Signature HomeStyles Convention that will bring out the best in everyone and inspire you to Reach New Heights in the years ahead!

I know you’re just as excited to get here as we are to see all of you!

Roots and Wings

Last Wednesday we had ‘Baseball Day’ at work. Employees could wear shirts of their favorite baseball team to work. Stacy brought popcorn and peanuts to share and it looked like the Cubs won over the Sox! When Cari was getting ready to leave for work, she said goodbye to Joseph and he said, “Mommy, you need to get dressed!” Cari was in her Cubs T-shirt and ball cap and Joseph knows that she never wears that to work.

Our children observe everything we do and say. They watch our actions, they listen to our words and they even observe how we dress! Without saying a word to him at age three Joseph already understands that Mommy goes to work every day…and she doesn’t wear a T-shirt!

Role Models
When we have the monthly promotions where we call Hosts at their Shows, her children have overheard her on many calls. One evening as she called, I heard Emily saying word for word what Cari was speaking into the phone. “Hi, this is Cari from Signature HomeStyles”…in a very perky voice, of course! Cari’s children not only hear her words, see how she dresses, but also they observe her work ethic. Like all mothers, she is their role model.

Every Signature HomeStyles Representative who has children is a role model to them as they watch her drive to her Shows, go to meetings and make calls to her Hosts and Guests. They hear her words as she tells her story and why she loves her job to a potential Start-Up. They hear the conversations as the family discusses how the money will be spent or which trip Mom is working to earn. They get excited when they know they will be going on a family cruise that Mom earned!

And every step of the way they are learning things that are rarely taught in school. When you work hard, you reap the benefits. When you stay positive, a world of possibilities will open up around you. It’s okay to dream…for everybody!

Earlier this year Senior Executive Director Carol Romkema forwarded an e-mail to me that was sent by her daughter, Lisa. “I am writing my review for 2008 and thought of you…I sort of hit the ground running with TARGET like you did with Signature HomeStyles. I am looking at all the things I have done since last year and it feels GREAT! Thank you for giving me motivation to succeed and a sense of pride in that success! And thank you for taking me to all those leadership conferences and meetings, and for all of those books…I wouldn’t be where I am without you!”

We set the pace for our children. We influence how they feel about work, what they want to do with their lives, and most importantly how they feel about themselves. Our homes are the foundation for the cornerstones of their lives. It’s where they get their roots.

How we live our lives is where we give them wings!

Special Moments…Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

There are just certain wonderful times in our lives when we are in the right place at the right time. I had one of those special moments last Wednesday at the Reagan National Airport as I was coming home from the Direct Selling Association’s annual meeting. I was at the gate waiting for my flight and talking on the phone with my Mom when I suddenly heard people clapping. I told my Mom that it must be soldiers returning and I would call her back. She told me to clap for her too!

I moved over to the nearby gate to join the crowd that had spontaneously gathered and discovered that in fact they were honoring soldiers. But these were not soldiers returning from the Middle East. They were soldiers from World War II who were coming in on the Honor Flight for a day in Washington D.C. People were lined up clapping and shaking their hands as they passed by in their orange T-shirts. Many were in wheelchairs, many had canes, and some proudly walked off the plane. Like many others at the airport, I choked up as I applauded these honorable men.

On the plane I ran into a friend of mine and he told me he was brought to tears as he saw the men coming off the plane. It reminded him of his father who also fought in the war but has since passed away. I also thought of my father who watched the flag go up on Iwo Jima and didn’t see me until I was a year old. He would have proudly joined the group were he alive today. These men tugged at the heartstrings of everyone in the airport that day because they reminded all of us of the sacrifices of our heroes and their families.

When I returned to the office the next day, I checked the Honor Flight Web site and discovered that the soldiers on Wednesday’s flight were from Illinois! Since the World War II memorial was completed, Honor Flight has brought hundreds of veterans to Washington to visit the memorial and be honored. It is a day that the soldiers, their families and the volunteers will remember forever.

And it was a special moment for me….when I was in the right place at the right time!

“Non Voyage!”

I just read an article about “staycations,” the new term for people who aren’t going on vacations this year and are exploring the fun spots closer to home. “Non voyage!” is what you say to someone who is about to embark on a “staycation.” As I read the article, I thought about how much I would love for all the readers to hear about Signature HomeStyles.

I would tell all of them that they don’t have to give up a family vacation. They can hear all of their friends say, “Bon voyage” as they head off to the Caribbean with their families just by working consistently with two or three Shows a week! That’s only 10-15 hours a week! And the really cool part is that they will be making money while they earn the FREE trip! People who aren’t familiar with our company and the direct selling industry find this whole concept foreign…it just doesn’t happen in most other businesses.

Of course I also would tell them that they can get going for a very small investment and start right now and even earn a trip to Maui in February! Why wouldn’t everybody jump at the chance to walk on the beaches of Maui and take their family on a cruise a year later? It’s because they just don’t believe they can do it.

Dream Vacations
Every year when I sit down with the President’s Council, we talk about the trips they have been on and where they would like to go on a company trip. Then I ask them if they thought when they started with Signature HomeStyles that they would earn a trip. And every year I hear the same thing…they never dreamed it would happen. Now they would never miss earning a trip…and neither would their husbands and/or families!

So if I had a chance to tell our story to the readers, I would tell them the powerful stories about our trip earners who didn’t think they could earn it in the beginning, learned to dream and make dreams come true, and have now set their sights on even bigger dreams. I would tell all of them not to settle for less, but to strive for more!

The more you do, the more you get…

The more you get, the more you can give to others.

The Power of the Word “Home”

Monday is Memorial Day and I’m thinking about Homes for Our Troops…thinking about what those words really mean. Every soldier who has ever fought for his/her nation has left home…left behind parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Many of them leave behind a husband or a wife and children. While they are left at home, families think of their loved ones every day and pray for his/her safe return. And never in their lives did the word “home” have more meaning than it does to the soldier and everyone else as it does when he/she returns home again!

When soldiers are deployed, they are not only willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, they are sacrificing all the comforts of home that we take for granted. Home means so much more than an address on a street or a building on the farm. Home means the warmth of a comfortable bed, the joys celebrated by a family gathering, the freedom to come and go as we please and the security of a free nation. Home is where we got our roots to give us wings; the place where we know we are loved. Coming home is like snuggling up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate by the fire on the coldest day of winter surrounded by people we love.

Coming Home
Now imagine how it must feel when Homes for Our Troops completes a house for a severely disabled soldier—either building their family a brand-new house or modifying their current home to accommodate them! Wow! What a joyful day! “Coming home” has a whole new meaning for those soldiers and their families.

One of the most powerful experiences many of our Signature HomeStyles Representatives have had has been to meet some of these soldiers and their families and help them to organize and beautify their new homes…to help make things handy for the soldiers and to help the family with some new decor. Even if we haven’t all been part of that process, we have contributed by encouraging our customers to donate to Homes for Our Troops with their purchase at our Shows.

So the next time you do a Show and talk about our products, be proud that you are contributing to the homecoming of a very brave soldier…a soldier who values the word “home” as much as we do at Signature HomeStyles.

May God Bless all our soldiers who have served in the past, and those who are currently serving.

We support you, we pray for you and we honor you today!

P.S. Don’t forget that May 30 is Homes for Our Troops Day! Signature HomeStyles will double its donation ($2) for all sales of our Home Photo Frames and our Signs from the Heart sets sold.

Signature HomeStyles Gets an A+

Woo Hoo! Can you hear me shout? The Better Business Bureau just informed me that Signature HomeStyles has been rated with an A+! This grading system will be available to the public from the Chicago and Northern Illinois BBB beginning June 1, 2009. The new rating system will be used by all Better Business Bureau’s in the United States and Canada.

This new rating system is calculated based on 17 different criteria, the largest of which is a company’s overall complaint history. Other factors such as type of business, size of business, annual customers and years in business also are considered. This is just one way that Signature HomeStyles is validated for “above and beyond” service to hundreds of thousands of customers over the last 38 years!

Once again, kudos to the whole team…from the staff who service our Representatives to the Representatives who service our Hosts and customers. Thanks for a job well done!