Reflecting on 27 years in business

As we celebrate HGI Cabinetry’s 27th year in business, I am amazed at how life and my business has turned out. God has truly blessed me beyond measure.

It’s been a long and wonderful journey with many twists and turns. I believe I have come to a good place in life, and I have the desire to keep going because I am enjoying the journey more than ever. I would not be where I am today without my beautiful wife Sendy supporting me each day and most importantly is God’s Blessing on my life.

Even so with all that is going on right now, it has me reflecting on what I might say to my younger self, about how life really works, about what’s real and true, and thereby dissolve some of the harmful preconceptions and assumptions I had way back then.

So, if I could write a letter to my younger, here’s what I would say.

Hey Tim,

It is Spring of 1999 and you find yourself holding your third child and as you hold that brand-new baby girll at age of 31, while starting a young family, trying to start a small cabinet business can be very overwhelming and challenging to put it mildly. Because you are going to find it challenging at times, I wanted to give you some advice that will help you on this amazing journey.

  • Your business will test your resolve will, but your family will be your driving force. Always trust in the Lord and your family. Your family will be the compass that guides you through the years.
  • There will be sacrifices. You are starting this business in a barn with a dirt floor, Trust yourself. Be tenacious and fierce. Trust Sendy. Hold each other up during a crisis or a need, Help each other,  Pray with each other.  Remind each other that we are not in this alone.  And everything happens for a reason.

  • Find good mentors.  It’s tough navigating a small business and the experience shared by people whom you love and respect will help in making difficult decisions.
  • Enjoy what you do. Owning a small cabinet business means long hours, personal investment and no guarantee of success. Yet, when you have a passion for your work, you don’t mind putting in the extra time and effort when necessary. 
  • Be Reliable. Both to yourself and others.  
  • Be Humble, Be kind and Generous – God loves a cheerful giver

  • Invest in positive people. Build your team and show them gratitude. Your team will pull you through. Don’t hire people that are not team players or people with ego’s, that is a pathway to destruction.

  • Trust your gut. Just do what feels right. Do what you believe would make you and your family most happy. Make short term and long term goals, then attack those goals.

  • Don’t wish away a single season, every little path you must go through will lead you somewhere. And looking back, you will be able to connect the dots. It will all make sense one day I promise
  • Good leadership doesn’t take away, a good leader seeks to adhere to what we can leave behind to make the next generation even more sussessful
  • You will experience the thrill of victory and you will also experience defeat at times, people will let you down but you will find a way to rise to the occasion and challenges along the way
  • Never try to fit in, when you were born to stand out.
  • Be grounded in your faith, God and country, otherwise you will not recognize this place we call American in 27 years. Remember the sacrifces that were made by many before you
  • I hope you always fill small when you stand beside the ocean but most of all, I hope you dance.

So Tim, as you start on this amazing journey, let God guide you, believe in yourself, seek wisdom from trusted sources, cherish every single moment with your wife and kids and don’t miss the good.

Signed,
Your Older Self