Welcome!

I'm Tami Parks, fourth-generation entrepreneur and small business person. I love small business and consider it the heartbeat of America's marketplace. My family has been involved in real estate, service, and retail; we're just regular people who have a passion for serving others and being our own bosses.

My husband and I have made a committment to run our business, Great Lakes Wedding Gown Specialists, LLC, as a debt-free business. This blog is our accountability partner!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Be a Point of Light in your Community

"Community", "Local"...all buzzwords that are popular in small business today.  But what does it mean in practice?  We like to talk about banding together to make us stronger and strengthening our community.  But do we really put our money where our mouth is?

This week, our business was able to very specifically live out our mission statement, "...bless our...community as we are blessed...".  Another bridal store in town suddenly closed its doors, leaving customers without wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and other items.  We have stepped up to fulfill as many orders as we can; honoring the down payments, and barely covering our costs in most cases, while losing money in others.  It's the right thing to do.  We have enjoyed grateful responses from almost all of the customers involved.

I also remembered one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers, Randy Travis.  In the early 1990's, he performed a song at a gala for the first President Bush called "Points of Light".  One of the lines says, "If you see what's wrong and you try to make it right, that's when you become a point of light".