Director's Insight Magazine | Page 23

Questions & Answers What have you been most satisfied with in your life? The success of the 100 BWFS organization gives me a lot of satisfaction but my real satisfaction are in my children. Their lives and their success make me so proud. Family is what is always there for you. They help you to be strong when you feel weak, they encourage you when you need it the most and they help you. I am so lucky to have wonderful children, beautiful granddaughters and handsome grandsons, a loving sister and brothers, and a wonderful extended family that are apart of my everyday life. They give me the satisfaction of having a completely loving and blessed family. What is your personal mission statement? “Strive for Excellence in all you do.” You can accomplish anything you want, if you want it bad enough. It takes 150% effort. Don’t give up when the door is closed on you, because a window might open to get you in the door. Discuss your position as Founder and COO? We must remember that holding position or running an organization or business takes a lot of effort. You cannot do it all by yourself. There are so many talented people out there and we need them to be on board to bring their ideas and talents to make us soar like an eagle. We have enthusiastic young people excited about the funeral profession and we need to encourage them, help them along the way, and guide them and make sure that when they fall we pick them up and point them in the right direction; they are the future and we need to train them and take them under our wings. We constantly try to expose them to national conventions; professional mentors; and educational and career options to make sure they get exposure then get on a fast track of experience and success will come. You are never too old to learn, so start out with baby steps and giant steps will follow. What is the most important thing you have learned in funeral service? Funeral service is a family of licensed professionals who have a natural entrepreneurial spirit to serve others in their time of need and who have no cap on what type services they can provide for families. We must always keep reverence in the profession because our roots are in the church. We can be very competitive but we will always have success if we network and let our competitors become our colleagues. Funerals are now events in the lives of the families who mourn their loved ones and we take great pride in putting together a production to remember their lives. We must always be professional, trustworthy, ethical, caring and informed and do the right thing for those we serve. I always say, “Give families a reason to come back to you over and over again.” PAGE 23