Sunrise

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow." - Latin proverb

Enjoy every day from Sunrise to Sunset. In the end that is what counts more than any paycheck or balance sheet. Love your job or find the one that inspires you. Life is too short.

Below please see a link to Steve Job's Stanford Commencement Speech 2005. The following speech articulates how one must go after what brings them true joy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Make It Happen
-Nick

Reinvent

"Most of the important things in the world have been
accomplished by people who have kept on trying
when there seemed to be no hope at all."— Dale Carnegie

I am a firm believer that 10% of success is due to market conditions and 90% from how you deal with it. This past weekend I spent time with some friends who run small to mid size businesses. Like every other company, their businesses have been significantly affected by this horrible recession. I spent and entire day listening and learning about how they are adapting their businesses to these changing times. I am encouraged to see that success really has little to do with market forces and much more to do with how you deal with it.

It's obvious in times of turbulence that what worked before, doesn't always work in the future. You have to be willing to change course quickly or the market forces will swallow you. I saw that this weekend, when I heard friends talk of completely repositioning or re-engineering their companies because the old models just didn't work in this new economy. Jack Welsh often said if GE doesn't change faster than the outside environment then it will no longer exist.

We have significantly revamped our acquisitions process, management team, accounting systems over the past 10 months and more changes will occur in the coming months. Our goal is to stay ahead of the market. The only way that is going to happen is by changing quickly, often, and being fully committed to succeeding in these challenging times.

Keep pushing to make it happen.

-Nick

Value brands vs. Cheap

We hear the words "value brand" all the time, but what does it really mean? Does it mean cheapest? No. Is it a commodity that is priced a few pennies below its competitors? Not always. Could it be an apartment priced $50/month more than the building next door? Could be. At the end of the day, value is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as a value alternative, others may see as too cheap, or too expensive The job of every good brand in these recessionary times, is to make their brand, an affordable value proposition for as many people as possible.

McDonald's advertisement reads - "$4 is stupid". A direct hit against Starbucks and its premium brand pricing model. Does that mean McDonald's is the value brand in the coffee business? Not really. In order for the customer to derive value they need to feel that they are getting something more than just caffeinated water. Starbucks goes the extra mile training their employees to add value by creating a sense of community, a welcoming environment. Employees are even trained to learn customers names. Has that ever happened to you at McDonald's? Probably not. Obviously in this economy price is a factor, but Starbucks and other great retailers have done a tremendous job of cutting costs, reducing prices but more importantly offering a customer centric experience to their customers. That is the ultimate value opportunity. At the end of the day people will pay more to hear their name.

At Signature Community, we always strive, to provide the highest level of service in our product class. We do that with the customer in mind every day. Some of the offerings have been tweaked in this economy, but the experience has stayed the same. A good safe home in a community you can be happy in. Week after week, the economy has made things tougher and tougher for Signature, and our residents. However, our employees impress our residents with true WOW experiences every week without failure.


The results show. Our resident retention rate this year will be close to 75% (approx 50% better than average). Referrals from existing residents is one of our main sales vehicles and market place brand recognition seems to have taken off this year.

We have never positioned ourselves as a luxury brand and we are definitely more focused on being a value brand, but not by way of offering the cheapest or lowest service levels. We are doing it by offering a quality product at a reasonable price then overlaying with the greatest service level our industry has ever seen. That to me is value!

Thanks for making it happen.
Nick