Thursday, June 02, 2005

Chickasaw’s Love—Celebrating Success

It’s not often that you see a TV ad celebrating the success of someone, so I was wide awake when I saw this different approach when I was in Wilburton, OK. The Chickasaw Nation (www.chickasaw.net) was featuring Tom Love, one of their tribe as a successful entrepreneur. And it was a great example of what is possible with vision, drive and determination.

Tom Love, CEO of Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores (www.loves.com), started in business in 1964 when he opened his first filling station in Watonga, OK (population 4,658), 60 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. He added his first Country Store in 1972 in Guymon, OK (population 10,472) and one of my top 100 agurbs®. Today he has 159 stores, ranking him as the 50th largest convenience store operator in the USA, doing $385 million in sales.

The Chickasaw are very proud of one of their own. Entrepreneurism is not particularly common in the Indian Nations, but I’m detecting a growing current of support there and think that it will ultimately transform many tribes.
Oh that we could all celebrate success like this! What a great example for others to follow.

No comments: