Terri Hornsby founded TLC Adcentives in 1995 and was certified as a Woman Business Enterprise in 1996. Her successful development from a home-based business into a commercial facility with warehouse capacity is based on her creativity and an exceptional business sense. She understands her clients' business objectives and reflects them well in interesting, quality promotional items.

According to Terri; "The best thing I ever did was get my certification as a minority and woman owned business through WBENC and WBEA formerly HWBC. Once I got active, I started to make the connections that really paved the way for my business to grow."

What she cites as a lucky break is really a testament to her tenacity. "I knew from the beginning that you have to do your best no matter how small a project may seem. After trying to get my foot in the door at Houston's huge energy companies for almost two years, I finally got my first call from Texaco. That first order for red star confetti with an invoice of $30.00 lead to sales over $90,000 at the end of the year."

In addition to her can-do attitude, Terri's primarily Fortune 500 clients appreciate her ability to communicate with promotional materials without compromising the strictest image constraints. Terri firmly believes that "Image is everything" and every item that carries a client's logo should represent the company, and its ideals, well.

In response to our question about success factors, Terri replied: "My deep satisfaction comes with watching this business grow – and with seeing the ideas I bring to clients take shape and help them achieve their objectives. This business is a combination of intuition, attention to detail and working with people. It is fantastic. I couldn't have made this happen if I didn't love what I do."