Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By David Willard
For the Clemmons Courier

There are many roads that can be taken to accomplish one’s dreams. From early childhood, an individual may start planning what it will take to become the next firefighter, astronaut, or even rock star that the world doesn’t know it is waiting for. As they grow and go along these roads set before them to become the stuff of dreams, many of these roads lead through college and the achievement of a college degree. Therein lies much of the reason for the stress and worry placed upon young adults who are trying to make the grades to either get, in fact, stay in college. In their minds, if this doesn’t happen, their dreams will never come true. It is in this taxing world that most young people make their mental home, which leads to even more emotional turmoil in already tense lives. Owen Agee, 20, from Lewisville, decided to take a different path to success and hasn’t looked back since. 

Agee, a young area business owner, decided a college degree would not be in his future and took a different direction on the path to his dreams and future. “Once I graduated from Reagan High School, I was on the path of going to Forsyth Tech for a two-year degree. My plan was to finish two years and then transfer to a four year school to study business. I received my schedule for that fall and realized I did not want to sit in any more English classes or math classes. I went into the school and dropped out the same day I signed up,” says Agee. 

Agee immediately got to work starting his own business, and his new path was suddenly set before him. “I had always been a part of teams — football, basketball and cross country — but I realized that I did not want to go to school anymore. I had had enough with school and was ready to go out in the world. I love being a leader, and that’s why I felt like I could run my own company,” he continues. 

That decision led to the formation of Leonard Power Vac, LLC. Leonard Power Vac is a duct cleaning service business. “My grandfather introduced me to the service, and I enjoy cleaning duct work and making homes have pure air quality. Air pollution is a problem in many homes and businesses, and we have a solution to solve it. I love every day offering someone a wonderful service and making someone smile. In business every day you get the opportunity to be the best person you can be and that inspires others to be their best self,” Agee adds. 

Being a small business owner may well be a lifelong dream, but it is still, indeed, a lot of hard work. Starting a business is one thing, but keeping it going is full of challenges that stand in front of the road to success. “The biggest obstacle in business Is managing rapid growth in a fast pace market. However, community is the number one aspect of running a small business. You treat everyone in your community with respect and love, because people in a small town want to see you succeed if they are treated fairly,” he concludes. 

Decisions concerning your future are not easy ones to make. They can carry the weight of years of hard work and aspirations. However, when those decisions have the assurance that this is what your heart wants you to do, they can be made with the knowledge that at least the hard work required to accomplish them is worth it. After all, goals are stepping stones the mind makes, but dreams are the roads set in front of us by the heart, and if followed, life becomes even more worth living.