Jesse Hughes has been wearing a suit since he was 14.

Though he loved sports as a youngster, the Buffalo, N.Y., native knew that he wasn't destined for the pros, so he set his sights on a new goal -- becoming a businessman.

He put on a suit and tie and has been wearing one ever since.

The , , 2717 Peach Orchard Road, has been serving the Augusta area with his accounting and tax services for 21 years. His stylish suits have become a part of his distinct image, and they seem to catch the attention of photographers.

In 1996, he was one of 10 men featured in a special edition of Essence magazine -- the one with basketball player Michael Jordan on the cover. Mr. Hughes was in Miami for the 100 Black Men of America convention and caught the attention of photographers in a crowd of 3,000 men.

"I guess I made the cut," Mr. Hughes said.

Because of his polished demeanor, he also made the front page of a Kentucky newspaper during his annual visit to the Kentucky Derby in May 2003, wearing a fashionable peach suit. He wears suits seven days a week, even to his daughter's track meets, he said.

He has an uplifting office. Words such as believe, imagine, dream, faith and patience are found throughout his office on the walls and bookshelves. Mr. Hughes said that his goal is to uplift his clients.

"I probably do as much counseling as I do taxes, just talking with people about various things. This allows them to get motivated or inspired before they come in," Mr. Hughes said.

He calls it his "accounting ministry." A minister once told him that he is using numbers to minister to people.

Mr. Hughes was drawn to accounting because he loves numbers.

"Everything in this world is tied into numbers. People don't realize that," Mr. Hughes said.

During the rush of tax season, clients sometimes suggest that he hire some extra help. He asks whether they would let the other people do their taxes.

"No! Let the other people go," they insisted.

"People aren't just coming to get their taxes done. They're coming to talk to Jesse. I became the brand. In the process, they get their taxes done," Mr. Hughes said. "I'm the CEO of my company. I'm the chief entertainment officer. I tell people, 'Your taxes are free. I charge you for the entertainment.' "

He also uses the time to show clients how he could assist them with their finances and teach them to make better choices.

Mr. Hughes is an enrolled agent, which means that he is qualified to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. He holds various certifications and pursues extensive training each year.

Hughes Business Services also offers printing services for résumés, business cards, wedding invitations, church programs and fliers, in addition to payroll services to companies as far away as Atlanta.

In 2001, Mr. Hughes was recognized as Small Businessman of the Year for Georgia and received a Ronald Reagan gold medal in Washington, D.C.

He has one full-time employee and four part-time workers, including his wife, JoAnne, and his children. His wife has a full-time job, but she works at the business on evenings and weekends.

"During tax season, she does all of our electronic transactions," Mr. Hughes said. "We've been open on Saturdays for years because that gives us an opportunity to train our kids."

Office manager Marilyn Leverett said that she enjoys the family atmosphere. She has worked at the business since 1997.

"One of the great things working at Hughes Business Services is the knowledge you can acquire being employed here. He motivates you to learn more and more," Ms. Leverett said.

"I like the fact that he's approachable. If you need to talk, he'll sit down and talk to you and give you feedback. He keeps you smiling or laughing. He's a people person. You don't ever have to wonder where he's coming from. He'll let you know," she said.

Dressed to impress

Mr. Hughes was born on July 6, 1960, in Buffalo, N.Y. He was the second-youngest of the five children of Jesse and Mary Hughes.

His father worked at a steel mill, and his mother was a nurse. He said his mother, who is deceased, was his "rock." His family wasn't well off, but he was determined to get ahead.

"As a child, I always made money. Doing what I'm doing, it was destined," he said.

He always wanted to be in charge.

"I wanted to lead everything. When we played basketball, I was the point guard. When we played football, I wanted to be the quarterback. When we played baseball, I wanted to be the pitcher," Mr. Hughes said. "I wasn't great, but I played a lot of sports that were able to enhance my leadership skills.

"I was the person to see. I had to be it."

He recalls a Christmas concert at school when he was 9 or 10 years old. In between songs, he took it upon himself to entertain the audience.

"It was an enjoyable childhood, a lot of friends," he said.

At 14, he realized that he wasn't good enough to become a professional athlete.

"So I decided to prepare myself to become a professional businessman. I started wearing a tie when I was 14," Mr. Hughes said.

He wore a suit and tie to school every day and has kept up the routine. Most people know him as the guy who wears the suits all the time.

"I get up on Sunday dressed like this to watch the football game. I'm always prepared," he said. "This is who I developed. This is who I believed. This is what I became. Double-breasted suits are my distinct image."

In 1984, Mr. Hughes enrolled in classes at Bryant & Stratton College in Buffalo, where he majored in accounting. To have a good future, he knew, he needed to learn a skill.

He left New York several months after graduating with his associate degree and moved to Hartford, Conn., to work at The Hartford, an insurance company.

"I did what people don't do. I went to get telemarketing jobs so I could strengthen my phone voice. I positioned myself in a job that was going to benefit me," he said.

Two years later, Mr. Hughes moved to Louisville, Ga. He had met someone from the town and decided to move there. For him, Georgia was a land of many unknowns. For instance, he saw mobile homes being hauled down the street.

"I had never seen anything like that. Pigs in the yard -- that was completely new to a city boy," he said.

When he arrived in Georgia, he took an H&R Block tax course. Afterward, the company offered him a franchise in Louisville in 1989, he said.

"I owned an H&R Block franchise for about seven years. I moved from the bottom to third in the district. It was great. I got to meet so many people," Mr. Hughes said.

Simultaneously, he opened three offices for Hughes Business Services, which provided tax and accounting services in Georgia and South Carolina. He opened his Martinez office in 1988, the Jackson office in 1990 and his Peach Orchard Road office in 1991.

He started his first business at 28 years old.

"I had four offices going at once," Mr. Hughes said.

He said that he credits H&R Block with shaping his tax philosophy. For seven years, he taught classes for H&R Block in Louisville and at Regency Mall in Augusta.

He met his wife while she was working at an H&R Block office in North Augusta. She didn't like him at first, but he managed to win her heart, he said. They have been married for 20 years.

"I had to prove to her that I was the one," Mr. Hughes said.

The early years in business were challenging, Mrs. Hughes said.

"It was really hectic at first," she said. "When we started out, we didn't have loans. It was self-financed, so we struggled a lot. But it worked out in the end.

"He believed so much in the businesses that we were building that you felt he was going to succeed. He had that drive and passion. He still has it, and it's brought him a long way. He started out with nothing."

At the height of his businesses, Mr. Hughes had about 20 employees. He finally scaled back because clients wanted personalized service from him. By 1996, he had closed the Martinez office. In 2000, he closed the Jackson office, which was only open during tax season anyway.

He decided to keep the Peach Orchard Road business because it had the best traffic.

Though he wears a suit, his clients realize they share a similar background.

"A lot of people can't identify with you when you wear a suit, like you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth," Mr. Hughes said. "I grew up in the 'hood, struggling, poor just like the rest of them.

"I worked hard to get here. My dad always said that one thing he was proud of was that I never cost him anything to go to school. I paid for it myself. He was extremely proud of that."

Tax time

During tax season, Mr. Hughes wants his clients to be comfortable during their wait.

"It's a wait and everything, but we give you TV, food and drinks," he said. "We try to make your wait pleasant.

"It's a hard time on a lot of people. I try to soften the blow even when I have to tell you that you owe $2,000. Plenty of people owe money and still leave with a smile on their face."

One client wanted to leave his services. She came to his office and showed him a flier with lower prices. He explained that she wouldn't get the same service -- especially the entertainment. She remains his client today.

About a year later, she was going through a divorce and brought her divorce decree for him to read, though he isn't a lawyer.

"She said, 'Mr. Hughes, you're the only person that I trust,' " he said.

The businessman said that it's key for him to have a diverse client base.

"My clients look like America, and that's important to me," Mr. Hughes said.

Ellis Johnson, of Augusta, has been getting his taxes prepared by Mr. Hughes for 10 years.

"I think he does a through job. He's honest. I like the way he prepares them. He doesn't seem to be like the ordinary preparers. He makes copies, puts them in folders and binds them," Mr. Johnson said. "He makes suggestions that are beneficial to you."

He said Mr. Hughes is focused and knowledgeable about tax laws and changes.

"He provides good customer service. His customers seem to be pleased with his work, and they return year after year," Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Hughes is so passionate about educating his clients that he started a book club this tax season.

"We had various motivational books, and they could check them out and take them home and read them," Mr. Hughes said.

He even gives his employees time to read every day.

"We're allowed 30 minutes a day to read, not on our lunch break. It has to be something that you can learn and grow from," Ms. Leverett said. "After reading that book, we sit around and discuss what we learned with each other."

Taxes aren't always simple. Years ago, after Mr. Hughes completed taxes for a couple, their refund check was taken by the IRS.

"They blamed me for stealing their money. The wife later came back and apologized because she found out the husband had some kids that she didn't know about. So they divorced," he said.

He had clients in jail. He visits them to get their signature, then returns with their check to get them out of jail.

Mr. Hughes believes that knowledge is essential -- even if people aren't college material. They need to be informed for themselves, he said.

"That's how so many companies have gotten ripped off and robbed. They just relied on the bookkeeper or accountant. We believe in educating our clients," Mr. Hughes said.

He must receive at least 24 to 32 hours of training each year to maintain his accreditation.

"I average 50 to 100 hours of training. I go beyond the call of duty so I can give you more than just a tax return. I can discuss your financial situation," Mr. Hughes said.

He tells customers what he does in his own finances.

"If you don't like what you see in my life, I'm not the person you want to talk to," he said.

Getting motivated

"We try to be encouraging. We try to educate, and we try to motivate," Jesse Hughes said.

"Motivational speaker" is one of the titles listed on his business card.

"I've done and experienced a lot. When you get (education), you have to make sure you give some back," he said.

Mr. Hughes worked with the Division of Family and Children Services to train women on welfare how to move into the work force. Funding for the program has since been cut.

"We had a contract to train 50, and I still follow some of them to this day. I got really involved in these girls' lives," he said.

Many of the girls carried weapons, but during his 60-day boot camp, they openly cried.

"I had one girl who told me that 'you're crazy if you think I'm going to McDonald's to flip hamburgers,' " he said. "I asked her, 'So you're telling me that being on welfare is better?' "

He told her that she had leadership skills but that they would never be exposed if she weren't leading anyone.

Three years later, she had a job at Krystal and was being sent to Atlanta for management training.

"She came to thank me," he said.

Mr. Hughes took another girl from the class to lunch, and she wept during the meal. He asked her why she was crying.

"I've never been to lunch with a man in a suit," she said.

Paine College asked Mr. Hughes to speak to an incoming class several years ago. Before his speech, he was dressed in street clothes and mingled with the crowd.

The school introduced him, and he stood up in the crowd. During his speech, his staffers handed him articles of clothing to put on. Throughout the speech, he would ask the students to repeat, "I am somebody!"

"I timed it. Just as I finished and I was clipping on my cuff link, I said, 'If you do this, you can be just like me,' " Mr. Hughes said. "I transformed from looking like them into looking like me. I had to get them to identify with me first. They just loved it."

Through his guidance, one of his clients, Patrick Kelly, developed the initiative to start his own business. Mr. Kelly owns Quality Assured Controls Inc., which wires controls and provides installations for power companies. Mr. Hughes helped him to get his business incorporated.

"He's been an inspiration to me. He pushed me out there. I had cold feet," Mr. Kelly said. "He told me the ins and outs of running a business and helped me go forward with it."

Dr. Basil Coombs, a client and friend for 12 years, said Mr. Hughes is an "all-around good guy." He said Mr. Hughes enjoys giving back to his community, such as speaking to children in underprivileged areas.

"He's very articulate, very thoughtful. He tries to help somebody whenever he can," Dr. Coombs said.

To the races

In May, Mr. Hughes' friends and family know where to find him -- at the Kentucky Derby. He has gone to the races for 21 years straight.

"Being from New York, we had access to horse racing every day. It's exciting," Mr. Hughes said. "There are years where we went to all three Triple Crown races.

"I work hard during tax season. I look forward to the first Saturday in May every single year. All my clients will tell you that."

He's been as far as California to see races.

"That's where I get my relaxation. It's therapy to me," he said.

Reading is another of Mr. Hughes' hobbies. Each day, he reads the newspaper from front to back so that he knows what is going on and can communicate with his clients.

Mrs. Hughes said her husband has a "broad knowledge of many different subject areas."

Said Mr. Johnson: "He always has something stimulating or challenging to talk about it."

Mr. Johnson admires that Mr. Hughes has taught his children about the family business.

"I always commend him for doing that," Mr. Johnson said. "They seem to have taken a strong interest. They have the same professional attitude that he does, which is evidence that he has been guiding them."

Said Mrs. Hughes: "We wanted the kids to grow up in the business and hopefully one day take over. He's teaching them not only about business but finances, too."

When their children receive a paycheck, they deposit some of their money into a savings account and a Christmas savings account. They also have a credit card so they will understand how credit works.

"When they're older and on their own, we're hoping they will be financially responsible," she said.

Mr. Hughes is planning for many more years in business.

"We're looking to expand maybe to South Carolina, Atlanta or Charlotte," he said.

Reach LaTina Emerson at (706) 823-3227 or latina.emerson@augustachronicle.com.