Emilie Smyth
About Me
I am a senior at Belleville West High School. Having always had an interest in business and considering studying marketing in college, I applied for the CEO program to get a better understanding of what it takes to run a successful business.
I participate in many extracurricular activities through my school. I am an avid participant in the arts as a member of the theater and the Speech and Acting team, as well as having my artwork displayed in last year’s Art on the Square. I also show my ability as a leader through my role as the center spread editor for the school newspaper and my participation in the World Link Belarus Youth Leadership Program.
I am a positive, outgoing, and motivated student. I hope to study marketing in college and eventually earn a master’s degree in business administration.
About My Business
My Featured Journal Entries
On Monday, we met at Artigem with Tony Bryan from Midwest Cyber Center. I liked how he started off by telling us about his college and military experiences. It was nice to hear how even though he wasn’t able to find a college major that he was interested in enough to get a degree, he was still able to have a successful career in the military and eventually find a job he loves at Midwest Cyber Center. The programs that he told us about sounded really cool and if I had more time and a little more of an interest in coding I would definitely want to look into that. All the stuff he taught us about hacking was really interesting and helpful because now that more and more things are becoming digitalized, our class knows a little bit more about how to protect our information.
On Tuesday, we met at Artigem with Roger Wigginton who owns Don Rogers on Main St. It was interesting to meet the person who owns Don Rogers because I’ve lived down the street from it my whole life, but never actually gone in to the store. It was cool to learn about how he goes to a convention type thing to buy all the clothes for the store and how he has to guess what will be in style for that season.
On Wednesday, we met at Lindenwood University with the president, Dr. Brett Barger. I had a pretty good time during this class and I liked how we got to hear how Lindenwood has helped our community by taking over the old building that used to be Belleville West. It was fun getting to talk to some of the students that go there but I feel like the activity would have been better if we had had more time to plan out what we were going to say and if the CEO students would have done most of the talking.
On Thursday, we met at ChickfilA with the business director, Matt Gilreath. It was cool getting to hear about his job scouting places to put new franchises because I didn’t know that was a task that required an entire position. From what he said about how your employer cares more about their staff then they do about the business, Chickfila sounds like a really nice place to work.
04/27/2018
On Monday, we had our first day at Artigem and met with the President of Professional Therapy Services, Mike Riley. I thought that his presentation was really good, and if I had any interest in science I might consider a career in physical therapy. It was really interesting to hear about the legal side of physical therapy. I didn’t know that in some places people didn’t have to be referred by a doctor to go see a physical therapist.
On Tuesday, we met with Patrick McKeehan who introduced the elevator pitch to us. I thought it was pretty helpful how he gave us advice on how to make our companies stand out and told us what aspects of it to focus on during our presentations.
On Wednesday, we met with the CEO of Artigem, Kurt Artinger. He gave us a tour of the whole building and I had no idea that it was that big or that it used to be the old YMCA. The old backdrop on the stage from the 1920s was super interesting and the whole design of the building was really cool. It was funny that he ended up buying the building for $1. Kurt Artinger seems like he has a lot of really cool ideas and his new business with the engagement rings with the initials on them was a really good idea. He giving our class the opportunity to suggest names for the business was really nice and I hope someone from our class will be able to think of one that he will like.
Meeting with Brent Emmerich from ewebdzine was really interesting and I really liked hearing about the young entrepreneurs that he’s worked with. I think it gave our class a little more confidence when it came to our individual businesses. I also really liked hearing about the websites online that we could all use to grow our businesses and the examples he gave of what to do and what not to do when it comes to our future websites was really helpful.
03/16/2018
On Wednesday, we met with Mayor Eckert at City Hall. I honestly had no idea what the position of a mayor really entailed so it was really interesting getting to hear about Mayor Eckert’s day to day schedule and responsibilities to the city. He talked about how city government has to be looked at as a business because there is only so much money to fund different programs and city needs. He said that most of the budget goes toward police and fire, which makes sense because these institutions keep our city safe. Mayor Eckert emphasized that in your career, a person’s character is more important than their skill set because someone that works hard and is an honest person will make it farther than someone who is really talented at what they do but unwilling to put in the work and act professional. I thought this was a good mindset to have when approaching a work environment. He said that he accounts his career to surrounding himself with good people as employees and building good relationships with colleagues and associates. He also told us how he makes an effort to be upfront and say what’s on his mind. This sounds like he has a really good work environment, which I agree is really important. It’s always easier to get things done when your team gets along well and can maturely figure out how to solve problems and distribute tasks. Mayor Eckert also told us to choose a job that you can put in new ideas and developments into, but also make sure that it’s something you’re passionate about.
On Thursday and Friday, we met at MM&R for class days. I think we did a good job of utilizing our committees this week. The advertising committee began working on the program for Belleville’s Got Talent and I was put in charge of the Facebook page, which is unfortunate because I barely know how to use Facebook and spent all of Friday trying to figure out what I could do as an owner of the page. I asked someone on the sponsorship committee if they could give me a definite list of all of our sponsors that we have so far and what level they were, but they couldn’t seem to find one so I’m going to have to wait for that start putting up the sponsors. Also, we only have 23 people following the page as of now, so I’ll have to figure out a way to get more people interested in the event online.
On Friday night, we volunteered at the Scottish Rite fish fry which went smoothly and the guys running it told us they were really grateful for our help so I think that went pretty well.
I keep following up with people that said they were going to buy a ticket to Belleville’s Got Talent, but everyone keeps forgetting their money. That’s basically the only reason I haven’t sold all my tickets yet. Hopefully everyone sells eleven like they said they would because tickets are looking pretty dim right now.
01/19/2018
...On November 7th, we met with Derek Betz, the owner of Fletcher’s Kitchen. I really liked his presentation, it was interesting to hear how a restaurant that I often go to is run. I appreciated that he actually told us specific examples of ways he runs his business because a lot of places that we go to just give us a very broad description of how any business is run, and by now, we already have heard most of those types of things over 10 times. For example, we are all fully aware how useful social media and having a good internet presence can be to the advertising of a business, but almost every place we go tries to tell us about this as if we probably don’t know more about social media and online networking than they do. I really liked that Mr. Betz told us about his business failures a well as his successes, like when he told us how the second location of Fletcher’s that they opened actually almost put them out of business, and then he actually described how if we could avoid that if we have a business of our own sometime in the future.
I really enjoyed speaking with Amy Tarr on Wednesday about her job at Midland and how her past careers have led her to where she is now. I liked that she made an effort to make us feel comfortable while talking to her and that she was so open with us. She told us that when you’re in upper level management, you need to be able to have the tough conversations with people, so that’s probably why she is comfortable speaking to us to honestly...
11/17/2017
This week in CEO, we started our classes at our new location at Precision Practice Management. We have a little less room than at Allsup, but it’s still a very good working environment for the class.
On Tuesday, we met with Renae Eichholz, owner and partner at Precision Practice Management, and she gave us a tour of the building and explained the business to us. She told us how her friends thought that she was crazy for starting the business and her parents even urged her not to, but today the business is bigger than she thought it ever would be and is still expanding. Even though she was young at the time, she was confident in her abilities as a business person and decided to start her own business. I think this was a really good story for all the students in the class who are thinking about starting their own businesses.
On Wednesday, we spoke with John Perles, who we were supposed to meet with last week. He included in his presentation how when he accidently forgot to add our class to his calendar and ended up missing the meeting last week, there were a million excuses he could have given to Ms. Siebers to try and make him look better. He then explained that excuses and lies will get you nowhere in business and that he himself has struggled with telling the truth when he was younger. People always say that telling the truth is the easiest option, but that’s often not true. Sometimes it’s really hard to tell the truth in business but you have to do it out of respect for the other person and the business.
10/27/2017
This week in CEO, we started out with a class day at Allsup. This was one of the first times our class was led by Ian and Nick, the recently appointed co-ceo leaders of our class business. They came to class prepared with a plan to construct committees for the specific components of our class business, which include sponsors, advertising, decorations, financials, etc. I think was a really smart way to go about the project. What once seemed like an impossible project was now much less daunting after it was broken up into smaller parts where each person was given more specific instructions and were able to set more realistic goals. Because of this, I think making Ian and Nick co-CEOs was a good decision on our class’s part. I think giving a job to two people that is traditionally given to one, in some situations, can be very effective if those two people work well together because they can both push each other and make sure to be better in whatever they are trying to accomplish.
In the advertising committee, of which I am a part, we worked on the the initial flyer that will be distributed around Belleville to try and attract people to audition as an act. With help from our classmate Kaleb Leatherman, who made the projects logo, we were able to edit what I think is a pretty clean first draft of the flyer. It has not been officially approved yet because there is still some information that needs to be included that has not yet been decided. We are trying to get ahold of some talent agents in St. Louis to see if they would be interested in attending the event so that we can advertise that they will be there, which will hopefully attract more people to audition.
On Tuesday, we met at Rauckman Utility Products and got to speak with the owners, Jim and Shirley Rauckman. At first, I was not expecting to be very invested in this visit because I know nothing about the electrical business and don’t find it particularly exciting. But when we got there, I was surprised by how interested I was in their company and the products they design and sell. They make a lot of electrical equipment that, upon first glance, seems simple. However, because they make a lot of these products custom for each city and electrical company, they have to constantly redesign them. Because the cost of designing specific tools is not low and because most of these things are sold in massive quantities, the company is able to make a significant profit.
It was also cool to hear how neither Jim nor Shirley had any experience with running their own business before starting their company, but it has now grown to a size they never thought it would. I also liked how they seemed to have started the company for the rights reasons. Jim talked about how at the job he had previous to starting the company, the people in charge didn’t seem to have respect or empathy for the people working below them. He didn’t think this was right, so despite the above average pay and his history at the company, he quit. To me, this is the type of person who should be starting a company.
The rest of the week we worked in our committees for the class project and each one gave a mini presentation on what they had accomplished. I think we are moving forward at a good rate and am excited to see what our class business can become.
10/20/2017
This week at CEO we spent a lot of time discussing the class business. We know that it has to be something that will attract members of the community and be enjoyable for people of all ages. After making these points, we ruled out some of the previously suggested ideas. For example, some of the boys suggested we hold a basketball or golf tournament of some sort. I never thought was a really good idea because barely any girls would ever want to participate in this and not even all the guys were crazy about the idea, it just didn’t reach a big enough audience and didn’t have the potential to make the amount of money that we decided we wanted to raise. A point was also made that adults probably wouldn’t participate. This is the hardest part for the class about coming up with an idea was that it’s hard to think of something that we have to ability to put together and would also be fun for the people that we want to participate. The people that will be investing and attending are the people that will be giving us money, so we want to plan something that targets them, which will be adult community members. It was this point that led us to what I believe will be the foundation of our class business. We want to hold the event somewhere in Belleville, because we are Belleville CEO, and we want to provide dinner and some form of entertainment. We had a very good class discussion when thinking about possible venues and types of performers. A lot of people were throwing out ideas and making suggestions on how to improve certain ideas. There was a lot of constructive criticism as well and everyone was very respectful of all the ideas. I wish that we had been able to come up with an idea that was a little more original because right now it seems very similar to last year’s gala, but I think the plans are headed in the right direction.
10/06/2017
Week five of CEO has led the class toward the end of our first assignment. As we have started to make arrangements to order our badges is already clear how far we have come since the first day of class. Our experience working together and figuring out how to set a project plan, communicate with business owners, and weigh the benefits vs. cost of products would not have been achieved had it not been for the amazing people that have gone out of their way to teach us about the business world.
On Tuesday we met with the Board President Geri Boyer at her company Kaskaskia Engineering. There we learned about the benefits of a strength based organization which identifies the top five themes of talent in an employee and uses them to help understand each other and build upon their talents. By understanding a person’s naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior; these traits can productively applied to each workspace project. She also taught us about the “rising tide raises all boats” concept of management. This concept is about wanting what is best for the community and not necessarily what is best for one’s own business individually. By doing what is best for those around you, your business will also benefit.
On Wednesday our class attended the CEO conference and listened to many different speaker. While some of the speeches were very helpful, I couldn't help but feel as if the time could have been spent more wisely. At one point we were split up into groups with students from different classes and had the write up a business model for selling t-shirts. This activity really got me thinking about different business tactics and allowed me to discuss them with the other students and listen to their ideas. I wish we had done more interactive things like this during the day.
On Thursday we visited the Kurrus Funeral Home and got to speak with Dale Kurrus. I really enjoyed this visit because I found all the information really interesting and I liked how Mr. Kurris was very straightforward with how the funeral process works. It was nice getting to learn about a job that not a lot of people like to talk about.
09/22/2017
This week in CEO, I learned a lot about the importance of balance. In a business it’s important to balance not only the financial aspects but also your work life and your home life. When a business is successful but tries to grow too fast, it can end up destroying their profit. It isn’t worth the risk of expanding a business if you don’t have the cash flow to back it up.
This is also how accounting plays in. If a company poorly records their financial history or does it in an unorganized way, it can be detrimental to their business. This is why it is important to manage financials on a timely basis and keep a thorough log. It is also important to know how to cut expenses if necessary. If a business is on its last limb, finding cheaper ways to get things done is the only way to keep the business from dying.
The class had to use this advice to work in class when we realized how expensive the t shirts were going to be. So, in order to cut costs, multiple people found cheaper ways to make the shirts. By doing so, we were able to save more of the revenue that we will make from the donations and will be able to put it towards our class business.
09/17/2017
A responsible and well thought out budget can make or break a business, no matter what kind. This was a lesson emphasized while visiting both TFD Supplies and Althoff Catholic High School, as well as something we had to figure out for ourselves while moving forward in the badge project.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we continued to discuss the prices for the potential investors and the overall cost of the badges and t-shirts. As a class we had to consider that we wanted to have a significant amount of profit in order to put it toward our future class business, while also making sure to set realistic goals and amounts to ask from our investors. To accomplish this, we made sure to have an organized chart made up to showcase the cost of the shirts and one of the different levels of investments that can be made. Then went through and assigned each student a business to pitch the investment opportunity.
While visiting TFD Supplies, we learned that you don’t need to have a business degree to be a successful entrepreneur. Mr. Douthitt, now the biggest supplier of earbuds to Amazon, has never taken a business class. He continues to expand his business through selling directly to schools, which increases his profit. He told us how he improves his personal brand through social media presence, good customer service, and a unique business model. He told us about the importance of using your resources to get the word out about your business and not spending money where it doesn’t need to be spent.
At Althoff, we learned how important it is for a private school to fundraise and manage their budget because they don’t get funding from the government. Althoff has a yearly budget of four million dollars and has to do additional fundraising if they want to complete non-essential projects.
09/08/2017