Save the Date!

Patrick McKeehan

Mr. Patrick McKeehan, Director - Friend of CEO
Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

On Tuesday, Patrick McKeehan stopped by once again to assist us in the upcoming elevator pitch competition in a few weeks. Several students gave their pitch to the class and received one-on-one time with him, where he gave personalized advice and help in marketing our businesses.  Mr. McKeehan said that our pitches are improving!  Thank you, Mr. McKeehan, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Written by Malik Marks-McRath

Robert DeRousse

President
ABS Facility Maintenance - Friend of CEO

I really enjoyed getting to listen to Mr. DeRousse talk this week. He told us all about some of the financial aspects we haven’t really learned about yet. He taught about how he got to where he is today. He said that we need to have a good relationship with our insurance agent, CPA, and attorneys, a concept that has come up several times this year. Mr. DeRousse also explained that with small businesses you can react to situations faster and you have more flexibility. This is not the case in large companies. Something else that I did not know, but found interesting was the Baby Boomer opportunity. I had no idea about this time period, but it looks like this will be really good for my generation. Overall it was a very worthwhile presentation for the class and we learned a lot from it.

Written by Heather Gosebrink

Just a Reminder

Our door is always open. Entrepreneurs, visitors, guests, and friends are welcome and highly encouraged to join us. Drop in and share your story with our students or participate in our class discussions. Check out the schedule on the website.

If you are interested in hosting our students for an educational visit about your business operations or would like to speak to the class and share your story, please email the facilitator, Julie Siebers, at jsiebers@bths201.org or call or text her at 618.719.3177.

Thank You

Last week’s Grand Gala would not have been possible without a strong leadership of students and committees.  A big thank you to the following:

 Heather Gosebrink – CEO

Jessica Stern – COO

David Rauckman – CFO

Montez Douglas – Treasurer

Production – Melony Allen, Emma Gregowicz, and Paige Montgomery.

Event Planning – Cassandra Amorado and Aliyah Gillespie.

Marketing – Erik Faulkner and Malik Marks-McRath

Sponsorship – David Rauckman, Jessica Stern, Stephen Toenjes, Montez Douglas, and Alan Plantz.

Also, a big thank you to the following students who chaired some mini committees during this  last quarter:  Melony Allen – Thank you cards, Montez Douglas – Greeting guest speakers, Emma Gregowicz – Introducing guest speakers, David Rauckman – Labels , Malik Marks-McRath - Place cards, and Jessica Stern – Newsletter/Website.

Journal Tidbits

This week of CEO was mostly a week of reflection and work.  We are done with our class business.  It was a success in our eyes.  We are may not have reached our goal, but we did at the same time.  The program was able to see how hard work and determination really makes a difference.  Now, we are moving forward with our own personal businesses.  As the program progresses, we are learning more about not only business, but ourselves.  We are acquiring certain skills like public speaking and handshaking that will help us strive in the business industry and in everyday life.

We may not have had an eventful week, but it was quite exciting.  The class had the opportunity to visit Leisure Time Outdoors and Leisure Time Pools owned by Bob DeRousse.  I, personally, enjoyed this visit because I knew him prior to it.  Mr. DeRousse made some excellent points throughout his presentation.  He started it out by telling about his personal life.  He went through many struggles such as having cancer three times and failing businesses.  After explaining these aspects, he followed with his business of facility maintenance, ABS Facility Maintenance.  Facility maintenance is a significant part of any business.  If the business does not look presentable or is not working well, it will show in the public.  Having a good reputation can go a long way. 

At the end of Mr. DeRousse's presentation, he had some quotes that really stood out to me.  One quote struck me.  "Don't be rushed into getting married.  If she's the right girl, it's worth the wait.  If she's the wrong one, you won't have to live with as long."  This statement was said by his grandfather, Bernard DeRousse.  It may not seem it applies to business, but it does.  A business is a marriage.  There will be trials and errors.  Things will not go your way.  You should be able to overcome it.  If cannot overcome it, then it is not for you.  Everything is worth the wait.  Never rush into things.  If it is the right one, then it will be alright at the end of the day.

As I stated before about acquire skills in CEO, one is risk-taking.  Each business we have visited and will visit have all taken a risk.  The risk of starting a business.  The risk of believing in something so much bigger than themselves.  The risk of failing people and themselves.  According to Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, risk taking is an important factor.  He said, "If you are not a risk taker, then you should get the hell out of business."  In business, playing it safe will not always be the right answer.  Prime examples are the class business and our personal businesses.  With the class business, we all took a risk and leap of faith.  We saw results of success and failures.  Our personal businesses are risks in themselves.  Each of us are working hard trying to implement our ideas.  We are motivated to do be great.  I cannot wait for what everyone has to offer in these last couple of months. So, let's all be risk takers because the results may surprise everyone. 

Written by Sandy Amorado

Mr. McKeehan is so helpful and I'm so glad we have someone like him to come talk to us. I think it's really cool of him to keep coming in. I've learned from being in this class that people want to see you succeed. He has done everything he possibly can do to help up become successful in our business, and now it's up to us to run with it. I'm meeting with my mentor today and we are going to go over what he sent me. Make sure you get him back for all of your classes in the future! So glad we had him come in that one time because I honestly think we would be lost without him! 

Oh my gosh Bob Derousse is such an amazing person. He has been through so much. He made me realize that if you help out and give back good things with come. He also showed me to not give up when something goes wrong. He had a lot of things go wrong but he just grows on it. I have a lot of respect for him for beating cancer three times. He's has had a lot of battles to face and wasn't going to let cancer stop him. I wish we would of met him earlier in the year because he would of been a better mentor ….. I feel like he's been through a lot and would be good to help with our personal business. I was just suggesting that for next year because I think someone will want him! 

Written by Emma Gregowicz

This week was kind of strange not working on something for the gala.  I think the gala was a success! Although we didn't reach our target number of ticket sales, I still think we did a tremendous job. I think a lot more people know about CEO now that we had this event. Heather and Jessica did a great job leading us throughout the whole time. The thank you notes were a nice touch to bring our class business to a close. I'm glad it's over now so that we can focus on our personal businesses.

I like how we're going over the different financial sheets in class. Mr. Rauckman helped me with a lot of them, but we didn't have time to do all of them. So this has been really beneficial. Since I already bought my kit and the card reader, I'm already in debt! Yikes! But it really shows me what it's like to be in the business world. The saying that you have to spend money to make money holds very true to my life right now. I've already met my monthly goals that I had in place to start making money so that's exciting. I think as soon as my kit comes I'll be able to sell even more oils when people can actually try them right then and there. So far, my top oils sold are lavender for sleeping, an oil for post workout soreness, and two different oils that help with various digestion issues. I even sold an oil to my teacher for his baby! I think my business will allow me to get to know and help people on a completely new level. I also think this will help my future goals by networking and working on my listening skills. In order to provide the right oil for a person, I have to be able to listen and understand the problem at hand first then react.  I will be doing those same things once I become a doctor.

I started working on my Allsup elevator pitch and it was a bit of a challenge. It was hard to sum up Essential Oils and their benefits in such little constraints! I have so many positive things to say about the oils and not enough room. But that makes sense because you need to be able to catch your audiences' attention in a short amount of time.

Going to Leisure Time Pool was a cool experience. I didn't even know that place existed. That's one thing that I really enjoy about joining this class is getting to learn about business that I didn't know where there. Craig kind of mentioned that in his speech during the gala. He talked about people being ignorant because we just have a lack of knowledge. We drive by businesses everyday not noticing them and not knowing what goes on inside of them. Mr. DeRousse did a lot of things in life before he ended up where he was today which I thought was neat. Although I have a plan for my life, I hope I do a lot of things and get to experience new things before I get to where "my plan" leads me.

Written by Aliyah Gillepsie

Monday was the first day back after our gala. We discussed how we did, what we think went wrong, and what we think we did right. I think that we would have sold more tickets if we would have made more face to face contact with people. I also think that we should have used e­vite even though there would have been a little charge. Then we talked some more about the gala and about the food that we ate which was amazing. The gooey butter cake was awesome!!!!!! 

Tuesday we were at Barcom again. Pat McKeehan…He made us work on our pitches and then he talked to some more of us one on one. I think that he is very helpful and knowledgeable about what he does. I think he is very nice telling us that we can send him our business plans to be corrected. 

Wednesday we were at Leisure Time Pools. That was really fun. It is amazing how much he has done in his life. I cannot believe that he has had cancer not just once but THREE times! Then he talked about his businesses. I thought it was cool that he owned a cleaning business. I never thought about having a business like that.

Thursday we were back at Barcom in the little room. We talked about our personal finances. I had no idea how many things went into our finances. It is crazy that we have to name EVERYTHING we own, and you would think that I would know that but I do not. It is really hard to keep track especially when you get most of it as gifts.

Written by Paige Montgomery

This is the week after the Gala. I cannot believe how well everything went. The event was such a success for the first year! Now it’s time to put all our energy into our personal businesses. There’s still so much to do.

Pat Mckeehan visited the class again on Tuesday. We gave our elevator pitches during this time. I definitely need to practice mine about my urban garden. I really believe in my idea but I am beginning to have a few doubts. This is an organization I want to keep alive, but I’m afraid that I will not be able to do that. I will be leaving for Georgia State in only 4 months. I did not take this into account. I really need to expand more and talk to many more people to figure this out. 

On Wednesday, we visited Leisure Time Pools. Bob Derousse was a very high energy, optimistic person. He’s failed so many times but grew to be stronger each time. Not many people can get knocked down and get back up. He’s my favorite kind of person; a person of many jobs and talents. He got out there and did different things. When he was not “good enough” to be in someone else’s organization, he created his own. He’s completely okay with change which is something I have to work on. I admire his confidence and ability to bounce back fast.

On Thursday and Friday, the class discusses personal businesses and how the gala went. Again, we did so well for our first year but there were a lot of thungs we could’ve done better. Next year’s class should definitely learn from our mistakes. We also prepared our personal and business statements which was actually very interesting.           

Written by Melony Allen

I was really happy when we went to Leisure Time Pool – I honestly had no idea what to expect but I found this to be one of the most beneficial visits I’ve had in a long time. So much of what he said ‘impacted me’. “You need to put yourself in these situations – by doing social interactions you’ll never know you are going to meet – perhaps one day they’ll be the contact that makes you money” and then he made us read the ‘King of the Swamp Castle’ thing – I think what we can pull from that is that persistence is key. It’s easy to overlook this when you’re feeling down and discouraged but that is an overarching pillar of this class – persistence. It’s a crucial ingredient to becoming an entrepreneur.

I also thought it was interesting that he said “don’t get the idea that once you get out of school and get a job that your education is over – it’s really just the beginning”. I have come to really appreciate this mindset – the real value that comes from actually doing things – I honestly don’t even want to go to college at all.

Maybe take classes for accounting and other financial things. But really… it’s kind of an artificial setting. I mean, depending on what you do of course – I’m just looking at myself but doctors need to learn certain things as do other professions, but for me?  

I thought it was interesting that he said “we didn’t want to buy from another distributor, so we expanded and became the distributor” – very interesting concept. He also said “you don’t have to buy things guys – keep it in mind – it’s a barter world too.” – crucial advice. And then when he told us about how badly his business did when his partner got into it with Target? Things to keep in mind.

I liked when he started talking about ‘receivables’ and other concepts we haven’t really heard/talked about yet. And then he said “Darwinism in business? Evolve or die.” Hafta be flexible in the business world! And then another thing he said along with that was “doesn’t sound fair, doesn’t sound right, but that’s business.”

I thought his “find a need, fill a need” saying to be quite useful. And I liked how he really got into detail about how the Affordable Heathcare Act personally affected his business – dang that’s rough. My mentors also keep telling me about the three Ps – product, process, and people – a concept that again came up in his lecture. He also mentioned that “being small allows you to move faster – and look better than the other guys” – perhaps a concept I will utilize in my personal business 

I have heard of some of the opportunities that come along with the ‘baby boomer’ generation – but not in the ways that he was describing. I hope to one day be able to look at things the way people like DeRousse do – all an opportunity. I’ve already started but I want to get better at it.

To conclude his presentation, he threw a lot of quotes at us – most of which I found very insightful: “for every business that opens, two close” (wow if that’s true then CEO really is what we need!), “you can do anything, but not everything”, “success usually happens to those who are too busy to be looking for it”, “most entrepreneurs would prefer to work 80 hours a week for themselves than 40 for someone else”, “success is about helping other people succeed” and finally “write job descriptions into your business plan - it will save you a lot of time.” Great day – I’m so happy Heather suggested him.

Written by Jessica Stern

This week Patrick McKeehan stopped by again to hear the final elevator pitches from our class before the competition he’ll be hosting soon. The great thing about Mr. McKeehan is that I always learn something new from him every time he comes. This time, we spoke about telling a story through our pitches to really sell them to a future investor and customer. We have to work on being confident when we present, otherwise no one will by us or our products. We must always know exactly what our business about and be prepared to answer any question from investors.

On Wednesday the class went to Leisure Time Pools to meet with Bob DeRousse. He definitely had a lot to contribute to about being an entrepreneur and owning and business, and of course failing at attempts to creating some. Before he started, he had an image of ferris wheel on his powerpoint, which I thought was just a tacky cover photo. But he reassured me with a message behind the image. The meaning was all the ups and downs we’ll go through as entrepreneurs. He certainly did have an extensive timeline of ups and many downs. He lost huge sums of money, but also gained great recognition and relationships. He is proudly on several boards which is so cool to me. As a business owner you’d think that they never have time to do much except run their business, but he does a lot! Mr. DeRousse made me question where I stand in the race to being successful. A quote he said was, “You never see the second best, always the first.” Now that quote was in relation to baseball, but it also counts towards my life. I always want to be the best or try my best to have success, but sometimes I fall short. It was simply more motivation to keep pushing harder to achieve my goals.  He was a choir choir all through high school and college, too. I am a choir kid myself, so he caught my attention. All in all Bob was a pleasure to see.

On Friday that class saw two videos, the first one was about life. In this video we learned that life has no sense of fairness. Our lives will get busier. But even though that will happen, we must always try to give a 100% effort of ourselves. It’s so hard sometimes because we go through highs and certainly lows that burn us out. I figure the more we dedicate ourselves to something, it must mean that we love doing it. But when we aren’t so excited about doing some things, we start not to care for it. That is why we have to find to find good in everything that will be beneficial to us in the end. Doing our best will pay off in the long run. The second video was very motivational. Some quotes I wrote down were, “listen well, winners take action, ALWAYS be on time, focus, exercise my mind, say what you mean, and miracles happen every day.”

Written by Malik Marks-McRath