CEO Business Visits

• Mr. Dave Zura, Allsup President (Investor)
• Mr. Roger Lowery, Owner (Investor)

CEO Guest Speakers

• Vertical Performance
• Mrs. Reva Faber, JAKS Counseling Center

This being our first full week of class I was nervous for what it would be like. I still feel nervous being this is a huge commitment but it will challenge me to be more responsible. Also I was also apprehensive going into a room of mostly strangers who are my peers. Would I measure up? Would I fit in?  To me the team bonding on Monday really helped me to get to know people and get all of us to communicate more. In my mind we really needed that, we have very many different mindsets and personalities. Which leads me to think that Reva Faber was a fantastic person to bring in. To me she taught us that we all have different personalities and we all need to be talked to in a different way. Also, that we are not all going to get along and agree on the same thing most of the time. We will have to work closely together and we will need to be able to respect others ideas and opinions. I have come to realize that listening to others can be hard at times but very important. Just like Dave Zura said “We should know when to speak and when to listen.” I have to realize when others in my class criticize my ideas they are not being hurtful just helpful. Dave Zura also said “fail fast and fail forward.” I have noticed that in playing volleyball that if you don't fail you won't go anywhere. Although when you do fail you can't just sit there and you have to get up and keep going. Just like Dory said “just keep swimming.” I feel the experience at Northwestern Mutual showed me to always follow your heart. He had a great job that provided more than he needed to have, but to him it didn't feel right. Being successful is not just how much money you make, it's about if you love and are passionate about what you are doing. Roger Lowery went for a job with it having no ceiling or floor. He did this because this is what he felt he would put everything into. To me being passionate about what you do is very important.

Claire Randle
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Claire

This previous week has been intriguing and diverse to say the least. Already I've learned skills that I can visualize myself using later on in life and their importance being detrimental to success in multiple areas in my life. The way Mr. Clapp and Mr. Schneider enabled us to become closer as a group I believe will allow us to be able to mesh way quicker than if they had not came and showed us the values of knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses. Speaking of that, a lot of my CEO mates' personalities have definitely became prominent in the first week and a half of class being in session. I can tell there will be a few clashes due to people's traits but we can work past them due to our willingness to overcome challenges as a team. The exercise utilized by Ms. Faber also showed us who's good at communication and leading, and who's willing to listen and cooperate. It's already evident who wants to be leaders and have more directing roles, and who will play the parts and work with the leaders on our future projects. One fear I do have, however, is if I'm wrong about our willingness to cooperate and if people won't budge or bend on certain points and opinions. We have all the tools to easily complete any task assigned to us, but we still have to figure it out and do our best to achieve them. The drive, willingness to work, and other characteristics that Mr. Lowery spoke about in his speech on Friday, are completely evident in each and every one of my classmates. The next year will most definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out.       

Royce Payne
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Royce

This was our first full week of CEO. I was not sure what to exactly expect. I was surprised how much new information I learned from just one week of class.

One big thing I learned this week was the importance of teamwork. Throughout the week I noticed every speaker we had talked about the power of good teamwork and communication. Some helped us grow as a team while others told about how they used teamwork to become successful.

Our class became comfortable with each other after our Monday team building session which was fun for everyone. All of the exercises we did required good communication and forced us to talk and share ideas. We also learned how to talk with each other after Reva Faber interpreted our PDP tests. I learned I am a Pace, which is the most common personality. She also taught me how others would perceive me and how I can deal with other personalities more effectively. This really became helpful on Thursday when we all worked on our badge project.

Dave Zura spoke to us on Tuesday, and shared how every person in a business is important. He told us that without the mailmen and receptionist, the big CEO’s can't do their job as effectively. He also taught us how necessary a team of advisors is when you are the big boss. He told us we need to have trusted advisors to bounce ideas off of. He said it is important to have people from different backgrounds to get as many different perspectives as possible on a topic. Lastly, on Friday Roger Lowery spoke to us. Although his company is very independent based, he still stressed the importance of a team. He said the individual may be working for themselves, but they are still a part of the perfect team.

In conclusion, this week was very information. I learned all about teamwork and effective communication skills. I enjoyed the past week and look forward to the ones to com

Tim Donaho
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Tim

Be Bold. Those are the two words that stuck with me from this last week out of any other saying or rule from our guest speakers. As I thought of those two words I remembered what my old math teacher used to say, no guts, no glory. He was right because from all the guest speakers I heard this week, they all had a moment where they talked about risking it all, sometimes doing this several times and that would be the moment where  their success began. I’ve always thought that there must be people out there who risked it all and now have nothing because not everyone can be a success so I think it would be interesting to hear from someone who experienced failure and never came back but I don’t think they would be to keen on talking about what happened.  The major thing I learned this week was that you gotta risk it for the biscuit especially if you have the entrepreneurial mindset.

One important detail to being an entrepreneur was that failure is inevitable. Mr. Lowery especially knew about this and even gave us some good tips on how to take failure as a good thing. He said out of 100 good leads 10 will eventually become clients. This means that a salesman or saleswoman have to go through a lot of denial and failure to get to the Golden Goose. Sucess doesn’t easily come to most, it seems like we have to struggle first, accept failure for what it is and use it as a tool to help us succeed next time for when we put it all on the line or decide to go into business with a partner.

Joe Beussink
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Joe

This first week of the Belleville CEO program was truly a unique and one of a kind experience that you truly just cannot get in a regular classroom.  This first week really opened my eyes about how much more you can learn from experience as opposed to being taught by a teacher.

Having Lynn Clapp and Jim Schneider from Vertical performance come in was a fantastic opportunity for everyone in the class to get to know, and be comfortable around each other.  I had been friends with a few of the classmates prior to the activities, but they really helped bring the whole class together, and acclimated everyone with different styles of problem solving.  I deeply appreciate Vertical Performance visiting, because I feel it's a key factor for students to be able to sufficiently communicate amongst each other.

It was also fantastic to hear the insight and history behind Dave Zura, the COO of Allsup. One thing he talked about that really stuck out to me was that many businesses in their early years, struggle to stay afloat and even sometimes fail.  Just because a business fails initially doesn't mean you should stop trying, because you can make any business happen with thought and passion behind it.

Later in the week Reva Faber who is a social worker came in to talk to us.  It was very interesting to see how our personality was analyzed and how accurate it was.  This Analysis really pointed out a lot of my strengths and weaknesses that I may overlook in my everyday life, and I'm very glad that Mrs. Faber was able to come visit our class.

The end of the week was very interesting as it was our first class that was not at Allsup.  Instead we visited Mr. Lowery at Northwestern Mutual.  Out of the very insightful discussion there were some key things that really stuck out to me.  Those being the 3 “I’s”; Independence, Income Opportunity, and Impact.  These three “I’s”were the key features when finding the right job for you, so that you can be driven in the workplace  place and love what you are doing.

Overall this First week of the CEO class was an amazing experience, and I am more than excited to find out what's in store for the weeks to come.

Cole Maul
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Cole

The first day this week we had Vertical Performance come in, when they first arrived I just figured that we would be doing some ice breakers and that was it. I never expected to take anything from it. But I feel that I did a little bit of both watching and in the conversation, talking and leading. But when I was back watching I noticed that we have a great number of different personalities in our class. I can see potential clashes happening in the future but I think that we will make a great team and eventually a great business.

The second day was when the president of Allsup came and spoke to us.   His speech was very informational. I had always thought that the only way to be successful was to come up with the newest and greatest idea but he taught me that you can use an old idea and still be successful with it, it's all about execution. Also that you can't wait for that great idea to come otherwise you may be waiting your whole life, you should go out and test the small ideas that come to mind and learn by doing. One thing that I had never thought of until he mentioned it was to gather a ring of people to bounce ideas off of. I had always thought that if you do that your ideas would be spread around and taken but the way he explained it makes it seem like a great idea.

On Wednesday we had the PDP or Reva Faber from JAKS Counseling Center come in.   I thought that what she brought to the class was really intriguing. It was definitely really cool to see who I am on paper but that's not really what I took away from that day. I learned something about public speaking, which has always been an interest and a skill of mine.   You need to present information to every personality type, so for those who are extrovert be fluffy and personal, for those who are conforming you need to present all of the facts and for dominant you need to just get to the point. I don't really remember what the other one was best for but if you can find the fine line of a combination between all of these your presentation will be unbeatable and cannot be denied.

…And on Friday we were at Northwestern Mutual to listen to Roger Lowery, who had some very inspirational and informative points. He lived by his “Three I’s” which are Independent, Income opportunity, Impact, which I had never thought of and really reached out to me. I noticed that there have been recurring themes throughout the few speakers that we have had, even if your idea isn't brand new and it's all about how you execute it and carry out the idea. Then there were some points to live by which I have unknowingly been following: Show up on time (which I sometimes struggle with), Do what you say you’re going to do, Finish what you start, be as polite with others as you can, and do keep it simple even when simple isn’t easy.

Carson Gamboe
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Carson

Who am I? That question was asked from time and time again this week. I think this week I learned a lot more about myself than I ever thought I would. The thing about business is that you have to connect with the customer to grow a personal bond to further sell your product. How are you going to do that when you can't connect with yourself? That's what I learned this week from people such as Reva Faber and Roger Lowery, also like I said before connecting with the customer is key to selling a product. That's when Vertical Performance by Lynn Clapp and Jim Schneider came in to show us the beauty of teamwork and communication.

Reva Faber is the Chairman and CEO of JAKS Counseling services. She came in to show us what type of leaders we are. According to my PDP test I am a Conformity Leader, which is a Careful leader, a person that needs all the facts up front and center to make decisions. I personally thought I was I Dominant person because I’m very upfront about what I want, but as Reva told me sometimes you will take on a leadership role in different ways depending on the situation that you're given. In my case I have a very dominant trait when it comes to being on the football field, but when it comes to being at home I’m actually very high in conformity.

Roger Lowery is the CEO of Northwestern Mutual. He reminded me of myself in many ways. He didn't really know what he wanted to do coming out of high school and didn't know what to do with his life period. Mr. Lowery really spoke to me in a good way giving me some very spiritual lessons that I could not hesitate to highlight in my journal. He said to push forward no matter what anyone say, or keep making the pie bigger even though your slice is small. Mr. Lowery also taught me something he calls the three I’s. Independence, Income Opportunity, and Impact, those things are all super important to have in the life of business because to open a business you have to be able to perform within yourself which also ties in to me meeting the President and CEO of Allsup Dave Zura, who sold Wizards basketball tickets to make some serious money and open a business he had to trust himself and have a certain type of drive to do it. Income opportunity which is the opportunity to grow in the field you're in to make some good money. Last and the one that stuck with me the most is Impact, you have to value what you're doing because without your impact our job will always be boring.

The CEO class has just begun this week and I can already tell this is a class full of benefits and opportunity.   My high school career was fast and short and this is my final torch. This is the year where I will be a success no matter what I do. I am a dreamer, ambitious but overall I’m a person with a chance to do something that is once in a lifetime, to be in to be handpicked into a program that is a chance to do something bigger before I leave my mark in Belleville. This is Belleville CEO and my adventure begins now.

Jaylen Davis
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Jaylen

In the first full week of CEO class, I learned a lot of important lessons.  The team building activities on Monday brought our class together as one team and helped all of us understand good characteristics of a strong team.  I discovered the importance of listening to everyone’s ideas.  In a lot of activities, we listened to multiple ideas, followed one, and added other ideas to improve it.  I realized that this is what makes a good business team, and it really prepared us for our first class project.

Second, I learned that it is okay to make mistakes.  When I heard our first speaker for the class, Dave Zura, I did not know that business was all about learning from your mistakes.  Mr. Zura taught me that behind every setback, there is great opportunity.  This knowledge is going to help me greatly when I start my own business. 

Mr. Zura also taught me about the importance of education and influence.  He stated, “Leadership is about influence, not power.”  He gave many other leadership tips, too.  For example, he told us that it may be wise to start a new business with a partner.  This way, you can lead a business with someone who you can share your ideas with.

When I started the class, I thought to begin a business, you had to have an original idea.  Mr. Zura taught me that this is not the case.  He buys and resells tickets in his free time and so do other people.  It made me realize that I do not have to have a whole new idea for a business that was never done before.  I can look at other businesses and build off their idea.  I can also make my own business special by adding my own ideas and thoughts to it.

Thursday was the most impactful day for me this week.  The experience of trying to solve a problem with a group of people who all have great ideas is not an easy task.  It is even more difficult if you have no adult to tell you what to do or what is right and wrong.  We had to learn to work with each other and find ways to decide between two solid ideas.  I learned that it is best to gather information first and then sort out all of our options.  I can tell that this class is going to get me very prepared for the business world.  

Kaitlynn Borik
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Kaitlynn

The first week of CEO class is over. I have already learned a lot about myself, my partners, and about business. It is amazing to sit down and listen to people who have had successful lives in business and learn about how they became so successful. Vertical performance came in on Monday and really helped us break the divide between each other. We all learned about each other and are definitely more comfortable debating ideas because of them. We learned how to work as a team to reach our goals, and rely on people’s strengths to become stronger as a unit. We were also very fortunate to hear the story of Dave Zura on Tuesday. He is the president of Allsup and has been the president for many companies. From him I learned many things. One thing I never considered was that the best businesses are not started with perfect ideas. I have often thought about potential businesses but I have never thought of a “perfect” one. This comforted me because now I realize that all I need to do is look for a problem and try to make a solution in business form. Allsup is a perfect example of that because they are fixing the problem of the government taking advantage of people who deserve disability checks but can not get them because of their disability. I also learned that having a business partner can help me take a leap of faith into my own business. A partner will essentially give me a safety net where I don’t feel so alone and vulnerable.

Wednesday a wonderful woman named Reva came in to discuss our strengths and weaknesses. It was truly eye-opening. Apparently I am dominant and account for 10% of the world's population. But I learned that we have to understand where everyone is coming from because we all have different perspectives. What I feel could be crazy to someone else, but we have to set apart our differences and work together.

But my favorite thing this week was listening to Mr. Lowery from Northwestern Mutual speak. He spoke with so much wisdom to us. He reassured us that it is ok not to know what you want to do in life, and I always need that because I feel so much pressure to pick a career and do it forever. But what has stuck with me the most are the 3 I’s. Independence, income, and impact. This is what Mr. Lowery wanted to have in his job, he did not want a ceiling on the amount of money he made, did not want to rely on others, and he wanted to make a positive change in the community. This is now what I will look for in a business. Lastly, he made sure to tell us to always be on time, do what we say we are going to do, finish what we started, and always be polite.

Michael Lassman
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Michael

After the first full week of CEO class, I have high expectations and aspirations for the year.  Even though waking up early is never a high schooler's favorite thing, I look forward to waking up, dressing nicely, and knowing I will learn something new.  This class is engaging as well as challenging. I look forward to the connections I am going to make and the people that I will meet throughout this year.

On Monday, Mr. Schneider and Mr. Clapp came to help our class build as a group and become one.  We did a series of games and activities to get to know one another.  They also challenged us with a few games that were a little more complex, and took planning, thinking, and leadership.  However, the thing that stood out to me the most was how we need to acknowledge everyone in the room, and stretch our comfort zone. I was a greeter on Monday, and it made me feel good when they acknowledged how professional and welcoming it was to greet them in the morning.

The president of Allsup also spoke to us this week. I liked his past, and was very interested in all of the challenges and successes he has had in the past. A couple of quotes he said stood out to me. "Fail fast and fail forward." "The difference between successful businesses and unsuccessful businesses is execution."  These quotes are important because we will all fail, but if we do we need to use it as a learning experience.  Also, we need to execute to be successful. If you have a good idea, but never execute the idea is waste

On Wednesday, we met Reva Faber. She analyzed our PDP test results to learn what kind of person we are. I was analyzed as extroverted primarily.  I agree with the results for the most part, but I feel that I don't rely on approval as heavily as full extroverts do.  I like to talk, and I am outgoing for the most part, but I am satisfied without approval of others. 

On Friday, we met Roger Lowery at Northwest Mutual. He had many good points on how to be successful and happy with our careers. However one thing he said struck me more than the rest. He said, "I didn't listen to what was inside me, I listened to the people around me." I find this quote prominent in the majority of people's lives. We seek approval and guidance by others. Instead, we should search inside of ourselves to find answers in our lives because only we know what will make us happy.

            

Stephen Waltrip
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Stephen

So far my CEO experience has been nothing short of amazing. Every day in the classroom we learn something intriguing, whether it is about business, each other, or ourselves. As a classroom we’ve been growing increasingly comfortable with sharing our ideas and talking to one another; and with the help of Vertical Performance’s team building exercises- run by Jim Schneider and Lynn Clapp- I’ve seen some of my peers in this program open up tremendously and share the brilliant ideas that they were unsure of sharing before. The Vertical Performance exercise has also helped me become more conscious of other people’s mannerisms when they are uncomfortable or wish to share something but need that extra push, and we have become a better unit for having them speak to us.

On Tuesday the president of Allsup, Dave Zura, came to speak with our group about being a success in the business world; he shared encouraging insight of his own personal experiences that inspired me to continue with the businesses I’ve been working on- but putting minimal effort into. Mr. Zura’s speech was enlightening for me to listen to, especially when he shared advice like “Recessions are a great opportunity” and “You can be an entrepreneur in someone else’s company,” These words of wisdom made me realize that there are ways around my biggest fear in business- failure. They mean I can have a safety net- like working in someone else’s company- but still develop my own ideas and become my own boss. The value of raw advice like this is priceless to me, because before I heard about recessions being a great opportunity I only viewed recession as the beginning to an end. It’s quite impressive how with every speaker my mindset changes, and I become a smarter, more outgoing version of myself with every solid word they give us.

For example, before Reva Faber of JAKs counseling services came to interpret our personalities I had no clue the four main traits of personality even existed. Now I know I am a Patient type! Ever since she assessed us and answered my many, many questions about the different personality types (it is extremely interesting to me) I have been labeling everyone I meet as extrovert or dominant or conformative. Not only has this helped me in my personal relationships to understand why the people close to me may react in the ways they do, but it also gives me a cheat sheet on salesmanship. To market to an extrovert, you would talk about their kids and establish a friendship- for dominant people you would get straight to the facts and show results- and for conformative people you would make them feel secure in all of their decisions and reassure them that all details are taken care of! I’ve been excelling at my schoolwork as well; making points in argumentative essays that appeal to all personality types have produced effective and persuasive debates. 

Our last Speaker this week was Mr. Lowery of Northwestern Mutual. His powerful lesson to us was centered on happiness in your business, organization of short and long term goals, and the fact that dedication to a job is much more valuable than talent or charisma. I’ve always felt as though my hard work has taken a back seat to someone who has more speaking presence than I do, but it’s reassuring to know in the long run that effort beats out likability. In a few hours I will send him his thank you email as I have done with the rest of the speakers we’ve listened to, hopefully it will show him how grateful I am for his wisdom as well as reassuring lessons. Overall it’s been a wonderful first week, and I can’t wait to get started on the second one!

Alayna Wells
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Alayna

What I learned? I learn that through work you can't take the easy way. You have to take risks and work hard to get what you want. You cannot take short cuts. You cannot take the easy way. Through hard work and persistence you get your goals. For example, this week I got the task of photo shopping a new CEO logo. At first I made a C that looked like half an O. I was being lazy and when I put the O in it looked horrible, and I had to go back and make a better C. through hard work you get what you want and let me tell you the logo looks great now.

I also learned a lot about performance traits and how it affects how someone works. I’m high pace or other known as patience. I want stability, predictability, benefits, and consensus. For someone of whom is high dominance they would want direct answers, challenges, authority, and bottom of the line results. Knowing these traits and learning how to work well with all these people with these traits I found it really interesting.

Kelly Rowden
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Kelly

This week we went to Northwestern Mutual, and had presentations from Reva Faber, Dave Zura, Jim Schneider , and Lynn Clapp. At Northwestern Mutual we met Roger Lowery who is the CEO of Lowery Benefits Services and a financial representative for Northwestern mutual. Like most people he did not know what he wanted to do in college, and began working for a pharmaceutical company. Lowery emphasized the importance of taking risks, being discipline, having self-development, and being driven. He also made about including the three “I’s” in to our decisions and work life. The three I’s are Independent, Income opportunity, and impact. He described being independent as doing what you want and  living the life you want to with no ceilings but, he also expressed that a life or career with no ceilings is also a career with no floor.

Reva Faber was the presenter about PDP which spoke about personality types. My personality type was pace and conformity. I was not surprised at my results from the evaluation, although some of the attributes of my results were not accurate in my opinion such as the characteristic of being organized. During her visit we did a team building exercise that caused everyone to problem solve.  Other team building exercises included the carpet square bridge with Jim Schneider and Lynn Clapp that forced the class to care about the success of our peers by ensuring that the person behind us would be able to make it to the other side.

Dave Zura is the COO of Allsup who spoke about his success story including his failures also. His key points were that when being the owner of a company that all the value you make you keep, and to not be afraid of failure.

Epiphany Smith
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Epiphany

I must say, the first complete week of the Belleville CEO program went very different from what I was expecting. In all honesty, it’s a very relaxed and laid back environment. While not sure what to expect from this organization, I must say so far I am impressed. Throughout the week, it was spent well. The team building gentlemen got our group closer, literally, Reva helped us retain a better understanding of ourselves, Mr. Zura had an incredible story of his early years and what motivated him to rise to the top. As the week progress group photos were taken and we had the privilege to visit Northwestern Mutual and spend the morning with Roger Lowery. Enough with the recap, our schedule tells everyone our itinerary.

Though all of our guests were incredible, two stood out to me in particular, Mr. Zura and Mrs. Faber. From the start of Zura’s presentation, I was automatically hooked. For example, while he was talking about his youth he worked on a horse farm mucking stalls and taking care of horses that struck huge with me. My entire life has been revolved around the horses and it was so cool that we have this in common. Like most people involved with the horses, money typically gets you out. The work is hard and long and a few dollars above minimum wage isn’t worth it most the times. While he went into his personal business life, I could just notice many similarities between him and me. For instance, he sells tickets on the side; I do a similar thing when I’m not working with the horses. I call them my side hustles. I really like that anyone who has a drive will be successful at whatever they may be driven for. Nobody likes, risks, but the risks will sometimes pay out tenfold, baby risks are the way to go.

The PDP test gave what seemed unreal results. While reviewing my sheet, I couldn't but help think of everything my parents have ever told me about myself. Coming to terms that a simple test on the computer could pick apart my personality and tell me things that I wasn't ever conscious to, Wicked stuff. 

Austin Thurman
Friday, August 26, 2016Learn More About Austin