CEO Business Visits

• Mr. Jamie Auffenberg, President (Investor)

CEO Guest Speakers

• Ms. Amanda Guinn

This week in CEO was certainly eventful, most of it was taken up by our class discussions of the class project we will be executing in February. Through these class discussions, I've learned a lot about my classmates- that they are innovative as well as creative and think of things for our project that will really put it over the top. One of the things I really appreciate about this class is that it gives me an opportunity to work productively with any kind of person- which is an experience all young adults should have before they are thrown into a situation where they believe they can't work with someone else for whatever reason. These people who have the same goal as I do, although our personalities clash, are a great example of working through differences and being able to overcome them as a group.

Auffenberg car dealership in O'fallon was the only business we’ve visited this week, but it was wonderful nevertheless. The huge business was pristine and beautiful, quite obviously a place that likes to keep up with its cleanliness. We met Jamie Auffenberg, the CEO of his generational family business, and learned of his daily responsibilities. I've never thought about running a car dealership, but I can't say I've never thought about being a saleswoman for one. The job description itself would be wonderful practice in selling or marketing anything, and I believe it would be a fun experience for me. If I ever want to look more into this job field, Auffenberg is definitely where I will go.

On Friday we wound up at Allsup once again, but not for a typical class project discussion. We had a wonderful meet and greet with potential mentors for our group! I met many extremely interesting people that I hope to hear from again as a possible mentor (which I will refrain from naming just in case they don't turn out to be my mentor), that make me excited for my future in this class! Through all of the people that visited our class on Friday morning I have gained confidence in my business and refreshing brainstorming sessions, another priceless perk to the CEO class that I could not experience anywhere else.

Alayna Wells
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Alayna

During this week of the Belleville CEO program our class visited one striving business and had four great days at Allsup. On Monday we met at Allsup and discussed our class business and chose our class leaders. On Tuesday we met at Auffenberg Auto Mall and spoke with Jamie Auffenberg. On Wednesday our class met back at Allsup and broke into groups to create ideas for our class business. On Thursday we were at Allsup again and Amanda Guinn from SWIC came to sign us up for dual credit. On Friday our class had a meet and greet with our sponsors for our mentoring program.

During the sixth week of our CEO program on Monday we met at Allsup to discuss our class business and where the location should be. We have a lot of great locations to pick from so we have decided to look at the locations before we make a decision. We have chosen to have Tim and Stephen as CEO and CFO of our class business.

 On Tuesday, we met at Auffenberg Auto Mall and talked to Jamie Auffenberg about the importance of location and customer satisfaction. Mr. Auffenberg talked about the importance of location and why he changed the location of his business. He described how each dealership has a range of customer and how changing his location was a good business decision. Mr. Auffenberg also described how customer satisfaction was important because most of his customers are “returning customers” as in if someone buys a car from him they are more likely to come back for another car in the future or normal maintenance repairs.

 On Wednesday we met at Allsup again where we broke into groups to create ideas for our class business. We had groups of four and each group had their own topic. Our four topics were venue, food, and booths. For the booths and foods topic we’ve came up with the idea of each booth bringing in samples and products to sell.

 On Thursday, our class met at Allsup and had Amanda Guinn from SWIC come to us and talk about dual credit classes. By signing up for the CEO program which is a college course class, we can get dual credit.

On Friday, our class had a meet and greet with our class sponsors for our mentoring program. The mentoring program is where everyone gets assigned a mentor which is someone from each of our sponsors. I discussed a lot of ideas and questions with all of the sponsors but I have two that I really feel have a lot in common with me and think like me.

Devin Alexander
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Devin

This week in CEO was most definitely a learning experience. Our class visited Auffenberg, for a presentation with the owner. During the week we worked on our class project, and talked about our shirts. At the end of the week, at Allsup our class had a chance to meet with our potential mentors. Although our class week went well, there was a bump in the road at the end of the week.

Our meeting with Mr. Auffenberg was very informative. He talked about the values of his business, and how the market for his business has changed over the years. Auffenberg is a retail, franchise, family owned car dealership business. The car dealership has multiple locations through the general metro east area. During the presentation he talked about how the internet has expanded the car buying market, and how car companies that his business sales cars through micro manages the car dealerships. He explained that when large car producers make changes they ultimately trickle down to the small dealerships. Over the years the car buying market has changed. In previous years you had to go to the dealership to see a new vehicle, or travel to find the car you wanted. Now you can see, and purchase your car online then have it shipped. Not only can you purchase from dealers online you can buy from individuals on sites like Craigslist. The Auffenberg brand is well known and trusted. 

Friday our class met our potential mentors. At first it was really hard to mingle with the sponsors/investors because we only had a small amount of time to talk to all of them and ask questions. Personally going up to strangers and talking to them is very uncomfortable for me to do. Fortunately all of the potential mentors were very nice, and personable. 

Epiphany Smith
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Epiphany

This was yet another exciting week in the Belleville CEO program.  We began the week by paying a visit to Auffenburg where Jamie Auffenburg briefly went over his business and the new and used car market as a whole.  One thing he said that really hit me was that dealerships usually make less than three percent profit when selling a new car, and that a lot of the money comes from the parts and services portion of the dealership.

…At the very end of the week we met back at Allsup and invited a few of the soon-to-be class mentors, and got the opportunity to personally meet and mingle with each and every one of these wonderful people, who all have a vast knowledge of the business world.  In conclusion this has been another fantastic week to be in the CEO program, and I cannot wait for the weeks to come!

Cole Maul
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Cole

This week seemed to be more focused around the class business. We first started the process of voting our leaders for the class business and I liked the argument Tim and Stephen made about the two heads. From the past few weeks I have seen that especially in the business world it’s better for more than one head making all the decisions.  …I was still really impressed with the ideas our small group of sixteen kids can think up.

Even though I think our class is making the right decisions Geri Boyer poked holes in our plan for about the 30 minutes we talked to her about the class business.  This really helped us out and it shows that a fresh pair of eyes can always help look over a business plan and show errors that nobody before noticed.

The mentoring program was really interesting because we got to learn about what these people do and how they ended up succeeding in life. I thought it was great that everyone including myself asked their opinion about what we should do for the class business. I was really liked because it just showed that everyone was business first and concerned about the best way we can put on our class business. All the ideas we got from these potential mentors were phenomenal and many of them we will probably implement at our business. I can see the usefulness for a mentor especially once we start our personal businesses because then they will definitely come in handy as a useful source of knowledge and what direction our business should head in.

Joe Beussink
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Joe

Another week in the books, more learned and yet new junctions are presented among our group. While writing this, I cannot help but think of the quote Mr. Auffenberg had on the whiteboard in his conference room, “train your employees well, so that they can leave, but treat them well so they will not want to.” As a fourth generation ran business, they have had to adapt and treat their people well. To have a multi generation business, it most times comes down to the core, sometimes friends/partnership or simply family oriented.  Coming back to my first statement, our group is facing many new challenges that have arose this week.

…To progress, I was not in class Thursday and Friday because family business affairs, but I am most interested in finding my mentor and getting to my personal business ideas. While being gone for the latter part of the week, I experienced going to the newly renovated River Downs racing course. I enjoy going to new places and seeing how things such as horses differ from place to place. As in relation to business, everyone does things a little differently to meet the common goal. In horse racing it may be to win such as the same in running a store or a multi million dollar company. My family’s horse Terrace won by a astounding 12 lengths and it made the trip to Cincinnati well worth it.  

While going deeper into this class, while being in somewhat foreign surroundings, I am often finding myself looking into the smaller details of any establishment. This class while having some personal conflicting factors is offering so much more exposure to the outside world than I ever could imagine. What an opportunity this is!!!

Austin Thurman
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Austin

Monday, we elected CEOs, Tim and Stephen,  and a CFO, Jack, for our class business.  I think our idea for it is very original and creative.  We are currently looking for places to hold the event.  We set up a deadline to find out information on each place we thought of.

On Tuesday, we went to Auffenberg.  It was really cool to learn about the business of cars because I do not know much about them.  A lot of our time was spent answering questions, which I found to be very useful.  It is amazing that Auffenberg is about to go into its fourth generation.  I loved learning how Mr. Auffenberg focuses on providing great service.  I learned that most of the business Auffenberg gets is from family or relatives of the first person recommended to go to Auffenberg.  Mr. Auffenberg also discussed how important technology is in today’s business world.  He says that the Internet can make business a lot cheaper and more available to people.  I think knowing how to use technology to get your business name known is an efficient way to get more customers.

Wednesday, we worked on our class business.  Stephen and Tim broke up the class into four committees to allow us to work faster.  We decided that the most important thing to find first is the venue where we are going to hold the event.  After we find the venue, we can focus on calculating costs and creating a budget.  I am very excited to see the event take place.  I think we are all working hard and doing a fantastic job.

Thursday, we got registered as SWIC students.  Then we spend the rest of our time working on the class project.  We discussed the art we think should be used for the class business and tried to find a definite date.  We are still working out the details, but I think we are working effectively.

On Friday, we met a few of our mentors.  It was really cool to talk to them more casually and see what they have done for businesses.  I got to show some mentors my business idea and have grown in confidence because I received only positive feedback.  I even got some very helpful tips to start off strong.  I am really excited to be paired with my mentor.

Kaitlynn Borik
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Kaitlynn

This week in CEO it was more about learning about ourselves and how we work as a team than rather go to businesses. We successfully completed our badge project, and we elected class CEO’s and got to meet with some interested mentors. We also got to sign up for dual credits for SWIC and got to meet Jaime Auffenberg at Auffenberg auto mall. Overall it’s been an eventful week.

 The week started off when we had class elections for the class CEO, and CFO. I personally ran to be the class CEO because I think I have a unique skill in keeping people together, and working as a team. I also think that I am very good at taking on leadership roles that could be very beneficial to the class. Unfortunately I lost by a close vote, but I have learned that you can’t always win to be a leader, you don’t always have to be the one up front to be the person that leads your group. I also remembered that I kind of took control of our badge project, working really close to Carson to make sure all of our finances were in order and we could effectively and properly design and order the badges.

 On Tuesday, we met with Jaime Auffenberg, from Auffenburg Auto Mall. Mr. Auffenberg taught me a lot about how the automotive industry works and how you treat your employees to have a really high employment satisfaction rate. I was really surprised to learn about how much work and money and time it actually takes to be in the automotive retail business. One thing that Mr. Auffenberg really taught me about running a business, is to “Train People so that they are good enough to leave, but treat them well enough so they don't want too.” That is a really inspirational quote because to grow as a business, you are going to need support and loyal employees without those things; you cannot become a global empire.

On Thursday, Amanda Guinn came in to sign us up for dual credits and told us the benefits of having dual credits and being a student at SWIC. College students will get a lot of student discounts in the city, and we get free metro link passes to move around the city without spending so much money. Overall the experience with Ms. Guinn was short and to the point and I appreciate everything that she has done for us.

On Friday, we got to meet with some interested mentors. It was a wonderful experience as we got to walk around and talk with different mentors, and drink orange juice, eat doughnuts and socialize. I got to talk a lot about who I am as a person and what I want to do for a personal business. There were a lot of great people I got to meet with and I can’t wait to see who Mrs. Siebers pairs me with. I also can’t wait to get started on my personal business.

I can’t wait until the next week of CEO begins, we get to take a little field trip to SLU to meet with some kids that are doing great things and having their own businesses. I also can’t wait to meet with more possible mentors and get down to business. Let’s see what opportunities come to me this week.

Jaylen Davis
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Jaylen

This week was a work week for the most part. Our class visited with one business, Auffenberg Auto Mall. The rest of the week we spent working on our class business, signing up through SWIC, and meeting prospective mentors.

Auffenberg gave us a pretty interesting presentation on the car industry. Jamie Auffenberg answered all of our questions about the business. He talked about the differences between new and used cars and their profits. He also talked about how internet is changing the way people shop for cars. One thing he talked about I found particularly interesting was location. The business was originally in Belleville, but they soon expanded over into O’Fallon. Jamie told us this was because they could serve more people from this location, thus allowing more car manufactures to provide to them. This reminded me a lot of Memorial Hospital and how they need to find a location that serves as many people as possible. If I ever am running a business with a central headquarter, I would want to find a location that is easily accessible.

Ms. Guinn helped us sign up as part of the class through SWIC on Thursday. She also answered some of our question about being a SWIC student and the benefits. She didn't really talk about a business, but she did talk about her job a little bit. The main thing I took from her was whatever I end up doing, I better enjoy doing it.

The rest of the week we worked on our project. We are getting some ideas finalized and the end picture is becoming less blurry. On Friday some of our mentors came in for a meet and greet. I really liked this and found it really fun to meet all these wonderful people. We did get a chance to explain our ideas and hear their opinions on it. This helped us kind of eliminate some of our ideas and strengthen others. Overall I think this was very beneficial for the project and it will help us get closer to a final idea. 

Tim Donaho
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Tim

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday we met at Allsup to discuss the class business. It was a great opportunity for everyone to voice their opinions and make real progress on the business. As a class we must use all of the team work skills we have been learning to effectively design a business plan. As Dr. Dosier said, we are bound to run into disagreements, but we have to be able to maintain respect and communicate professionally. Arguing does not help the progress of the class at all. As we become more comfortable with each other we also become more likely to disrespect each other. We must work as a team and value everybody’s ideas to reach our full potential.

On Tuesday our class met with Mr. Jamie Auffenberg at his large business. Auffenberg is another generational business in Belleville. He took time out of his day to speak to us about the car dealership business and how he would go out of business if he did not make connections with customers. Connections can make or break a business, said Mr. Auffenberg. He surprised me by saying without used cars his business would fail, because he can not make enough money only selling new cars. Apparently the most he can make on a new car is around $900, which is shocking. When asked what his daily schedule is like, Mr. Auffenberg said he just has a lot of meetings, and is no longer involved in much dirty work. That is exactly how I want to be when I am older, spending my summers playing golf.

Friday was my favorite day of the week, and not because the week was over. Friday we had a meet and greet with 7 potential mentors, and they were all amazing. It was a tremendous experience to present behavioral skills I have learned to the mentors. I liked that I could have a conversations and really connect with them. I look forward to the next meet and greet and choosing my mentor.

Michael Lassman
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Michael

This week was very productive week for our class business. We decided to do a theme “Around the Fountain” being a class in Belleville it suits well. The fountain is in the middle of Belleville and is what Belleville is based around. We want art to have a big part in this business as well as businesses and restaurants that make Belleville what it is today. We are still deciding if we should have this during the week or weekend and what time of day we should.

…On Tuesday we went to Auffenburg and spoke about how much different business goes into each of their different types of dealerships and how they bring in different kinds of business.

On Friday we met with a few mentors and I really liked how it was set up. We got to talk with all of them and learn more about them and what they do with their businesses. I'm excited to find out who I get as a mentor. They were all really nice and you could tell they really loved what they do.

Tomorrow we go to Trep Start and I think it will be a really good opportunity to see people our age have their business already booming and see where we will be in a few months. Although first we have to get through this class business and it feels like it never will. It's going to be a hard task, but I hope we decide to work as a team and get this done.

Claire Randle
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Claire

This week was an interesting week. I hit the wall of being exhausted and tired from school, and sports. Our class has officially moved on from the forming stage to the storming stage but through it all we had a productive week. We have moved along well on our class project and have a better Idea of what we want to do. One thing I regret from the week is not writing anything down after our meet and greet with our possible mentors. There was a lot of insight and useful information being given out all around the room, but I think I have an idea of who I would like as a mentor. One thing that I was stressing about this year was figuring out what my business was going to be, and that day helped ease those nerves. I was assured that my experiences after high school will possibly give me an inspiration, or new idea.

I learned at Auffenberg that one of the best types of advertisement is repeat customers and referred customers. And a few minor things that don’t really affect anything for me, for instance, their Ford dealership is inspected by the Ford franchise and has to meet very strict requirements, such as the sealing on the parking lot.

I know that I am jumping all around but I feel that I am learning to keep my tongue. I usually have a problem with not having a filter on what I say, usually what I think comes out of my mouth. But I think this week has really challenged me in this area and has helped me improve on it and strengthen this weekend through our storming stage. It is a lot nicer to be looking from the outside in, and analyze what is going on before acting than going in right away and scrambling to fix what just happened.

Carson Gamboe
Friday, September 30, 2016Learn More About Carson