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Don't Be Afraid of Failure

CEO Business Visits


Rauckman Utility Products

Jim & Shirley Rauckman

On Tuesday, we visited Rauckman Utility Products. This is a family owned business that was started in 1999.   It was our first visit to a manufacturing company and we were able to see some very advanced technology.  Mr. and Mrs. Rauckman were very inspiring and influenced us to search for a career that makes us happy, not just for the money. We'd like to thank the Rauckman’s and their employees for teaching us very informative business lessons and showing us their facility.

Written by Cam Wicks


Belleville's Got Talent

SAVE THE DATE!  Belleville CEO is hosting a night out on Saturday, February 10, 2018 called Belleville's Got Talent.  More information to follow in the coming weeks.  But mark your calendar now and plan on attending our fabulous event!

Last Day at Allsup

Last Day at Allsup

On Friday, the Belleville CEO students presented Nicole Gould with a bouquet of flowers for being so friendly and helpful each morning that we came to class.  We would also like to say a big thank you to Mr. Jim Allsup and Mr. Dave Zura for allowing us the privilege to start our day at Allsup during this first quarter.  Your facilities are wonderful and everyone was so nice to work with.  Thank you again for your continued support and  hosting the Belleville CEO class each first quarter for the last three years.


Student Journal Highlights for this week

Another week of CEO has passed, this being our last week at Allsup. We've been spending most of our time preparing for the class business, which is much needed. As one of the leaders of this project I feel that it is my job to guide everyone in the right direction and make sure everyone is on the same page. I feel like I'm doing an okay job at this but I could be totally wrong. It's tough to keep everyone happy, when there are so many different opinions. I want to be able to accept them all but I just don't know if that's possible. I think I just have to listen to everything that everyone has to say and take it into consideration. I love a good challenge and I'm excited to see how the class business goes.

This week we visited Rauckman Utility Products run by Jim and Shirley Rauckman. The story of how they started I thought was pretty cool. Jim was tired of the way his greedy boss was running things so he took out the biggest loan he could and then quit his job. From there he started his own sales company that helped other companies sell their products. Once they were back on their feet the Rauckman family started selling their own products. One product that I thought was interesting was their gloves. Their niche for their gloves is that they can have them custom made for any kind of hand for example a man had lost his thumb and the Rauckmans  were able to make a glove without the thumb. They are able to do this with the new technology of scanning the person's hand and making a glove fit like a glove.

The past two weeks have been full of fun and construction. While we spent most of last week at Allsup discussing the class business, we still were able to get out to see a few businesses. Our first stop was Rauckman Utility Products, where we were shown their business concept and around the factory. Something interesting about the company is that they actually have a machine which makes custom formed rubber working gloves for each employee. They hand make molds of individual’s hands, which is especially helpful to those workers who have lost any fingers. After the mold is made they’re dipped into the glove material & ready by the next day.

We spent a lot of time, last week especially, on the class business and securing down a plan for it. We really focused on what our target audience was going to be. Should it be for all ages to draw in a larger crowd? Or should it have an age limit to keep from unfair advantages for younger contestants? We ultimately decided to set an age limit for participants, which helped us in turn find our target audience. We finished out our last week at Allsup, which kindly let us use their building at the start of our CEO journey to start making moves.

Josie Proffitt

Josie Proffitt
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About Josie

These past couple weeks in Belleville CEO were very exciting. We’ve taken some major steps on our class business. Our plan is “Belleville’s Got Talent”, which will be a local talent show for children and young adults in the local area to come and showoff their best talents. It will be a fun night for the whole family, full of fun and entertainment, all only a couple days before Valentines Day. This gives those who are busy on Valentines Day, a date night the Saturday before, allowing everyone to have a great time.

As I stated before, we’ve taken some big steps for our class business. We’ve already divided into multiple groups, so we can be as good as possible in every way, to make this event great. I am part of the Advertising Department, and I spent a good amount of my time this week designing a good logo that represents us well, as well as making it catch the eye of a passerby. Hopefully it works out well. Our department has started working on a flyer for those who are interested in sending in submissions for our talent show, and Elizabeth and Emily have put in some really good work there. Our department is really well balanced in our skills and I really believe that we have made a ton of progress, and have been very productive with our time.

We are still working on our budgets, and food services, but we have already narrowed it down to only a couple different options. I really see that we are moving much faster, and much more productively than we were on our badge project. Nick and Ian have really raised the bar as our two CEOs. I like the way that they have taken on problems that have arisen, and how they are easy to come up and talk to. They have been great with keeping all of us on track, and I really have high hopes for this class business, because it is going so well.

After this whole week, I’m really interested to see if next week can be even better, because that would make it just be fantastic. Belleville CEO has made some major progress lately, I have a strong feeling that next week will be even better.

John Lewis

John Lewis
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About John

Through my eyes, it seems as if the group is progressing like no other. Mainly speaking for the class business, where we have already determined a thought out plan and idea for action, I think we as a team have our heads on straight about what needs to be accomplished. We all have our own committees and jobs that need to be done, yet each task slightly relies on another for one to be complete. Regardless, I think the class has a bright future , where we will surpass our income goal and create a solid show for the city of Belleville.

These last two weeks we also got to visit with JoAnn DiMaggio-May, Rauckman, and Neal Eilers. JoAnn explained to us other necessities needed for a business that is often looked over when becoming an entrepreneur. Although it was a lot to take in, it is definitely a major key to know the things that she said. Knowing that she will also be coming in again to assist us ensures me that we will all be successful individually.

As we toured Rauckman, I gained a lot of respect for him, as he explained the money he has invested into these machines, without certainty of receiving it back and being profitable. Seeing more of a ideal warehouse company was intriguing, even though it is not an area that I plan to proceed in. There is so much complexity that has gone into Rauckmans company, and it has definitely payed off. Listening to his speech about not always being original, but being better, was a definite eye opener.

We also were visited by Neal Eilers, who is another entrepreneur who has a small home-ran company. He reminded me of Tyler Douthith, because of his small workspace but yet constant connection to new sales and always staying on top. Although Tyler’s company is his full time job, seeing Neal’s as a side income was neat, because it’s not necessary for him to have. He has a normal full time job, but he does his small business which he enjoys on the side for personal profit. These last couple weeks have been very informational.

James Monken

James Monken
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About James

Be curious and creative.  These encouraging words were said by a successful man named, Neil Eilers. He creates shoes and T-shirts on his own. He started creating shoes when he was just in High school at Belleville East. Mr. Eilers said he used to work at Walmart and he used to get a discount on shoes so he would buy shoes that were less expensive and create them into his own. He said he always had a passion for art. So he would draw on his shoes to show his art off then he would sell them for like $30. In high school that sounds like a great investment to make for some side cash. But Mr. Eilers did not know if he wanted to keep doing it full time after High School. Mr. Eilers said if you own a business then that is your life. He is meaning that you have to stay on top of your business each and every day if you want your business to grow and continue to be successful. Mr. Eilers said even when things got tough when dealing with his business he kept trying. Mr. Eilers said one last thing key statement in our meeting with him, He said, “Do something you love that keeps drive in you to keep going and working hard.” I really admire these words because I know once I find that thing that I love doing it was surely keep me going in my life.

“Failure is not an option”, another successful businessman said these words, named Jim Rauckman. He and his wife Shirley Rauckman have been running Rauckman utilities for about 17 years. It is a successful business that continues to grow each and every year. Inside of the Rauckman warehouse they have a lot of interesting machines and gadgets that do certain things. They have a certain machine that can face scan a person and that person face can appear on the television screen. Mr. Rauckman talked about the business world and he said that, “starting your own business is about taking the risk and being able to deal with it.” Which is a very true statement because as a business person you have to deal with everything that is thrown your way. Another statement that Mr. Rauckman said was do not let people stand in the way of what you want to do. This is a great statement that I can take away from Mr. Rauckman because I have to remind myself that there are always going to be people trying to get in the way of what you want to do, you have to learn to avoid those people. The last key statement that Mr. Rauckman said, “There is never a good time to start a business.” That means that I can be starting my business right now. I really have to get on myself to look for a plan for my business and get right to it.

Over the past two weeks during CEO we have met with different people who have very different businesses but they have also given us as a class a great piece of advice. Their words of advice has been don't give up and don't be afraid of failure. I think that those words will be crucial and very important and what we are going to be doing over the next few weeks.  

As of now and CEO we are starting our class business and for a lot of us we have never done something this big or this challenging before. So for a lot of us this will be a new experience where we will have to learn how to do some new things along the way and there could be some mistakes made. And I think was a lot of the businesses that we have talked to in the past two weeks they have said that they have had failures but they have not allowed them to get them down and they still persevered through them.

When we met with Neil Eilers, who made SuperBitKicks, He said that he experimented with a lot of different ways to put designs on the shoes and many of them failed but he continued to persevere and eventually figured out which way was the best way to put the designs on the shoes. Another business we met with was Rauckman Utility Products, who are owned by Jim and Shirley Rauckman. When they got started Jim had just left a very high-paying job and was now getting ready to start a new company, which can be very difficult. Jim told us that with any company there are going to be some failures but the difference between the good companies and the bad companies are the good companies are able to overcome those failures and are able to strive after them.

I think that if we are going to do something for our class business we are going to need that kind of attitude from everyone in the class, not just the CEOs.  I think as a whole class we are going to need to come together and just get things done because if we are not able to we will not succeed the way we want to for our class business. I also believe that this lesson will be very valuable to each and every one of us for our own personal businesses. That is because we are not all Steve Jobs or Bill Gates and our personal business may not succeed in the beginning but we should still stick with the idea and try to make something out of it. I think that if all of us are able to do that for our personal businesses each and every one of our personal businesses will have a very high chance of succeeding.

Jake Roche

Jake Roche
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About Jake

This is it. Our last week at Allsup, it is been great and the people there are amazing. We are now moving to Precision practice management and honestly I feel like I’m going to forget. It’ll make for a good story though. These last few weeks have been a little difficult. Luckily we were always in class almost 90% of the week so it allowed us to get lots of class time to work on our business. We have had a few guest speakers, one of them was Mr. Eilers and his personal business on Etsy. His business is very interesting actually. I’m also kind of glad that we learned about the website Etsy because I think it will help the class when we want to open up our Belleville CEO store.

 We also were visited by Mrs. DiMaggio-May and she came and talk to us about setting up a Business plan and that was terrifying. She explained everything, well almost everything, to us. The deeper we got into it, the more and more became stressful. It really showed us as a class what we are going to have to do for our class business and our personal business. I’m very glad she visited us because it really helped me personally prepare for what I am going to have to do for my personal business.

 Now the class business in my opinion is going pretty well. We have two great CEOs, Nick and Ian, they really keep the class moving when they can. I was put in charge of the food and venue committee and I tend to work very closely with the guys that way they know what’s going on at all times. Some of the groups, in my opinion, are slacking off a little bit or people just aren’t in a group and because of that they do nothing which really does not help at all. But every week and every class day we get we are working closer and closer to a common goal of this class business. I think it’s going to be great the people I tell the idea about the business also think it’s going to be great and I am very excited to see how this goes.

 Another thing that’s been the back of my mind is my personal business. I was originally going to do a fitness box, it would be kind of like a subscription type of purchase. You would pay a certain amount and I would send you certain items in a box, something different every month. Now the more and more I thought about this I realized it’s not gonna work for me personally, and this is because I’m leaving for boot camp July 17, and my thought process is what if this takes off, and then I leave. Nobody can run the business, I can’t run the business from Boot Camp, And I don’t want to have people subscribe for three months and then me just say that I’m shutting it down because I’m leaving. So I’ve been thinking of a couple ideas and I hope and I can really get one set in stone soon.

Most of our time this week was spent working on the class business. Now, we have a solid idea of what we are going to do regarding the business and used this week to get it really started. We are hosting a talent show that includes a dinner and perhaps an event that involves selling art. We all volunteered to chair certain committees within the project, including decorating, advertising, food and location, finances, etc. I chose to be part of the decoration committee, since I thought that I would be able to put my artistic vision into use. However, we have found that it is difficult trying to get all the surpluses and material needed for decoration when we don’t know how many people we need or how many tables we need to be set. It is not an easy task, trying to create a business and get all the information and resources that are necessary to making that business efficient and successful.

I’m glad that I was able to contribute to the project by creating our logo, though that was outside of my committee. My biggest concern for the logo, however, is that there will not be any copyright issues, since the logo is very similar to that of America’s Got Talent. Regarding my own committee, I have found that already, making decisions and agreeing on what designs or color schemes we want to use is not an easy task. With five different people’s ideas and preferences, that shouldn’t be so surprising. However, so far we have not had too many disagreements, and I have found myself being the one to make the final decision by breaking a tie a couple times already. Like I stated previously, it feels good to contribute, and to have your opinion hold value.

We had the pleasure of visiting Rauckman Utility Products this Tuesday with Jim and Shirley Rauckman. We learned that the business was begun because of Mr. Rauckman’s dislike for his job. He did not feel comfortable firing people or being completely money driven, which is a common thing I’ve heard with most of the businesses I have come into contact with. Something interesting that I learned from this visit is that Mrs. Rauckman had no background in business or entrepreneurship, but is now a leader of a company. This shows that anyone can become a successfully business person, but I have an even better chance since I have taken business related classes, and am a part of this CEO class. I thought it was cool how when we were leaving the building and giving our goodbye’s, Mr. Rauckman recognized me from my job, and asked if I worked there. Later on, that same day, while at work, I saw them again and we spoke briefly on my experience of their business. This showed me how my job may be really good connection wise.

These two weeks have been very informative and have been a new experience. Since it has been two weeks since our last journal, we have had more opportunities to go to mentors. We have also begun our class business which has a chance of being a great success, but also can be a bust.

These weeks have been very informative because of the business owners who came to talk to us. One that really caught my eye was SuperBitKicks. It is a small business, and the owner, Neal Eilers, produces custom shoes in his own house. It was inspirational to me because it is an example of what you can do from just within your household. Also it showed me ways to improvise with the space I have.

Another business that stood out was Rauckman Utility Products. It is an engineering facility that makes parts for industrial electrical appliances, such as: transformers, power lines, transmission towers, etc. Engineering is a major that I want to study, so visiting their facility gave me a great example of what type of job that I would work after college. Also this inspired me because eventually I want to own my own business, and since I would like to major in engineering, it would be based around that.

We are starting our own class business at the moment. Our concept is a talent show called, Belleville’s Got Talent. This class business will be a great opportunity for us to get a feel of what it is like to run a business, and will prepare us for our own business in the spring. Furthermore, this will help build our teamwork skills, which will help us later on in life when we try to start our own business. This is the start of a new experience and hopefully everything goes to plan. As treasurer I have a great opportunity to get experience of doing more advanced financial work. I will try to get everything out of this opportunity and reminisce on this experience in the future.

Cam Wicks

Cam Wicks
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About Cam

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.

Emilie Smyth

Emilie Smyth
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About Emilie

Over these past two weeks, our CEO class got to see two completely different sides of the entrepreneurship world. The main things that stuck out to me were complexity of Rauckman’s company, but also the simplicity of Neal Eilers’s Etsy business. Seeing Rauckman's warehouse and learning about his come up was very interesting, as he showed his risk taking aspects when he told us how he got to where he is now. Hearing how simple inventions of his turned into such a large and brilliant company reminds me that you do not always need to reinvent the wheel to be successful. His simple inventions such as higher quality gloves, electrical pole caps, squirrel blockers, etc. are all inventions that were already invented, but he just slightly changed them for a more efficient way that became very profitable.

On the contrary, Neal Eilers showed us how entrepreneurship and individuality among a side business can be very profitable and easy. Mr. Eilers does not do his business as a full time job, but he has a brilliant work ethic and manages to fit everything in and still come out on top. Small side companies like this, his running through Etsy, always puts the thought in my head that no matter what business I decide to pursue in life, I can always manage to fit a more individual one on the side for personal income. Something like what Mr. Eilers has would be perfect in college, as it is hard to maintain a true part time job while taking classes. But, if I were to have my own small personal company, I could factor my own hours and production, which would determine my own income. Meeting with entrepreneurs like Neal Eilers is always a good experience.

Furthermore, our class has been growing rapidly in our class business, as we have now truly established a plan, a date, and what needs to be done. We have split the group into numerous committees to tackle different objectives needed for the night to work flawlessly. Overall, I think we are heading in a good direction, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds and how the class business will turn out.

Ian Hass

Ian Hass
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About Ian

Ending week nine of CEO it has been pretty neat. These past two weeks have been pretty cool, and last week was our last week at Allsup so I guess we had to end it with a bang!

The past two weeks we have been working on our class business a lot. We divided into committees so that each group can work on a different part of the business, and more can be accomplished in a short amount of time. Tristen, Jake, and I are the venue and food committee, and Tristen is the head of the committee. So far I think that he has done an amazing job of being the head. He has everything very organized, and we pretty much have completed our job. The three of us and Nick all went to look at our favorite venue so far on Friday. The place (not saying what it’s called yet) was very nice, and had an entrance that could be set up to look beautiful. There was also a very suitable room for what we want to do also, and that great because I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find exactly what we want. Also we have decided who is going to cater our event, and the food sounds pretty good.

The other week we had two extremely interesting guests come to Allsup. First was JoAnn DiMaggio-May, and she came to show us how to build our business plan. I never knew how extensive and long a business plan must be. There are pages and pages of things you have to write just to show the bank for them just to consider helping you. I already think that might be the worst part of starting up a business!

Our next guest was Neil Eilers, and I found his business extremely interesting because it something a lot like what I’ll be doing in this class. Neil started a business selling video game inspired shoes and other things on Etsy.com called, SuperBit Kicks. He is a teacher, but does this as a way to get some each cash, so it’s not a big company like most of the places we have been to. To me his business looks pretty successful for being so small, and I thought it was very neat that he might be the only person to make his shoes in the secret way that he does.

Last week we visited Rauckman Utility Products, and that might have been my favorite business so far. I like the business so much because of why it was started, the type of work done there, and all the products they make. Jim Rauckman started the business after working for a large corporation that didn't really care about its employees, so he left a well-paying job to start a company of his own with better morals. That is how I would run a business if I started one, because he taught us that if you treat your employees very well then they’ll make you more successful. At Rauckman Utility Products the use state of the art technology every day in order to make their products. For example they have 3-D printers, robots for cutting things, even 3-D scanners to make products for people who don't fit the regular criteria. During our visit I got my face scanned to show how it works, and I would’ve never thought I would see my face as a video game.

James Wiegers

James Wiegers
Friday, October 20, 2017Learn More About James

Starting to put together our class business is difficult because it is hard to figure out where we can start. Every aspect depends on each other, which makes it difficult to decide on one thing when another is not for certain yet. For example, we cannot decide on a venue without knowing which date we are going to hold the event. I think it is very beneficial to have multiple committees working on different areas of the project because it is easier and more efficient to present ideas to the group in this way. Since we have such a high goal, it is going to take everyone’s effort and participation to make this goal come together.

I really enjoyed spending the first quarter at Allsup. They were generous enough to host us, and I think it was a great space for us to work in. It did not seem like a drab office building at all because it was very colorful, and I believe that makes a huge difference. From the outside of the building to the very room we spent our class days in, it was an attractive environment that drew me in and helped foster creative thinking. I hope Precision Practice Management is inspiring, but in own, different way.

When JoAnne DiMaggio-May visited us to discuss how to properly formulate a business plan, I was a little overwhelmed. It felt like another college application because they are both full of technicalities and details, while the purpose is to sell yourself/business proposal to people reviewing it for submission. It is not a circumstance where if you hit all the criteria, you are in. In order to be chosen you have to go above and beyond to impress people. If I just take it bit by bit, it should not be too terrible, though. I realize that this is a serious exercise that can be very beneficial for future references. This is one of my favorite things about CEO. This class lets me practice in the real word, while being guided and learning the process, instead of being thrown into the fire later on in life.


Alumni Spotlight Entries for this week

Jaylen Davis

“After CEO and graduation of high school, I moved to Los Angeles, California to go to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy to get my degree in acting. I actually still have my business of Iconic Live Entertainment still running as I speak.   It’s a good way to keep some extra cash in my pocket while also doing what I love. It’s funny actually now that I think about it.    CEO literally prepared me for college because my college career is just like CEO.   You wake up early, go to a new building to meet new people, learn, and also have to have self-discipline.   There is nobody here to wake me up or tell me to go to sleep or to eat food or do my homework or watch my spending.   I have to do all of that on my own and CEO has really prepared me for that.   I miss Mrs. Siebers too!   Hopefully she can fly to LA sometime and visit but I’m sure I’ll be home soon!” 

Jaylen Davis
- Class of 2017


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