Yesterday, I received an email from Chris Jackson at Warrior Logo Wear.

“Hello!

The shirts are done and ready for pick up!”

I knew they were coming. Chris and his father Rick had generously gifted our Silver Creek Area CEO class custom T-shirts, and I knew our students were going to love them.

But there’s something really exciting about actually picking them up and letting the students know they would be receiving them.

So early this morning, we filled up the public parking lot at the four-way in the center of Mascoutah. The shirts came out of the box, everyone made a quick change, and suddenly all 22 of them were proudly wearing their Silver Creek Area CEO shirts.

I loved seeing all of them looking like a team as we walked across the street to learn from the people who made them.

Our student CEO of the Day, Luke, introduced us to Chris, who had been our point person leading up to the visit. Chris manages the day-to-day operations, while Rick continues to play an important role behind the scenes.

They started their business together back in 2018. What began around a dinner table with a simple, “Dad, we should start a business,” eventually grew from their basement, to a small shop inside Ace Hardware in Mascoutah, and then into the operation they have today.

What I loved about this visit was getting to see the two very different roles they now play.

Chris showed our class how the different machines work and walked us through what happens between receiving an order and getting that finished product into a customer’s hands. He gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the production side and all the moving pieces it takes to keep customers happy.

Rick still has a full-time job and is only physically at the shop about once a month, although he continues to contribute behind the scenes. And even though they aren’t working side-by-side every day, they still talk about the business at lunch and catch up in the evenings. I loved hearing about a father and son who built something together and have found a way to continue building it together even as their roles have changed.

Then Rick brought all of us together for the business lesson.

He talked about three words that have been at the heart of their business since the beginning: quality, service and integrity.

But he didn’t just talk about those words. He gave our class real examples of what they look like when you are the person responsible for a business.

Then he moved to the whiteboard and started laying out all the different hats a business owner wears. Marketing. Sales. Quality. Ordering. Customer service. And of course, even the janitor!

He talked about the reality of being an entrepreneur, from the long hours and financial decisions to payroll, taxes, overhead, equipment, supplies and sometimes being the last person to get paid. He also talked about being intentional about the image your company represents and the responsibility that comes with protecting your brand, your reputation and the relationships you build with your customers.

And then he connected those lessons directly to our class.

Rick used Kaiden’s future vehicle detailing business as an example, talking about everything Kaiden will eventually have to consider beyond simply knowing how to detail a vehicle. Marketing, pricing, customer service, expenses, margins, growth and all the other pieces that come with turning a skill into a business.

He also talked about something that can sometimes get lost when we talk about entrepreneurship: the responsibility to give back. As your business grows, so does your opportunity to invest back into the community that supports you. They do that by supporting organizations, fundraisers, nonprofits and community needs, and the shirts they gifted our class are another example of that commitment.

That conversation connected directly to where our class is headed. They are not just learning how to come up with a business idea. They are learning what it really means to put your name on something and take responsibility for the customer experience, the quality of your work, your costs, your reputation, your growth and the community around you.

We are so grateful to Chris and Rick for welcoming us into their shop and sharing so much of themselves with our class. And we never take for granted what it takes for a business to host 22 high school seniors this early in the morning. It isn’t simply opening a door. It means preparing a presentation, stepping away from the work of running a business and intentionally making time to be the “teacher of the day.”

We genuinely see the excitement our community business owners and guest speakers bring when they welcome our class, and that means a great deal to us.

And don’t worry, you’ll be seeing these shirts again. We are now one month in, and we have our first official casual day coming up, because every once in a while in business, everyone deserves a casual day!

Thank you, Chris and Rick, for investing your time, your experience and your hearts in our class.

And thank you to our student Matt, for stepping up and capturing our morning as our photographer.