Providing each and every customer with the best custom t-shirt experience in the history of the world is no easy task. From Artists to Printers, and Interns to Reps, the CreateMyTee Crew works extremely hard to make "Shirt Happen!"
This blog post introduces you to the Fervent Foursome. These are the fellas on the other end of your phone calls and emails.
President and Founder (El Presidente), Josh Fales
Josh Fales was born for entrepreneurship and has always known he wanted to start his own business. Even in high school, when Josh was in need of extra money, his first instinct was always to work for himself rather than look for a part-time job. He quickly found that he could make money by finding a need within his local community and creating a service to fulfill it. With the support and encouragement of his parents, Josh started and maintained a successful business of power-washing and sealing decks for four summers over his high school career.
After graduating Josh passed down his lucrative high school start-up to a friend and moved on to pursue a degree in Economics & Management from Albion College in Albion, Michigan. It was there in 2005 when he (again) found himself in need of extra spending (beer) money. This time, as a senior member of the Sigma Nu fraternity on campus, the local need he recognized was in the custom screen printing industry. He realized the enormous potential in the custom printing market not only within his own fraternity, but across the entire campus. Enter the birth of CreateMyTee! Josh and several of his fraternity brothers ran with the idea and after selling over $25,000 in custom apparel during the course of the year, Josh knew they had come up with something special.
The thought of turning CreateMyTee.com into a full-fledged e-commerce business stayed with Josh even after he graduated and took on a full time job. After two and a half years of trial and error, a few failed attempts, and many sleepless nights all the pieces finally came together that allowed him to quit his day job and officially launch CreateMyTee.com. Fales partnered with local talent and reunited with his college buddies, and has since embraced his role as President and Founder of his own company. He now happily spends his days offering customers the best custom t-shirt experience imaginable, and making Shirt Happen.
V.P. of Marketing, Chad Eckert
Chad got his start with CreateMyTee in 2005 as the original graphic artist at Albion college. He created the designs for several campus groups including the "Dancing Keg" Senior Barn Party shirt, which boogied its way onto over 1000 tees and counting. Chad is credited as the mastermind behind the company's incredible name, "CreateMyTee.com".
After graduation, Chad moved to Ann Arbor to help Josh get the business off the ground, taking care of customers while Josh was still working his day job. Chad is now the premier "go-to-guy" for anything Marketing. He builds partnerships, brand awareness, and manages most of the creative. You can also find him taking care of customers from time to time.
V.P. of Sales (Reps Honcho), Nick Shelton
Nick got his start with CreateMyTee in 2006 as the original Campus Rep. After graduating from Albion College in 2008, Nick made his way to Las Vegas where he worked for a major appliance company by day, and as an Elvis impersonator by night (that second part is entirely false).
In the early months of 2009, T-shirts beckoned Nick back to Michigan. Nick made the trek from Vegas to Ann Arbor in his beloved Bonneville and officially re-joined the CreateMyTee Crew in June, 2009 as the Rep Honcho. Since then, Nick has been a driving force behind the expansion of CreateMyTee's Rep network, increasing the party from 5 Reps to 200 Reps (and counting!). You can also see Nick's lovely mug on CreateMyTee's Facebook Page.
Manager of Operations, Steve Hall
The newest member of the team, Steve came on at a crucial time for CreateMyTee. Being a recent Biology major graduate, one might wonder why he is now managing operations and customers. Well, they saw his expertise shine through his philanthropic endeavors during college along with his constant interest in CreateMyTee which ultimately landed him the job. They also saw this as an opportunity to give him a ridiculous nickname – Dr. Ops.
Steve handles the daily flawless execution of every single Tee-shirt that comes through, while still finding time to attempt to humor his audiences through his witty “Random Shirt” blogs. He continues to strive for excellence in every area possible, hoping to be the best asset to the team that he can.
