On March 16, the Elizabethtown College Family Business and Entrepreneurship (FBE) club hosted a Power Lunch for JJ Rettura. Attendees received the opportunity to meet Rettura, ask questions and learn about him.
President of the FBE club Keely Grim organized the event by submitting a biography from Rettura to Campus News. He also advertised it on Digital Signage with a PowerPoint slide.
“The FBE Power Lunch Series is designed to bring entrepreneurs onto campus so students can meet and interact with them to learn about their journey as entrepreneurs,” Grim said.
JJ Rettura graduated from the College in 2009 with a degree in business administration and a concentration in entrepreneurship and management. He now works at Laurel Highlands Insurance Group LLC in Uniontown, Pa. It is the company Rettura’s father developed. As the Vice President and Operations Manager, Rettura oversees every operational aspect of the company.
He began working at the agency after graduating. However, Rettura started by working minimum wage jobs like cleaning toilets and sealing and hand addressing envelopes.
“Not being satisfied with doing that sort of work I began to learn every facet of the business and attempt to soak it up like a sponge,” Rettura said.
Rettura also worked with sales, services, marketing and technology before becoming Vice President. He oversaw everything and made sure there was no confusion. Rettura still does that today.
“Now with the VP title all it means is I have greater stake in the company and greater responsibility; I now do less sales and almost no service work. My time is consumed by marketing, technology, running the sales team and overseeing day to day operations,” Rettura said.
Rettura discussed how the company operates and what it aims to be. It expands by acquiring other agencies and that helps increase organic growth. It takes time and effort to determine the right one.
“When you do find a potential business to purchase, the process is like dating someone; there are many meetings, dinners and conversations that occur to see if you are a good fit for one another. In the end it’s either break up and go your separate ways or get married,” Rettura said.
Rettura also discussed his experience while working with clients. He gave them rankings on how they performed. A/B clients were good and C/D/E/F clients were not. The company aims to choose A/B clients since they help support it.
“A/B clients typically have few to zero losses and moving violations, pay their bills on time, are always cooperative, require little attention and are just kind people,” Rettura said.
Rettura mentioned that people should cultivate good relationships with those types of people so that they can support them. The company cares about its employees and treats them like a family. An example is not being too harsh on them on sick days.
The company hosts quarterly meetings for employees to bond with each other. It uses Microsoft Teams for communication and collaboration. The company also makes sure its work environment is peaceful and organized.
Lastly, Rettura discussed his mindset after graduating. He called himself arrogant since he believed he could do anything with the education he received. He said he did not know what to do or where to start. Rettura realized that even at the age of 23, he still had lots to learn about the world.
Each day Rettura would listen to the Wall Street Journal Podcast on the radio. He also took extra courses to strengthen his knowledge in business and entrepreneurship. Even today, Rettura believes that there is always something to learn, and he stressed that to the attendees.
“Never stop learning, pay attention to the detail[s],” Rettura said.
