Michele Smith Visits JustBats.com!

JustBats.com was privileged to host one of the best female fastpitch pitchers of all-time, Michele Smith. The two-time Olympic gold medalist took time out of her hectic schedule and stepped in front of our cameras to shoot an array of videos that’ll soon be released on JustBats.com.

Among those videos, Michele Smith touches upon a variety of topics that include the new RIP-IT Prototype and Prototype Air, proper swing mechanics, and how to select the perfect bat. Michele Smith even demonstrates an assortment of training tips she teaches at her popular fastpitch camps and clinics. As a two-time Olympic gold medalist and the first female sports analyst to commentate a full MLB game, Michele Smith is more than inspiration, she’s a legend, and we can’t wait to share her baseball and softball knowledge with you.

Monday Meet And Greet: Taylor J

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Taylor! Taylor helps make JustBats.com look great and helps make sure it’s easy to use. Here is what makes Taylor tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
2 weeks!
2. What is your favorite sport and team?
I really enjoy baseball, and to me, going to a Royals game is the perfect Friday night.
3. What’s your favorite thing so far about working at JustBats.com?
The overall culture and community. I think it’s really unique, I feel lucky to be apart of such a great place!
4. What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?
I’m a drummer, so outside of work I love to play my drums and create music. I also, oddly enough, love to research my area of work too. At home I’m usually working on a web or graphic design project that is similar to what I do here at JustBats.com. I watch way too much King of the Hill, too.
5. Tell us a little bit about what you do here at JustBats.com as UX Designer?
Among other things, I mainly help develop and maintain the user interface of the JustBats.com website.
6. Tell us what you did before you started at JustBats.com?
I was a student! In August I graduated from Northwest Missouri State University with a degree in Interactive Digital Media: Computer Science. This is my first job out of college!
7. Any words of advice for people going in to your line of work?
Learn how to learn. And do it quickly. The web development world is always ever-changing, keeping up is a challenging but fun task though!
9. What gets you laughing the hardest?
Parodies or really witty stand up comedy. SNL gets me rolling in laughter every time.
10. What are you looking forward to the most about working at JustBats.com?
The ability to always continue to learn, and in such a engaging environment. The office environment is one of continual learning and sharpening of skills. I also get to do what I really love doing, so that’s also ultra exciting!

Monday Meet And Greet: Wesley M

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Wesley! Wesley helps make sure when you search for JustBats.com on the internet it’s easy to find us! Here is what makes Wesley tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
I started working at JustBats.com at the end of August, 2012…so little under a month!
2. What is your favorite sport and team?
I enjoy watching Baseball and Football. For Pro, I like the Royals and Chiefs (of course!) I also like the Chicago Cubs and the New Orleans Saints. For college, I bleed green! I love the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats and I also am a huge Nebraska Huskers fan!
3. What’s your favorite thing so far about working at JustBats.com?
Name just one? I really enjoy the culture here at JustBats.com. The atmosphere is fun and the people here are extremely friendly and easy to get along with. I have really enjoyed coming into work every day and chatting with somebody new and getting to know them.
4. What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?
I enjoy traveling; either visiting friends and family a few hours away or going to visit a fun city that I have never been to. Also, I have a dog, Koty, and I enjoy taking him on walks or playing fetch with him in our small backyard. Finally, I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes that my grandmother sends me on a weekly basis!
5. Tell us a little bit about your responsibilities at JustBats.com?
As a Search Engine Marketing Associate, I work with the three largest search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Bing. I create search keywords and ad copy for the search engines and I make sure they are relevant terms that our customers are using to find our websites. I also serve as a liaison to the Account Managers at Google and Yahoo!/Bing and work with them daily.
6. Tell us what you did before you started at JustBats.com?
I worked as a Creative Specialist at Yahoo! Inc. in Omaha, NE. It is definitely similar to what I am doing now for JustBats.com.
7. Any words of advice for people going in to your line of work?
Attention to detail…attention to detail…attention to detail! Enough said.
8. What gets you laughing the hardest?
I have some great friends and family! The inside jokes and crazy stories that I have with them definitely make me laugh the hardest. Also, I love Kristen Wiig. She is hysterical!
9. What are you looking forward to the most about working at JustBats.com?
I am definitely looking forward to growing as a professional and learning more and more about the awesome JustBats.com products!

Monday Meet And Greet: Ryan T

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Ryan! Ryan is in charge of coming up with a lot of the content on JustBats.com, our email blasts and blog! Here is what makes Ryan tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
My first day was September 4th. So about two weeks.
2. What is your favorite sport and team?
My favorite sport is baseball, and my favorite team to watch is the Chiefs.
3. What’s your favorite thing so far about working at JustBats.com?
The culture and work atmosphere here is amazing. Everyone has a positive attitude and you can tell that they are happy to be at work. Everyone I have met so far has been extremely inviting and enthusiastic.
4. What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?
I love to play golf, go to sporting events, and last year I really got into hunting and fishing.
5. Tell us a little bit about what you do here at JustBats.com as Content Supervisor?
I manage and monitor the creation and implementation of content on the JustBats.com, and develop the content calendar for our email marketing campaigns through meetings with Product Management Department, Creative Department, and with Customer Service Department.
6. Tell us what you did before you started at JustBats.com?
Before I started at JustBats.com I was the Assistant Director of Group Sales for the Kansas City T-Bones Baseball Club.
7. Any words of advice for people going in to your line of work?
Make sure you love what you are doing, be self motivated, and learn as much as you can from the people you work with.
8. What gets you laughing the hardest?
One liners from tv shows and movies get me every time.
9. What are you looking forward to the most about working at JustBats.com?
I am looking forward to learning even more about my position and being able to contribute to the success of such a great company.

JustBats.com Department Of The Month – Employee Experience

Every month we would like to introduce you to a department at JustBats.com. Each department around here plays a key role in making sure everything runs smoothly and you get your bats in a timely manner, while having a great experience shopping with us. Meet the Employee Experience Department. This department makes sure all the JustBats.com are taken care of and have a great environment to work in!

1. Tell us a little bit about the Employee Experience Department.
The Employee Experience department is an amalgamation of all the smaller departments that work to improve the experience of JustBats.com. employees, including the kitchen staff, the personal trainer, human resources, etc.  We all dedicate ourselves to making sure that all the employees receive the same all-star treatment that we as a company give our customers.
2. What kind of responsibilities does each person in Employee Experience take on everyday?
We take on a very wide variety of responsibilities, ranging from working with managers to select, interview, and onboard new employees, manage benefits, provide new wellness and fitness opportunities, prepare healthy and delicious meals, manage the many company amenities, as well as brainstorming new and innovative ways to improve the daily experience of all JustBats.com employees.
3. Are there any major challenges you and the Employee Experience team face daily, weekly or even monthly?
We have the unique challenge of trying to maintain the wide array of services that JustBats.com employees get to experience everyday, as well as always trying to come up with new ways to enhance those experiences and come up with other ways to handle the issues that employees sometimes experience.
4. What would you say you look for the most in someone wanting to become a part of Employee Experience?
That’s difficult to say because the department does so many different things, with the overall goal of of maintaining and even enhancing our unique company culture.  I believe that the ability to serve others, people skills, the ability to really listen to people and what they want/need, the ability to communicate those wants and needs to others, the ability to manage conflict and deal with employee frustrations, as well as innovative and creative tendencies to create new ideas and experiences are just some of the many aspects that are necessary in our department.
5. We all know with work there has to be some play, tell us about some of the perks of being a part of the Employee Experience at JustBats.com.
I think, due to our department being made up of so many smaller departments that do different things, the biggest perk is that we as a team have a wide variety of skills and experiences, which make it possible for all of us to get different views of our tasks, as well as helping us develop different ways to approach them.  It also keeps the job fairly fresh, interesting, and different everyday we come in.
6. What are some of the ways you think JustBats.com and the Employee Experience department go above and beyond to keep our employees and customers happy?
We go along with the customer service mainstay, “you can never do too much.”  With that in mind, we are never satisfied with the services and amenities offered to JustBats.com employees, and we are always looking to take things to the next level.  We want our employees to be as happy as possible, so that they can make our customers as happy as possible.

Monday Meet And Greet: Kyle T

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet KT! KT is in charge of the closeout bats! Here is what makes KT tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
I have worked here for just under 4 years.
2. What is your favorite sport and team?
KC Chiefs and Royals on the pro side, but before all I am a Kansas Jayhawk fan. Rock Chalk!
3. What’s your favorite thing about working at JustBats.com?
The relationships I have built both inside and outside the office. My job allows me to interact with great people on a daily basis. I have made some life long friends while working here.
4. What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?
I love to golf. There is nothing better than hitting the course on a nice day. I also play basketball in a league a couple times a year.
5. Tell us a little bit about what you do here at JustBats.com as Product Manager?
My title is Opportunities Supervisor. This encompasses a couple things, but primarily I manage all our closeouts. I am in charge of the negotiations, purchasing, pricing, and placement of all our closeouts. I also manage a hand full of accounts. I purchase all the product and help with marketing initiatives for each account.
6. How do you stay on top of what products are new and hot items?
You have to keep your finger on the pulse of the game. Whether watching TV, going to the ball park, or reading customer reviews I always try to stay in tune to what the players are saying. It doesn’t take long for a bat to get popular, so you have to try and stay ahead of the pack. On the back end, I also work with league executives to stay on top of current bat regulations.
7. Any words of advice for people going in to your line of work?
There was a saying one of our business coaches always used that went something like, “We reserve the right to be smarter tomorrow than we are today.” Basically, you have to try new things and learn from your mistakes. As long as you continue to learn from each experience you will get better at what you do.
8. What’s your favorite memory of working at JustBats.com?
Early this year I got the chance to attend the Kentucky Derby. I have always been intrigued by horse racing so attending the biggest event on the biggest stage was unforgettable.
9.What gets you laughing the hardest?
Hearing all the trash talk between members of our fantasy baseball league at work. We are all way to competitive and sometimes it gets the best of us.
10. You are in quite a few of our product videos, where did you learn those acting skills?
I love talking about baseball bats, whether on camera or off. When you are that passionate about something talking about it is easy.

Monday Meet And Greet: Corey B

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Corey! Corey helps make sure all the computers and systems at JustBats.com are up and running smoothly! Here is what makes Corey tick.

1.How long have you worked at JustBats.com?
I started at JustBats.com full time in April of 2009.  I’ve been a consultant/contractor for JustBats.com since about 2004.
2.What are some of your responsibilities in the IT Department?
As the Director of IT I’m responsible for making sure the IT team keeps all of our systems up and running and for developing our overall IT strategy.

As Software Architect I’m responsible for setting an overall strategy for developing and maintaining the core of our custom software solutions both on the Web and for our back-end operations.

I work closely with the IT staff as well as the Development staff to ensure the technological decisions we make are consistent with JustBats.com standards and that those decisions pragmatically solve the business challenges we face each and every day.
3.What do you like to do outside of JustBats.com?
There’s life outside of Justbats.Com?  Wow, you learn something new every day!
Seriously, I enjoy:
Hanging out with my family
Salt water aquariums
Radio Control models
Gaming
4.Mac or PC? 
I use both but if I had to pick one it would be a PC.  Mac’s are very nice, but highly overrated and overpriced.  Overall for the type of computing I do PC is simply a better platform.
5.Your a computer guy, any tech advice for people coming into the IT world?
Never stop learning and ask great questions.  I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years and not a day goes by that I don’t learn something new.  IT and/or Development is not a 9-5 job. To be successful in this business you need to live and breath technology. The second you become comfortable and feel like you’ve got it all figured out there will be someone who will challenge you. Companies heavily depend on the IT and Development staff.  Those who rise to the challenge can be very successful in IT, those who don’t, find themselves replaced by someone who will.
6.What is your favorite sport and team?
I’m a football fan at heart and loves me some Chiefs.  Football kind of reminds me of software development.  You formulate a small plan (play) execute it and validate the result.  Repeat the plans which bring you success and discard those which don’t.  Repeat this enough and you will find success.
7.What’s the most frustrating thing about computers?
Computers are not intelligent nor smart.  They only know and do exactly what they are told, nothing more, nothing less. People assume computers have intelligence when they in fact do not.
8.What made you decide to go the IT route?
I love to solve problems.  The more complicated the problem the more I want to attack it.  There are few jobs you can have where you get to attack large problems and see the immediate result of your hard work.  It’s kind of like being a surgeon without all the mess.
9.What is your favorite part about working at JustBats.com?
I love the fact that I get to do what I do best every day.  Find a job doing what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
10.What gets you laughing the hardest?
One-liners.  A well placed one-line joke or comment will get me rolling every time.  For example:  “Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”.

Monday Meet And Greet: Jim L

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Jim! Jim makes sure we have the newest and hottest products to sell to all of our awesome customers! Here is what makes Jim tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
A little over 6 years.
2. What is your favorite sport and team?
The Royals.  Although they have had a few down years (like since I was a kid ) they are still my team.
3. What’s your favorite thing about working at JustBats.com?
My favorite thing about working here:  They let me spend money.  They feed me.   And I get to be around bats and gloves all day.  How good can it get!
4. What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?
I play a bit of softball on occasion and we travel to scuba dive some.  As boring as it  sounds, I like to read.
5. Tell us a little bit about what you do here at JustBats.com in the Product Management Department?
I have a group of companies that I keep track of and buy product so we can be the number one provider of bats and gloves for the US market.  What I really like to do is pursue the “deal”.
6. How do you stay on top of what products are new and hot items?
You can be sure the vendors will let you know what is the newest and greatest thing on  the market, and you can bet it is one of their products.  A lot of it is statistical analysis and looking for trends.  Rule changes have been a big driver of what has been “hot” in the last couple of years.  We have a good group in our Marketing department to help project trends for us also.
7. Any words of advice for people going in to your line of work?
In real estate the mantra is Location, Location, Location.  For me it is Organization, Organization, Organization.
8. What’s your favorite memory of working at JustBats.com?
Winning Corporate Challenge and  having the All-Star Game in Kansas City in one summer is hard to beat, although wiffle ball games in the D/C before the shelving went in was pretty cool also.

Monday Meet And Greet: Lawrence C

Every Monday we’d like you to meet someone new around here at JustBats.com. Get to know us a little better! Meet Lawrence! Lawrence designs a lot of the content you see on JustBats.com! Here is what makes Lawrence tick.

1. How long have you worked here at JustBats.com?
Two years this coming October.

2. What are some of your responsibilities as a Web Developer at JustBats.comDevelop user-friendly and user-first experience to all of our sites while empathizing with the user. Develop pixel-perfect, yet flexible designs, maintain and update all UI of all our sites, develop all user-experience interaction on all sites from desktop all the way down to mobile and in-house systems, and be a css ninja.

3.What are your favorite aspects of working with the Web Development team?
Very fun environment, it’s a very rich learning environment which makes developing and honing your skills that much easier, and there is never a dull moment.

4.Where do you look for inspiration?
From all aspects of life, architecture, nature, other sites, brainstorming with my co-workers, and the shower (ideas always come to me there, not sure why).

5.What would you say to someone coming into your line of work?
Never rest on what you know now, you should always try to grow as a designer. Seek out more knowledge, the more you know about the up-coming technologies, strategies, etc., the better you will be and the easier your projects will be developed, never stop learning, try to always empathize with your end user, always try to add a little fun to all of your design, and always try to learn something new every day and always take something away from each project that you can carry on to other developments/projects.

6.Whats your favorite memory so far from JustBats.com?
Probably the first couple months I started here. Mainly when we just started developing the new JustBallGloves.com site, and really was some of the best learning experiences I had. It really showed me and helped me develop the skill of learning how to learn. I was a very amateur UX designer and it helped me build some of the core skills that I still use now and will always use. I owe a lot to those experiences, if I didn’t have those type of learning experiences early on in my career here, I would not be the UX designer I am now.

7.What are some challenges you face being a Web Developer
Developing web apps that can reach all browsers in a consistent look and feel across all of them, keeping up with all web standards, new techniques and technologies. It’s constantly evolving and thats what keeps me up at night learning and coding in my free time. My wife doesn’t appreciate it though since most nights I will fall asleep in bed with either a tech book or a design blog on my laptop, finding the best way way to relate to the user and deliver the correct message to them, recharging the creative batteries.

8.Tell us what you enjoy doing outside of working at JustBats.com.
Working on freelance projects, learning more about design, experimenting with coding techniques, spending time with the wife, going out to eat and find new and interesting places to go with my wife such as new restaurants, new shops, parks, etc.

9. What gets you laughing the most?
Everyday I get a good laugh at work, from the people I work with, there isn’t just one particular time.

JustBats.com Department Of The Month: Product Management

Every month we would like to introduce you to a department at JustBats.com. Each department around here plays a key role in making sure everything runs smoothly and you get your bats in a timely manner, while having a great experience shopping with us. Meet the Product Management team, this department is responsible for getting all of the awesome bats you see on JustBats.com, so now you can finally put a face to JustBats.com!

1. Tell us a little bit about Product Management.
Tradionally, the term product management is used in production environments and refers to a group of people who manage the development of their products, be it software, nuts and bolts, cars, etc…  Since we are a retail company the Product Management team is responsible for the purchasing, pricing, maintaining relationships with our vendors, and communicating with everyone at JustBats.com.
2. What kind of responsibilities does each person in Product Management take on everyday?
Like I mentioned above, purchasing is a daily process performed by all but one member of the team.  Pricing is also a daily exercise, we strive to offer our customers the best products at the best prices and we check out the market daily to make sure we stay competitive.  Kris Gramlich is in charge of making sure the communication happens between the Product Management department and the Marketing, Customer Experience, and Distribution Center teams and he is relaying new product info, ship dates, and any other relevant info.
3. Are there any major challenges you and the Product Management team face daily, weekly or even monthly?
The major challenge we face all the time is keeping everything in stock.  We are constantly looking for ways to keep products on the web site when our competition cannot.  We have been through multiple classes and training sessions to learn how to become better at this and our currently piecing all of our knowledge together with the goal of having everything but not investing too much money in to inventory.
4. What would you say you look for the most in someone wanting to become a part of the team?
To steal a phrase from one of our consultants, a passionate curiosity.  If you want to know more about the supply chain and the strategies we use to keep products on the site, and are willing to put the time in to educate yourself, you are well on your way to being part of the team.
5. We all know with work there has to be some play, tell us about some of the perks of being a part of the PM at JustBats.com.
One of the biggest perks is maintaining the relationships with our vendors.  All of the people are awesome and usually old ball players that have tons of stories.  We get a ton of opportunities to interact with them.  We also get to play some golf, go to multiple sporting events, and travel to quite a few places I would have never been otherwise.
6. What are some of the ways you think JustBats.com and the PM go above and beyond to keep our customers happy? 
Like I said before, we have used countless hours and dollars to educate ourselves in supply chain practices.  We will use these concepts and our knowledge of the market and our business to make sure that we have the best stock of bats and negotiate the best prices for our customers.