The Biggest Company You’ve Never Heard Of | CJ Schmidt, CEO of Hit Promotional Products

CJ Schmidt is the CEO of Hit Promotional Products, a family-owned Tampa Bay company that has grown to nearly $750 million in revenue without taking a dollar of private equity. CJ grew up inside the business his father, Bill Schmidt Sr., built into an industry legend. He took the reins in 2016 and has more than doubled the company since. In this episode of The Bay Builds Podcast, CJ sits down with host Tracie Domino to talk about carrying a family name into the family business, leading through loss, and making big bets that paid off. He is candid about what went wrong, what he learned from his father, and why staying family-owned is simply who Hit is. In this episode: Growing up in the warehouse and giving up plans to become a sports agent The hard early years of sales calls and honest feedback Losing his dad in 2016 and taking over the company The one piece of advice from Bill Schmidt Sr. that still guides him: do things the right way Doubling revenue through a tornado and a pandemic Why the print-on-demand apparel bet almost failed before it became a $100 million business Why Hit has taken zero private equity money How his mom’s conservative instincts balance his aggressive ones The 6,500 orders a day problem, and why the industry overcomplicates promo Fatherhood, faith, and what he wants his four kids to inherit Lightning round: hype song, favorite restaurant, and the best business gift he ever received Subscribe to The Bay Builds Podcast for new conversations with Tampa Bay’s founders and leaders every other Wednesday. #TheBayBuilds #TampaBay #HitPromotionalProducts #FamilyBusiness #PromotionalProducts #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #TampaBusiness #ceo 00:00 Loss and Resolve 00:43 Meet HIT and CJ 01:58 Growing Up in HIT 03:38 Early Sales Struggles 04:55 Taking Over After Loss 06:08 Doing It Right 06:52 Scaling Through Chaos 08:25 Big Bets on Apparel 11:02 Why Apparel Is Hard 13:10 Staying Family Owned 15:52 Fixing Industry Systems 18:11 Fatherhood and Faith 23:58 Legacy and Lightning Round 27:24 Closing Reflections