Building and Developing Creative Teams: When Hustle Stops Working with Chris Jungjohann
Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes | Featuring Chris Jungjohann, Founder and CEO of Recess Creative
Building and developing creative teams is essential for entrepreneurs who want to grow beyond their own abilities. While hustle and determination may help launch a business, sustainable growth requires developing talented employees, empowering leaders, and creating opportunities for continuous learning.
In this episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes, we sit down with Chris Jungjohann, Founder and CEO of Recess Creative in Cleveland, Ohio, to explore what 17 years of entrepreneurship have taught him about leadership, employee development, and building successful businesses.
From launching a creative agency in his basement to building a family of companies, Chris shares how investing in people helped him expand his businesses while maintaining his passion for creativity.
From Accidental Entrepreneur to Creative Agency Founder
Chris Jungjohann never planned on becoming an entrepreneur.
Growing up in Western New York, he was surrounded by business ownership through his family’s restaurant. His earliest work experiences included bussing tables and washing dishes.
However, his interests eventually led him toward photography, design, and creative work.
After studying at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Chris worked in education and advertising agencies. During those experiences, he discovered that he enjoyed the close collaboration of smaller agencies while appreciating the opportunities and creative challenges associated with larger clients.
He began wondering whether he could combine both.
In 2009, with support from his wife and income from a teaching position, Chris launched Recess Creative from his basement.
What began as an independent operation eventually became a full-service creative agency serving organizations across multiple industries.
Today, Chris has also founded Buds & Pals, a video and content production studio, and Super Average, a branded merchandise company that supports creative education.
His journey demonstrates how pursuing creative opportunities can lead to building something much larger than originally imagined.
When Hustle Stops Working, Leadership Must Evolve
In the beginning, business owners often handle everything themselves.
They develop ideas, execute projects, manage client relationships, and solve problems as they arise.
But as the business expands, that approach becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.
Chris discovered that growing Recess Creative required more than his individual creative abilities. He needed people who could take ownership of important responsibilities and contribute skills beyond his own.
One of his most important leadership lessons was learning to hire people who were better than he was at specific tasks.
He recalled hiring an early developer who was significantly more skilled at building websites than he was. That experience helped him realize he could stop personally managing every technical detail and trust someone else to deliver excellent work.
Today, several Recess Creative employees have been with the company for more than a decade.
That stability has allowed Chris to expand into additional businesses while trusting his team to manage much of the agency’s daily work.
For entrepreneurs, building and developing creative teams means learning when to delegate, trust others, and transition from doing the work to leading the people responsible for it.
Why Building and Developing Creative Teams Requires Continuous Learning
Successful creative businesses depend on employees who can continually expand their knowledge and adapt to new challenges.
At Recess Creative, designers, developers, illustrators, and other creative professionals bring different strengths to the organization.
Rather than expecting everyone to follow the same professional development path, Chris encourages employees to pursue learning opportunities that support their individual interests and abilities.
These opportunities include:
- Continuing education through classes and online tutorials
- Experimenting with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence
- Developing skills through challenging client projects
- Pursuing independent creative work and freelance opportunities
- Building personal brands and exploring new creative disciplines
Chris believes learning should extend beyond the company’s immediate needs.
Encouraging employees to develop their interests outside work can help them become more capable, versatile, and confident professionals.
As technology continues to change the creative industry, this willingness to learn and adapt becomes increasingly important.
Chris emphasized this during the conversation:
“The minute you stop learning and become complacent, the world will pass you by.”
For business owners, investing in learning and development is not simply an employee benefit. It helps build a workforce capable of adapting as industries and business needs evolve.
Turning Internships Into Leadership Opportunities
One of the most compelling parts of Chris’s leadership approach is his commitment to developing emerging talent.
Before founding Recess Creative, Chris taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Cuyahoga Community College.
His experiences working with students helped shape his belief that people need opportunities to apply what they learn.
Today, Recess Creative operates a rolling internship program that introduces students and recent graduates to professional creative work.
The company’s philosophy is simple: interns should be making art, not coffee.
Instead of assigning only administrative tasks, Recess Creative includes interns in meaningful professional experiences.
They participate in brainstorming sessions, contribute to real client projects, and sometimes present work to senior marketing executives and business leaders.
Not every idea succeeds, but every experience creates an opportunity to learn.
That approach has produced measurable results within the organization.
Three former interns have become full-time Recess Creative employees. One eventually became the company’s creative director after starting as an intern 11 years earlier.
This progression demonstrates how building and developing creative teams begins with providing opportunities for people to gain experience and grow into greater responsibilities.
Why Failure Is Essential to Employee Learning and Development
Developing employees also means allowing them to experience setbacks.
Chris believes failure plays an important role in learning.
As he explained during the episode:
“Failure is the best teacher.”
At Recess Creative, interns and employees are encouraged to contribute to real projects, even when their ideas may not ultimately be selected.
Some concepts never make it beyond the brainstorming stage. Others become work presented directly to clients.
Both experiences can provide valuable lessons.
For business owners, this creates an important leadership responsibility.
Employees need meaningful opportunities to stretch their abilities, make decisions, receive feedback, and improve.
When leaders focus only on preventing mistakes, they may unintentionally limit the experiences that help employees develop.
A stronger approach combines accountability with opportunities to learn.
Building and Developing Creative Teams Through Leadership Growth
As a company grows, employee development must eventually extend beyond the founder.
Chris described how his role in mentoring newer employees has changed over time.
Earlier in the company’s history, he was more directly involved in the creative process and employee development.
Today, his creative director manages much of the creative team and helps guide younger professionals.
Chris still provides advice and mentorship when needed, but he no longer needs to oversee every project or decision.
This represents an important milestone in organizational growth.
A business becomes more scalable when leadership development is no longer dependent on the founder alone.
Instead of one person carrying the responsibility for teaching and directing everyone, experienced leaders begin developing the next generation of employees.
That creates additional capacity for the owner while strengthening the organization from within.
Building a Business Without Losing Your Life
Chris also discussed a challenge familiar to many entrepreneurs: balancing business ambition with personal responsibilities.
During the early years of Recess Creative, he was simultaneously teaching, building the agency, and raising young children.
Eventually, he recognized that his schedule could not accommodate everything.
He made the decision to step away from teaching, although he still hopes to return to the classroom someday.
Looking back, Chris acknowledged that there were moments when he wished he had been more present with his family.
Those experiences influenced how he thinks about success today.
He explained that when he is working, he wants to be present for his team. When he is home, he wants to be present as a father.
Building a dependable leadership team has helped make that possible.
This is an important reminder that developing employees is not only about increasing productivity or expanding a business.
It can also give owners greater freedom to spend their time where it matters most.
What Does It Really Take to Be a Business Owner?
Every episode of Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes concludes with the same question:
What does it really take to be a business owner?
For Chris Jungjohann, the answer comes down to belief, passion, energy, adaptability, and a willingness to continue learning.
He also added something unexpected: a little bit of delusion.
Entrepreneurs must believe in their ideas and their ability to overcome challenges, even when the outcome is uncertain.
But confidence alone is not enough.
Business owners must also remain curious, continue developing their abilities, and recognize when their companies need to evolve.
As Chris put it:
“We have to adapt. You have to evolve.”
His experience demonstrates that entrepreneurship is not simply about starting something and working hard enough to keep it alive.
It is about building the people, leadership, and capabilities that allow the business to continue growing.
Final Thoughts: Building and Developing Creative Teams for Long-Term Success
Chris Jungjohann’s journey from independent creative professional to founder of multiple companies offers an important lesson for entrepreneurs.
Hustle may help start a business, but developing people helps sustain its growth.
Through ongoing education, meaningful internships, leadership opportunities, and a willingness to let others take ownership, Chris has built an organization where employees can grow alongside the companies they support.
For business owners who find themselves responsible for every decision, project, and problem, the next stage of growth may require a different approach.
Instead of asking how to do more personally, start asking how to develop the people who can take the business further.
Because the goal is not simply to build a successful business. It is to build a team capable of helping that business succeed.
Connect with Chris Jungjohann
Learn more about Chris and the creative businesses he has built:
- Recess Creative: https://recesscreative.com
- Buds & Pals: https://budsandpals.com
- Super Average: https://superaverage.co
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cjungjohann/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/chrisjungjohann/
About Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes
Business Owners Tell All: What It Takes is a podcast by Seeker Solution, featuring honest conversations with entrepreneurs about the experiences, decisions, challenges, and lessons behind building and leading a business.
Each episode explores what business ownership really requires, from leadership and operations to financial management, strategy, and talent development.
Visit https://seekersolution.com to learn more about Seeker Solution and its fractional executive leadership services for owner-led businesses.
