A custom t-shirt shop, a large scale print operation, a retailer for unique candles, provider of one-of-a-kind Mississippi State University apparel, a marketing agency, website builder and much more, are all under one roof, and many may not even know it’s there.
Chuck Lovorn’s business is physically located on the southwest corner of the Calhoun City Square between Chandler Drug and Hudson’s Flower Shop, but it’s primary location is on the internet where it services customers all over the world.
Lovorn’s site, spreadtheword.net, allows customers to design their own t-shirts online and even start their own t-shirt business. It also provides online stores for schools, organizations and others as a fundraising option.
“We print, produce and distribute everything from right here in Calhoun City,” Lovorn said.
A Calhoun Academy and Mississippi State University graduate, Lovorn has always had creative talents.
“Some people are given a measure of talent and gifting. This just has always been mine. I have always been a creative, big picture guy. God gifted me with a unique talent of seeing things finished and being able to work back to establish the ways of achieving that vision.”
Lovorn, 40, credits his parents Charlie and Suzye Lovorn with inspiring his entrepreneurial endeavors.
“My parents encouraged my abilities and always supported me,” he said. “I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My parents have had successful businesses and provided me a model of what dedication and hard work looked like and how to use local people to accomplish great things.”
Lovorn has done that with his “Creative Group” business that serves as a multi-media agency developing websites, mobile applications, online promotions and more.
“We create and develop sales strategies and marketing plans that develop product ideas/services for mid-size and large companies across the country,” he said.
Lovorn’s online t-shirt business is dominating his time right now. In addition to his “Spread The Word” shirts for fundraising groups, they launched a new line of Mississippi State apparel in January at YearoftheCowbell.com.
“We feature licensed Mississippi State branded apparel, Spirit Jerseys, T Shirts, game day accessories and much more,” Lovorn said. “It’s really taken off for us.”
They also have a “Mississippi Cloth” brand that has a variety of Magnolia State inspired products.
“Our big focus right now is the t-shirt businesses,” Lovorn said. “We just opened this week in several stores – five large retailers, and everything is available online.”
Lovorn is also the exclusive dealer of CamoCandles, a licensed line of Camouflage candles from Mossy Oak and Realtree, and he also oversees a large format print shop in the back of their office on the Calhoun City square. There they produce large format digital prints, color digital decals, labels, stickers, signs, banners, art prints, and vehicle graphics.
Lovorn is able to manage his various business ventures under one roof because they are all web-based.
“If somebody wants to come in and talk to us, we’re here,” he said. “Everything is also available online and shipping is free. You can have it shipped directly to your house or to us here and you come pick it up. However you want to do business, we’ll do business with you.”
And it means a lot to Lovorn to be able to do it at home in Calhoun City.
“I am very thankful to have the opportunity to live and work and do business here as we seek the welfare of this county,” Lovorn said. “We’ve always been in Calhoun City. There’s no reason little small towns like this can’t be a center for commerce. Small entrepreneurship, small businesses, we’ve got the people, talent, workforce. You just have to go out and find those people and employ them.”
Lovorn hopes to do exactly that as his lines continue to grow.
“We have people here that have been in the garment industry that now can help us because we created a product people can make,” he said. “Right now we’re at a small scale, but we can scale it up when we need to.”
“We can’t compete with large retailers. We’re never going to be able to, but we can provide the products for those large retailers from here. The landscape of business has just changed, but we’re in a great position here.”