William “Billy” Cyr has come a long way.

From a first-grader who earned a “C” on his report card for writing and numbers and an unsatisfactory rating in understanding number meanings and problem solving, the Palmerton native now heads a fresh, natural pet food company that nearly reached $200 million in sales in 2018.

Cyr, chief executive officer for Freshpet Inc., shared some of the career tips that helped him with Palmerton Area High School’s Future Business Leaders of America organization on Thursday morning.

“I think very fondly about Palmerton, and it’s a pleasure to be back,” Cyr said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in the building. I love the life I have now and feel good about what I’ve accomplished so it’s exciting to share some of that with the students. This may not be the path they want to follow, but there are some basic principles they can follow to help get them where they want to go.”

After showing his Palmerton first-grade report card to students, Cyr joked that he “had a long way to go.” The 1981 graduate was a member of the high school scholastic scrimmage and debate teams. He also had a standout cross-country and track career after two broken arms ended his football dreams.

During his school days, Cyr had a newspaper route, something that would play a key role in sparking his entrepreneurial drive.

“When I was at Princeton University, I was looking for a way to make some more money and they have a system where students can set up businesses of their own, and they are granted a monopoly on that business on campus,” Cyr said.

Cyr started a newspaper business, with 15 people working for him, and had exclusive rights to distribute the Daily Princetonian, The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal on campus.

During his senior year, the income Cyr made from the business matched the yearly tuition at Princeton. He parlayed that success into a post-Princeton career at Proctor and Gamble.

When Proctor and Gamble looked to sell its juice business, Cyr bought it and ran Sunny Delight Beverages Co. for more than a decade. The business had declined for eight straight years and profits were tripled in the first five years after Cyr took over.

“You make your own luck,” Cyr said after being asked by students whether any of his success could be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. “There are a lot of opportunities where serendipity will play a hand. Your job is to be ready when the opportunity presents itself. You won’t find those opportunities sitting on your couch. If you’re out striving and taking risks, you’re more likely to find them. Build your career plan based upon what you do well and then do as much of it as you can.”

After Cyr sold Sunny Delight, an old contact dialed him up to ask him to help revive a struggling Freshpet product. When Cyr took over Freshpet, stock was trading at $6 a share. A new strategy launch in 2017 sent those numbers skyrocketing and the company is trading today at $43 a share.

Cyr hit on his five key lessons including deferred gratification, taking risks, building networks, going the extra mile and finding your passion, as well as talking about the benefits of coming from a small town.

“When I go back to my high school reunions and start talking to my friends, they know more about me than I know about me,” he said.

“They saw me grow up and remember things about me that I don’t remember. You don’t have that if you don’t live in a small-town environment. When you leave here you realize the vast majority of people don’t come from big cities. They come from small towns like Palmerton.”

Tom Smelas, Palmerton Area High School business teacher, said the small-school message is one he tries to drive home often to his students.

“Just because you come from a small school doesn’t mean you can’t do tremendous things,” Smelas said.

“You can get a great education here. We get you started and then it’s a matter of what are you going to do with it. To be able to bring someone like Billy back is a tremendous honor and opportunity for our students.”