By CRISTINA JANNEY 
Hays Post

Although several of the women on FHSU’s “Women in Business” panel on Tuesday said they did not set out to be entrepreneurs, all of them now own their own business.

Deanna Doerfler, owner of Doerfler’s Harley Davidson; Lisa Kisner, founder of Lisa’s Custom Interiors; Bonnie Pfannenstiel, owner of PoPt! Gourmet Popcorn; Kiley Rupp, founder of Body and Soul Day Spa; and Tammy Wellbrock, founder of Girl Twin Solutions, answered questions on the campus in honor of Women Entrepreneurship Week.

Being your own boss

Kisner’s business celebrated its five-year anniversary in June. Although Kisner has long had a passion for interior design, she  worked for other people for 10 years before taking the leap to being her own boss.

“I was kind of at a crossroads as what to do next,” she said. “There are not a lot of design businesses here in town, so I had to make a decision. I am so passionate about interior design and I knew I couldn’t give that up. I didn’t want to move, so I decided to take the leap to go out on my own.”

Pfannenstiel was a licensed physical therapist before she started PoPt!. She also ran her own real estate business in Phoenix before moving back to Hays. Pfannenstiel started PoPt! in 2014. It was supposed to be a part-time job, but has grown into a business in its own 1,600-square-foot brick-and-mortar store and processing area. She hopes to double the business’ building footprint within the next two years.

Rupp has been in the cosmetology industry for about 13 years and was the manager of Body and Soul Day Spa before taking ownership in May.

Doerfler and her husband, Brian, purchased the Harley Davidson dealership from Brian’s father and uncle in 1993.

“It was difficult at first,” she said, “because we had an older generation that was leaving. Harley was on a huge growth pattern at that time, and we had lots of changes.”

At that time, an owner had to be in the building 70 percent of the time.

Doerfler is not college educated. She had ridden dirt bikes as a kid but was not a street rider at the time she started with Brian in the business.

“There was a Harley University, and I probably went to every class and I absorbed everything that I possibly could,” she said.

Wellbrock founded her company, Girl Twin Solutions three months ago after working as the director of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce for eight years.

“The entrepreneurial spirit was certainly part of me because I grew up the daughter of a farmer,” she said, “and I saw my dad have all the good and the bad that comes with being self-employed. I knew that was in my heart.”

Wellbrock came to Hays to study at FHSU.

“I would like to echo the fact that I’m probably more of a student today and learning more and doing more research than I ever did when I was a student,” she said. “Your learning doesn’t stop when you leave these walls.”

‘I was a job gypsy’

The panelists were asked what inspired and motivated them to start their businesses.

Kisner said she was passionate about interior design, but she knew she needed to do her research before setting out on her own. She spent six months doing research. She also told the audience, which was comprised of many students, she wished she had taken more business classes in college.

Pfannenstiel was helping her husband, Russ, find speciality products to be featured in the remodeled 27th and Vine Cerv’s. He brought back some popcorn samples from market, but Bonnie was not impressed. Pfannenstiel said she considered herself a “job gypsy” and was looking for something to do.

“I thought, ‘I will pop popcorn for a couple of days and put it in your stores,’ ” she said.

She found someone from Texas to train her in the popcorn business, but he was using a retail model. Pfannenstiel wanted to be able to wholesale the popcorn.

“I was going to do this part-time and not have any employees and you don’t realize what is about to happen with your life five years later,” she said.

Rupp comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her grandparents owned hotels, and her parents owned an ag and lawn business in Nebraska.

“Growing up, I was sure that was something that I was sure I didn’t want to do,” she said. “But looking back, each new job was preparing me for this journey I am on now.”

She said when the opportunity came to purchase the spa, she realized she had the opportunity to make changes in her industry.

Doerfler said she saw an opportunity to grow and modernize the business. When she and her husband took over the Harley shop, they were still using paper tickets.

“The marketing side had me really excited,” she said. “I was in a man’s world, and not every man in the motorcycle world accepts women.”

Doerfler said she wanted to open up the biking world to women, beyond just riding on the back of a bike.

“After I started riding and got to know some of these other women who were coming in the shop who were just kind of along with their husband or friends, I thought it would be so cool if all these women I knew just through my retail experience from them walking in the doors and talking to me knew each other.

“I knew I could sell the sport, the brand and everything if they could get to know one another, because relationships in the motorcycle industry are the key to keep people riding.”

She started an annual four-day women’s ride. The ride has continued for 16 years and today mother/daughter pairs are joining the group.

Wellbrock said she had a desire to start a new project.

“I need the whole scene to change,” she said, “and the people around me. I desire a lot of variety in my professional career.”

She said she loved the Chamber industry and loved Hays.

“To reinvent yourself, some people then will take that same position and just choose another community,” Wellbrock said. “The community wasn’t going to be able to change for me, so I needed to change the scope of the job.”

What’s in a name?

The panelists were then asked about what lessons they have learned that would have been beneficial to them when they first opened their businesses.

Pfannenstiel said she wished she would had done a little more research on the community before she started her business. PoPt! had a lot of naysayers in the beginning, but she ended up having a lot more community support than she imagined, she said.

Rupp said recruiting and retaining a quality team who sees your vision as you do has been important to her business. She urged new business owners to not be afraid to ask questions and ask for help.

Doerfler urged entrepreneurs to have a doable succession plan. Harley requires the Doerflers to have an updated plan on file.

Building strong managers is important in succession planning, and Doerfler admitted she could have been much better at that in her business.

Wellbrock said some of the best advice she received was in developing her business’ name. She considered naming her business Tammy Wellbrock Consulting, but she was told no one will buy Tammy Wellbrock. She thought about what made her stand out, and that was that she had a twin brother. She is the girl twin.

Wellbrock did not have to have a business plan, because she wasn’t approaching a bank for a loan, but she did one anyway. She said the best thing she ever did was develop her own business plan with the help of the Small Business Development Center.

Kisner said the best advice she could give was not let you emotions make your decisions.

“When you are getting started, it is really important to take the time to do your research,” she said. “Contact people that know more than you. … It is really easy to get really excited and jump on a decision, and it can affect everything.”

Electric bikes to a unicorn

Rupp said she has focused on learning more about the community and staying involved with current events.

Doerfler said Harley is having challenging with an aging demographic. They also have a desire to keep manufacturing in the United States.

The average age of a Harley owner is 40 to 50 years old.

Harley is trying to realign themselves to be more appealing to younger riders. One of the tools it is using to do this is a Jumpstart platform. You can put a bike on it and a non-rider can learn how to run through the gears.

Appealing to new riders has also included making lighter, more affordable bikes and introducing electric bicycles for children and adults.

“Given those challenging times, it’s still exciting times,” she said. “I think we are engaging another world. Obviously, technology is affecting every industry. It is challenging for any car or motorcycling manufacturer right now. We can’t change fast enough, is what I always say.”

Wellbrock said she is asking businesses, “What is your pain? What is keeping you up at night.”

She is using those answers to develop content.

Kisner said, “If I don’t stay up with the trends, my business would not exist. What I have to do in interior design must always be up with the current trends.”

She spends a lot of time going to design expos and talking to her wholesalers about what kind of trends they are seeing in their sales.

Kisner said she also tries to keep up-to-date with technology. She is using virtual reality to show her clients what their spaces are going to look like when they are finished.

Pfannenstiel said, “PoPt! is a niche retail brick-and-mortar store in a decade where brick and mortar is going away. When I tell people we are looking to expand our business to a bigger building, they look at me like ‘Are you sure?’

“The great thing about PoPt! is that my business is not a franchise. I can do what I want. It is like spin the wheel everyday and where is the dart going to end?”

The older generation likes the popcorn and nostalgic candy. The kids like the candy. The 20- and 30-year-olds bring their kids in to get candy, and they buy too, she said.

“Basically this business is your imagination is your limitation and Pinterest,” Pfannenstiel said.

PoPt! just introduced its new mascot — Poppy the Unicorn. Pfannenstiel hopes to use the mascot to expand the business into special events and birthday parties.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The five men running for three open positions on the Hays City Commission agreed on two things during their 90-minute public forum Tuesday night in Fort Hays State University’s Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center.

Incumbents Ron Mellick and Henry Schwaller IV, along with newcomers Michael Berges, Mason Ruder and Ryan Rymer all said they love the community of Hays and want to give back to the town and its residents by serving on the city commission.

Each candidate also declared the need for affordable housing to be a top concern.

Written questions from the audience of about 75 people were read by Dr. Jay Steinmetz, FHSU political science assistant professor.

One of the first questions asked the candidates to name the biggest problem facing the city and how they would fix it.

Their answers varied but each included a mention of affordable housing.

Ruder, the Ellis County Environmental Planning Supervisor, grew up in Hays. Like many young people, he left for awhile to live and work in a bigger city – Kansas City. Then Ruder returned to Hays start a family.

“Our biggest issue we need to tackle is finding ways to retain young people in Hays. Affordable, moderately-priced housing is part of that,” Ruder said, “and working with developers, realtors, Grow Hays.

“We have a bunch of resources available to us to bring in some of these potentially new developments to let the students and the younger people plant roots right here in town.”

Ruder said he struggled to find a house in his price range but “got lucky with what I found. It was a difficult, difficult process.”

He also believes the city should help sustain local businesses and encourage entrepreneurship to help support the economy and retain young residents.

Rymer, an ER nurse at Russell Regional Hospital, told the audience he had done a “search of homes in Hays looking at middle-income housing, which to me was about $200,000 on down to about $150,000 for entry-level folks. I only found two that had been made in the last 20 years.

“If we are to remain competitive and attractive for young people to move to and, when they get done with college here, to not want to leave, we have to look for ways to make housing more economically affordable.

“The city’s parks, with the upcoming addition of the accessible recreation complex, and our blossoming Main Street are amazing, so we’ve got to do other things to help accommodate” people in Hays, Rymer said.

“I’m going to turn the question around and ask what’s the biggest opportunity for Hays,” said Berges, a financial advisor.

Although he sees a lot of opportunities for people living in Hays no matter their stage of life, “we have a kind of wage stagnation with very little opportunity for growth which comes down to a greater problem in affordable housing.”

Berges estimates 80 percent of Hays residents are spending 30 percent of their income on housing, whether rent or mortgage, and says “that’s not affordable housing.”

It’s also not unusual for those raising a family in Hays to be spending another 20 to 30 percent of their income on daycare, according to Berges.

He suggested leaning on Grow Hays and similar organizations to attract higher-paying jobs to town.

The two incumbents approached concerns about affordable housing a little differently.

Schwaller owns more than 150 properties in Hays as president of  Henry Schwaller and Associates. He is also a management instructor at FHSU.

“If we’re going to continue to grow, we’re going to have to invest in the fundamentals,” said Schwaller.

“We’re going to have to retain and grow existing businesses and encourage startups. We have to build houses for the people who work here. We’re going to have to make sure we’re creating jobs that are high-skill and high-wage.”

Schwaller pointed out the many employable FHSU and NCK Tech College graduates who “can find jobs that fit right into our economy, and that is a spot we are missing.”

Mellick, a self-employed floor covering installer, referenced the declining population of western Kansas, saying “we need them. They rely on us for services and we rely on them for shopping.”

The city’s general fund is financed primarily by a half-cent retail sales tax.

“I do believe affordable housing would keep a lot of people in our community and in western Kansas,” Mellick said.

“But land prices here in Hays are so high you can’t have affordable housing because affordable housing starts with affordable land prices.”

According to Mellick, the city has many areas that could be developed “but to get those land prices down so we can put in affordable housing is going to be very, very difficult.”

A perennial topic of debate in Hays is traffic roundabouts and their inclusion in the North Vine Street Corridor Improvement Project.

Berges, Ruder and Rymer all said they understand the increased safety and driving convenience but question the roundabouts’ locations in the proposed design.

Schwaller has previously expressed his opposition to the configuration as presented to the city commission. Mellick continues to support the project.

Each candidate stressed the importance of fostering a good relationship between the governing bodies of Hays and Ellis County.

As a county employee, Ruder often works with city department heads.

“We’re currently working on redesigning the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (three-mile zone) around Hays to better suit both the county and the city,” Ruder noted.

Mellick and Schwaller talked about the currently shared services and resources between Hays and Ellis County including law enforcement, emergency medical service, a mutual aid fire agreement and fire training and occasional roadwork.

The city has also written letters of support for the Northwest Business Corridor, proposed improvements to 230th Avenue and Feedlot Road to complete the U.S. 183 bypass around Hays.

“We have an open dialogue,” Mellick said, “and will keep the lines of communication open.”

Although there are many opportunities to work together, “the county is working on getting ahold of their budget and figuring out their revenue sources for the future,” Schwaller said. “Because they’re focused on that, it’d be difficult for us to says let’s work on this together.”

Ellis County residents will vote on a proposed sales tax increase in April. If approved, the city of Hays would receive a portion of the sales tax revenue.

“As Hays goes, Ellis County goes,” Berges said.  “I know Victoria and Ellis residents don’t want to hear that.”

Acknowledging that the county’s budget work comes first, Berges added “it is important that we work with our county commissioners and our county employees from a city level.”

“We are just one city in the county,” Rymer said, “and we owe it to the citizens of our county to be able to assist it and augment it in any way possible. We’re all in this together.”

Rymer and Ruder both believe joint commission meetings should be conducted for large projects such as the Northwest Business Corridor.  In light of the county’s budget difficulties, Ruder also suggested the city should consider providing financial support to the project.

“It’s going to be a good thing for the city in the long run,” said Ruder.

The audience also asked questions about downtown Hays revitalization, subsidizing Safe Ride, recycling, and long-term water supply problems and solutions.

In their closing statements, each candidate encouraged Hays residents to vote in the Nov. 5 election. Advance voting began Monday.

The top two city commission candidates will serve for four years, while the third-place vote-getter will serve for two years.

Tuesday’s forum was organized by the FHSU Student Government Association, American Democracy Project, the Department of Political Science and Tiger Media Network along with the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and the Docking Institute of Public Affairs.