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.