Forum encourages entrepreneurs to start new businesses in Junction City
Mar. 29—Entrepreneurs looking for advice on how to start a new business in Junction City received some advice on how to do that from a few who have been there in a community forum hosted by Junction City Main Street at the C.L. Hoover Opera House last week.
Guest speakers Jill Glasenapp and Jamie Peer, both entrepreneurs who started their own businesses after being in the Army for many years that included being stationed at Fort Riley, emphasized the importance of finding balance between work and personal goals and said that need is what led to them starting their own businesses.
"We both have benefited from this community and the Flint Hills area," Peer said. "Both have tremendously invested (in us), and now we have the opportunity to give some of that love back."
The two have had multiple successful business ventures even through COVID and spoke on behalf of 4Defy Coaching, a service that helps entrepreneurs get started.
Peer described herself as a "recovering work-aholic" and said she had her wake-up call just before she retired as lieutenant colonel in the Army.
"I was standing in a psychologist's office on the verge of being prescribed antidepressants when I saw out the window a father walking his child to school," Peer said. "I remember thinking, if I could be out there on this beautiful October morning walking my son to school — if I had that kind of time freedom — I don't think I would be here today."
So she reevaluated her entire life, decided she would make a good life coach because that one aspect of her job in the Army she really enjoyed and started a service that helps others reach their dreams like she has.
Glasenapp, who similarly decided to leave the Army in 2013 and an Army civilian job in 2017 to start her own Crossfit gym, said she did it so could enjoy the benefits and freedom of being an entrepreneur. She did it by not only starting a gym, but by offering other health and wellness services, including a completely online nutritional program and a rollerskating business. Glasenapp has been wildly successful doing it. She now coaches world-renown athletes and has made so much doing it she can afford to pay her trainers at the top-end of what that profession makes — salaries of $100,000.
The two spoke on a panel of local entrepreneurs which included the owner of Paradox Coffee, which just opened their doors in February; Pineapple Whip, a food truck that has been in business six years; and other businesses including a local restaurant and an in-home daycare. These business owners included military spouses and some people who already had other full-time jobs. A medical professional and a city clerk who own Paradox Coffee said they wanted to give back by "creating a space for everyone where everyone is welcome."
Advice panelists also shared with those attending the forum to be ready mentally to go into business on your own, learn to say no and ask for help when you need it, ask a lot of questions, be okay with trial and error and diverting to something that and to not to be afraid to make money.
