(soft music) - [Narrator] Envista is pleased to support Working Capital.

Switch to empowered, switch to Envista.

Learn more at envistacu.com - [Narrator] Go Topeka's entrepreneurial, and minority business development, is proud to support Working Capital.

We share the vision to assist local entrepreneurs, with growing their business.

- [Narrator] Additional funding is provided by the friends of KTWU.

- Good evening.

And welcome back to another episode of Working Capital.

On this show, we introduce you to entrepreneurs, talk about how they got started and find out how they are maintaining, and growing their businesses.

And today's show we'll meet two business owners that are at different ends of the spectrum, as relates to time of being in business.

One business has been around for only a couple of years, whereas the other one has a 100 year history.

So what does it take to launch a new business?

And what does it take to remain in business for 100 years.

Stay with us as we explore time in business, with these entrepreneurs.

It's all about business, and this is Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Hello there, and welcome to Working Capital, I'm Eugene Williams, your host.

Timeless, that's a term that you very rarely hear associated with business.

As time goes by in business, new competitors enter the market.

And so do new products and services.

And as consumers, we try to find the business proprietor, the product or the service, that best fits our needs.

In this show, we talk with a proprietor who is a relative newcomer to the marketplace.

She's making her mark in business by carving out a market niche that competes with her more established competitors.

On the other hand though, we have a business that truly has redefined the term timeless.

This business has 100 year history of providing products and services in the Topeka area.

Let's take a look at a business, that has stood the test of time.

(upbeat music) Einstein's has been a business fixture in our community for three generations.

Jack Wisman is one of the current proprietors.

Welcome to Working Capital Jack.

- Thank you very much, and a pleasure to be here.

- It is so good to have you here.

You know, a hundred years of operations that is magnificent.

That is something that's really unusual in business.

Tell me the story, if you will, about the very first proprietor.

I think you said it was your grandfather.

- Grandfather.

Nathan came over to this country in 1905.

He was told to get out of Russia, because our family is Jewish.

And they said that, the Russian Japanese war was about to start.

And young Jewish men were put on the front line with guns that didn't work.

So he was smuggled out of Russia, went to Austria.

Went to Italy signed on a freighter, not even immigrant ship.

And made it to New York.

He got off the ship, and he just walked into the city.

(Eugene laughs) He had no papers.

He was an illegal.

- [Eugene] Yeah.

- And eventually got his papers, and made it out this state to Kansas.

- Yeah.

Now we were talking before we started the show, and you said that when he came to Kansas, he went to work in the railroad- - Yeah, he heard there were jobs with Santa Fe.

But he didn't know what Santa Fe was.

And he got out here and he was laying track.

And so he didn't really like it that much.

(Eugene laughs) And so he saved money, and they opened a business in north Topeka.

First store in north Topeka.

Wasn't called Einstein's then.

It was called the Economy Store.

And they sold new and used clothing.

- Wow.

So tell me, this show is about entrepreneurs and stuff.

So tell me, do you come from a long line of entrepreneurs?

- I guess so.

That's three generations.

My grandfather, and my mother and my father.

And my brother and myself.

They were in business.

His family was in business in Russia.

- [Eugene] Oh okay.

- Had a brewery, as I understand it.

And so they had some entrepreneurship even in Russia.

- Yeah.

A hundred years of service in this community.

What's the secret?

(chuckles) - I dunno.

I think, it's building relationships with customers.

We see a lot of repeat customers.

A lot of people know our names and you have to have the right merchandise, at the right price.

And you have to have a good strong customer base.

It sounds so simple, but it's not.

Things can go wrong all the time.

Just in the first year of the pandemic it can go wrong.

We had a couple months where they were slow, but we managed to struggle through it.

I've told the story of before we operated in the first pandemic, post WWI and we made it.

And so we know what to do.

We seem to be able to bounce back.

We take a punch, and we manage to come back up swinging.

- Yeah.

So I'm going to assume that after your grandfather started the business, at some point it was handed down to your father and- - No not quiet.

It was to my mother.

My mother was an Einstein.

My father married into the business.

Great story about my mother, and my father started to lose his health in the middle thirties.

My mother was in her very early twenties, and she took over the business, and ran it.

She was always told, that women were not considered business people back then.

And so when she signed her checks, she always signed F period Einstein.

And when she took her phone call, she said she was the secretary.

And we passed the information on to the proprietor.

Women, they weren't business people then, they weren't allowed to be in business.

- That's fascinating to hear.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

So quickly, when did you and your brother, take over the store?

We came into the business in the early seventies.

We both been there about 50 years now.

And we got out of college.

I went to law school, he went to graduate school.

Neither one of us really cared for that.

And we fell back into the business.

My mother was, she was busy.

She couldn't handle it all.

And so we came back into the business.

It was a very prosperous time for us in the early seventies.

- Yeah.

So you guys have had it for the last 50 years of the 100 years of existence?

- Absolutely.

- Wow, a half a century.

That's pretty cool.

That's pretty cool.

- I feel pretty old right now.

- (chuckles) you shouldn't, you shouldn't.

It's time for a break.

Please stay with us as we talk more about 100 years of business operations at Einstein's.

We'll be right back, you're watching Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Welcome back.

We are talking with Jack Wisman about being in business for 100 years.

Jack, you grew up (chuckles) I guess, in the business so to speak.

- I did.

- What was it like being a child, and having a business that you were around all the time?

- Well, my father died when we were young and so my mother was operating the business, for the majority of the time.

So we'd come down to the business, and as kids we would wait on trade.

I remember we were selling trade.

And trying to trade all the time.

We would learn how to sell a pair of shoes.

- Oh gosh.

- How to talk to people.

It's no secret, when you make a sale you form a relationship with a customer, and the merchandise sometimes it's secondary, because the relationship is more important.

So we picked up on that stuff from my mother.

My mother was a special person.

She raised all three of us after my father died.

And they were tough times for her for a while, but she struggled and maintained it.

And just like the depression, was a very tough time for this business.

And we got a day book, the red shoe sales for the depression.

It was 1936 for the whole day, they would do $25.

For the whole day.

- Yeah.

- And so there was tough times.

- Fascinating, fascinating.

What were some of your expectations, when you took over the business?

- I think I thought I would mix...

I don't think I was really looking at it as a living back then.

I looked at it as something to do.

I didn't have that name and a relationship with the Einsteins, that I did after a while.

My expectations were certainly not to be doing this 50 years.

(Eugene laughs) I never thought that I would do that.

It never even occurred to me.

- Yeah.

- But I hoped that we would be successful, and we were.

- Yeah.

How much fun, or how difficult is it to be in business with family members?

- Well, in my case it's good.

My brother and I get along real well.

When my mother was alive, we got along real well.

Other businesses have fallen apart because of that.

- [Eugene] Yeah.

- There was a time in Topeka, where there were enormous numbers of family businesses, particularly down Kansas Avenue, up and down the street.

And a lot of those businesses, I would guess failed.

Not failed, closed, 'cause (indistinct) fail.

- [Eugene] Yeah.

- Because their families couldn't get along.

Members couldn't get along.

But not us.

My brother and I are very close.

We get along really well.

And I think... And my sister is not in the business, she also gets along really well with all of us.

And I think that's because of my mother, and growing up the way she taught us, and made us behave.

- Yeah, I hear you.

Being in business for a hundred years, and with 50 of those being with you, okay.

I'm sure you've got some pretty interesting stories you can tell.

Do you have one or two, you can relate to me?

They won't get me in trouble with the FCC.

(Jack laughs) - Some of the more interesting stories, deal with shoplifters.

- Oh, okay.

- One time we had a store downtown, guy ran out with a little backpack.

And back then I was in good shape, I chased him down and he got to where the old post office is.

So we ran dead hard for two blocks.

He was on the other side of the street.

He was on his knees, and I was just breathing heavy.

(Eugene chuckles) He grabbed the pack, he threw it across the street to me, and he said, are we good?

(Eugene laughs) And I said, yeah.

(Eugene laughs) (indistinct) - That's the way to do it.

Yeah, that's the way to do it.

In about 30 seconds, or less if you can.

What's a good recipe for holding onto customers, and staying in business for a hundred years?

- Well, you have to advertise.

I think you have to be advertising on a consistent basis, and offer merchandise that customers want.

And have a price point that people want to pay.

I think that those are the things that are really important.

A lot of customers don't, businesses rather don't advertise.

And I think that's a big mistake.

I think you have to be out there.

John Wanamaker, who owned department stores in Philadelphia.

He always had that quote, he said, half the money that he spent on advertising was worthless.

He just never could figure out which half.

(Eugene laughs) - I've heard that before, too.

Thank you so much for being here, Jack.

It is time for another short break.

When we return, we'll meet a business owner that has been in business for only a fraction of time, compared to Jack.

Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back.

You're watching, Working Capital.

Welcome back.

After being somewhat shut in for a year now, the one thing that many of us may need, is an experienced health and wellness coach.

Especially someone that owns their own business.

Let's take a look.

(upbeat music) Evie and Anthony Blanco, are health and wellness coaches.

And together, they own a business named SoulFire.

Welcome to Working Capital.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Hey, let's talk about SoulFire, okay?

You guys have a pretty interesting story about the name.

So tell me about the name, and how that came about.

- Awesome, so we chose SoulFire because we wanted something, a name that when we stepped into work, to serve our customers every day, we wanted to step in with an intention, with passion and purpose.

And when things were tough, this name would pull us through and get us through the day.

And when things were awesome, it was awesome.

So SoulFire, it comes from Third Day, they sing a song called "Souls on Fire".

And so we were out on a walk one day, after lots of names that had no meaning, no fire in us.

And we were playing the song in the background, I'm like, I just want a song that will set some souls on fire.

And it was like, SoulFire just landed on us.

And it was like, this is the song.

This is what stands for what we stand for- - And it has huge meaning for you two.

- [Anthony] Oh yeah.

- [Evie] Absolutely.

- [Anthony] For sure.

- Yeah.

Is that important in being an entrepreneur, to be able to come in every day, and be inspired?

- Yeah, so the way that we typically lead, and the way that we talk is like, when you have clarity on what you wanna do, you have clarity on what you want for your life, and what you want for others.

Like it gives you a certain like fire, or passion, or power, that allows you to really focus on the end result to help everybody the way that you want to help them and serve them.

So we just want to be the best.

I don't know, servants that we possibly can, in the biggest way, and make the biggest impact.

- You know, that's gotta be great for a consumer and great for someone who, you know comes to your place.

It's great for them to hear.

Yeah.

Well, hopefully you can continue to do that.

Let's talk about you two.

Okay.

How'd you meet and why did you go into business?

- Oh boy.

- So how did we meet?

- Yeah.

- We met in high school.

- [Eugene] Oh man, okay.

- Yeah, so- - 26 years ago.

- 26 years, we've be married- - No, you didn't have to tell me that (laughs).

- That's okay.

That's how the (indistinct) lifestyle has helped our marriage greatly, right?

- Yeah.

- How'd you get to the business side of things.

I mean the two of you together.

- Yeah, great question Eugene.

So my mom passed away when I was two years old of breast cancer.

She was only 32 years old.

So growing up, I wanted nothing other than a little family of my own.

And I wanted to live, to be around for my children, and my grandchildren.

And I knew living a healthy active lifestyle, would help me be that mother and grandmother.

So that's kind of the passion of where this whole nutrition, this blessing of a business.

We weren't looking to open up a nutrition business.

We were after health and wellness for ourselves.

And then it trickle effect, or a ripple effect in our family, and friends.

- When you feel good, you want everyone else to feel good.

So like she had lost 22 pounds and I lost 50 pounds, and I'm that guy that used to throw his back like five times a year.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah.

And so, just we were feeling so fantastic.

Other people started asking us about what we were up to, just share it with them.

And one thing led to another and all of a sudden we've got a healthy smoothy place.

- When you started this, you weren't really in a place where you wanted to necessarily be in business.

You just wanted to be healthy.

- Oh no.

I wanted nothing to do.

I was a stay at home mom.

I was raising my babies, feeling perfectly okay with what I was doing.

And my husband had an awesome opportunity and he was doing his thing.

I was doing my thing at home, and I actually said I will never work.

I will always be a stay at home mom.

But I had so much energy, and a conviction about the nutrition and how it changed my life that, I didn't have to work.

I didn't have to try to convince or sell a product, or sell a thing.

I help people get good nutrition, and it changed their lives too.

So it all started around my dining room table, and my three children, my passion for sharing nutrition with others.

It is time for another break, but there's a lot more to come.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back.

We have Evie and Anthony Blanco from SoulFire Nutrition with us.

When we left, you had said to me that, you and your kids were around the dining room table.

And I asked you if there were friends who talked you into starting a business, and all this type of stuff.

What was the one thing that really made you want to go into business?

- Here's a combination of things, we just wanted to be good stewards, with the gifts that we've been given.

And so when the opportunity presented itself, it just kept on getting bigger, as long as we were diligent with the people, that we were supposed to be responsible with and helping in coach them.

And so that's how it just kept on growing.

- Tell me about your clientele, who are some of the people, and what are the things that they are most interested in?

- Okay, well, we have lots of moms.

Okay, 'cause moms are running after kids.

They're typically putting their own health on the back burner.

And we have a motto that you wake up, and you fill your cup first.

So you can pour into others with the best version, the best fruits, that you have to give your family.

So we serve a lot of moms.

We also serve a lot of dads.

And with that, when we take care of the daughters, the sons, they introduce their parents.

So grandparents, right?

Different generations.

But our average, our market is from 18 to 46, 50 years old.

Somewhere in there.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Women.

- When you develop a product or whatever it is that you might be selling, you know, is it something that you have to believe in first, or is it something that someone brings to you.

And says, hey, you know, we've tried this, would you be interested in selling this in your place?

How does that work?

- Oh boy.

So yes, we believe strongly in the products that we represent.

We have used the products for 22 years.

So as far as our menu items, when we mix together, we call ourselves mixologists.

We get to do a lot of fun mixing, kind of like a healthy bar.

So, you know, we don't have to worry about coming up with the right mixture.

We ask our customers, hey, what do you like.

What do you not like.

What can we do to make it better?

So we listen to our customers and they tell us what they need, and what they want.

- Now you guys at your core are nutritionist, right?

Do you know, kind of- - I would say that we...

I wouldn't say nutritionist.

And nutritionist might imply a degree of some sort.

So I would say that we are experts in results.

- Oh, okay.

You guys do a lot of events too, don't you?

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Tell me about some of the events that you do.

- So prior to COVID, we did a lot of group fitness classes.

We did sampling events.

We do nutrition education workshops, where we teach people about how to read nutrition labels, how to go shop at the grocery store.

How to order healthy items from the restaurant menu.

We have holiday parties, appreciation parties, client appreciation parties.

Things like that.

- [Eugene] Yeah.

- It's about causing like a sense of community, bringing people together.

- Yeah, so you're more than just a kind of a retail nutrition outlet type of thing.

- Oh, for sure 100%.

- Yeah.

Now, would you say that you've been able to develop a community of folks to kind of follow what you do?

- [Anthony] Yeah.

- [Evie] Absolutely.

- You know, we had a friend coming in, and shadow the business a couple three weeks ago.

And the feedback that we got, that he gave her while he was there he said, everybody that came in the door.

So let's say there's like 120 people that came through the door that day.

Her and Alyssa knew every single person's name.

(Eugene chuckles) And that's the way it is, with every day of the week with everybody, every team member.

- Wow, that is special.

How do you do that?

- It's all heart, right?

We're not just a transaction.

Our mission is we wanna leave a ripple effect of love in our city.

Through good nutrition and building community.

So when you come through SoulFire, a lot of times people are being kicked in the face beat up by the world, especially in the pandemic.

And they come in and feel a little defeated and we had a boost them up, give them some positive vibes give them some good nutrition.

And our intention is to send them out the door feeling better than when they came in.

And that's what we do.

- I love this energy that you guys have, you know that is great.

That's really good.

If you could give some advice in say 15 seconds, to someone who is starting a business not necessarily something that competes with you guys, but just starting a business, you know.

What would you say to them, about being able to kind of have that type of energy, and that type of positivity?

- I would say pursue the passion, before you pursue the profit.

- That's good.

- Oh man, that's profound.

- If you are pursuing profit, you may take and make steps, that aren't appropriate.

If you pursue what you're passionate about, you're gonna make sure it's right.

- That is so profound.

Thank you guys so much for being here.

I really appreciate it.

- Thank you, Eugene.

- Yeah.

Well, that's it, we've come to the end of our show.

I'd like to thank Evie and Anthony for being with us from SoulFire nutrition.

And I'd like to thank Jack Wisman for sharing his time with us.

And to congratulate Einstein's for 100 years of business operation.

I'd also like to thank you for watching.

I hope you've enjoyed the show and that you've learned a few things about these businesses, and their owners.

As always, if you know of a unique business, or unique management technique, we wanna hear from you.

So give us a call or drop us an email.

We look forward to seeing you next time.

It's all about business and you've been watching, Working Capital.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Envista is pleased to support Working Capital.

Switch to empowered, switch to Envista.

Learn more at envistacu.com - [Narrator] Go Topeka's entrepreneurial, and minority business development is proud to support Working Capital.

We share the vision to assist local entrepreneurs, with growing their business.

- [Narrator] Additional funding, is provided by the friends of KTWU.