(upbeat soft music) - [Announcer] Go Topeka's Entrepreneurial and Minority Business Development, is practice support Working Capital.

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

- [Man] Additional funding is provided by The Friends of KTWU.

- Welcome back to another episode of Working Capital.

As you may notice, we are not on our old set.

We have a brand new look coming so stay tuned.

On today's show, we talk with two businesses that provide fun and unique experiences whether you're playing a vacation or a stay cation.

We learn about some great options for you right here in Topeka.

Stay with us as we explore vacaies home and a way.

It's all about business on Working Capital.

(upbeat music) We may be landlocked here in Kansas, but that hasn't stopped one new business from making a big splash.

Tracy Jepson and Chris Lemon opened Flying Fish Divers to help provide a little salt life for us here in the no coast state.

They provide training, equipment and travel opportunities to divers across Northeast Kansas, Tracy and Chris, welcome to Working Capital.

- [Both] Thanks Jay.

- So a dive shop, in almost the middle of the US.

- [Chris] It's a perfect idea.

- How do you come up with this idea?

- So I think it came from just wanting to go on a vacation last year, pandemic needed to finally get out and do something.

So our friend group planned a trip to Cozumel and about half the group was planning on scuba diving while they were there.

I of course don't like missing out on all of the fun, so decided to get my scuba certification before we went and ended up having to actually get it done in Kansas City.

Fantastic company that had their own pool, really cool instructors and it was a great experience except for it wasn't here.

And when we were going through that process, I absolutely fell in love with diving and talkwd to Chris and said, hey, have you ever thought about opening a dive shop?

And ironically he had, and so we decided that Topeka needed something just as amazing as Kansas City.

- Well, okay, so you kinda had this dream for a while now, so- - I've always tossed around the idea of opening a dive shop.

I think one thing that Tracy and I have in common is that we both seem to be serial entrepreneurs.

So we both have multiple businesses and when this idea came up, we thought, what the heck, just one more, something that we could provide in Topeka that kinda captured my long-time love of diving.

And then Tracy's entry into the sport and really full of puns in our industry diving right in, going from not certified to certified, to owning a dive shop and just wanting to provide Topeka in Northeast Kansas with an opportunity to get out and see the world and see some of the most amazing things that we have to offer.

- So how many years have you been diving?

- Been diving about 10 years, and I've been working at the professional level for about six.

- So, professional level again in Kansas without having your own dive shop, were you taking tours from here already, what is your concept?

- I had just worked, helping certify new divers, lake diving has a lot of people that really like it.

I will dive in a lake if I have to.

If you get certified in the Midwest, you, it's hard to avoid lakes, but it's mostly certifying people to go on vacation.

So now as part of our business, we do travel.

So we will do pool work here, whether you're in a group or one of our private executive classes.

We do pool work locally then we have the option of finishing up your certification in a lake, Table Rock or Beaver in Missouri and Arkansas respectively, or we're actually taking a group of people to Cozumel Mexico in April to finish their certification there.

So we're all about getting people in the water and then taking them to exotic locations across the world to experience that adventure.

- That's fantastic, so scuba, I mean look, what words sticks out when you're thinking them?

Is it relaxation?

What is the draw for someone who may be a little afraid to get in the water, maybe afraid to put on a mask?

I mean.

- Yes, for me, it's, I think the instant love came with, it was quiet.

I'm very busy running multiple businesses like Chris mentioned with all of the sort of crazy that everyone has been experiencing the last couple of years.

It was the first thing that just silenced my mind.

It was so peaceful and so calming.

Like, I can absolutely understand why the military recommends it for PTSD individuals.

There are so many things that scuba can bring besides gorgeous coral and tropical locations.

It is peaceful and calming to me.

And I think that is really why I wanted to continue to do it.

And that's why I wanted to offer it to more people locally, just because it is a feeling, it doesn't just have to be, oh, I wanna travel, now I wanna go on an adventure.

Sometimes just taking a tank and a couple of people and going, and just blowing bubbles in the pool during an afternoon is a fantastic way to reduce stress and calm yourself down.

- Well in anyone, I mean, there's lots of causes for PTSD at this point, but is there any sort of military discount or is there any way you're trying to get the military involved with this, or...

I know we have on Working Capital before we feature businesses that float tanks.

So I do know how good that is for that.

So, is there anything in the future for helping veterans or?

- We do hope so.

We do offer a 10% military discount for our military members and first responders.

So we do want them to utilize the services on equipments, classes, that kind of thing.

And then we do hope that once we get the indoor aquatic center up and running, So we are actually building our own indoor facility here in Topeka, that we wanna be able to work with some of the military programs to help out the PTSD.

- That is fantastic.

Well, we're gonna take a little break but when we come back, we're gonna talk more about this journey, 'cause I know you guys really, it's a new business, but you really kind of popped up very quickly.

So it's a great little story.

So it's time for a short break.

Please stay with us as we dive into the future of Flying Fish Divers, we'll be right back.

You're watching, Working Capital (upbeat music) Welcome back to the show.

We were just talking about how this can benefit veterans and really most Kansans, but this cool opportunity really kinda popped up out of nowhere.

I think, had some ideas in August and by December 1st, you guys had doors open.

I mean, that's kind of unheard of for a new business in town.

So tell me how this kinda worked out.

- I'd say, I think Chris would probably attest the fact that I don't go slower than about 12,000 miles an hour.

In just about anything that I do.

It just, it really did come together pretty organically.

- Yeah, it was something we, as soon as we talked about the idea and realized that we had an interest to me and the capability making it happen.

I think late August, we decided we were gonna do it.

We incorporated September 1st leased a space that week, started building it out and building vendor relationships and getting product in and starting our schedule.

And December 1st we had our grand opening and that was, it was an amazing day 'cause we have found that Topeka in northeast, Kansas has a very large, existing dive community that is very excited for us to be here.

And we've been able to share our experience and our love for the sport with them.

And it's been an amazing, amazing time.

- Yeah, we felt very welcomed by the existing dive community.

We've had lots of new faces popping in, just welcoming to chat and talk about their stories and share pictures.

And it's just really great to learn what other divers have been doing.

What they're wanting to see and how we can continue to help them grow in the sport as well.

Even if they have way more experience than I do.

Running a business to me is the easy part.

Now it's getting to learn all of the aspects of scuba that's the real exciting passion.

- So right now, I come in the shop I wanna get certified, you guys helped me with gear.

- [Tracy] That's true.

Learn different times, maybe some that fits me the best, but where am I going right now to actually get the water, to test this out, to make sure that I'm not gonna freak out underwater.

- Yeah, do you wanna talk about our try scuba classes.

- So we have a couple of different levels.

We, for a very basic, low, low risk, you just wanna get in and get in the water and try it.

We have our monthly try scuba events.

We have one coming up January 30th those will be every month.

And those are a chance for us to go, currently we're using Hummer.

- [Jay] Okay.

- And we'll meet there, we'll go through a little bit of instruction.

What all the gear is, we'll get you fitted up and then we'll just get in the water.

Let you take your first breath under water.

It's an amazing experience and then just swim around for a bit.

Know learning skills, no pressure.

It's just see if you like it.

And then from that point, if it's something that you're completely enamored with, which happens a lot, we can just move the money that you would pay for the try scuba to a full certification.

We always want people, our business philosophy is we always wanna take care of our customers.

Whether you come in for a try, scuba, decide, you wanna move up.

We will always allow you to step up and not have to repay that money that you've already invested.

So it's important to us to build customer relationships and make sure that we're taking care of the people who take care of us.

And we will always go out of our way to make sure that people enjoy scuba and wanna keep coming back.

- That's fantastic.

So I've learned to scuba dive now from you.

- [Chris] Yes.

- How do I get to these beautiful locations?

Are you leading dive trips?

Are you just helping book them, what?

What's that side?

- We actually, we do a combination of both.

So we actually book group trips.

We have, like I said, the Cozumel trip coming up in April, it's almost sold out, which is really exciting.

- Wow.

- There are still a few rooms left on that one.

And so some people are doing their checkout dives.

Some of these are longtime divers that are coming just to dive with us.

So people have different reasons for wanting to go on the trip.

We can also set up private trips for you and your family.

If you have a specific destination that you want to go and we don't have a plan for it yet, we can either set you up with another dive shop that's going, or we can set you up with a trip on our own.

We aren't looking to compete negatively with other dive shops.

We love to work in collaboration and make sure that the entire sport is growing and not just one particular shop.

- That's fantastic.

So, you have some plans for the future?

I know you guys are already going gangbusters.

So where are you guys headed?

What's, I know you've got some new, exciting things on the horizon.

- We do.

- We do.

Yeah.

With the 12,000 miles an hour.

(Jay chuckling) We have actually, just recently closed on a piece of property over by Lake Shawnee so on the east side of town, right around 29th and Coco, we're actually gonna be building about an eight to 10,000 square foot indoor aquatic center that will have a 15 foot pool.

Where we can do scuba lessons, where we can do year round swim lessons for young kids.

We're gonna be able to do water therapy.

Again, we're gonna try to do some of the military programming in there.

But it's gonna be a space where swim teams can come swim, where people can do water aerobics.

We really want it to be a really clean, fun and welcoming environment for all people in Topeka, not just ones who actually want to scuba dive.

There will, of course be lots of that.

And we'll have a retail store, then inside of that space and classroom and that kind of thing.

We'll also do kid's birthday parties and all kinds of stuff.

We want this to be a space where everyone in the family can come and have something that they can do.

- So, everyone can come get their feet wet with you guys.

- [Tracy] Yes.

- There's all sorts of levels and fun.

- Yes, absolutely.

- [Jay] That is fantastic.

This is an exciting new experience here in Topeka.

I'm glad you guys are off to a great start and thank you for joining us here today.

- Thanks for having as Jay, we're super excited to be in Topeka and can't wait to watch it grow.

- It's time for another short break.

When we returned to Brendan Wiley from the Topeka Zoo and conservation center will be joining us to talk about what's coming up in 2022.

Stick around, you're watching, Working Capital.

(upbeat music) Welcome back.

Our next stop is the wonderful world of Tozo, dating back to the 1930's.

The Topeka Zoo and conservation center, has been an exciting destination for families.

Whether you want to monkey around with the animals, find a moment of Zen or taken some holiday lights, Tozo has a place for that.

Brendan Wiley zoo director will join us today to talk about where Tozo is heading.

Brendan, welcome to Working Capital.

- Thanks Jay, glad to be here.

- So the excitement lately, in the past few months has been the holiday lights, which I know kinda helps smash some records.

Let's just start off right there, with how the holiday lights has helped the Topeka Zoo.

- Well, this was year two of zoo lights and just a phenomenal event.

The event is really produced by some of our key staff there's a team with people that work together to put it on, an army of volunteers known as elves, that time of year, and just a true new community event that's family oriented.

And we saw right at 72,000 people from November 19th, through December 26.

So it's making a difference.

- How is that, just in general like?

Not the exact number, but compared to years before you didn't have that.

How was zoo attendance during those cold months.

- So, you know, for, us, we would typically talk about the off season being November through February.

That's changed now.

Our downtime is kind of mid January through mid February for more or less a 10 month long attraction here in the capital city.

And to put that into perspective, our total attendance for 2021 was right about 273,000 people.

So 70,000 of that coming in the last five weeks of the year.

- Wow.

I mean, that is great for the zoo 'cause everyone coming through the door helps with the conservation efforts, helps with all the other aspects of the zoo.

Besides holiday lights I know you guys also bring in a lot of other exhibits that are kinda specialized exhibits.

What's coming up at the zoo?

- We know, we've done things like penguins, alligators, butterflies, we've done a bunch of different things in the past.

Coming up for 2020 zoo is a wonderful partnership.

It's Topeka Dino Days with four main events.

We're talking the Great Overland Station where the Sue, the T.rex will be the Kansas children's discovery center with tiny Titans, dinosaur babies, and eggs.

At the downtown visitor center here in the capital city will be two different Allosaurus skeletons.

That's free for anyone to come in and see, but at the Topeka Zoo is Dinosaurs Alive.

This is 18 life-sized dinosaur specimens that are animatronics.

So they move, they make sounds.

One of them even does a bodily function thing.

(both laughing) - Got to keep the kids' interested.

- You got to keep the kids' engaged, that's right.

But it's an opportunity to really bring people to Topeka to see different parts.

You know, so we're downtown in NOTO, Gage Park, and just really a fun springtime event that the event itself runs February one through June 30th.

Dinosaurs Alive at the zoo actually opens March 10th.

So we're hoping to catch a lot of spring break traffic, not just here in northeast, Kansas, but from communities from Tulsa to Jeff City, to into Iowa and Nebraska so.

- You should get a pretty good draw.

I know when I was little dinosaurs with the biggest thing in the world, and they had an animatronic showing at the KU History Museum and stuck with me for a whole life.

So I know you guys were making memories for years to come for some of those little kids that come through there.

- And a lot of add-ons with this, Hazel Hill Chocolates, is talking about producing the dinosaur egg chocolate.

There'll be guest speakers, both at the zoo and hopefully out in the community, paleontologists experts in the field.

- So this is really is a community event.

I mean, everything in the zoo, you want to be a community event?

You want everyone coming in, but this is really encompassing all of Topeka and the surrounding area really in various ways, so.

- It really is, and, not only is it gonna be a great thing for people that live here and for people that visit here, but activities like this generated a lot of sales tax revenue for the local economy, probably even get some hotel stays, extra spending at restaurants and stores, and it's just gonna be a true win-win for the community.

- Well, and the zoo is always been just a bright spot for Topeka so I haven't helped kind of steer new traffic and new visitors here.

It's gonna be amazing.

When we come back, we'll talk a little about animals since that's the most important aspect of the zoo.

- Let's do it.

- All right.

It's time for another short break.

We'll be right back.

(upbeat music) We're back to learn a little bit more about the Topeka Zoo.

Okay, Brendan, the animals what's going on with the animals at the zoo.

Is there some new and exciting developments coming up?

- You know Jay, in your opening, you reference that the zoo goes back to the thirties.

This is a zoo that has an incredibly storied history.

The zoo really took off in the mid sixties when the Animals and Man building opened.

And if you've been to the zoo, you know, that central zoo building.

One of the most loved animals at the zoo, one of the most loved species lives in that building today, our giraffes and our giraffes family, we've got just a lot of recent fun that's occurred with giraffe including the webcams.

(Jay laughing) - [Jay] It's been a fun partnership.

- [Brendan] Yep, people around the world literally saw the last two giraffes born live at the Topeka Zoo through the KTWU webcams.

But now it's time to really provide the giraffe with a new home.

And like we've done with the last couple of master plan projects that we've done we're not doing anything small these days.

So we're in construction on a three acre mixed species, Savannah like habitat where the giraffe will live and not just giraffe but there'll be living in the same space with antelope, a large birds, and species like Lesser kudu and Bontebak all the way down to little, little Thompson's gazelles that you'll get to see running around.

You'll see that natural movement as different species exist in the same space.

And in terms of the holding facilities, we're building a 10,000 square foot giraffe, very modern housing facility that will meet all of their healthcare needs, their wellness needs.

And it's just an amazing project to be a part of that really the inspiration behind it really came kind of through our webcam experience that bonded people with those giraffes.

- It has been amazing, I mean, like you say, people from around the world have really taken these giraffes as part of their family and that led to tigers also being part of their family.

- [Brendan] Yup.

- Patas monkeys, I mean, if you, especially with COVID, if you can't get out of your house or if you're out of state and just wanna keep tabs there, it's a wonderful way to stay engaged with animals and see them kinda not their natural habitat, but they are in some lovely facilities.

And I love how this has led to the new giraffes, getting someplace where with those mixed species, I mean, it's like, you're on safari.

You're not just going from exhibit to exhibit.

I mean, you're right there and you're seeing how they would all interact together.

I mean, one of the best things was seeing the birds in with the giraffes now.

I mean... - Right.

Yeah.

- People would...

There's a bird in there.

I mean, it's amazing seeing that.

So the way you guys keep thinking about the animals, welfare and really being progressive with this, it's amazing for the visitor to actually come in and you get a better experience that way.

- You know, in our mission, centers around connecting and engaging with people so that they're inspired to help wildlife and wild places around the world.

And one of the best ways we can do that is to make a connection with a person.

Those webcams have made connections with people in so many different places, but for people that actually come to this experience, there'll be both indoor and outdoor giraffe feeding.

And we do that because it makes such a strong connection.

And when we can form those connections, we can transform people into advocates for the wildlife and- - Helps the conservation efforts across the board.

- Without a doubt and we're truly appreciative for all of the support from KTWU to get us where we are today.

- That is fantastic.

Well, hopefully a lot of Topekans already are members of the zoo, but if they're not, if they are, what all is coming up, that really, will drive the zoo for this next year?

- You know if there's ever been a perfect year to be a zoo member, this is that year.

You know, we're, six weeks away from watching the Japanese garden come to life from dinosaurs being here in about two and a half months to giraffe opening, Boo At The Zoo.

Before, you know, we're going to be talking about zoo lights again.

There are reasons and opportunities for community engagement throughout the entire year almost.

And, if you've ever wondered about being a member, try it out you'll love it.

- That's awesome.

Thanks again, Brendan.

It's always nice speaking with you and we can't wait to see what the zoo has in store for us.

- Thanks, Jay.

Well, that's it for tonight show.

I like to thank Tracy Jepson and Chris Lemmon from Flying Fish Divers, along with Brendan Wiley, from the Topeka Zoo and conservation Center for being with us this evening, as always, if you know of interesting businesses or management techniques we wanna hear from you.

So give us a call, drop us an email, or send us a letter.

We look forward to hearing from you, see you next time.

And thanks for watching.

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

(upbeat music) - [Lady] 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.

- [Announcer] Additional funding is provided by The Friends of KTWU.