FORT SILL, Okla. Jan. 22, 2016 -- Shelley Hossenlopp knows the travails and triumphs of being a military wife. Despite the frustrations of setting aside her career as her Army husband advanced his, she realized challenges are merely problems seeking solutions. Her entrepreneurial journey has led her not only to personal success, but to a calling to help military spouses achieve theirs.
Hossenlopp organized a Ready Set Go workshop to help those who have a good idea but little else, those who want to grow existing businesses, and all stages in between. Limited to 40 military spouses, the free workshop includes a powerful set of sessions and panels to be held Jan. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Fort Sill's Truman Education Center.
While starting any business can be daunting for anyone, being a military spouse who moves every two to three years can limit options.
"I was working for Fisher Scientific (now Thermo Fisher Scientific), a Fortune 500 company," said Hossenlopp. "I turned down several opportunities to be in senior management positions with the company as my husband's Army career advanced."
Her husband is Col. Paul Hossenlopp, Fires Center of Excellence chief of staff. The Tulsa, Okla. native met him while on a business trip to Lawton. They married, had their first child at Fort Sill, moved away, and returned when he was garrison commander from 2011 to 2013.
"It's hard to be asking your company every two years for a new job at a new location," she said of her relocations. Hossenlopp realized the solution was to head her own company, which allowed both spouses to advance in their respective careers.
One does not always need not be physically present to run a company, she emphasized. With computers, on-site managers, and virtual networking, she has been able to help start and lead companies in Austin, Texas, and Boston, and partner with a third in the United Kingdom.
"Being able to put files in Dropbox and have somebody across the country or globe read them is what we call 'virtual business,'" said Hossenlopp.
If a spouse wanted to have an accounting business for instance, today's technologies allows one to operate from anywhere, and retain clients made with each relocation. Hossenlopp knows of an Army spouse who makes professional cheerleading uniforms for teams such as the Dallas Cowboys.
"She has an on-site manager and runs the business from afar," said Hossenlopp.
Even spouses who want to sell handmade jewelry or crafts on websites such as Etsy can benefit from the workshop. "We'll be talking about using social media and the Internet," she said, "and everybody needs to understand finances and accounting."
If operating a business in post housing, it can be tricky and subject to restrictions that vary from post to post. Selling handmade candles, for instance, may be seen as competition with authorized businesses on post. Even off-post companies may be subject to local, federal or international regulations, depending on the product and where it is to be sold.
Workshop participants will have the option to be paired with a mentor who can help them design business plans, refine ideas, or find investors. There will also be a Pitch Competition on March 10, where participants will try to sell their ideas.
"I hesitate to use the term 'shark tank' but that's pretty much what it is," she said, referring to the television show by that name. There will be prizes and a chance to gain experience pitching an idea to prospective investors.
Hossenlopp has been in the biotechnology medical field for 28 years, has a patent-pending technology that tracks samples such as biological select agents and toxin samples (like anthrax), and has been instrumental in several medical device startups. One of her current company's inventions is a device that makes creating a baby "in a petri dish" closer to the way nature intended, in vivo (inside the body).
Instead of in vitro fertilization (IVF), where the embryo resides outside the womb for the first few days, the sperm and egg are combined in the INVOcell device, inserted back into the female body where it incubates for three to five days and fertilization can take place. The INVOcell was found to have equivalent success rates as traditional IVF but is expected to cost 50 percent less per cycle. The INVOcell device was recently cleared by the FDA in November for use in the United States, the biggest milestone for a medical start-up to achieve.
Hossenlopp has also done research on an amoeba found in Oklahoma waters that can cause fatal amoebic meningitis. Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers, and hot springs, as well as in soil. If the amoeba is ingested through the nasal passages while swimming, survival from the resulting meningitis is rare.
Her love of science and medicine is the reason she maintains her entrepreneurial career in the field of medical devices and biotechnology.
The workshop is sponsored by several entities designed to incubate businesses or train entrepreneurs, including the Great Plains Technology Center. The luncheon panel will consist of current or former military spouses who will describe "the good, the bad, and the ugly" experiences of being in business, said Hossenlopp.
One panelist owns a construction company in El Paso, another sells food products from her farm, and one retired military couple started a gas station in Geronimo.
For more information or to register for the Ready Set Go workshop, call 580-442-4681 or go online to sill.armymwr.com.
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