In today’s episode of the rural entrepreneurs, gold, we’re going to hear the accidental entrepreneur story of a business start-up that was anything but planned. See some businesses just happen when you least expect it, at any age, and at any time in your life. Dorothy Henke shares the journey of Dot’s Pretzels and its success over the last 10 years. Her husband Randy also shares his fun side-bar comments and perspective on this unexpected ride they’ve been on.
When Dot was asked to make and bag some of her delicious pretzels as a unique, hand-made Christmas gift. No one would have predicted the hit they would be. That great gift idea, led to a pop-up concession stand at some flag football games, that from there became a business. Dot’s Pretzels is a pretty impressive rural accidental entrepreneur success story from small-town America. In this podcast Dot and her husband Randy share how you don’t have to move to a big city to find success. You’ll hear how Dorothy went from trying to retire from her job in the insurance industry to working harder than ever on a job that just appeared because she said yes to doing a favor.
The tenacity and willingness to literally give their product away any chance they could was one of the best ideas to market their great pretzels. Almost every time someone tasted the pretzels, they were wowed and looking to find out how they could get more. It still amazes them where they are today. You can tell they enjoy reminiscing about how they got where they are today. It’s amazing, even though they don’t know anything about running a business, bagging equipment, legal labeling, marketing, sales, and more, they kept at it and today they have 400 employees and 3 facilities.
Dot’s pretzels is headquartered in Velva, North Dakota, a small town with a population of about 1400 people proving success can truly happen anywhere. They have additional bakeries in Goodyear, Arizona, and Edgerton camp. If by the end, you didn’t get enough and you want more information, you can go to the Dot’s Pretzels website. Be sure to look them up and follow their amazing journey on your favorite social media channel. And. next time you’re lounging around or out and about with your bag of Dot’s Pretzels, or eating a delicious Dot’s candy bar, take a picture and tag Dot’s on one of their social channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Linked-In
If you know of a really cool rural entrepreneurial story or perhaps a fun accidental entrepreneur that’s living rural that we should share with the world in this podcast, let us know. We’d love to visit with them and if it works help others hear their great tips, struggles, and journey of mining for their gold!
The podcast host Krysti Mikkonen is the owner of Rural Gold, a business located in rural South Dakota offering website development and coaching services for small to medium-sized businesses, with a special place in her heart for rural ones. She also offers coaching services to entrepreneurs and difference makers individually and in a group called The Gold Miners.
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