Donna Thrasher is no stranger to entrepreneurship.  She has successfully started and operated a business before. 

She became inspired to start her second business when her mother became ill.  She remembered, “My dad was trying to help my mom but wasn't prepared.  I saw the need to help him but, I also knew this must be a situation others faced too.  People aren't trained for this and with an aging population the need for assistance would only increase.”   She added, "I thought I should create a business to meet this need, so that’s exactly what I did.”

Donna was able to combine her sales and marketing background with her experiences in real estate and accounting to create Serenity Incorporated, where she offers personal business manager services.   She explains, “I primarily work with seniors in their homes.  My role with people evolves over time.  It might start out as answering questions about bookkeeping, credit cards, or medical bills, but I usually become much more involved and central to their finances.”

She adds, “I often help clients to find in home health care providers, a place to live, even make the transition to assisted living and hospice, helping them to sell off tangible assets along the way. I’ve been the liaison between tenants and property managers and the owner. My experiences are so varied to match the clients' unique situations.”

While Donna had been running a successful practice, helping manage the affairs of her clients, her husband accepted a new position at a biomedical and imaging company in Coppell, Texas.  Donna eventually had a decision to make, “Do I start over, do I commute, or do I start something new?”  She recalls this being a difficult decision since she had clients and was traveling back and forth between two states.

INTRODUCING A NEW TOPEKA BUSINESS AND ITS ENTREPRENEUR, BELINDA GONZALES.  NuSound Hearing Center has just celebrated its first year in business.  It is a family business with a Gonzales daughter, Marissa, as one of its two full-time employees.  Husband, Sam, serves as a business partner but is employed full-time as the Topeka Postmaster.  The Gonzales’ are 17 year Topeka residents.  Sam’s job as an area USPS manager brought them here from Amarillo with a few stops between.

A stay-at-home mom for many years, Belinda has since had a varied business background, including working for a local radio station but 8 years ago found her passion as a Hearing Instrument Specialist.  Working with hearing needs convinced her that providing better sound for others was her place in life.   Her greatest satisfaction is the ability to develop personal relationships with her customers.  As an entrepreneur her role is 24-7, but she nonetheless is able to break away from the office and concentrate on family and community to complete her full life.

 NuSound sells and services hearing aid products manufactured by a number of different suppliers.  It can thus tailor products to specific customer needs.  Belinda’s success is her ability to provide her customers with better sound for themselves, their families and friends.  Her radio background honed her advertising skills shown in her imaginative ads.