In less than 2 years, 2 sisters started up 4 franchises, and they’re looking to start their fifth

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    Racine, Wisconsin (The Journal Times) — In less than two years, two sisters, alongside their childhood best friend, kickstarted four franchises of uBreakIFix, electronic repair shops.

Kristen Pfeifer and her sister, Katie Ryan Pluer, alongside Shannon Lopez, their business partner and chief financial officer, own uBreakIFix franchises in Oak Creek, Greenfield, Pleasant Prairie and Milwaukee.

Now they want to open their fifth franchise in Racine, hopefully by June, Pfeifer said.

In January 2019, Pfeifer and Ryan Pluer were looking to open a business, but didn’t know what to get into.

The sisters, who sport thick and curly hair, thought about starting a lice treatment business after having a run-in of their own with lice. After that didn’t work out, Ryan Pluer saw uBreakIFix pop up often throughout her research.

The sisters approached Lopez, who owns hair salons, and the three of them ventured to Orlando, Fla., in January 2019 to visit uBreakIFix’s corporate office. During a trip, they also saw how a store could run.

“I remember seeing a grandma fixing a phone,” Pfeifer, chief operations officer of the sisters’ four franchises, said. “She had to be in her 70s or 80s and she was fixing phones.”

Pfeifer added it empowered her to believe she could learn how to do tech repair.

“We all looked at each other, and we were like, ‘We can do this,’” Ryan Pluer, chief marketing officer said, referring to when the three made the decision to start franchises.

Pfeifer was a marketing consultant at an insurance company and Ryan Pluer was a director of marketing at a wealth management firm before the two decided to start their own business.

Though Pfeifer and Ryan Pluer had no prior experience in technology, both knew it wasn’t going to go away any time soon, making it an opportunity for growth, they said.

“There are not a lot of women in tech, but we thought we could take the business side of it,” Ryan Pluer said.

In 2019, women only made up 26% of the workforce in information technology, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

“I think women in business are brilliant, hardworking, and humble,” Ryan Pluer said. “It’s just that first step — it’s the hardest. You can do it.”

At uBreakIFix, Ryan Pluer and Pfeifer said they keep a close relationship with other franchise owners who are women. There are only about 10 female owners, the sisters said, out of 600.

“Talking to other women owners in uBreakIFix, we support each other all the time,” Pfeifer said, adding she talks to a female business owner in Virginia Beach, Va., every day.

Ryan Pluer’s message for young women who are seeking to be entrepreneurs is to do research and don’t be afraid to look for a mentor.

“It might feel very scary or exciting, but if you find someone who looks like you, another woman, and just learn, that helps you make an informed decision,” she said. “if you have any inkling of being a business owner, talk to women-owned businesses and see what you learn.”

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