Sally Sheppard bluntly explained why she and her husband, Kent, have always run their own businesses: "Neither of us do well with being told what to do."
Instead, the pair tells others what to do, and it works.
From the farming industry to construction, and Jazzercise in between, the Sheppards have always been able to turn a profit.
And they've taught their three children to do the same.
In fact, Sarah, Lauren and Adam have basically taken over the family construction company, KLASS Services Inc.
"My kids pretty much run the show," Kent said. However, the 51-year-old is still the president of KLASS (Kent, Lauren, Adam, Sally and Sarah.)
"We just oversee them now, which is great," Sally said.
It frees up time for Kent to pursue real estate - he owns land in Oklahoma City, Seattle and Buckeye, to name a few - and Sally to run her own Jazzercise studio after renting space for more than 15 years.
"We're getting into more and more stuff," she said. "I don't know what's wrong with us."
Whatever it is, the children have it, too.
Sarah Peters began Sweet Pea Baby Rentals almost a year ago and twins, Lauren Gerz and Adam, have dabbled in refurbishing homes for resale.
"We raised them to be too independent," Sally said.
Apple didn't fall far from tree
Kent Sheppard learned all about being independent growing up in rural Goodyear. The family home sat off Sarival Avenue near Van Buren Street.
"My father was an entrepreneur," he said. "And I've always been self-employed; I never knew anything else. I kind of like it that way."
As a teenager, the Arizona native attended Agua Fria Union High School and he worked on the 500-acre farm his father owned near the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, which was being built at the time.
By the end of the decade, he took over the family farm with his new bride, Sally, whom he first met in the first grade. The couple had their first child, Sarah, in that decade as well.
Shortly after they added twins, Lauren and Adam, to the mix Sally began participating in an exercise regime called Jazzercise in 1982. Nine years later, she would become a certified instructor.
Back on the farm, Kent began changing with the times. When construction began picking up steam, he sold the family farm near the power plant and just kept some rental pieces of land for farming. However, he began losing his leases to companies building on farmland, so he slowly made the transition from farming to construction.
"Instead of fighting it, we just joined in," he said of starting KLASS Services Inc. in 1990. "I do miss the rural life; you can't stop progress."
And his construction company progressed over the years to provide multiple services, including earthmoving, laser grading, excavation, underground utilities, flood irrigation systems, demolition, concrete and retaining walls.
Now, construction is beginning to slow down, so Kent has changed with the times again.
One of his projects is called White Fence Homes in Buckeye. About a mile east of downtown Buckeye off Rainbow Road, Kent and a few partners developed 70 acres from the ground up and are selling them as 1-acre lots to build homes on, or they can build a custom home for the buyer.
Leotards no more
Kent's real estate ventures taught him some valuable information that he put to use when his wife was searching for a new place to teach Jazzercise.
"My investment experience found we can buy a building cheaper [than leasing one]," he said.
So Sally has her own place, appropriately called Jazzercise, at 12409 W. Indian School Road, Suite C303, in Avondale.
She has been teaching the national program since 1991 at various West Valley schools.
"It got so hard to be in schools, I either had to find my own place or quit," she said. Now, "we don't have to scrape raisins off the floor or worry about a science fair with exploding volcanoes."
Sally's Jazzercise has 17 classes weekly. She is offering an August special - half off the $50 joining price and half off the $38 monthly fee.
"We don't wear leg warmers or leotards," she said, referring to the time when Jazzercise was intensely popular in the 1980s. "We are very much with it."
Jazzercise is dance oriented, using trendy hip hop, pop or country music licensed to the California-based business, Sally said.
For those wanting to check out the program, a $10 all-day pass is available. Sally can be reached at 623-764-0452.
Have stroller, will travel
While Sally opened up her Jazzercise business on March 31, her daughter beat her to the punch by starting Sweet Pea Baby Rentals in September 2007.
Based out of her Litchfield Park home, Sarah Peters has more than 100 items for rent aimed at families traveling with children or those hosting company with small children.
Her most popular items are strollers, cribs, car seats and high chairs. She also rents hiking backpacks, baby monitors, airplane seat harnesses, floating devices for pools, baskets of toys and safety gates.
"I try to buy the higher end brands, the same you would want for your home," Peters said.
She is running a special through Labor Day where you can rent a crib plus any two items for $18 a day or $87 a week.
The 29-year-old delivers all the items, as well as sets them up, except for car seats because of liability issues.
"And when they leave, I come and take it away and they don't have to deal with it," she said. "I'm pretty good at taking things apart."
And if the customer wants, she'll even provide diapers, wipes and baby food when she delivers the goods for an additional fee.
Her official tester for all items is her 21-month-old daughter. And if she gets too many orders for one person to handle, friends help out.
Peters began the rental business from a "combination of wanting to do something on my own and helping families that travel," she said.
Sweet Pea Baby Rentals can be reached at 602-549-9918.
Peters graduated from Arizona State University in 2001 with a bachelor's in finance, which she put to use working for Honeywell.
Knowing her family tree, it was only a matter of time before she ventured out on her own, following in her father's and grandfather's footsteps.
"So far, they are," Kent said.
Rich Ott can be reached by e-mail
at rott@westvalleyview.com.
