BY MADELYN HUBBARD ASSOCIATE EDITOR

“ Our journey starts all the way back with our previous employer ,” John Jennerjohn says about himself and his business partner , Brody Meier . Meier was the sales manager at a powersports dealership in Iowa and hired Jennerjohn in the sales department in July of 2009 .

On January 1 of 2011 , Jennerjohn became the used-bike sales manager and Meier became the new sales manager . “ And we were off to the races ,” Jennerjohn says . “ We were always competitive .”

By 2018 , both Meier and Jennerjohn held the general manager position at two different locations under the same ownership . Jennerjohn had made a goal to become the general manager , specifically of a Harley- Davidson dealership , before he turned 30 . He accomplished this at the age of 27 . “ The owner challenged me and brought up that I achieved my goal and asked me what my next goal was .” He set his eyes on becoming a dealership owner by the time he turned 40 . In 2020 , Jennerjohn resigned from the company to pursue his dream .

John Jennerjohn and Brody Meier are joined by their families during a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the closing of their two businesses in the Spring of

2021 . Photos courtesy of Iron Hill

BECOMING AN OWNER Jennerjohn considered acquiring a couple of locations before Harley-Davidson informed him of an opportunity in La Crosse , Wisconsin , close to the Northeastern part of Iowa . He met with Patty Nordheim , owner of La Crosse Harley-Davidson of Wisconsin , and Waukon Harley-Davidson and Waukon Powersports of Iowa . She prioritized finding a buyer who would maintain the familyowned atmosphere within her businesses .

Meier became partners with Jennerjohn at this time and joined him during his second meeting with Nordheim . After a three our meeting , they closed on the Waukon locations , which were consolidated into one building , March 22 of 2021 .

“ It was exhilarating . It was an accomplishment ,” Jennerjohn says . “ We had ribbon cutting ceremonies . It was amazing the way the community accepted us overnight . All of our

families were here and it was a special moment .”

They closed on the La Crosse location on April 12 . Jennerjohn was 34 , accomplishing his goal to become a dealership owner six years ahead of schedule .

REBRANDING AND REMODELING Jennerjohn and Meier rebranded the three businesses with new names and new logos . In the early 1900s , Waukon was home to the only iron ore mine in Iowa . The mine is about four miles away from the Waukon facility ,

so the owners renamed the two businesses , located in the same building , Iron Hill Harley- Davidson and Iron Hill Powersports . The logo is made of a skull with a beard and pick axes .

The Mississippi river runs through La Crosse , so the dealership in that area was renamed Great River Harley-Davidson . The logo has an eagle swooping towards the river as if to catch a fish . “ Dealers , especially in our industry , lose sight of what a logo can do for the company ,” Jennerjohn says . “ It ’ s something iconic , it ’ s specific to us . In both of our

stores , our custom t-shirt backs with our logo are our number one selling shirt .”

Choosing to rebrand “ was a flip of the coin gamble ,” he says . “ Although we retained over 90 percent of the staff upon take over , we are different owners and we wanted that message to be out there .”

He shares that in their first year of business , the dealership ’ s advertised on social media , in local papers , on the radio and at events to promote the new ownership . “ Business ramped up tremendously . In our first year , we doubled the amount of business that the previous owner was doing , and it was just having new energy in the store ,” he says .

Harley-Davidson launched its Fuel Facility Program , dedicated to upgrading the interiors and exteriors of Harley-Davidson dealerships , and “ We raised our hand to this process ,” Jennerjohn says . The facilities have not been updated since the early 2000s , so the owners were excited to make changes to their facility during their rebranding process . Upgrades to the Great River Harley-Davidson facility will begin in April of 2024 and upgrades to the Iron Hill location will begin in April of 2025 .

“ We ’ re super excited to go through these remodels ,” he says . “ I think it will put the last checkmark in our box of what we wanted to achieve in rebranding our stores .”

Upgrades to Great River Harley-Davidson will begin in April of 2024 to transform the facility to resemble this rendered image .

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS “ We ended up having 13 employees follow us from our previous employer to our new adventure ,” Jennerjohn says . “ It ’ s humbling to know you have a team of people who would run through a brick wall with you .” A staff of 40 are employed between the two locations , and all attend a meeting every Friday .