RAPID CITY - Jo Prang of Rapid City has found the prescription for her success. Prang, a pharmacist who used to work 50 hours a week, is now is in charge of her own schedule by buying a pharmaceutical franchise.

She currently owns Medicap Pharmacy South and West and used to own four at one time in the Black Hills.

She bought her first location on Jackson Boulevard in 1995. "That's been there since May of 1995," she said. "I felt like the Maytag repair man the first couple of weeks. I didn't have a phone. I didn't have a driveway. It was long after I moved in before the clinic next door opened up. That improved our chances of survival when they came along."

She said she acquired a Small Business Association loan and used networking to get the word out. "I made it a point to use all my connections with women, both with the Zonta Club and Women's Network Club. I remember standing up in church announcing I was starting my own business, and those people also supported me. They are still some of the same people with us today at our westside location."

Before that, she worked for somebody else and thought there were things she could improve on and make a case for, such as expanding delivery and personal services. "So I sought out the franchises that were available and decided to go with Medicap." In 1999, she was approached by two investors who wanted to open several of the franchises in the Hills. They went into partnership together and formed BHB Inc., and they helped her acquire the south location on the corner of Saint Patrick and Fifth streets.

"One partner still owns the land and the building, but I'm the principal owner of the business. So, some very open-minded guys gave me a leg up basically getting loans and getting a location over by the hospital, which has been the best for us because we do so much hospice work and compounding."

She said since the 1980s, compounding is a growing trend in her field. "If somebody can't swallow, we need to make them liquid. We make tons of stuff for infants and we make gels for hospice patients. It's an amazing field."

To be at the top of the game, she said she hired a pharmacist who was a chemist before he became a pharmacist.

She has a son and her husband has a son who they've raised together since they were 8 and 10. They are now 26 and 23 years old. The boys helped her with the store with deliveries and cleaning and whatever they could do.

"I had to do all the books, the payroll, the whole nine yards. I was the only employee from May to August." She said her businesses employ 20 to 25 people, and they deliver all over Rapid City, including Black Hawk and Rapid Valley. She institutes hours that allow her pharmacists to have a family life.

"We close at 1 on Saturdays and are always closed on Sundays and holidays. We guarantee our pharmacists at least one full day off a week. Other chains have longer hours, but it's just not worth it. It's one perk we can give them."

She knows all too well the importance of having time to spend with family. "Without family support, this is almost impossible to do," she said. "You have to be willing to put in the time, no doubt about it. I think women have to wait until their kids are a little older, when they are finished taxiing them around." She said her divorce from her first marriage left her a single mom who worked killer hours.

"For an entire year, I worked every weekend, and before that I worked nine months straight with two days off a month. If you want to get ahead, and you want to make a name for yourself, and come out on the top of your industry, there's no room for family in that."

When she remarried, her second husband, his father and her father, who is also a pharmacist, helped her get started doing what she loves.

"I knew I wanted to care for people and that they weren't just customers. They are patients and are my patients, and it's my responsibility to take care of them. I approach the whole thing as a care aspect."