It is rare that a husband and wife can work closely side by side in the same business. But John Parham realized that his wife of just a few years had the right stuff to make his event promotion and parts business succeed. He asked Jill to help at J&P Cycles, but she kept her full time job in IT consulting, at the time the family’s only real income. Initially Jill served as the information technology person in the company, but John soon put her in charge of inventory, sales, shipping, the retail store and purchasing, and then human resources. So Jill hired a new IT person, the first of several specialists she knew J&P Cycles would need for success.
Jill could see that swap meets were not the answer to selling new parts, that mail order was where the company needed to be. Focusing on acquiring names, making customer lists through Promotions events, in 1979 Jill Parham helped expand company focus to mail-order parts sales while at the same time producing races and swap meets. It became a mail order parts company with a small storefront in Anamosa, Iowa, yet still promoted races and swap meets, which had highest revenue. Their first real catalog, a 16 pager, was published in 1987. Zach Parham was born in 1984. At six weeks of age, his first of many swap meets was in Davenport, Iowa. Produced by the Blackhawk Antique Motorcycle Club, John and Jill never miss this event.
After working two jobs for over 10 years, and now seeing some family income from J&P Cycles, Jill quit her job in 1991 and moved to J&P Cycles full time. Eventually, J&P Cycles became the world’s largest retailer of aftermarket motorcycle parts and accessories winning DealerNews “Top 100 Dealer” 11 times from 1998 to 2009, and Special Merit Awards in 2007 and 2004. In the period of the Industry’s greatest growth, Jill became a pioneer in the motorcycle industry, one of the early women leaders in a historically male-centric industry. And the couple found the money to buy the cherished 1954 Harley, the Yellow Panhead still in the family collection.
Jill continues to inspire women in the motorcycle industry and comments on her contributions to J&P Cycles, ”Relationships were very important to John and me and I did very well establishing some of those. At big events like V-Twin and DealerNews where we were sourcing product, I had the personality to meet new people. I could carry on a conversation with most anybody, and I felt very respected in the Industry. People addressed both of us on topics, but John more on the parts side and me more on the financial side. In the beginning I did feel like “John’s wife” but things changed as we grew and I became a bigger part of things. In the Industry it wasn’t just John, it was John and Jill in the same sentence.”
Jill says one of the events, which really brought growth and expanded the J&P Cycles customer base was the Sturgis Rally. She offers, ”It was some of the hardest work I ever did, going to Sturgis to work the store and manage the employees. All of our workers, John and I ate together, lived in the same house in Sturgis, even partied together in the evening. Our first years were at Mr. Al’s Alley, then in the late 80’s we rented half of an old grocery store out on Junction. The other half was the Museum and Hall of Fame. J&P’s was just a temporary setup during Sturgis. And then we made the big move and purchased a city block on Lazelle Street. Everyone thought John was dreaming, there was no way the event was ever going to expand so far up on Lazelle Street. Cycles was the first of many to go and John’s vision paid off. Since 2014 J&P Cycles has had a full-time store employing many local employees. Sturgis has been so rewarding for J&P Cycles. This is where we grew relationships with local businessmen and developed many lifelong friendships. I still have those relationships today.”
In addition to Jill’s contributions in ‘keeping the world on two wheels’ by serving millions of motorcycle rider customers, today Jill serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the non-profit National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa and serves on other local charity-related boards as well. Enthusiasts of motorcycling history from all over the world visit the Museum and its one-of-a-kind collection of motorcycles and memorabilia. With his exposure early on to the motorcycle world, John and Jill’s son, Zach Parham, named President of J&P Cycles in 2017, serves on the senior leadership team for Motorsports Aftermarket Group.
Jill was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame in 2019.