About Us
OK - Who We Are
Opportunity Knocks (OK) is an entrepreneurially-managed, volunteer-driven business assistance organization whose mission is to "Train, Educate and provide Problem-Solving opportunities for the business community." OK was founded in April, 1996 in Bend, Oregon by Jim Schell.
Jim Schell started four successful businesses over an twenty-five year entrepreneurial career in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the fourth growing to $25 million in sales and 200 employees. After selling his fourth business in 1990, he moved to San Diego where he began a writing career. Four years later he moved to Bend, Oregon, where he continued writing books and magazine articles. He has authored six published books, the fifth of which, Small Business for Dummies, is currently one of the nation's best selling books on small business. Other books include: The Brass Tacks Entrepreneur, Small Business Management Guide, Winning Together, The Entrepreneur Magazine Small Business Answer Book and Using Your Financial Statements to Manage Your Business (available for purchase on this web site - see "Order Our Book.") Jim was a SCORE volunteer from 1994 to 1997. He currently is serving as Executive Director for the Central Oregon Partnership and part owner of one small business; and his wife Mary also owns a Bend-based wholesale distribution business.
OK's three services - Training, Education and Problem-Solving, are delivered as follows:
Training:
Quest for Performance Excellence Series
OK conducts ongoing nine-month programs for small business owners and their staffs and for non-profit executive directors and their staffs with the dual purposes of training the organization's leaders on 1) how to apply for the "Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award" and 2) how to perform a comprehensive self-assessment of their business or organization, using criteria from the nationally acclaimed Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. The program is facilitated by trained Baldrige Examiners.
Management Training Workshop
This OK program is a nine-month series of once-a-month, three-hour workshops designed to develop the organizational and management skills of a small business's key employees. The agenda will include training on the following seven topics: 1) Leadership, 2) Strategic Planning, 3) Customer and Market Focus, 4) Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management, 5) Human Resources Focus, 6) Process Management and 7) Business Results.
Education: Best Practices Seminars
OK hosts regularly scheduled "Best Practices Seminars" for the small business community at large. OK management determines the topics to be covered, then using our knowledge of successful community businesses, gathers the most knowledgeable, hands-on small business presenters available to educate seminar attendees in a peer-learning format.
Problem Solving: Peer-to-Peer Board of Advisory Teams
OK organizes, administrates and facilitates problem-solving teams comprised of twelve or fewer business owners, presidents and managers. Those teams may also include Executive Directors of non-profit organizations. The teams are facilitated by OK-trained, volunteer Facilitators whose mission is to "create an environment for team members to solve their problems."
