Newsletters
Volume 5, Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2005
News from President, Jim Shell
Show me an entrepreneur, I mean a real, honest-togoodness, gun-slinging, take-no-prisoners entrepreneur, and I'll show you someone who loves the element of change. That's C-H-A-N-G-E, as in out with the old, in with the new, and the faster things happen, the better. After all, change is what gets most entrepreneur's adrenaline running, because change begets creativity and creativity fuels growth and growth, my friends, is what entrepreneurship is all about.
Which is exactly what's going on with Opportunity Knocks. Susie and I are, as we speak, enmeshed in a sea of change, and for this grizzled entrepreneur anyway, things are back to the way they are supposed to be. As in movin' and shakin'. As in happenin' fast.
Two separate events have fueled OK's sea of change. The first
is a member survey we did last year, the second is a phone call
I received in May of 2004. First - the survey. In it our
members told us (besides letting us know that 98% of those
responding felt that we were meeting or exceeding their
expectations) that they not only enjoyed the Best Practices
Seminars we hosted sporadically in the past year, they wanted
more of them. This response came as a bit of a surprise, while
we certainly hadn't taken those Seminars lightly, we'd always
considered them as an add-on to our Problem-Solving services
(i.e. our OK teams.) Kind of like when you're asked if
you'd like french fries with your Big Mac.
Well, our members wanted more french fries they told us. They wanted the subject matters to be more relevant, the pace to be quicker, the product more professional. Anyway, that's the message we heard.
Now hold that thought for a moment and let's discuss the
second
event.
I received a phone call in May, 2004 from a Mr. Jim Shaw. Jim and his wife Barbara had moved to Bend from the Bay Area. Here the man was, in lil' old Bend, Oreygun, and didn't know a soul. He told me he wanted to get involved in the community and could I give him a hand. (While I'm sure that "involvement" was a part of the reason he called, I also think he was bored.) Jim happened to be, I later found out, one of only 75 U.S. senior examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program, a program presented by a consortium of partners, including the U.S. Department of Commerce and a collection of American business leaders.
It turns out that Jim wanted to start a Baldrige Quality program here in Bend. OK, not just in Bend, he really wanted to start one in Oregon, since we are one of only five states in the union that doesn't have a statewide Baldrige program. (Shame on us.) Anyway, the rest is history. Jim and I met and in September of last year we kicked off OK's first Baldrige Workshop team, featuring eight organizations and businesses and their key staff. We'll kick off our second Workshop team this coming September.
So, put those two events together and what do you get? You get two brand, spanking new elements to our OK business model, the first being Education, the second Training.
And you also get Change, with a capital C. And change, for Susie and I, means renewed energy for OK. Along with renewed commitment to make OK a better organization for our members and our community.
The bottom line? Today, after nine years of being a "Problem Solving organization", we are now a "Training, Education AND Problem-Solving organization." Training in the form of our annual nine-month Baldrige Workshop program, Education in the form of our six Best Practices Seminars spaced throughout the year, and Problem-Solving, in the form of our flagship OK teams.
Want to learn more about our new business model? Log on to www.opp-knocks.org and (speaking of change) check out our new web site. Everything you need to know is there.
Everything that is, except for the cloud of dust that's
swirling
behind Susie and I.
Tara Broadbent - The O'Keefe's Company
Describe your business.
O'Keeffe's Company manufactures the leading skin therapy for hands and feet that are cracked and split as a result of the work people do. Products are sold nationally thru hardware/home centers, drug and grocery retailers. O'Keeffe's Company won the 2002 Austin Family Business Award for best small woman owned business, and the 2005 Cosmetic Personal Care Packaging Editors Package of the Year Award. OSHA recognized the company in 2005 with the SHARP Award as one of the best employers in the state for dedication and commitment to workplace safety and health.
How long have you been a member of OK?
1 year.
What have you enjoyed most about OK?
Sharing ideas with other great business people.
What is the top value you and business have received from OK?
Working with a group of passionate business peers. My group is open, honest and focused on keeping its members accountable.
Jim Pickhard - Advanced
Overhead Door Co.
Describe your business:
Advanced Overhead Door Co. was established in 1980 as a sole proprietorship by Jim & Terry Pickhardt. Over the next 24 years we have grown to 21 employees who focus on the sale, installation and service of sectional garage doors and garage door openers for residential, commercial and industrial applications. In 2002 we were awarded the Overhead Door Corp. dealership for Central Oregon. We now operate under the DBA of Overhead Door Co. of Central Oregon. We are the areas only IDEA Accredited Door Dealer.
How long have you been a member of OK?
I started in April 2002 with OK7 and have recently been transplanted to OK 6.
What have you enjoyed most about OK?
To have a Board of Directors assist me in business decisions and to be able to assist others with my experiences.
What is the top value you and your business have received from OK?
To know that I have a group of business professionals to obtain feedback from who have no other interest than to be supportive.
Tiffany Paulin - Tiff Creative
Describe your business:
Tiff Creative is a graphic design and marketing firm that specializes in effective, efficient design and advertising for any size business. I analyze your needs, listen to your goals and then go forth with the driving principle of making you money.
How long have you been a member of OK?
I started in June of 2004 with OK 8.
What have you enjoyed most about OK?
The participants of OK have seen me through one of the most difficult and beneficial times in my professional life. They listened to me, read my reports, and responded with truthful assessments of my business…but most importantly they contributed with compassion and kindness.
What is the top value you and your business have received from OK?
As an entrepenuer I wondered what I should be doing better? What was I missing? Could I being doing more? These questions were always on my mind a year ago.
Being an entrepreneur is often a solitary adventure and when these questions are piling up it is often difficult to know where to turn. Then I found OK, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. Some of those questions began to get answered immediately. I stopped feeling like I was missing something obvious. There were amazing, intelligent business owners with an outside view giving me helpful feedback and most importantly holding me accountable for my own success.
Those questions no longer pull at me, and I discovered that owning my own business doesn't mean I have to do it all alone. In OK I found the support I needed to make the difficult decision to move my business forward. Thank you OK!
Dr. Peter Yohan - Awbrey Dental Group
Describe your business:
Established in 1995, Awbrey Dental Group is a family dental practice run by myself and Dr. Anne Scott. While general dentistry is at the core of our services, we have developed a reputation for high quality, cosmetic and reconstructive dental treatment. We know that our clients understand that a beautiful, attractive smile is the essence of health and vitality. Creating a healthy smile at age 8 or 68 and assisting in maintaining it for a life time drives our purpose.
How long have you been a member of OK?
I have been a member of OK 5 since 2001.
What have you enjoyed most about OK?
Who would think that running a dental practice, waste management company, aircraft tug business, or an architectural firm would have that much in common. It is amazing how many overlapping issues we actually share. As a group, we readily exchange new ideas and offer each other support and suggestions. Interacting with this diverse group of businesspeople stimulates a continual source of new ideas and inspiration. What I find particularly refreshing is a strong commitment on the part of each member to personal integrity and follow-through.
What is the top value you and your business have received from OK?
My relationship with OK has elevated our practice. Prior to joining OK, I remember running into Jim Schell from time to time and he'd ask, "How are you doing today with your business on a scale of 1-10?" I'd respond, "Probably around an 8-8 1⁄2." After joining OK, I learned exactly what it would take to fill that gap. The continual input I get from my facilitator and team members to maintain a high level of energy, productivity, and creativity is invaluable.
Karen Fast - Claremont Associates & Tuscan Nights, Co-Facilitator
What is your current
business?
I have two primary business activities at this time. Claremont Associates is my consulting business, focused primarily on sales and marketing strategy development and deployment. My current client is Soft Solutions, a French-based software company that specializes in retail merchandising solutions for global retailers. In addition, I am active with my other business venture, Tuscan Nights, which imports traditional and custom Italian ceramics. I sell primarily through home shows and interior designers both in Central Oregon as well as across the state.
How long have you been an OK Facilitator?
I started with OK in February 2004, along with Bob Phillips who co-facilitates Team 23 with me. The year has gone by quite quickly, and we both have thoroughly enjoyed the OK experience.
What have you enjoyed most about being a facilitator?
Early in my professional career I was fortunate to have a number of very helpful 'mentors' with whom I worked and from whom I learned a great deal. As an OK facilitator, I feel it's a way I can 'give back' some of that energy and knowledge to business leaders ready, willing and able to put ideas to work in their organizations.
Also, in my consulting work I've been involved with small to medium sized business as an advisor and board member, and the OK facilitation responsibilities are quite similar to those I've used as a consultant. It's been a very fulfilling experience all around!
What's the best advice you would give to an OK Member?
Make a commitment and stick with it! The pressures of
everyday
business activities can cause you to lose touch with your group
and
the reasons why you joined OK in the first place. OK is a
journey, and while there are times when you might question the
level of assistance you are getting from your team and the
experience, hang in there! And, don't forget, you have as much
to give your team members, as they have to give to you. OK's a
two-way street and you need to remember your commitment to both
the program and your fellow OKers!
Drew Child
Drew Child is president
and CEO of Alpine Internet Solutions, Inc. Drew joined Alpine
in 2001 to work with the founder and Chief Technology Officer,
Brian Cash. The company began focusing on developing affordable
solutions for website development, web marketing, and
sophisticated website management software.
Publishing information on a website has become the lowest cost method for quickly disseminating information to key stakeholder audiences of prospects, customers, dealers, suppliers, and employees. Using Alpine Center Stage® and Rainmaker Online™, companies are able to rapidly adjust and modify their web presence and online business communication practices in response to changes in communication strategy and market requirements.
Alpine is a trusted guide for web marketing strategy. Whether the goal is a graphic redesign, moving up in search engine lists like Google, generating leads, building an effective email marketing campaign and/or creating web effective email marketing campaign and/or creating web pages for customer self service, Alpine has the experience and approach that gets results.
Clients like, Sun Country Tours, First Resort Realty, Lancair, Brooks Resources, HP, Northwest Community Credit Union, Portland Public Schools, the city of Bend, Sunriver, Continental Mills and Opportunity Knocks rely on Alpine as a guide for their web based communications efforts.
The Alpine staff has significant experience in developing and implementing web marketing solutions and their software components for companies of all sizes in a variety of industries. With a hundred websites under our belt, Alpine knows all about designing for the web. We are experienced with fulfilling the needs of our client's internet audience, and strive to deliver beautiful websites that are easy to navigate, quick to download, and are accessible in all modern web browsers.
We are also aware of our client's need to update and maintain their website, and work tirelessly to develop the tools and utilities that make this job easier. It takes more than an attractive design to have an effective presence on the web. People visit a website because they need something, whether it is a product, a service or information. Alpine is an expert at structuring websites so they quickly and effectively serve the needs of the audience. Websites that are easy to navigate result in happier users who are more likely to return, hang around, fill out a contact form and pull out their checkbook.
We give careful consideration to our client's site content and goals, and offer sound advice on how we can build a structure that works. In a recent Opportunity Knocks Best Practices seminar, Web Marketing Results Made Easy, Drew outlined several strategies for lead generation, site promotion, search engine marketing and email marketing (permission based as opposed to Spam). A copy of the presentation is available at www.alpineinternet.com/best or send email to dchild@alpineinternet.com.
OK Best Practices presents:
"QuickBooks and Your Business"
sponsored by WorkSource Oregon Employment Department.
May 11, 2005 7:00-9:00 A.M.
C.O. Realtors Association, 2112 N.E. Fourth St., Bend.
In this class you will learn:
- QuickBooks Features You May Not Be Using
- Reports - How to Get the Information you Need
- QuickBooks and Your Taxes
Presented by: Karen Woodman, the owner of QB Pro, Inc., a firm specializing in on-site QuickBooks consulting and training. She is also a long-time QuickBooks instructor for COCC Community Education. Karen is a Licensed Tax Consultant and has been preparing taxes in Oregon for the past 12 years. Karen has been a member of Opportunity Knocks since March 2000 and is currently the co-facilitator of a SOHO team.
$20. OK Member / $25. Others Attending
September 22, 2005 7:00-9:00 A.M.
OK and The Bend Chamber of Commerce present the 4th Annual Bend Business Forum "Marketing Into The Future"
$20. St. Charles Medical Center
September 29, 2005 7:00-10 A.M.
Baldrige Inspired "State of Your Business Workshop"
A series of 9 monthly workshops providing a comprehensive self-assessment of your business using criteria from the nationally acclaimed Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program.
October 4, 2005 4:00-6:00 P.M.
OK's 9th Annual Meeting
Bend Golf and Country Club
October 12. 2005 7:30-12:00pm
The Malcolm Baldrige Quest for Excellence Symposium
The Inn of the 7th Mountain
$95.00 for early registration
October 26, 2005 7:00-9:00 A.M.
Best Practices presents: "Understanding Your Financial Statements"
C.O. Realtors Association, 2112 N.E. Fourth St., Bend
$20. OK Members / $25. Non-OK Members
November 9, 2005 7:00-9:00 A.M.
Best Practices presents: "Buying and Selling on eBay"
C.O. Realtors Association, 2112 N.E. Fourth St., Bend
$20. OK Members / $25. Non-OK Members
To register for any of the events or for more information contact:
Opportunity Knocks 318-4650 or email:
Opportunity Knocks Thanks
Thanks to all of our OK Business Sponsors.
Central Oregon Sponsors:
Best Practices Seminars:
WorkSource Oregon, Employment Department
Patrons:
Bank of the Cascades
Columbia River Bank
Community First Bank
LibertyBank
South Valley Bank & Trust
US Bank
Washington Mutual Bank
Partners:
Alpine Internet
BITS
Brand Navigation
Cascade Business News
Contact Central, LLC
Press Pros
QB Pro, Inc.
Tiff Creative
X-Press Printing
Opportunity Knocks is serving the following communities in Oregon: Central Oregon, Coos Bay/South Coast, Salem/Mid Willamette, Klamath Falls, and Portland. Also Penticton, B.C., serving British Columbia.
