Linda Keppinger, a Portland-based artist and photographer, founded KeppingerCreative in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Linda participated in Business Builders, a 10-week PCC SBDC training program, in 2020 and continues to seek guidance from her expert business advisors. Now, KeppingerCreative has quadrupled its revenue in just one year by selling its line of art-based paper products into specialty retail stores nationwide! This is Linda's story.
Small Business Success Story: KeppingerCreative
Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Starting a Business, International trade, Certified Global Trade Professional
Small Business Success Story: StudioAWEsome
When Kim Boyd recognized the impacts of isolation our community was facing due to the COVID pandemic, she decided to help reconnect individuals with themselves and their communities through Art, Wonder, Exploration and Story labs that provide inclusive, accessible spaces for artful play and story building. Kim came to the PCC Small Business Development Center for help turning her idea into a fully functioning business, and took advantage of structured businesses courses and no-cost, one-on-one business advising. Now, studioAWEsome has reached almost 200 Oregonians in just two months, with strategic plans for future growth.
Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Starting a Business, Growing a Business, Business Design Series
Client Success Story: NEMILIS Global Strategy Group
When Michel Mouzong recognized a need for improved business infrastructure in the developing world, he reached out to the PCC Small Business Development Center for assistance in founding NEMILIS Global Strategy Group. Since then, Michel has completed several PCC SBDC courses, including Business Builders and Buying and Selling Outside the U.S., and has taken advantage of specialty, no-cost advising with PCC SBDC experts in areas of start-up strategy, international business best practices, and trade regulation. This is his story.
Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Starting a Business, International trade, Certified Global Trade Professional
7 Reasons Why You Need to Make Employee Skill Development a Priority
Does your company invest in professional development for its employees? If not, now is a great time to reconsider. Investing in the professional growth of your employees has many benefits that more than justify any associated costs. In this post, we’ll look at five different reasons managers should make skill development a priority.
Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, HR & Organizational Effectiveness
Improving Communication with Non-Native English Coworkers & Employees
If you've ever left the Portland area to live where English wasn't the main spoken language—or even lived in a neighborhood of Portland where English was less common—you know the challenge non-native English speakers face daily. Even people with impeccable language skills must process many cultural, contextual, and idiomatic elements of the workplace while also doing whatever work you hired them to do.
The United States gains a lot of strength from being a place where people from anywhere can find their place and succeed. If your workplace has hired non-native English speakers, you must make an effort to promote strong communication between colleagues of different backgrounds. You may also need to account for more considerable language barriers, such as when coworkers or employees do their work well but with intermediate English language proficiency, resulting in misunderstandings.
By improving office communication and helping everyone get on the same page, you can make your workplace a safe and prosperous environment for native and non-native English speakers.
Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, HR & Organizational Effectiveness, Communications
Catalyst Trade Coffee: A Small Business Success Story
Catalyst Trade believes that "coffee is a sacrament," inviting us to grab a cup and join them as they revolutionize the way coffee is traded. Co-owner Emily McIntyre was looking for help growing her international business when she found the Oregon SBDC Network Global Trade Center and participated in the Global Trade Management program in the spring of 2020. Faced with the challenges of building a business across multiple continents and cultures, compounded by a global pandemic, Emily was inspired by the class sessions on cultural competency taught by David Kohl. After years of preparation, Catalyst Trade is excited to finally launch their vertical integration in Ethiopia, along with introducing Kenya and Peru as new coffee origins. As Catalyst Trade continues to lean on the PCC SBDC to help them grow, Emily and her team work hard to transform the future of coffee.
Learn more about Emily's story below!
Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Global Trade, International trade, coronavirus, Covid-19, Resilience
How to Prepare Your Business for Capital Funding
Topics: Small Business, Growing a Business, Finance, Capital Access Team
Kayla Banda moved to Portland from Reno, Nevada during the COVID pandemic. Having worked at the Small Business Development Center in Reno, she reached out to inquire about assisting small businesses in Portland and was immediately welcomed to the PCC SBDC team.
Topics: Small Business, Business, PCC Stories
Adviser Spotlight: Jackie Babicky-Peterson in 2022
After 22 years at the PCC SBDC, Jackie Babicky Peterson still has enthusiasm! Sean Harry sat down with Jackie in March 2022 to catch up on what she is up to these days.
Topics: Small Business, Meet the SBDC Team, Solopreneurship, Encore Entrepreneurship, PCC Stories
Client Success Story: Becca Schultz and Vesper School of Music
Becca Schultz started developing her piano pedagogy while still a student at Portland State University. Since then she has helped hundreds of students learn to play and enjoy music, while simultaneously employing multiple musicians as teachers. Her business has grown so much in the past couple of years that they have recently had to move to a newly renovated location with the help of the PCC Small Business Development Center team. This is her story...
Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Advanced Small Business Management =