Yet American schools and libraries — including those in Oregon — are facing an intense culture war that jeopardizes this progress. The debate centers around protecting and serving youth while upholding constitutional rights and promoting high-quality literature and fresh, independent voices. In recent years, a political movement has emerged to challenge and cancel books, displays and events in schools and public libraries ostensibly on grounds of child welfare and parental rights. Last year the number of attempts to ban or restrict books in the U.S. reached a 20-year high. While challenges are lobbed from different political sides, PEN America reports that the vast majority of materials targeted for removal feature LGBTQ+ characters and/or characters of color, or they cover sensitive topics like race, racism, LGBTQ+ identities or sex education. Some groups fueling the censorship crusade have been associated with extremist organizations and anti-government groups. Conservative legislators in various states have enacted measures to make it easier to restrict access to content and even impose criminal penalties on library staff. Thankfully, recent federal court rulings have overturned and blocked censorship attempts in Texas, Virginia and Arkansas, emphasizing the significant First Amendment protection to which all are entitled — including minors. 

Yet, while the core principles of free expression that define our nation have strong protection in the legal system, we must not take them for granted. Proactive awareness, resistance and rejection of censorship are imperative both for our individual liberty and economic future. In today’s marketplace, forward-thinking business leaders recognize that a diverse and inclusive workplace is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage. Soft skills like teamwork, emotional intelligence and crosscultural understanding are now reported by Forbes to be more valuable to employers than technical expertise alone. Studies show that companies with diverse teams outperform their competitors financially.

Reading widely and thoughtfully cultivates those invaluable character traits that are essential for leadership roles. A study in the journal Reading Research Quarterly (2014) found that students who read diverse literature were more likely to demonstrate increased empathy and perspective-taking abilities compared to a control group. The American Library Association’s report, “Why Diversity Matters,” highlights the positive impact of varied literature on youth’s cognitive and affective development and how it fosters empathy, understanding and critical thinking.

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A Puritanical restriction of reading choices risks hindering the development of these essential soft skills in students by instilling fear of reading and of challenging ideas. Literature that tackles sensitive topics encourages open dialogue and helps students become well-rounded individuals with the capacity to embrace different viewpoints. By nurturing empathetic and culturally competent individuals, businesses ultimately gain a labor pool with a deeper understanding of the world, greater flexibility and adaptability.

Rather than retreating from challenging conversations, a more productive approach lies in providing diverse reading options. A robust selection of classic, contemporary, popular and emergent literature allows students to explore different narratives with guidance from parents and educators, promoting an appreciation of language and storytelling and a love of reading, ultimately increasing resilience and competence in their interactions and relationships. One argument being made is that the materials being challenged are considered “pornography,” and therefore, this content is harmful to minors. But that characterization — and reader maturity — are highly subjective. These are assessments best left to individuals and their parents — not the government. Societal standards and norms change over time, often led by artistic expression in the marketplace. 

Just as Elvis’ then-outrageous dancing now looks innocuous, classic books by writers such as Chaucer, Hemingway, Steinbeck and Vonnegut — that were once considered scandalous — are today known as important pieces of literature. And the Constitution requires that works are evaluated on literary merit as a whole, not merely by provocative passages taken out of context. Furthermore, respected therapists contend that the moral panic associated with children and awareness of sexuality is unfounded — and actually may increase children’s vulnerabilities to exploitation and abuse. For example, denying youth the pursuit of factual knowledge about their bodies discourages them from seeking professional and researched materials on the topic, or from discussions with parents and trustworthy adults. As Bronwyn Davies of the University of Melbourne has said, “What is dangerous, more than anything else, is the withholding of knowledge from children — the deliberate construction not of innocence but of ignorance.”

The battle for youth access to diverse literature in schools and libraries has profound implications for the future of our workforce and society. 

We invite business leaders to join us, along with supporters such as Parents Defending Schools & Libraries (PDSAL.org), to champion the preservation of freedom of expression and advocate for nurturing a generation of employees equipped with empathy, critical thinking and adaptability. By protecting the sovereign right to read, together we can shape a more inclusive and prosperous future.

Perry Stokes is co-chair of the Oregon Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee (OLA IFC), a standing committee empowered by the OLA Board to educate and support the value of intellectual freedom, and to help provide public oversight of any potential violations of the First Amendment in Oregon libraries.

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I heard this in an Entrepreneurs’ Organization Portland Chapter monthly learning event with keynote speaker Mark Moses of Make Big Happen in 2008 at the beginning of the Great Recession. The room was laser-focused on what he had to say and let out a collective gasp as the reality of the statement hit the 60 business owners in the room. 

At the time, the organization was called Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, and the average age of the group was 33. So most had never experienced a recession — especially one with all your chips on the table. 

I raised my hand and asked, “How can I be in the last group?” 

I will never forget what Mark said. 

“I know you all spend most of your time working on your company’s biggest problems,” he said. “That is human, but all you have when you work on a big problem is a slightly less big problem. Instead of spending time doing that, find what is going right in your business. I guarantee you that something is. Find that and spend your time doing more of that.”

Reality Check: Not Much Was Going Right

On my drive back to the office, I tried to think of what was going right, and I could not think of a single thing.

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The Great Recession was a real-estate-driven recession, and we owned 30 industrial business parks up and down the West Coast that catered to smaller businesses. The small businesses were failing, vacating and not paying rent. We had bought most of them in the last few years to remodel or refresh and then put a new loan on them. This compounded the problem because most had loans that were less than three years old and were all coming due at a time when lenders weren’t lending anymore, and property values were crashing as tenants vacated or quit paying. It was bad. Really bad.

I asked my right-hand person and VP, Kelly Wiebke, if she could think of anything that was going right. She thought about it, jumped up, said “Stand by,” ran to the file room and pulled a file, slapped it down and said, “This is going right!” 

In the file were the financials of a self-storage property we owned but had mostly forgotten. She was spot-on: This was going right. The property was gushing cash flow and was 100% occupied with a wait list because of the recession. Prior to that, its cash flowed every month we owned it, and it was never less than 95% occupied.

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Pivot Toward What Is Going Right

Mark’s idea planted a seed that grew into something beautiful. Kelly and I decided to try buying another storage property and see if it, too, would go right like the first one — to make sure it was not a fluke. The self-storage property we owned was in Denver; we ended up buying two more, one in Boise and one in Phoenix. They performed just like the first one right out of the gates. We also got good deals on these since no one was buying at that time. 

That was all we needed to see — we decided to go all-in on storage and sell all our business parks, effectively pivoting the business from investing in one type of real estate to another, higher-performance type of real estate. 

We absolutely thrived in self-storage. We built up a new company and brand around it, ending up with 35 properties in six states. While getting there was a lot of work, in the end, our revitalized company was far superior in every way to the former version. Financially, it was more profitable and, from a personal health and stress perspective, far less harrowing: Occupancy rates were much better, plus the income stream was more stable and diversified with over 5,000 tenants instead of 500 business tenants. 

Running the company was more fulfilling, too. Unlike the prior version, where property management was contracted to third parties, we actually managed the storage facilities ourselves. We enjoyed the opportunity to get creative with the brand, build a 70-person team and foster a solid company culture around it.

In that company’s final chapter, we chose to sell it when we were offered a price we could not say no to. It was a notable financial success, and since we had pivoted once with success, we decided to do it again. We are currently halfway into a three-year buildup of our third company, which specializes in covered RV and boat storage.

Never Underestimate Serendipity

Sometimes I marvel about kismet and serendipity: what an amazingly positive chain reaction Mark Moses set off with his “find what is going right” advice — and how lucky that we listened, found the needle in our haystack and expanded on it. 

The insight at the origin of this serendipitous process is something I try to instill and advocate for in others. Do me (and yourself!) a favor: Spend less time solving problems and more time finding what is going right and doing more of that. You will be glad you did.

Barry Raber is a serial entrepreneur, president of Carefree RV Storage, a 22-year member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), the founder of Business Property Trust and a past winner of EO Portland’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He shares his successful business secrets at RealSimpleBusiness.org.

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The Inflation Reduction Act invests billions into reducing energy use in both homes and businesses. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly a third of energy created for commercial buildings is wasted. Considering energy can be one of the largest costs for businesses, the right energy upgrades can make a significant difference for the bottom line.  

In Oregon and Southwest Washington, there’s even more support available. Those tax credits and deductions can be combined with support and incentives offered by area utilities and from organizations like Energy Trust of Oregon to help businesses and organizations reduce their energy use and switch to renewable energy sources. Energy advisors can also offer businesses strategic support.  

Higher Deductions for Energy-Efficient Commercial Buildings

The Inflation Reduction Act expands and extends the 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Property tax deduction.  

To be eligible for the deduction, owners or lessees of new and existing commercial buildings must show that the building exceeds energy-efficiency guidelines established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).  

As in years past, the deduction amount will still depend on how far the building’s efficiency exceeds the ASHRAE Reference Standard 90.1, but lowers the threshold —from exceeding ASHRAE’s standard by 50% to exceeding by 25%.   

The deduction amount then varies, starting at $2.50 per square foot at 25% and then increasing by 10 cents per percentage point up to 50% at $5 per square foot.  

Some of the biggest ways to increase a building’s energy efficiency and exceed the ASHRAE standards include upgrades to heating and cooling, water heating, and lighting. Upgrades to all three would also significantly reduce a business’s energy costs. 

Energy Trust of Oregon offers cash incentives and support for these projects for organizations of all sizes. So commercial customers of PGE, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista can save additional money on these upgrades in addition to the higher tax deduction.  

More Help With Solar  

The Inflation Reduction Act also increases a tax credit that can help businesses create their own renewable energy, which would also significantly reduce their energy costs.  

Along with homeowners, businesses can now claim up to 30% of the cost of installing commercial solar and commercial energy storage systems, up from 26% previously.  

And for businesses in Oregon, additional cash incentives from Energy Trust and potentially the state of Oregon combined with these tax credits could cover as much as 40% of installing commercial solar.  

Where to Start  

Check with local utilities for current support programs. Also, visit EnergyTrust.org/
Commercial for more information on current cash incentives and support that may be available for your business.

Energy Trust recommends consulting a tax professional to ensure available credits and deductions. 

Susan Jowaiszas is the marketing coordinator at the Energy Trust of Oregon.

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Because angel investing is poorly tracked, it’s difficult to quantify its impact precisely, but there’s plenty of evidence the impact is huge in Oregon. According to PitchBook data, investments in early-stage Oregon startups jumped dramatically in the last decade, totaling about $56 million in 2016 and peaking in 2021 with over half a billion dollars. As the economy slowed in 2022, so too have investments in startups, but the landscape is still far more promising than just a decade ago.

The dollars tracked by PitchBook often come from institutional investors, but with the number of companies getting investments doubling over that same period, it’s reasonable to infer that angel investing went up significantly as well. The University of Oregon report “2022 Oregon Capital Scan” notes that “angel investor data should be evaluated as generally reflective of the [early-stage investment] activity in Oregon.” Anecdotally, this also seems to be the case, judging by the growth of organizations supporting the startup ecosystem in Oregon, such as the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, Technology Association of Oregon and TiE Oregon.

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Most companies begin with the same “investor”: Visa. But after the credit cards are maxed out, and the friends-and-family loans and investments are exhausted, startup companies often look to a slightly more formal stage of financing. Angel investors offer an opportunity to get larger investments or loans, with the benefit of continuing to work with individuals rather than the formality of dealing with a firm.

Angel investors are made up of individuals who put money into startup companies, usually in amounts under a million dollars, while adding value at an ideal stage in the company’s life cycle. This is the stage when companies have moved from the back-of-the-napkin idea to actual product development. At this stage, expenses usually increase dramatically, as the startup needs facilities, employees, equipment and business services. Many VCs don’t invest in this stage of a startup, so angel investors play a critical role.

Often, angel investors — aka angels — come from the same industry the startup is seeking to enter, or at least they have knowledge of the industry. This knowledge allows many angel investors to have a more hands-on role with their investments, acting as mentors or even filling corporate management roles. Angels also help startups make connections and pay attention to business-entity requirements, such as financials and office-rental agreements. Ultimately, angels help pave the way for larger investments from institutional investors and VCs.

And, of course, everything has its cost. The amount of equity a startup must give away in order to gain an investment is typically inversely proportional to the growth of the company, so startups may have to give up a bigger chunk of the pie to bring in their first angel investor when they are small. Angels usually invest in the five or six figures, not millions, so it’s still important to carefully consider the value of an angel investor. When you consider that the relationship between an angel and a startup is often closer out of necessity than you’d see with a bank, for example, angels especially should be chosen wisely.

Financial resources for startups in Oregon used to be pretty grim, but the landscape has been growing by leaps and bounds in the past decade. There are usually fewer than 25 VC firms in all of Oregon, but just a generation back, there were only a handful. Still, many of Oregon’s VC firms are highly specialized and only work in narrow fields or eligibilities. There’s also only about 40 banks with physical branches, with a third of those having three branches or fewer. So while financing options in Oregon have greatly expanded over the past 25 years, options are still limited. Angel investors help fill those gaps.

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Most early-stage investment dollars in Oregon go into B2C (business to consumer) products, technology and health care/bioscience, according to the PitchBook data. While that’s encouraging if your startup is in one of these vertical markets, the need for angel investors outweighs the supply. Most universities in Oregon have active startup-
development programs for entrepreneurial students, and the best student ideas often compete in PSU’s Invent Oregon  for small grants. In addition, private and publicly funded business incubators and accelerators are cultivating new companies. All of these programs churn out startups that need angel investors.

To help spur angel investing, regional investment clubs have popped up in major urban areas of Oregon, although admittedly with limited consistency and success. However, their ranks are bolstered by several innovative nonprofits that have stepped in to play a significant role in energizing the early-stage investment opportunities for angels.

For example, for several decades OEN has organized Angel Oregon events in specific areas of the Oregon economy, such as tech or food. In collaboration with several investment partners, including Business Oregon and the Oregon Community Foundation, they added a bioscience event in 2022 that concluded in a $300,000 investment in Portland startup Biomotum, Inc. OEN’s events allow individual angel investors to contribute to a pool, in $5,000 increments, which is invested in the winner of a pitch event after several months of educational content and due diligence. Not only do such events provide meaningful resources to Oregon’s startups, but they allow anyone to get involved with angel investing at a very low entry point.

To learn more about angel investing, get involved with a local investment group, or contact organizations that provide investor education resources, such as OEN, TiE Oregon Angels, The Silicon Forest, the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), RAIN Catalysts and many others.

John Williams is a former board chair of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and a lifelong entrepreneur. While still an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, he started his first software company. He’s been an angel investor in more than a dozen companies from a wide range of industries, from biotech to outdoor recreation.

The post-pandemic statistics for downtown Portland are pretty bleak.

• The number of downtown visitors is down by 40%, compared to pre-pandemic times.

• The number of people working downtown is two-thirds lower than before the pandemic.

• Downtown vacancy rates were 26% in the second quarter of 2022, up from 13% for the same period in 2019.

Though those statistics are improving every year, and 2023 is likely to continue the improving trend, our fair city has been hit hard in recent years, and according to some, Portland’s road to recovery is likely to be long and arduous.

So why are some companies, like SERA Architects, doubling down on their investment in downtown Portland at a time when office-space rental rates in the suburbs are considerably lower ($25/square foot in the suburbs vs. $29/square foot downtown)?

Sentimentalists will say that, though it may struggle, there are countless reasons to believe in Portland’s downtown business district. We at SERA count ourselves among those who are inspired by the people, history and environmental, equitable values that Portland represents.

But sentimentality aside, there are smart business reasons for investing in downtown Portland right now, and many organizations are realizing it. Between the Ritz-Carlton Tower currently under construction on Southwest Washington, Melvin Mark’s purchase of the Alderway Building at Southwest Alder and Broadway, Unico’s $20 million renovation of the Galleria building, and the 25-story Eleven West building — which is part of a $325 million opportunity zone fund project — nearly $1 billion is being poured into the downtown core. Smart businesses are realizing that downtown Portland is worth the investment.

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Before signing the largest lease agreement in the downtown core since the beginning of the pandemic, SERA considered several locations in various parts of the city, including both new construction and existing buildings, before settling on our new headquarters in the Galleria building, right in the heart of downtown Portland.

Ultimately, we found that the decision to locate downtown aligns with our company’s urbanist values; the Galleria building renovation resonates with our sustainability ethos; and the downtown Portland location provides unique opportunities for creating a quality work environment that draws employees back to the office, recruits a more diverse workforce for the future, and contributes to the vibrancy of downtown.

Getting Employees – New and Returning – Back to the Office

We know that hybrid work is here to stay. Employees have proven that they can be productive, collaborative and efficient doing some kinds of work from home. But employers know that there are benefits to having employees in the office. It’s hard to create workplace culture on Zoom calls, and as efficient as our collaboration tools are, there’s no replacing the knowledge that is exchanged when employees sit side by side. But how do employers get people in the building and retain an increasingly valuable workforce? It comes down to knowing what they want and giving it to them.

As the working environment has changed, so have employees’ values. According to real estate company CBRE, emerging millennial and Gen-Z professionals seek workplaces that feature opportunities for learning and career development as well as access to amenities. They also have little tolerance for commuting and are more likely to choose to live in centralized areas — all factors that make the central business district once again the most ideal office location.

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All of these factors played a part in SERA’s location decision. We knew that employees would be more likely to come to the office if their commute was short. Our central location and plentiful public-transit options mean that most employees can arrive at work in less than 30 minutes, either by bike or via a single transit line.

With more people coming into the office, both experienced professionals and new recruits, we can provide opportunities for learning and growth. Lunch-and-learn and intern training programs appeal to young employees, and the open-office concept brings emerging professionals shoulder-to-shoulder with seasoned professionals who provide feedback, coaching and mentorship.

All of this work is supported by a quality work environment, designed by workplace experts who recognized early on that a hybrid work environment means the modern workplace should be “half the space but twice as good.”

On-site amenities like state-of-the-art conference rooms and premium espresso machines are complemented by the features of our downtown neighborhood. Restaurants, retail and community resources like the library are within walking distance. The office has become a central hub for employees, who balance their working lives by caring for their personal lives in the surrounding community. The result is an urban core that is vibrant, lively and populated by thriving small businesses.

A Community of Organizations That Contribute to the City

SERA is not the only company contributing to the revival of downtown Portland. Companies like Allbirds, Street Roots and the digital agency Thesis are among the companies that are committed to their Portland locations. Thesis founder and chairman Ryan Buchanan articulates his organization’s perspective: “We believe in Portland. We also have a younger employee base that wants to be where the action is and doesn’t necessarily want to go to the suburbs.”

SERA shares this point of view, and we believe that investing in Portland is a smart business decision as the workforce changes and competition for labor increases. Organizations that want to attract the workforce of the future need to be where young professionals can learn, grow and provide for their multifaceted lives. Downtown Portland is where it’s happening.

It may be sentimental, but we believe in Portland, and we think you should too.

Joe Pinzone is the managing principal at SERA Architects.

The Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases are making traditional loans too expensive for many independent businesses, impacting Main Streets and weighing on economic growth.

In this credit environment, venture entrepreneurs should consider an innovative and relatively new alternative to accessing growth capital: regulation crowdfunding. This approach allows a company to issue securities, stocks and bonds directly to the market. It generally offers lower costs and better terms than traditional broker dealers, angel investors or venture capital funds.

Created in Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012, regulation crowdfunding puts businesses in charge of the funding process, not bankers. It empowers entrepreneurs to offer securities, stocks or bonds to the public directly over the internet through specialized websites called portals. It provides access to capital for independent businesses and opens early-stage investment opportunities for ordinary investors. It’s perhaps the most significant change in business-financing regulations since 1933 and 1934, when the SEC and the “private equity” structure were created.

Unfortunately, this innovative financing option has been hampered by regulatory challenges, including strict limits on its use. But in the spring of 2021, the SEC released new rules boosting the maximum amount small businesses can raise to $5 million in a 12-month period, from $1.07 million, vastly expanding the potential for growth businesses.

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Since the SEC’s update, regulation crowdfunding investments have more than doubled. Meanwhile, traditional venture funding struggles.

The SEC’s 2021 changes also ended limits on accredited investors and reduced limitations on nonaccredited investors. Now Americans who earn less than $107,000 per year can participate in these ventures by making annual crowdfunding investments of either $2,200 or 5% of their net worth, whichever is greater. This change increases investment opportunities for ordinary Americans looking for venture capital potential returns. (Disclaimer: Regulation crowdfunding investments are risky and should be limited to investment funds you are willing to lose.)

With well over a billion dollars raised by small businesses since its inception, regulation crowdfunding has many success stories. One notable example is the Bay Area Ranchers Co-op, created by a group of San Francisco Bay Area ranchers. At the end of 2019, Bay Area ranchers faced a major problem: The only local USDA meat-processing facility available decided to curtail its services, leaving many small ranchers facing an end to their meat-production operations. In response, a group of 16 ranchers banded together to create the BAR-C in hopes of building their own USDA meat-processing facility.

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Under the guidance of their law firm, Cutting Edge Capital of Oakland, Calif., they used regulation crowdfunding to raise $302,000 of the $1.2 million needed to start their own meat-processing plant in Sonoma County, which opened earlier this year. Since then, the co-op has increased to 41 ranchers, benefiting the entire Bay Area with locally sourced, fresh and safe meat.

The small-business advocacy group Job Creators Network recently released a policy playbook to help jump-start the economy. One of the provisions calls for boosting access to capital options for small businesses. Such grassroots efforts to bolster access to capital for independent businesses can help make regulation crowdfunding mainstream and empower many more small businesses to replicate BAR-C’s success.

Regulation crowdfunding is at the top of the list of innovative new ways to deliver alternative funding options to entrepreneurs at this time when they need it most.

CJ Connell is a retired stockbroker at Morgan Stanley; now a farmer and the owner of High Desert Herb & Spice Co. in Oregon; the author of a forthcoming book on the investment crowdfunding revolution; and a partner of Job Creators Network Foundation.

I had an inspired moment in the spring of 2015 while traveling through Mitchell, a remote Eastern Oregon town of 125 people located near Oregon’s fabled Painted HIlls.

The idea? Open a hostel.

The inspiration came from somewhere other than experience, because I’ve never owned a hospitality business and, at nearly 55 years of age at the time of this moment, I’d never even stayed in a hostel.

Inspiration isn’t always based on what you know.

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I inquired about a closed church on Highway 26 at the western edge of Mitchell as a possible candidate for a hostel. The recently closed church belonged to the Assemblies of God denomination, the same as our home church in Monmouth, Ore.

Stepping wildly out of my comfort zone, I introduced the idea of reopening the church for locals and hosting overnight travelers on a donation basis to our local pastor and regional directors. I knew if I built it, travelers would come. My own version of the movie Field of Dreams, I suppose.

I connected with Travel Oregon and started attending every meeting I could travel to, and talking about my vision to whomever would ask or listen. I networked shamelessly. Everywhere I went, I’d tell listeners I was opening a hostel in the middle of nowhere.

During the process of sharing my vision, I discovered bicycle tourers on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail — a 3,500-mile bike touring route stretching from Astoria, Ore., to Yorktown, Va. —had been riding within feet of the front door of the old church since 1976.

In February of 2016, our home church in Monmouth acquired the deed to the church in Mitchell and handed me the keys to the closed building. I packed up my blue heeler, some Harbor Freight tools, a sleeping bag and a backpack, and set off to begin renovations while living in the basement of the church, which was constructed in 1943. As I began renovating and updating, waves of willing volunteers — both local to Mitchell and from our family of Praise churches in the Willamette Valley — came to support the vision. I would work all week getting ready for volunteers to arrive on their weekends off to strip floors, remove carpet, build beds, paint and handle general construction.

Just three months after starting renovations, my husband was standing outside consulting with an electrician when a cyclist appeared on the horizon. With a tinge of a Scottish accent, the traveler inquired, “Is this the hostel?” as he came to a stop in front of the building. My husband looked at the building and back at the traveler and said, “Yes. Yes, it is.”

We didn’t even have beds yet. My husband immediately called me in Bend, where I was on a supply run, and told me to buy bedding, because we had our first guest. I thought he was joking. He was not.

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Now, seven seasons later, we’ve hosted more than 5,000 travelers of all kinds from around the globe.

The vision of opening a hostel is bigger than providing a bed or a shower to a traveler, though.

Spoke’n Hostel is unique in that the hostel operates on a suggested-donation basis. The goal is to ensure travelers have a safe, welcoming environment while still having enough money to shop at one of our local merchants.

We do not serve food. Instead, we encourage guests to support local businesses. Almost every single guest we host makes the five-minute walk downtown and leaves a minimum of $20 — often leaving additional money in several locations.

With only 120 full-time residents in Mitchell, local merchants rely on each other — and tourism — to hit our bottom line, to keep a fully stocked grocery/feed/hardware store in business or to keep the doors of a restaurant open. Tourism is now one of our main industries, and we are interdependent on having places to eat, shop, explore and stay.

Many aspects of opening the hostel were well thought out. Perhaps just as many were moments of faith. I don’t know how to tell someone to just go on faith, but what I can say without hesitation is this: You do not always need to be trained, you need to start where you are. Be willing to work hard and to learn. Trust. Say yes more times than you say no to offers of help. Desire to serve the best you have to offer and build on that.

I learned you have to believe in the dream more than anyone else. There were a lot of placating smiles from people. I had to pretend I didn’t notice their doubt and hold fast to my vision and enthusiastic belief that this would be a success. I knew it was crazy, but I believed there was a need and that I could fulfill the need if I just kept at it. I wanted to succeed so others could follow and do something similar in other towns along the route.

I learned that mistakes were the currency of growth and that pursuing a passion is not without sacrifice from yourself but those around you, too. I also learned that mistakes can be road markers for finding another route. Believe in what could be, even if it seems an unlikely or a dimly lit path.

Surround yourself with those who believe in the vision you hold. That can be family, friends and the associates of your local Chamber of Commerce. Make people feel valued, and help those you meet believe in themselves.

Caring doesn’t cost a cent but adds to your bottom line every time.

Jalet Farrell is the owner of the Spoke’n Hostel in Mitchell, Ore.

The enviroments I’ve traveled to are as diverse as the people, working from Portland, to Coos Bay to Nyssa to Medford and many points in between. I’m always astonished by the variety of communities, climates and ways of life Oregon has to offer. I’ve had the privilege of capturing individuals in an assortment of settings, from farm fields to cheese factories to film sets and college campuses. I’m always deeply grateful to the people who allow me to capture a moment of their lives. 

I’ve compiled a selection of images from the past year that showcase the range of indivduals and organizations I’ve been able to visit this past year. It’s also worth noting that after a COVID hiatus, we have resumed in-person events to celebrate our 100 Best Companies, Nonprofits and Green Workplaces.  

Many of these photos have been published in Oregon Business or on our website, but a few are being shown here for the first time. 

— Jason Kaplan, Oregon Business staff photographer 

Jared Hanley, CEO and founder of NatureQuant, was photographed on the Eugene campus of the University of Oregon. See story here.

People get a little privacy for meetings at The Haven Co-Working space in Bend. Complete story here.  

Ariel Puls posed for the February 2022 cover story about health tech. 

Ryan Hashagen, founder and owner of Icicle Tricycles, was photographed in and near his company’s former location on NW Couch St. in Portland. Read about him here.

Winemaker and owner of Abbey Creek Vineyard Bertony Faustin was photographed in his downtown Portland tasting room, The Crick PDX, on SW Morrison St. Read the story here.

Shannon Vilhauer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, kayaks in Scappoose Bay to unwind. See Downtime.

Kerri Leathers, principal with Rogue Women’s Fund, was photographed in a downtown Portland coffee shop where she sometimes meets with other staff. Read here.

Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland, was photographed at Terminal 2 (T2) near the site slated to be developed for modular home manufacturing. Read the story.

Oregon Metro Chair Lynn Peterson chills with her three huskies on Mt. Hood. See story here. 

Juan Munoz, owner of Munoz Building Center, spoke about the loss of local banking in Nyssa in this story.

Nyssa, OR, seen from above. Many banks have left the rural Oregon town. Read about it here.

PCC student Manny Jimenez worked toward a trades certificate. He was photographed for this story at the PCC trades center on Swan Island.

President Biden made a brief visit to Portland to tout the passage of his infrastructure legislation. 

Stephen Aiguier, president and founder of Green Hammer Design Build, coaches his daughter’s lacross team at Da Vinci Middle School in Portland in his Downtime.

CNA Sam Browne has worked at Avamere in Beaverton. He was photographed near his home for this story.

Midwife Nora Hawkins conducts a 36-week exam on client Rebecca Patton at her home in Enterprise in this story on midwifery.

Midwife and educator Shafia Monroe photographed in her garden in Northeast Portland. Read the story here.

Sarah Almuhanna demonstrates growing bee habitats from fungus at Invent Oregon at Rogue Community College in Medford.

Jensen Barnes, founder of LoveHate Athletica and winner of Invent OR 2022 at Rogue Community College in Medford. 

Lisa Zangerle, principal at SERA, swims with the River Huggers in the Willamette River in downtown Portland. See Downtime.

Incoming PCC President Dr. Adrien Bennings was photographed during an interview in her office at the Sylvania PCC Campus. 

Christine Smith, the founder of Grön cannabis edibles, holds a tray of edibles in its Portland production facility. Story here.

Sascha N. McKeon, biology instructor and faculty union president at Blue Mountain Community College, was photographed on the BMCC campus in Pendleton for this story.

Brittney Jackson, director of Pendleton Children’s Center, was photographed at the center’s new site construction for this story.

Vin Shambry and Karter Halliday, who plays Shambry’s younger self in the movie Outdoor School, were photographed on set in Portland’s Columbia Park for this story.

Karter Halliday being filmed for Outdoor School in Columbia Park in North Portland.

Oregon Community Fund’s incoming president and CEO Lisa Mensah was photographed in her Portland office for this story. 

Sarah Marcus is owner and cheesemaker at Briar Rose Creamery in Dundee, Oregon. Read the story here.

A cow from Rogue Creamery dairy farm in Grants Pass, Oregon, was featured on the cover for this feature.

Britt Howard, founder and creative director at Portland Garment Factory was photographed thrift shopping with her teenaged daughter at Mix Tape on Belmont in SE Portland. See Downtime.

This year we celebrated the 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon both online and in person. 

We are seeing a rebirth of artisan-based industries giving renewed attention to the traditional basis for American ingenuity. This provides an opportunity in Oregon to leverage an existing supportive ecosystem and customers supporting the trend through their purchases.

“Shop Local” is a well-known and growing agenda, often referring to supporting either smaller Main Street businesses, restaurants and retail establishments or buying “Made in the USA” products supporting American industry from cars to clothing. But what if you could do both in a single purchase?

We are seeing that the same local business is also often a traded-sector business, selling their locally made products around the country and potentially the world. We are at the epicenter of the art of craft at scale. More than simply Shop Local or Made in the USA, “Built Local” has a number of positive effects and impacts on the people and places that we hold so dear.

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In the current environment, buying locally made goods has significant advantages beyond supporting fellow citizen artisans who put their energy into making a new vision of commerce a reality. Starting with a local root has led to large successful brands like Patagonia, Leatherman, Columbia and Filson, and has inspired countless startups like my own experiences with FINEX and STEELPORT.

The main benefit comes down to one thing: relationships. Built Local products leverage the following major proximity advantages to deliver unique high-quality products:

• Customers: The team has a high level of understanding of the needs and feels a sense of obligation to their neighbors.
• Suppliers: Easier communication and mutual pride to ship the highest-quality products possible.
• Retailers: Local, smaller retailers understand the values and are invested in completing this ecosystem and getting these products in front of interested customers.

First, let’s talk about the advantage of being close to your customers. In my experience building businesses in Portland, including recently with FINEX Cast Iron Cookware and currently, with STEELPORT Knife Co., I have experienced how small teams take pride in bringing the best new products to the marketplace. To them, customers are not unknown buyers with cash, but they are friends, family and people known personally. Founders and team members are not motivated by money but by being able to share the love of their craft and vision with the rest of the community.

Because local artisans and makers are close to the people they create products for, they can optimize the product more efficiently. Being close to customers allows a local team to truly understand their needs. The team is able to pay close attention to functional, thoughtful details that are easy to miss if a company is far removed from their customer. Instead of creating cookie-cutter, mass-produced products, local artisans are drawn to create products that are truly heirloom quality without needing to be dressed up in layers of hollow, insincere advertising.

Such local companies are uniquely poised to bring innovative ideas instead of merely duplicating an existing concept a million times.

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Next to highlight are the benefits of working with local, American suppliers. By working with partners within the country, companies can solve problems with the best solutions instead of outsourcing it overseas. This not only optimizes the product but also ensures that it was built with materials that are safe and also ethically sourced. It’s easy to make something overseas at an incredibly low cost. However, it’s much easier for local companies to ensure the best product by working with known, high-quality, U.S.-sourced components.

When the maker is close to suppliers, each party knows the business practices of the other. They understand the needs of each company better, and both companies benefit from the arrangement. The result is a customized product that better fulfills the company’s aspirations. It’s not just a product; it’s a solution built with materials and labor practices that are U.S.-made and safe for everyone involved.

Another advantage is being able to control and manage shipping. Transport should not be considered simply a cost but rather a quality tax that impacts each step of the product development cycle. Proximity allows for quick fixes and real improvements in the product. As opposed to cost and time being out of a company’s control when suppliers are far away and products sit on shipping containers for a few months, when companies work with local suppliers, they don’t have to worry about delays due to international strife, weather or a shipping channel being impassable. Such a relationship quickly leads to a trusting ecosystem.

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Relationships are what power local companies. This carries over to the local retailers, which create a premade line to the customers who understand the value of such a chain. Startups that develop their products close to their customers aim to empower the customers themselves. Instead of selling empty promises, local artisans share the details of their development and invite customers to engage in a conversation about all aspects of the product, including design and implementation. In the case of STEELPORT, for example, its strength has come from building a community among customers, suppliers and like-minded makers.

The scale and structure of offshore manufacturing might be significantly ahead; however, when it comes to supporting face-to-face contact and effective communication, it is still hard to beat local relationships. Often these investments are significant and require managerial vision to pull off but, in the long run, pay for themselves many times over. In the case of STEELPORT and its Made in America carbon steel knives, we have been building a trusting ecosystem of chefs, restaurant owners, retailers, manufacturers of cookware, customers who care about premium quality, and the list goes on.

So the next time you consider purchasing, consider going with Built Local. With strong relationships and a process foundation, Built Local is more than a feel-good slogan. It allows for building long-term brands that remain beacons for future companies and set high standards for customers to expect.

Ron Khormaei is the founder and CEO of STEELPORT Knife Co; co-founder of FINEX Cast Iron Cookware. He is also a faculty member at Oregon State University and an advisor to multiple local brands.

While the pandemic continues to disrupt how companies do business, it’s even more critical for leaders to have access to accurate cash-flow projections. Here in Portland and across the country, the pandemic shed light on major weaknesses in the ways companies predict their cash positions. These include lack of access to a complete view of data, as well as limited analytics for making cash-flow predictions based on historical activity.

To combat these challenges, many finance teams are embracing new forecasting solutions that use machine learning to harness data and improve confidence. Empowered by treasury digitization, companies can better predict future cash needs without significant manual efforts or costly technology investments, both of which have been major pain points for middle-market companies.

As a middle-market banking executive and past chair of Oregon Business and Industry, we’ve seen companies take several different approaches to addressing cash flow, not all of them effective.

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Here are three ways companies can immediately improve cash-flow processes and help grow their business:

1. Use incoming and outgoing payments with vendors to create efficiencies.

By applying a strategic approach to payments, companies can unlock hidden cash flow from day-to-day operations. The process involves segmenting suppliers based on transaction value and the strategic value of the supplier. Suppliers who rank low in both categories are good candidates for payments through card-based products. This can improve processing efficiency, extend payment terms through a regular billing cycle and potentially lead to a rebate based on spend volume.

On the other end of the spectrum, where transaction volumes are high, companies could seek to negotiate liquidity and financing options. For example, extending payment terms from 30 to 60 days will allow buyers to generate substantial cash flow from the extensions, while discounting invoices for quicker payment can help suppliers improve their cash-flow/liquidity position.

2. Improve the overall accounts receivable approach.

According to data from PYMNTS’ B2B Payments Innovation Readiness Report, the average days sales outstanding — meaning the average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale has closed — increased from 39.7 to 42.6 days within the first year of the pandemic. Many companies are reviewing and fine-tuning their accounts receivable processes to protect cash flow.

The exercise begins with analyzing each step of the billing, invoicing, receiving and reconciling-payments process. This approach often provides insights into how companies can use digital solutions to improve their accounts receivable process, including accepting digital payments instead of checks to improve the speed of receipt and deposit of payments. Many businesses are now offering discounts for individuals who use digital payments in order to incentivize customers to make the switch to digital.

3. Invest in digital tools to forecast cash flow.

Digital solutions can significantly improve cash-flow projections, and the investments don’t have to be expensive. Companies should focus on “needed” versus “nice to have” capabilities when looking for a forecasting solution. The needs should include built-in analytics tools capable of scenario analysis with various growth rates, trailing averages and other assumptions.

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Additionally, an effective digital tool should be simple to use without requiring extensive training to operate or implement. This does not mean the analytics engine will be simple; advances in machine learning and the ability to synthesize historical data are helping to more accurately forecast the future. Your banking partner may be able to help with some of the heavy lifting by providing options for machine-learning solutions to free up treasury staff for other activities.

According to Bank of America research, most companies currently perform their cash forecasting on a spreadsheet. This is an enormous manual task that produces forecasts that are often outdated by the time the report is complete. Adopting digital tools can help accelerate the process of cash-flow projections while increasing the accuracy of future predictions. As the economy enters an environment of rising interest rates, the ability to manage working capital will become even more critical, making the investment in cash-flow projection tools all the more essential.

About the authors: Karen Vineyard is a middle market banking executive with Bank of America and the previous past chair of Oregon Business and Industry. Dan George is the director and senior treasury officer at Bank of America.

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