Success Stories

David Adelsheim, Owner of Adelsheim Vineyards

Adelsheim Vineyard: from Oregon farms to Asian tables

One beautiful June day in 1971, David and Ginny Adelsheim stood atop Oregon's Willamette Valley and looked out over the vast patchwork of green trees and tall grass. The Adelsheims dreamed of planting a vineyard and making high quality wine; so they gathered together enough to purchase 19 acres of the rolling Oregon countryside.

Nearly 50 years and more than 200 acres later, the couple’s modest dream and small vineyard have both grown tremendously. According to Adelsheim’s winemaker, “by staying true to our place and honoring the natural characteristics of our land, we’ve helped change the world’s view about world-class wines in the [Oregon] Willamette Valley.”

And the world has taken notice. Demand for their Oregon Pinot Noir began to increase steadily over recent years. Catherine Douglas, Adelsheim’s Manager of Export Sales, has witnessed this growth firsthand. According to Douglas, Adelsheim decided to... Read More

Mexican tradition arrives to Oregon’s Farmers Markets

Inspired by the Mexican entrepreneurs that brought their family recipes to California in the 1960’s, Araceli de la Cruz mixes a batch of ground sweetcorn by hand as she prepares tamales for a banquet celebration she’s catering the next day in Beaverton, Oregon.

Araceli shares her excitement as her business grows into its third year from selling tamales one day a week at the Hillsboro Farmers market, to expanding to markets several days a week in Beaverton, Forest Grove, and Aloha and managing several catering orders. “On my first day in business I only made $60, but I stuck with it for the love of my recipes and determination to sustain my family. Now I make a living seeing the joy in my customers’ faces as they lick their fingers and savor the traditional pork, chicken, vegetarian, green-chile and sweetcorn tamales that my mother taught me to make when I was a girl living in Jalisco, Mexico. Being at the markets sharing Mexico’s traditional flavors with people from Oregon... Read More

Geoff Metts, Jeremie Murfin, Johnpaul Simonet, Owners of Five Star Guitars

2016 Oregon Small Business Persons of the Year:

Five Star Guitars

HILLSBORO, Ore.– Step aside food scene. . .  before you made your global footprint, Oregon’s music landscape ruled. And, the owners of Five Star Guitars, the 2016 Small Business Persons of the Year, are doing their part to keep both local and national musicians ready to jam.

Meet Geoff Metts, Jeremie Murfin, and Johnpaul Simonet.

“Our goal has been to create the best place for our customers to shop and for our employees to work,” shared Geoff Metts, who leads Five Star’s business development efforts. Jeremie functions as the team’s CFO, handling bookkeeping and payroll functions, and Johnpaul keeps Five Star operationally aligned with IT and point of sale configurations.

In 2011, Geoff, Jeremie, and Johnpaul were presented with the opportunity to buy the shop that had been in existence since 1998. They knew from experience that they could run the store operationally—but was it a... Read More

Photos or Annabel Ortega de Radillo and her husband Jose, owners of Empower Painting.

When Annabel Ortega de Radillo and her husband Jose decided to start a business, they sought the help of business advisors at the Clackamas College Small Business Development Center SBDC.

Jose’s years of experience in the painting industry gave him knowledge of the operations side of the business, while Annabel brought her military experience managing administrative processes, scheduling, and finances. Even still, they had many questions about how to get started off on the right foot.

Myrna Rattle, the Veteran’s Representative, at the Clackamas SBDC met with Annabel and worked with her through her enrollment in the SBDC’s 16-week Small Business Greenhouse course. This particular course was appealing to Annabel for its affordability, evening schedule, and the comprehensiveness of the training. Well before completing the course, Annabel and Jose were able to launch their business, Empower Painting. Now some years later, Annabel jokes appreciatively that she ‘believes... Read More

Pages