beaverton

PRO (Premier Resource Organization) – Networking/Mastermind Group

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Business name: PRO (Premier Resource Organization, Inc)

Main contacts:
Mark Vandervest – (503) 495-4973
Dave Kezziah – (503) 481-2240

Website: www.OregonPRO.com

Excerpt from website:
To succeed & exceed in business, it is necessary to develop strong, lasting professional relationships. The focus of PRO is business development by creating the opportunity for you to network, develop marketing skills, share resources, and increase referrals while expanding your personal and professional sphere of influence on a regular basis.

Q: What made you want to start PRO?

A: I started PRO because I found immense value in professional networking, masterminding, and sharing resources.

Q: If you had to pick one thing out of your day, what’s the most exciting / favorite?

A: Coming home to my beautiful, loving family.

Q: Who is your ideal customer?

A: A solopreneuer who is eager to think outside of the box and contribute to the success of others.

Q: What do you consider your biggest weakness?

A: Procrastination.

Q: How are you improving on that weakness?

A: I am trying to plan out my week, and not be weak with my plan.

Q: What is your biggest strength?

A: I am a tenacious optimist.

Q: How do you like running [their business]?

A: With energy, enthusiasm, and a mix of humor.

Q: If you could change one thing about your businesses day-to-day routine, what would it be?

A: I would be more consistent with my daily schedule.

Q: Any new specials you can tell your customers about? 🙂

A: We are offering 50% off of our intake fee (a $37.50 value) with every membership through the last day of summer.

Q: If you had a chance to say one thing to a brand new customer, before they walk in the door, what would it be?

A: If you’re not part of a weekly resource or mastermind group, you are doing yourself and your business a huge disservice. Being part of PRO for the last 7+ years has cultivated strategies that have gained me far more business than any other referral source of income. It takes a different mindset to share your knowledge (and weaknesses) with your sphere of influence. Most people think business is a competition, when in reality you are only in competition with yourself. If you have a sharing mindset, you will excel. If not, you are going to continue to struggle throughout life. Come and check us out for free and experience the value. Coffee is on us!

Heritage School of Interior Design in Beaverton Oregon

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Business name: Heritage School of Interior Design

Main contact: Jan Springer

Phone: 503-292-3343

Address:
9340 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Highway
Beaverton, OR 97005 – MAP

Website: www.HeritageSchoolOfInteriorDesign.com

Excerpt from website:
The foundation of Heritage School’s training is to instill the necessary guidelines, procedures and skills to enable our students to pursue an active role in the design industry, either through employment or self-employment. Our goal is to create a fun, stimulating work environment to promote each student’s success. This is accomplished through personal attention and an excellent and thorough curriculum (refer to Course Outline).

Q: What made you want to start Heritage School of Interior Design?

A: My love for interior design and the desire to share my knowledge fulfilling students career goals.

Q: If you had to pick one thing out of your day, what’s the most exciting / favorite?

A: Teaching students that share my passion. Watching them connect the dots.

Q: Who is your ideal student?

A: Career changers, late 20’s 30’s, 40’s,50’s, 60’s. Loves design for interior spaces, creative and solution oriented.

Q: What do you consider your biggest weakness?

A: This is difficult, we are so proud of Heritage and the instruction we offer. The only weakness I can think of is that it’s always challenging to find students.

Q: How are you improving on that weakness?

A: We are always open to new marketing techniques. We advertise in the newspaper, website,facebook and Angie’s list. We have graduate referrals in every class as well.

Q: What is your biggest strength?

A: We don’t just teach interior design…we teach them how to make a living at it!

Our graduates are also our biggest strength… We have an excellent reputation, just talk to them.

Q: How do you like running Heritage?

A: I love having my own business…I’m the best boss I ever had.

Q: If you could change one thing about your businesses day-to-day routine, what would it be?

A: Being licensed by the State Board of Education requires administrative paperwork which is not difficult but I’m happiest teaching.

Q: Any new specials you can tell your customers about?

A: Being licensed by the State Board of Education policies are set regarding tuition fees, we cannot offer discounts.

Q: If you had a chance to say one thing to a brand new customer, before they walk in the door, what would it be?

A: Follow your passion…if you have the desire, we have the training.

1st Independent Leasing – Beaverton Oregon Leasing Services

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Below is information about 1st Independent Leasing in Beaverton Oregon.

Main Contact: Rosanne Wilson, CLP, BPB

Physical Address:
3800 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Suite 165
Beaverton, OR 97005 – MAP

Phone Numbers:
(800) 926-0851
Fax: (503) 626-1631

Web Address: www.1stIndependentLeasing.com

Q & A with Rosanne

Q: What made you want to start your business?

A:I wanted to provide more “personal service” to my clients and make them feel
they are appreciated. In commercial lending, the personal relationship with
the customer is the most important aspect towards building trust and a long
lasting relationship. I did not feel that the large corporation that I
spent 15 years with was doing that. It was always about the bottom line and
quotas and the personal touches just weren’t there. Clients were “just
another number” to the corporate headquarters. Well I think of my clients
as real people and not numbers.

Q: If you had to pick one thing out of your day, what’s the most exciting /
favorite?

A: My morning follow-up calls with the clients I am currently helping are my
most favorite thing out of my day. I love speaking to them and learning
more about them and their businesses. I love updating them on the progress
I am making and when we might expect to see their financing approved.
Customers appreciate realistic expectations. They should not be kept in the
dark. I enjoy reminding them that their loan is our priority. The more I
communicate with them, the more they appreciate it and I can feel that I
have won their trust.

Q: Who is your ideal customer?

A: My most ideal customer has at least 3 years in business and great credit.
Of course the reality today is that credit underwriting has become tighter
due to the recession, and not everyone out there has stellar credit, so we
offer alternative financing programs to cover a wide range of credit types.
These transactions I can easily get approved through our many different
bank partners at very competitive rates, but I love the ability to help the
other businesses out there who have either challenged credit or financial
statements that reflect negatives. We have many ways of overcoming those
barriers and structuring their financing with one of our excellent
alternative lenders. I like to say “We perform miracles” because we do!

Q: What do you consider your biggest weakness?

A: Not having enough hours each week to get out there and foster more relationships because I am so busy spending each day getting the right paperwork processed and creating a complete and thorough package for my lenders. The right “packaging” and a great “story” is the key to success. When a credit officer reviews everything, he or she will want to approve the loan. It’s all in the presentation!

Q: How are you improving on that weakness?

A: I just added an outside sales representative who is cultivating many types of new clients. His job is to go out there prospecting and find new clients who could really use my help. It is my job to get them financed. It’s a great combination that I believe will work out well.

Q: What is your biggest strength?

A: My partnership with over 100 lenders is my biggest strength. These lenders are like gold to me. My relationships with them span over 20 years. They trust the work I perform on each transaction and rarely ask for anything additional. These rock solid relationships allow me to finance virtually any business type or credit type.

Q: How do you like running 1st Independent Leasing?

A: I love running my own business because I no longer have to answer to some corporate VP somewhere like I used to when I spent 15 years with TransAmerica Financial. I can take care of my customers far better and in a more personal way than a giant company can. In my previous corporate life, I learned very quickly that big corporations really only care about the bottom line. There is no atmosphere of a strong personal relationship with their customers. I knew when I started my own company, my customers will know immediately how important they are to me and will always get the personal attention they deserve. Customers aren’t just an item in a database. They are real people with real hopes and dreams and I feel great knowing I am helping them get there.

Q: If you could change one thing about your businesses day-to-day routine, what would it be?

A: Stop eating my lunch at my desk so I can keep working instead of stepping out of the office for at least a half an hour to escape and enjoy a nice lunch

Q: Any new specials you can tell your customers about?

A: We are waiving all Documentation fees on all new transactions through this 3rd quarter (June 1 to Sept. 30, 2012). Doc Fees run generally $150 to $500 depending on the lender that approves the transaction. We will cover your Doc Fees for you as a way of saying thanks!

Q: If you had a chance to say one thing to a brand new customer, before they walk in the door, what would it be?

A: My favorite saying is also at the bottom of all my company emails I sent out. “Believe you Can and You’re Halfway There!” (this is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt). There is a certain degree of fear and skepticism people have when they are trying to borrow money. The word on the street is that small businesses are having a tough time borrowing money. They also hear that it is almost impossible to get approved. Not true! We prove it every day. I believe in holding the customer’s hand throughout the process and taking the fear factor out of the picture.

We do the heavy lifting for them. We fight the loan officers so they don’t have to. Our customers often tell us how wonderful the experience was and as their own company grows, they come back to us each time they need additional financing.

Murder Mystery at Aloha High School

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Murder Mystery at Aloha High School

Who murdered two Aloha students in 1974?

by Brianna Epstein
Aloha High School Student Reporter

Beaverton, OR- Aloha High School, December 3rd 2009 about 11a.m. A young hispanic man enters the Aloha High School main office and turns in an Aloha class ring on a gold chain from 1975 to secretary Ms. Nieslanik. He claimed that he had simply found the ring while taking a walk in the neighborhood. Now flashback 34 years to October 1975.

Peter Zito, an 18-year-old senior at Aloha High School, and Donald Bartron, a 16-year-old junior at Aloha High School, were found murdered in the early morning hours on October 3, 1974. Their bodies were discovered shortly before 4 a.m. in the recreation center parking lot in Oak Hills (Cornell and 153rd). According to the Valley Times they were both shot between 1:30a.m. and 3:45a.m. as they worked on Peter Zito’s car.

According to Sheriff Warren Bud Barnes and Multnomah County Medical Examiner Larry Lewman, the youths were shot in the head at close range with a small caliber gun. Three shell casings were found at the scene along with a footprint in the dirt near the car.

Later that afternoon, authorities arrested and charged 18-year-old Joseph Wilson, also a student at Aloha High School, with two counts of murder. The Valley Times states that “sheriff’s deputies discovered numerous guns and more than 100 knives at Wilson’s home when they arrived there early on the morning of the slayings with a search warrant.” They also found a loaded .38-caliber gun under Wilson’s pillow. Wilson claimed that they were part of his deceased father’s collection, which proved to be true. However, none of the guns tested positive as a match to the gun used in the double homocide.

Wilson faced a judge for the first time on Wednesday October 9th for a bail hearing. Ricahrd L. Barton and J. Reynolds Barnes were hired as Wilson’s defense lawyers. District Court Judge Harold Lewis set bail at $25,000 for each of the two counts of murder. However, the hearing was cut short after the defense objected to the attempt by the state prosecutor to introduce Wilson’s privileged juvenile records in court. Washington County Release Assistance Officer Sam Juncker submitted a report to the court that showed there were two pending misdemeanor charges against Wilson in Multnomah County. Both of the citations were for carrying a concealed weapon. The bail hearing was postponed until the issue of the juvenile records could be resolved.

The deputy district attorney on the case, Georgia Outzs, indicated that the state would seek a grand jury inditement on the murder charges before any bail hearing. The grand jury did indite Wilson on the charges and during an October 21st bail hearing Washington County Circuit Court Judge Hollie Pihl set bail at $50,000 for each homocide charge as well as specifying release conditions and restrictions.

Meanwhile sheriff deputies were still trying to locate the murder weapon. They asked Oak Hills residents for their help in locating the murder weapon. According to District Attorney Ray Robinett, letters were sent out on Thursday October 24th to 600 homeowners in Oak Hills asking for their assistance in the investigation.

On October 28, 1974 Wilson made a court appearance to enter his plea. He pled not guilty and his trial date was set for December 3, 1974. However, before the trial started, his attorney Barton, filed a motion for a change of venue. He felt that his client could not get a fair trial in Washington County due to the publicity of the case. In his affidavit in support of the motion for a change of venue Barton stated, “In addition, the case is a constant topic of discussion among students in Washinton County, paticularly those from the Aloha and Sunset High School Districts.” Washington County Judge Hollie Pihl granted the motion and moved the trial to Clackamas County.

Before the trial could start, Washington County District Attorney Ray Robinett filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Wilson. In his motion Robinett stated, “subsequent to the indictment further investigation has exonerated the defendant.” Judge Hollie Pihl granted the motion and the case was dismissed on January 14, 1975, three months after Wilson was arrested.

Flashforward to January 2010. As far as we know, the case is still an open cold case. Deputy Strange contacted a detective at the Washinton County Sheriffs office and what happens now is all up to the detective. Will the ring be collected by the detectives as evidence? Will the case be investigated again? Who knows?

The mystery of the unknown ringman, two teenagers murders, and who the murderer is lives on.

New eBeaverton Soft Launch

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Well we finally did it. We have a bunch of new features for eBeaverton as well as a brand new look, and we can’t help but go ahead and launch it. I imagine there are still some glitches and bugs, and now is the time to get those cleaned up.

Soft Launch
This is just a soft launch. The official launch will be in a couple of weeks. This gives you a sneak peak before the traffic really starts coming in.

What’s here for individuals?

  • Post and look at ads in the classified section
  • Look at coupons in the coupon section
  • Read news in this main section
  • Look for businesses in the business directory
  • Look up and post local events

What’s here for businesses?

  • Free advertising on the classified section
  • Free advertising through coupons in the coupon section
  • Free basic business listing in the business directory
  • More advertising and cross promotional opportunities

Note: Getting in on the ground floor is a great way to get extra exposure