Dear Opportunity Knocks Facilitators, Thank you all for the very warm welcome to Opportunity Knocks! For those of you I haven’t met in person yet, I’m happy to introduce myself as OK’s new Executive Director. I’m thrilled to be a part of such an incredible organization. I’ve currently visited four of

If you develop and test your own applications, provide a web-based service, or host customer websites, you need a server. But, building your own server rack can be daunting—and expensive. Hardware costs alone can be astronomical. Power and cooling costs can quickly skyrocket out of control. And, once you purchase

Too often, employees who are struggling to meet minimum performance standards get a disproportionate amount of managerial attention in an organization and the high performers are left to work with little or no support. This situation is unavoidable to some degree, but when the energy and talent of high performers

My fellow Opportunity Knocks members, I want to tell you about a consulting engagement I am working on. It’s a family owned company that has been in business since the 1960s. During its heyday, this business was doing almost $30 million a year in revenue. In 2012, it did $14

Businesses like to focus on marketing and what they can do to increase their customer base. If they could only unlock the magic box of marketing, then new and profitable customers would start showing up at all hours of the day, buying products and services that would grow their business

Amazing customer service is the secret to success for Shannon Bassett’s 7-year old business, Home Fridays. Her company held steady during the recession and is now expanding. Home Fridays offers home management and concierge services for second homeowners in Bend, Sunriver, Eagle Crest, Pronghorn and Caldera Springs. Property management services

Brett Mills story is definitely, Local Boy Makes Good. Real good. Mills business, RES Equine Products, won the coveted Bend Venture Conference $250,000 grant prize in 2011. Mills developed and patented a closure mechanism for protective gear used on horses legs during rodeo events like barrel racing and team roping.

By Dave Opsahl, Managing Member Sagemark LLC  As new chair of the Facilitator Committee and six-year Opportunity Knocks member, I can testify that facilitators are without question the lifeblood and most important success factor in Opportunity Knocks. With the recent increase in new members, there has also been a rise in