About Me
I have lived the dream (and night sweats) of owning my own business…twice.
After more than a decade of moving up the ranks of corporate America, I decided that there must be something more rewarding out there. I was right. In 1996, I opened up my own personal American dream; I called it Port City Pasta Co. It was an Italian specialty market offering retail, wholesale, production and catering.
12-years passed (or was it 12-lifetimes?), and I decided it was time to move forward. We’d had a good run, lots of laughs and even more late nights, but there was something missing from my business. This something was what I truly, passionately loved to do. During my years of running Port City Pasta, I consulted numerous owners and entrepreneurs in need of guidance about their own businesses. These meetings truly lit a fire inside of me. Our round-table discussions, one-on-one with my business peers, fueled me for weeks at a time. They got me excited to wake up in the morning. Long story short: While I love the stuff, I’m a fixer, not a pasta pedlar. I sold Port City Pasta in 2008, started BizFix, and continue to go to work every single day doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.
Other than working my “day job,” I’m ever honing my craft and helping as many business owners as I can. I develop curriculum and teach business courses at Mercy Corps NW, preparing entrepreneurs to operate their own businesses. I provide education and advising for Portland Ten, a training company that designs, runs & licenses capacity-building programs for growing businesses and organizations, and I volunteer for community outreach programs associated with the University of Portland’s Center of Entrepreneurship.
