Making Oregon Entrepreneur Podcast By Built Oregon

Our guest in this edition of Making Oregon is Erik Olson, founder and owner of Portland Design Works (https://ridepdw.com/PDW). PDW makes bike gear and accessories that are designed in-house for the urban and everyday cyclist. The designs and gear have a little bit of fun and flair too, an aspect that distinguishes their products from the rest of the pack.

Erik moved to Portland from Madison Wisconsin in 2008 to start Portland Design Works, and we’ll hear about his childhood in Minnesota, his decision to study Chinese while he was in college, how his entrepreneurial spark came about while he was working at a Madison bike shop, and why he chose Portland as the best place to start his own business.

He’ll also share a ton of helpful advice and hard-earned wisdom for the aspiring maker-entrepreneur.

Our guest in this edition of Making Oregon is Charlie Gilkey, founder and owner of Productive Flourishing (http://www.productiveflourishing.com/) Charlie calls his company “A community for the doers with the vision to see how the world could be, the smarts to figure out how to make it happen, and the grit to do the work.”. We’ll find out more about what’s underneath the hood of that statement, and more, including:
- How his service in the US military and deployment to Iraq shaped his life and business practices
- How his starting a blog about academic personal development morphed into a real business
- The key influencer who pushed him along (see http://ittybiz.com/about-naomi/)
- The book that influenced his eventual move to Portland (http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/books/the_rise_of_the_creative_class)
- The benefits of living in a "long-tail" state and community
- The importance of email marketing (yes, it still is!)
- Going beyond the "how" and to the "why", and why it's better not to go it alone
- The key element of business greatness

One more thing before you dive into the podcast – Charlie describes himself this way – “If a mad scientist were to do a freaky Friday experiment and cross an entrepreneur, Army officer, and philosopher, I’d be what popped out of the tube”.

Listen, learn, and enjoy!

In this edition of Making Oregon, our guest is Tressa Yellig, co-founder of Salt, Fire & Time (https://saltfireandtime.com/). Based in Portland, Salt, Fire & Time has been a producer of traditional healing food products on a community scale since its inception in 2009.

They also operate the Broth Bar, Portland’s first dedicated bone broth café, a collaboration of Tressa and her sister Katie. The Broth Bar offers high quality therapeutic bone broths with a variety of add-ons, that are gluten-free, paleo-friendly, and are sensitive to the needs of those with food allergies

Tressa also teaches a variety of old world cooking & nutrition classes around Portland, and believes that our personal food choices are beautiful vehicles for change in our communities and the world. Salt, Fire & Time’s ambition is to be a sustainable solution to the growing need to heal our bodies, and our food economies, through the choices we make in defense of quality foods.

We’ll talk about Tressa’s personal journey, where her love of food and alternate healing comes from, and how a septic infection cured by organ meats, raw milk and yoga became the catalyst for a move to the Pacific Northwest, the start of Salt, Fire & Time of 2009, and, the opening of the Broth Bar in 2015.

On this edition of Making Oregon, we chat with Zeph Shepard, founder of Proletariat Butchery (https://proletariatbutchery.com/). Listen as we discuss the “Journey of All Things Meat,” beginning with Zeph’s fascination with a pig roast he attended when he was 15 years old.

We’re going to find out how Zeph’s big idea of Saving the Earth lead to becoming a butcher and opening a butcher shop, and how Zeph’s family life and his philosophical bent have led him to re-think the social and environmental impact of food, and what responsible stewardship of the planet entails.

We’ll also discuss how Zeph’s rationale aligns with vegans and vegetarians. We learn about his experience as an apprentice on a farm where he learned his craft, and how the idea of starting his own shop grew over time. We also unpack the name “Proletariat Butchery” and its significance to Zeph.

Lastly, we also asked Zeph, a determined “do it yourself-er”, to open up about what it means to hit your limits as a business owner and why he had to learn to ask for help and expertise that are crucial to his business.