This first show features Bertony Faustin, owner of Abbey Creek Vineyard.

Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves?  ANYONE?

 At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else.  Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

 In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks?  Who said we’re ready to take risks?

 

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.”  We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.”  Dream it, do it.  Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own.   Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks.  Dream it, do it.  Or maybe not…

 This is the first of ten episodes.  Each week we’ll feature these three elements:

First, a featured entrepreneur profile ofsomeone who’s done it, who’s actually set up a business of their own and is making a living from it.

Second, a featured resourcethat you can use to find funding or other types of support to get started or expand.  The resources will range from government loan pools to internet funding sources like Kickstarter.

Third, we’ll have a question of the weekfrom a listener and a response from an expert that focuses on a specific burning issue that you as an entrepreneur face in getting started.

 The entrepreneurs we plan to cover are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

 You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired.  Or maybe not. No matter, you’ll find the best examples in the Portland region of what people can do if they want to work for themselves and they set their minds to it….They dreamed it, and they did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

 So let’s start with that wine-maker, our first featured entrepreneur is Bertony Faustin, an amazing guy, the first and maybe the only black winemaker in Oregon.  We spoke with Bertony at KBOO studios in Portland:

 In the next few episodes we’ll start to explore what it it that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur. 

 We’ll ask you to examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and compare them with those of the typical entrepreneur, so that you can get a sense of how well this career will fit with your personality.

 There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but  certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

 Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

 And send your questions to [email protected].  We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

 We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

 

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…