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

 

DI Squared stands for “Dream it, Do it.”  Today we present Episode 10, the final episode in the series.

 We’ve been asking this question every week for over two months:  Have you ever thought about starting your own business? Have you wondered, Could I make a living….doing something I really like doing?

 This is the last episode in a series that’s designed to help you understand the basics of starting a business, and whether you might want to think about doing that.  Each week we’ve told another local success story and we’ve tried to give you some of the tools you need to start a business of your own. 

 We’ve been focusing on minority businesses, mostly people of color.  Last week we visited the Mercado on Foster Road in Southeast Portland.  We met a man whose family came from Oaxaca in the mid-1980’s and now operates the Mixteca food cart at the Mercado and sells fresh food at five City markets. 

 Today we meet a successful woman with native American roots, Loretta Guzman. Loretta had a vision, and it came to her in a dream in the form of a bison, and now she operates a coffee shop on Cully in Northeast where you can feel that spirit while enjoying a cup of coffee and a snack…  Then, to wrap things up, we’ll briefly revisit a few of our earlier episodes and sum up some lessons learned along the way from Portland’s entrepreneurs and business advisors.

 Here’s Loretta, talking about her roots and her business and the dream that got her started:

 

 

That was Loretta Guzman. 

 Music---briefly

 Now we go back and sample a few memorable DI Squared guests over the past two months:

 

Bertony Faustin talked about how his business changed his life…

 Here’s Christian Kofi, Portland Moving Company, talking about what guides him….

 Eric Ufer is a Pest Control fanatic.  Keep your day job, Eric suggests…

 Sam Brooks of OAME is a legend in Oregon’s Business world.  This is Sam talking about his five crucial points of success…

 It was a treat to meet Julie Derrick, J.D. Shoe Repair, and here’s a point she made…

 Nita Shah of MESO offered this advice for those who have poor credit…

 It’s nice to hear of success.  Michelle Sanders and her husband Miguel Salinas have come a long way….

 And Laura Locker of Northwest Mercy Corps told us about the IDA program…

 MUSIC ---- ---continue through this outro---yes, start high, then low and build to sign-out

  Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve just heard, go to KBOO.FM and look under evening news for today’s date---or look in KBOO”s podcast section for all ten episodes.

 That’s it for DI Squared.  We’ve run our course, and it’s been fun. Like everything else, it has to end sometime.  We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing these stories and perhaps making a decision on whether you….should….Dream It, Do It….

 For KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn