A Few Words From Greg:

By creating a business journal we hope to make the lives of our subscribers easier and their wisdom of things more expansive. Though it is impossible to print everything anyone needs, the high-lighted articles presented are an attempt to touch on things urgent, useful and entertaining, while being relevant for nearly every industry.

We see people every day who show an infectious excitement for life. Often we wonder if they’ve won the lottery or are simply missing a few marbles. If we stop to talk to them we find out neither of those things is the inspiration for the positive attitude. Something good happened and their faces can’t hold the secret.

These are usually the people who were inspired by someone or something else. They could read, "If you don't go after what you want, you'll never get it. If you don’t ask, the an-swer is always ‘no’. If you never step forward, you're always in the same place." And believe the message was meant especially for them.

Those are people we meet or read about that helps to select the articles you see in the Southern Oregon Business Journal. It’s an honor to know them as they add purpose to what we are able to do. It is our sincere wish that you gain from the articles and stories printed here.

Please forward this electronic copy of the journal on to your friends and business con-nections. Since there is no charge to be a subscriber the value is truly undeniable; though I believe the articles could prove to be the asset someone needs to truly succeed and worth a business fortune.

May you enjoy the day with enthusiasm others feel,

Greg Henderson, Publishergreg@southernoregonbusiness.com

Southern Oregon Business Journal, 703 Divot Loop, Sutherlin, Oregon 97479www.southernoregonbusiness.com1

2

Contents April 15th, 2016

featured story

15 Family Wealth & Climbing the Income Ladder:

The Well-Off Prevail

features

3 Cloud Computing Enables Business Scalibility & Flexibility 5 Gross Domestic Product by State, 3rd quarter 2015

7 In Search of a Second Act: The Challenges & Advantages of Senior Entrepreneurship

11 Checkered Flags & Fly-Reels

13 The Miracle Minute: The Likability Factor

14 Considering The Necessity Of SocioPolitcal Division

18 Eight Bad Habits Great Leaders Know to Break

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Cloud Computing Enables Business Scalability & Flexibility

3

The Most Common Meaning of the term cloud computing refers to the delivery of scal-able IT resources over the Internet as opposed to hosting and operating those resources locally. Cloud computing enables your company to react faster to the needs of your business, while driving greater operational efficiencies.

Cloud computing has a great impact on business think-ing. It facilitates a change in the way companies operate, by offering shared and virtualized infrastructure that is easily scalable. It is also changing how we manage these resources. The challenge is no longer about how many physical servers a company has, but more about being able to manage these virtual resources.

Cloud computing offers businesses flexibility & scalability when it comes to computing needs:

Flexibility: Cloud computing allows your employees to be more flexible – both in and out of the workplace. Employees can access files using web-enabled devices such as smartphones, laptops and notebooks. The ability to si-multaneously share documents and other files over the Internet can also help support both internal and external collaboration. Many employers are now implementing “bring your own device (BYOD)” policies. In this way, cloud computing enables the use of mobile technology.

Scalability: One of the key benefits of using cloud computing is its scalability. Cloud computing allows your business to easily upscale or downscale your IT re-quirements as and when required. For example, most cloud service providers will allow you to increase your existing resources to accommodate increased business needs or changes. This will allow you to support your business growth without expensive changes to your ex-isting IT systems.

Impact of Scalability on Managed Data Centers: Because of the highly scalable nature of cloud computing, many organizations are now relying on managed data centers where there are cloud experts trained in maintaining and scal-ing shared, private and hybrid clouds. Cloud computing al-lows for quick and easy allocation of resources in a monitored environment where overloading is never a concern as long as the system is managed properly. From small companies to large enterprise companies, managed data centers can be an option for your business.

Private Cloud Computing:  is a solution for scal-able, customized and secure resources where control has to reside with your internal IT department.

Beyond the improvements on business flexibility and scalability, cloud computing has fundamentally changed the way we pay for resources. In the past, tasks that re-quired considerable processing power or space needed significant capital investments in the necessary hard-ware. Now, cloud computing allows these users to pur-chase scalable space for heavy duty data crunching on demand, paying for only what they use.

Moreover, a new report by the Software & Information Industry Association, which includes opinions of 49 technology CXOs and VPs, notes that cloud computing’s impact grows even more significant when coupled with mobile and big data analytics.

From infrastructure, to mobility, virtualization, and on-demand applications, the true value of cloud is mak-ing its presence known throughout the entire IT ecosys-tem. Companies will continue to make infrastructure choices, either with or without cloud capabilities, but cloud solutions will continue to offer competitive advan-tages over traditional solutions.

by Rick Blaisdellwww.rickscloud.com

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"Retail Trade Led Growth Across States in the Third Quarter"

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Gross Domestic Product by State, 3rd quarter 2015

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 47 states

and the District of Columbia in the third quarter of 2015,

according to statistics on the geographic breakout of GDP

released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Over-

all, U.S. real GDP by state growth slowed to an annual rate

of 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015 after increasing

3.8 percent in the second quarter. Retail trade; health care

and social assistance; and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and

hunting were the leading contributors to real U.S. economic

growth in the third quarter.

• Retail trade grew 7.1 percent in the third quarter of 2015.

This industry contributed 0.41 percentage point to U.S. real

GDP growth and contributed to growth in 49 states and the

District of Columbia. Nevada was the lone exception. Retail

trade was the leading contributor to growth in 13 states and

contributed 0.63 percentage point to real GDP growth in

Arizona and 0.62 percentage point to real GDP growth in

Washington.

• Health care and social assistance grew 5.5 percent in the

third quarter of 2015. This industry contributed 0.39 per-

centage point to U.S. real GDP growth and contributed to

growth in5

49 states and the District of Columbia. North Dakota

was the lone exception. Health care and social assis-

tance contributed more than half a percentage point

to real GDP growth in Maine, Wisconsin, Arizona,

and Indiana.

• Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting grew

37.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015. This industry

contributed 0.36 percentage point to real GDP growth

for the nation and was the largest contributor to real

GDP growth in the Plains region. Agriculture, forest-

ry, fishing, and hunting contributed 6.91 percentage

points to real GDP growth in South Dakota, 5.41 per-

centage points to growth in Kansas, and 4.79 percent-

age points to growth in Nebraska.

Other Highlights:

• South Dakota, the fastest growing state in the na-tion, grew 9.2 percent in the third quarter of 2015. Ag-riculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting was the largest contributor to the state’s growth.

• Wholesale trade declined 5.8 percent in the third quarter after an increase in the second quarter of 2015. This industry subtracted 0.36 percentage point from U.S. real GDP growth and subtracted from growth in every state and the District of Columbia.

Mining Declined 8.3 Percent for the nation in the third quarter of 2015. This indus-try slowed growth in most mining states and sub-tracted more than a percentage point from real GDP growth in North Dakota, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

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Tourism Employment: Employment growth in the travel and tourism industries decelerated, increasing 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 after increasing 2.2 percent in the third quarter. In comparison, overall U.S. employment increased 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter after increas-ing 1.9 percent (revised) in the third quarter. Transportation was the most significant contributor to the slow down, increasing 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter, after increasing 2.8 percent in the third quarter. For the year 2015, employment in the travel and tourism industries increased 2.6 percent after increasing 2.5 percent in 2014.

Total Tourism-Related Output was $1.6 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2015. It consisted of $919.4 billion (58 percent) of direct tourism spending and $668.9 billion (42 percent) of indirect tourism-related spending.

Total Tourism-Related Employment was 8.1 million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2015, comprising 5.7 million (70 percent) direct tourism jobs and 2.4 million (30 percent) indirect tour-ism-related jobs.

7

In Search of a Second Act:

- The Challenges and Advantages

of Senior Entrepreneurship

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"Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Special Commit-tee on Aging and the Senate Committee on Small

Business and EntrepreneurshipContrary to popular perception, entrepreneurship is

not exclusive to the young and hip."

Chairman Nelson, Chair Landrieu, Ranking Member Collins, Ranking Member Risch, and members of the Ag-ing and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees, thank you for the opportunity to present data gathered by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on senior entre-preneurship. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Kansas City, Mis-souri that aims to foster economic independence by ad-vancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial suc-cess.

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At the Kauffman Foundation, we believe in the power of entrepreneurship to not only change individual lives, but to also create economic opportunities for many others in society.  Contrary to popular perception, entrepreneur-ship is not exclusive to the young and hip. Entrepreneurs of all ages start businesses and create economic opportu-nity for themselves and others. Last year, for example, businesses started by those ages 55 to 64 accounted for nearly one-quarter of all new businesses started. That share has risen from 14 percent in 1996, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, which captures business owners in their first month of significant business activity. In the context of America's aging population, an increasing share of entrepreneurship among this popula-tion is perhaps not surprising.

By Dane Stangler02/12/14

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What might be more startling to many observ-ers is that Americans in the 55-64 age group start new businesses at a higher rate than those in their twenties and thirties.   This has been true, by the way, in every single year from 1996 to 2013. While senior entrepreneurs make up a sizeable portion of all entrepreneurs and tend to start businesses at a rate comparable to or higher than younger entre-preneurs, there are possibly some reasons to temper our enthusiasm about this phenomenon. First, we are unsure of the types of businesses being founded by older entrepreneurs or their hiring practices — more cynical observers say that this group only starts consulting companies or use self-employment for supplemental income. This is undoubtedly true for some share of older entrepreneurs.  Yet other evidence indicates that we find found-ers of technology companies in their fifties and sixties as well: one study found more tech founders over age 50 than under age 30.4 Of more concern perhaps is the lingering effect of the Great Recession and the decimation of retirement plans and housing wealth. To the extent this damage fell on Americans over age 55, self-employment may be seen as a way to recover nest egg losses. Finally, with concern about Americans over age 55 permanently leaving the labor force after the reces-sion, it is possible that older entrepreneurship rates could be suppressed. Nevertheless, there are more reasons for opti-mism than pessimism about entrepreneurship among older Americans. First, senior entrepreneurs are likely to have greater experience than younger entrepreneurs.That experience, whether professionally or personally, can prove valuable when starting a new business. Secondly, perhaps paradoxically, senior entre-preneurs may have fewer concerns about setting up a business. In their paper on entrepreneurs over the age of 50 in the United Kingdom, Ron Botham and Andrew Graves found that older entrepreneurs were "less likely to worry about risks, experience, or family life than younger founders." Third, despite the effects of the recession, se-nior entrepreneurs may be more financially secure

than younger entrepreneurs and may have an alternative source of income — either from retirement savings, a pension, or Social Security. This added financial security can make the finan-cial risks of starting a business less salient.Finally, we might expect a higher preponderance of serial entrepreneurs among those in their fifties and sixties, which could mean greater success rates. A 2012 Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom survey of 1,400 business owners who incorporated their business through LegalZoom in 2012 found two-thirds of respondents over age 60 had previously started a company and ten percent of these entrepreneurs had started 5 prior companies. Research suggests that there are several ways poli-cymakers could support this very important phenomenon of older entrepreneurship. Lower barriers to entry in general, for example, would make business creation easier. Licensing barriers in several sectors — which exist mostly at the state and local level — also suppress business creation. The complexity — though not necessarily the lev-el — of taxes can also act as a barrier to entrepreneurship.These, of course, apply to entrepreneurs of all ages.For senior entrepreneurship, flexible labor markets are especially important. The idea of spending forty years at one job and retiring with a gold watch is quickly fading in the United States. Even when Americans retire at age 65, they can expect to live healthily for another two or three decades.Moving easily between self-employment, wage-and-salary employment, and entrepreneurship requires flexible labor markets. This may be especially important for senior entre-preneurship as research has shown that senior entrepre-neurs are much more likely to start a business if moving from a job. In addition, fostering more senior entrepreneur-ship as the American population ages will require careful attention to specific sectors in order to foster innovation.n particular, we will likely need more financial innovation to support continuously changing forms of entrepreneur-ship. Finally, policymakers can foster senior entre-preneurship by encouraging intergenerational networks where entrepreneurs of different ages can interact and learn.

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The Kauffman Foundation started a new entrepre-neurial support program called 1 Million Cups in Kansas City that has spread to more than two dozen cities across the United States.Each week, the 1 Million Cups program offers local en-trepreneurs an opportunity to present their startups to a diverse audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs.Presenters prepare a short educational presentation and engage in 20 minutes of feedback and questioning after they present. Entrepreneurs gain insight into possible ways they can improve their businesses, gather real time feedback, connect with a community that truly cares about their progress, and walk away feeling like they have advanced their business.

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These community gatherings provide oppor-tunities for individuals of all ages to connect around entrepreneurship. In conclusion, older Americans are active entre-preneurs whose new businesses provide self-employment and employment opportunities to others. As the American population ages, we should expect a greater share of entrepreneurs to be seniors. Policymakers can support these "third age" or "encore" entrepreneurs by pursuing policies that lower barriers to entrepreneurial entry, maintain flexible labor markets, and encourage intergenerational interaction.

Checkered Flags

and Fly-Reels

11

ASHLAND, OR - It makes perfect sense that a retired race car legend would invent and manufacture high-end fly-fishing reels that are innovative, precise, and beautiful. That’s because pre-cision met passion for Jon Bauer, who went from winning races and championships in the ‘70s and ‘80s to earning fly-fishing industry awards over the past 20-plus years. In the early days, Jon and his team engineered racing parts for their cars, which included Porsches, Mus-tangs, and T-Birds. Later, Jon revolutionized fly-fishing reels using many of the same engineering concepts that helped him cross the finish line under the checkered flag. “It takes creativity and innovation to gain and maintain the competitive edge,” he says. “We would develop wid-gets for the race cars that would provide advantages that led to winning races. I used this same concept to turn my fly-fishing hobby into a business venture.” Jon freely admits that fly-fishing is still his favor-ite pastime, and that he chose to move his fly reel manu-facturing business from California to Ashland, Oregon, because of the beautiful rivers and quality of life. As an avid angler and fly-fishing enthusiast, Jon wanted his staff and himself to have the opportunity to test their products on a daily basis on the local rivers. Jon and his Ashland team aren’t alone in their love for fly-fishing and their need for using quality reels. Fly-fishing

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has been around for centuries, but when Robert Redford’s blockbuster movie “A River Runs Through It” came out in the early 90’s, fly-fishing rapidly gained popularity. Not long after the movie made its debut, so did the new Bauer fly reel, which changed the industry with its innovative de-sign. Today it is one of the most recognized brands world-wide because of its function and uniqueness. While fly-fishing is popular in the Pacific North-west, it is a global sport. Bauer flyfishing reels are manu-factured in Ashland, Oregon and are sold and used world-wide. Each reel is made by hand in the Ashland facility, and usually under the careful eye of Jon who says he never gets bored with his creations. “I have always been a hands-on kind of guy,” he explains. “And since I love to fly-fish, I hope to enhance the experience for others.” Jon credits his success in both car racing and fly reel manufacturing to innovation, his business background, his connections with great engineering minds, and his ability to form teams that make it happen. He has been impressed with the availability of high quality employees in Southern Oregon, and the support of organizations such as SOREDI.“We are fortunate to live in a region in which innovation is encouraged and supported,” he says. “And I believe there is a lot of respect among the local business community. We are all contributing to the economy and doing our part to enhance the lifestyle in Southern Oregon.”

12

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The Miracle Minute: The Likability Factor When I first got into management I thought it was important for me to like the people I worked with. Through many long years of dealing with people I have discovered how wrong I could be.

  When we like someone we subconsciously magnify their strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses. On the other side of the situation, when we dislike someone we magnify their faults, while ig-noring their strengths. Our emotions play games with our reasoning.

  Now that enough things have blown up in my face, I can clearly see that either liking or disliking anyone is a luxury I can no longer afford. More than once, the very person who was getting the most ac-complished was also the person I least wanted to have lunch with.

  Not all employees need to please me. What's important is their performance and how they please others. Dick Warn

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It occurred to me, in the midst of another season of political warfare that perhaps we're thinking about political divisiveness in the wrong way. That the mantra "Why can't we all just get along?" might in fact lead to catastrophe.

Here's why... Consider the evolution (or if you'd prefer "develop-ment" or "progress") of our species through time. We would go through periods varying degrees of stability - from com-fort to threat. How we strengthen our position as a species would necessarily require a different mindset from one pe-riod to another. In times of comfort, we would have the opportuni-ty try new things, to change, to make our experience bet-ter. This requires a progressive mindset; a willingness to set aside what we already know, what has already worked, and seek new solutions. In times of threat our safest response is typically to fall back on what we know; what has worked in the past. Those who have previously experienced such a threat will be elevated and given authority for the conservation of the group.

It seems reasonable that the existence of these two differing mindsets - progressive and conservative - would be necessary for us to strengthen and improve our state over time. And while each of us contain some degree of both mindsets, perhaps a greater difference is required. Cog-nitive science continues to point out a difference in the physical makeup of the brain that can predict a political leaning. Even the rise of authoritarian movements make sense when looked at in this frame. I am in no way saying this to justify the vitriol and hatred being spat and encouraged by all sides. In fact, it's just the opposite. We need each other. We need to be able to respond to the dynamics of existence in different ways at different times. It is precisely our ability to come to a problem with vastly different solutions that allows us to find a best and strongest way through. Perhaps, by recognizing the value - even necessity - of those who see the world differently than we do, we'll be able to generate a greater appreciation for their being. In truth, we should be thankful for them.

Perhaps the question "Can't we all just get along?"

isn't such a bad one after all.

14

DIVIDED WE STANDConsidering the Necessity of SocioPolitical Divisionby Robert Killen, Founder – APEX Professional Development Network

Family Wealth and Climbing the Income Ladder:

The Well-Off Prevailby Josh Russell, 06/10/15

Can being well-off increase your children’s outcomes in life? 

Of course. Poorer children are more overweight or obese, often have worse behav-ioral problems, and are likely underprepared for school. These effects have lasting consequences through the child’s life.  A 2008 study by the Brookings Insti-tute shows just how long these effects can last. Your parents’ income has a large effect on col-lege degree competition. Children from the top income quintile are 42 percentage points more likely to complete college than the bottom quin-tile. As you can see below, this effect is persistent across all quintile ranges. College completion de-creases steadily from the top to bottom quintiles. Two reasons we may see these huge differ-ences in college completion is the increasing cost of college and the difficulty of finding student loans. In 2012, those in the lowest quintile were earning at most $20,599 with an average income of $11,490. This puts the average income in the bottom quintile below the 2012 poverty line of

$19,090 for an average family size. These college graduation disparities have major impacts on intergenerational mobility for those from the lowest income quintile. Graduat-ing college increases the chance of breaking out of the lowest quintile from 45 percent to 84 per-cent. It also increases the chance of reaching the top income quintile from 5 percent to 19 percent. The graphic below gives a further breakdown of mobility for those in the lowest income quintile.

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But how do poor children who attend college and well-off children who don’t attend college compare?

Surprisingly similar, but the well-off still prevail. The non-college going well-off are still 4 per-

centage points more likely to reach the top quintile of income compared to college going poor children,

though they are 2 percentage points more likely to fall to the bottom quintile.

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But these differences are due to more than just dollars and cents; differing paren-tal strategies may have an effect on children’s outcomes. The Home Observation for Mea-surement of the Environment (HOME) In-ventory measures how strong or weak a parent is by observing parent-child interactions and the home environment. These observations include emotional connections, verbal com-munication, language stimulation, mental stimulation, and many more. While roughly 39 percent of parents in the top quintile are ranked among the strongest parents, less than 5 percent of low-income parents are rated strongly. This pattern, unfortunately, holds the other direc-tion as well. Roughly 48 percent of parents in the lowest income quintile are rated among the least effective parents while only around 5 per-cent of parents from the highest quintile are. While this scale is not wholly unbiased – some measures, such as presence of educational toys and the amount of living space per home occu-pant, may be directly related to income – these biases cannot account fully for the vast differ-ence between parenting effectiveness in income quintiles.

What does this mean for our poor fam-ilies and children? Likely that the cycle of poverty will remain unbroken. Combining college-going and economic mobility rates shows that 41 percent of the poorest children end up earning in the lowest income quintile as adults, while only 6.5 percent will end up earn-ing in the highest quintile. However, children coming from the highest income quintile have a 39 percent chance of reaching the highest income quintile and only a 10 percent chance of dropping to the lowest quintile. And even if a poor child attends college, they are much more likely to drop out. As this Washington Post ar-ticle puts it, “the afflictions of poverty don’t just disappear after a student gets into college.” Nor do these afflictions subside after graduation. Well-off children have more, and better, social and business connections that they can exploit to find post-graduation jobs. When climbing the income ladder, well-off children are often starting many rungs above our poor children.17

From 21 days to two months to more than a year, there are many different theories about how long it actually takes to form a new habit. Changing behaviors requires a tremendous amount of willpower and dedication, and ultimately falls upon the individual to make a conscious effort to accept the change into their routine.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” 

– Aristotle

Great leaders aren’t born, they are made. Through the culmination of education, experience, mentoring, determination, and personal ambition, leaders must develop by nurturing good habits and, more importantly, shedding the bad ones—a task much eas-ier said than done. Unfortunately, no one is immune—new leaders and seasoned veterans alike are susceptible to picking up a bad habit or two as they develop their skills and exper-tise. Here are eight of the worst habits great leaders must learn how to break.

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8 Bad Habits Great Leaders Know to Breakby Jared Brox

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1. Making the same mistake twice

As the saying goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Great leaders, just like all of us, fail from time to time. The difference, however, is in their immediate next steps. Every mistake has a lesson to learn. The best leaders take those lessons to heart and come back for round two with a new game plan and better prepared than before.

2. Accepting assumed constraints

Great leadership has the ability to break down barriers. Always prepared to take an un-conventional approach to solving a problem, the most effective leaders don’t dwell for long on the reasons why something won’t work and instead focus on how it could.

3. Undervaluing their people

One of the most important assets of any successful company is its people. From the front lines to the boardroom, everyone has a role to play. Great leaders are adept at not only under-standing the skills and expertise each individ-ual brings to the team, but also nurturing and developing them.

4. Failing to mentor

Author and speaker John Maxwell said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Being a mentor is an important part of being a great leader. Even if they are not in a formal mentorship relation-ship, leaders are always influencing the people around them and setting the standard others will follow.

5. Talking at people

There is a big difference between “talking at” and “talking to.” Strong commu-nication skills are perhaps the most important characteristic of great leaders and those who do it best, engage in a positive back and forth. From explaining overall company strategies to providing one-on-one coaching, you have to be able to relay your vision clearly and concisely in order to build excitement and bring everyone together in a united front.

6. Ignoring constructive feedback

Great leaders take constructive feedback seriously. In fact, they often seek it out. From the people they lead to the people who lead them, they understand there’s always a lesson to be learned that can help them develop into a more well-rounded and effective leader.

7. Failing to give recognition

Always give credit where credit’s due. Peo-ple like to know their blood, sweat, and tears weren’t all for naught. Whether it’s a quick, hand-written note or a more formal, pub-lic nod of appreciation, taking time to recog-nize someone’s hard work can go a long way toward building a team of dedicated, engaged workers.

8. Trying to do it all

Great leaders are great delegators. As much as they may want to try, they recognize the fact that they only have two hands and must trust the people they lead to do their part. Howev-er, if they’ve fostered a positive and productive working environment, a great leader can rest easy knowing their team will be ready, willing, and able to step up and take control.

What are some bad leadership habits you’ve had to break? How did you do it? What kind of im-pact did it make on your company or the people

you lead?