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Oct. 6, 1999
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^National ¿M inority 'business
AVeeA
HISPANIC AMERICAN SMALL
BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
WINNER^
W hile growing up in A rgen­
tin a , E rnesto G arcia trav eled
w ith his g ra n d fa th e r to fa ­
m ous landm arks all over E u­
ro p e. T hese site s in clu d e d
N otre Dame C athedral and the
L ouvre in P aris as w ell as St.
P e ter’s in Rome to name a few.
His tra v e ls in E urope and his
love o f art and a rc h ite c tu re
led him to choose a rc h ite c ­
ture as his l if e ’s w ork. A fter
earn in g his M asters D egree
in A rc h ite ctu re in A rgentina,
he p rac tic e d a rc h ite c tu re and
in te rio r d esign in B arcelona,
M ila n , P a ris and now the
U nited S tates.
Soon he was com bining his
a rc h ite c tu ra l sk ills w ith his
v is u a l a rt s k il l s . E rn e s to
G arcia In te rio rs m oved from
its p a rt-tim e b e g in n in g s in
1991 to a fu ll-tim e operatio n
w ith c lie n ts th ro u g h o u t the
U nited S tates. His b usiness
in P o rtlan d has been p ro fit­
able from the beginning, with
rev e n u e s g ro w in g at m ore
than 100 p ercen t in each o f
the past two years to 105 p e r­
cent.
E rnesto serves the a fflu en t
client, but occasionally works
w ith hom eow ners who have
m o d era te in co m e s to help
them achieve a b e a u tifu lly
f u r n is h e d a n d d e c o r a te d
home. G arcia b e lie v es that a
home should be a place where
his c lie n ts can be resto red
both p h y sic a lly and s p iritu ­
ally. From 1994 to the present,
G arcia has made m ore than 20
a p p earan ces on C hannel 2 ’s
AM /NW and C h an n el 12’s
Good Day O regon.
He is a d esig n c o n su lta n t
for both show s and he p ro ­
duces segm ents on how to
decorate resid e n tial interiors.
By the w ay, he is resp o n sib le
for the c u rre n t AM/NW set
design. E rnesto also believes
in h e lp in g his c o m m u n ity
th rou gh his in v o lv em en t in
many c h aritab le associations.
He is the F o u n d er and C re ­
ative D ire c to r o f the A m eri­
can C ancer so c ie ty A nnual
G ourm et K itchen A uction.
E rn e sto is p la n n in g to
open his firs t E rn esto G arcia
In te rio rs sto re to bring all o f
his e x p e rie n c e to g e th e r to
b e t t e r s e r v e h is c l i e n t s .
E rnesto is perso n ab le, know l­
e d g e ab le , exudes con fid en ce
and is p a ssio n a te about his
w ork. He is a ro le m odel for
those p eo p le w anting to be
su c ce ssfu l e n tre p re n e u rs.
£
“ B a sic a lly , w hat I w ould
like my w ebsite to be is a good
in tro d u c tio n to w hat In te rio r
D esign - fea tu rin g my work
and v ig n e tte s o f the store.
T here w ill be d iffe re n t fabric
a rran g em en t d isp la y s on the
w ebsite as well. I w ill expand­
ing my m arket this way. There
are a lot o f busy p ro fe s s io n ­
a ls th a t h a v e b e e n g o in g
around from fu rn itu re store
to fu rn itu re sto re . I w ant to
be able to give them m ore se ­
lectio n so th at they can m ake
th e ir c h o ic e s on my w e b ­
page. My ty p ic a l c lie n t uses
the In te rn e t on a reg u la r ba-
S IS .
I ’ve done p ro je c ts in other
p a rts o f the c o u n try . I ’ve
done work in F lo rid a , W ash­
ington D .C ., New York and
San F ran cisco . F o rtu n a te ly . I
d o n ’t have to be there. I ’ve
been able to m anage ren o v a ­
tion p ro je c ts long distance by
faxing and using F ederal Ex-
p re ss.
“ I ’ve been grow ing m ore
than 100% per year for the
past th ree y ears w ith sales o f
lover $1 m illio n in the past
year. I have an extrem ely low
o v erhead b ecau se I w ork out
I \( Ol R
nWtv&G&R
^portlanb Q^bseruer
The G ood, the B a d
and the CJG<_y of
Computer
Technology
PORTLAND, OR. - Recent
studies have shown that 85% of
the population feel uncomfortable
with technology. So what can busi­
ness owners do about technol­
ogy stress?
They can learn not to be driven
by technology by learning to be
the driver.
Learn proactive computer man­
agement strategies and how to
avoid technology lawsuits and
computer fraud on October 13,
1999 at a conference entitled New
Millennium Cyber Sense: Manage
Your Company by Plugging into
Your Computer. Marsha Elliott,
CPA and conference presenter,
states that experts will teach busi­
ness owners how to assess the
computer applications used in
their companies and develop
sound internal control policies.
The presentation on October
13 will review several key issues.
Richard Fernandez, attorney
with Ball Janik, LLP, will cover the
first topic, Y2K legal issues.
Fernandez will discuss the poten­
tial threats that businesses face
with the coming millennium and
how to avoid being subject to law­
suits because of noncompliance.
The second issue will relate to
how you can use your computer
as a tool to stay in compliance
with various regulatory agencies.
Marsha K. Elliott, CPT MT will
cover several topics including how
to develop a chart of accounts
o f my hom e and I ju s t have
one em ployee. W e’ve m an­
aged to run in c re d ib le num ­
bers.
I ’ll be opening up a store in
SW. P o rtlan d . This w ould fi­
nally allow me to w ork from
my own store that has the flair
and taste th a t I ’ve alw ays
w anted. It w ill make my work
e a sie r and give my c lie n ts a
b e tte r u n d erstan d in g o f what
it is that I ’m doing for them .
I t ’s the dream that I ’ve had
for a w h ile .”
•
that will provide the information
you need to prepare your income
tax returns. Special expense items
such as officer’s life insurance,
meals and entertainment, and
health insurance for shareholders
require unusual tax treatment.
Handling record keeping for vari­
ous tax entities such as counties,
cities and states will also be cov­
ered. In addition Elliott will cover
how you can use your computer
to prevent unauthorized access
to your financial records, check­
ing your records against outside
sources and detecting problems
through the use of key ratios.
The final topic will relate to
fraud prevention. Certified fraud
examiner David Marosi and CPA
Kathy Murphy will team up to dis­
cuss the types of frauds that can
occur, how to prevent being a vic­
tim and how to implement proce­
dures to detect frauds before they
bankrupt your business. Marosi
and Murphy will also cover the
typical profile of a perpetrator
and what steps to take if you find
that you have been a victim of
fraud.
The conference is scheduled
to take place at the Edward Jones
Office, 4111 SE Division Street,
Portland, OR, 97202 from 8 AM to
12 PM. For reservations: tele­
phone 503/239-5404, fax 877/222-
0648, or email the Foundation for
W omen Owned B usinesses
@www. fwob.org.
ACE-Net
WORDS
“ Be aw are that not e v e ry ­
body is w illin g to help. Be
very aw are that not e v e ry ­
body is going to give you a
break. D on’t be discouraged
by the fact that you are not
gettin g a lot o f help in the
b eginning. Once you get the
ball ro llin g , everybody wants
to be your friend. A lot o f
people who w o u ld n ’t give me
the tim e o f day now w ant me
to o ffe r me business.
C o n cen trate on the fact that
you have som ething to give
and e v e n tu a lly people w ill
becom e in te re s te d .”
The Angel Capital Electronic
Network (ACE-Net) is a nation­
wide Internet-based listing ser­
vice that provides information to
angel investors on small, dynamic,
grow ing b u sinesses seeking
$250,000 to $5 million in equity
financing. ACE-Net, sponsored by
the Office of Advocacy of the U.S.
Small Business Administration,
was announced by the President
of the United States in October
1996. It is a major effort by the
Office of Advocacy to start sys­
tematizing, on a nationwide basis,
and expanding information avail­
able to investors on firms seeking
equity financing. Once fully op­
erational, ACE-Net will be run as
a private, independent, not-for-
profit organization.
ACE-Net is not a matching ser­
vice and does not serve as an
investment adviser or broker-
dealer. In addition, no securities
trading takes place on ACE-Net.
Applications and more detailed
information are available at the
ACE-Net Internet site, which can
be accessed directly at: http://ace-
n et.sr.u n h .ed u
or
h ttp ://
www.sba.gov/ADVO/.
Opportunity
Multnomah County, Metro, the Port of Portland, and the City of Portland
are committed to building the economic strength of our region's diverse
businesses by following fair contracting and employment practices to
ensure equal opportunity for all citizens.
October 3 - 9 has been proclaimed "Minority Enterprise Development
Week." We appreciate this special opportunity to recognize the many
valuable contributions made by minority businesses in the metropolitan
area.
For information on contracting and programs for Minority-owned firms,
call:
Multnomah County
Contract Opportunity
Line
503-797-1933
Metro Regional
Services Contract
Opportunity Line
503-797-1933
www.co.multnomah.or.us/contracts
www.metro.dst.or.us
Carol Justice
M/W/ESB & QRF
Compliance Specialist
503-248-5429
Jim Waki
D/M/WBE Program &
Contracts Coordinator
503-797-1714
Port of Portland
FaxBack Line
(503) 944-7592
www. portofportlandor.com
Judy Trotter
DBE Program Manager
503-944-7587
City of Portland Bureau
of Purchases/Office of
Transportation BuyLine
(503) 823-6855
www ,d . Portland .or. us/purchase/
purchase.htm
Loretta Young
M/W/ESB Liaison
503-823-6850
- i