If baking specialty cupcakes or building commuter bikes is your goal, a business degree is a step in the right direction.
Rese Stec, a business entrepreneurship major at Central Oregon Community College, hopes to one day use her degree to open a spa. Stec had a few questions for business owners in Central Oregon.
Molly Svendsen
The Broadside
Ida Green Gurule, owner of Ida’s Cupcakes, and Eric Power, owner of Bend Velo, provided answers to those questions.
1. Did you have someone who advised you when you started your business?
Bend Velo
“I talked to some small business owners and people who were successful in their field to get perspective on what I was jumping into.”
Ida’s Cupcakes
“My late uncle Irvine Robbins was one of the founders of Baskin Robbins…At first he laughed off the idea because when he started his business it was way different from trying to start one now in the 21st century.”

2. How did you come up with a financial plan and the money to start a business in Central Oregon?
Ida’s Cupcakes
“We planned our budget on a shoestring, we really made no money in the first two years, but it was those sacrifices that eventually made us successful.”
3. What advice would you have for a student seeking to just start a business?
Bend Velo
“Just do it, there are always reasons not too, but if you have a passion it makes it worth it.”
4. Why open a business in Central Oregon?
Bend Velo
“Bend is mostly a racer town when it comes to biking so I realized the commuter bike market was not being met here in Central Oregon and wanted to change that.”
Ida’s Cupcakes
“I always wanted to open a retail shop of some kind because of the people. Our location where we are now has really served us well and we finally have the need to open another place so we can have space to bake for the volume of people we serve.”
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