In September of 1994, the inaugural edition of Cascade Business News (CBN) came hot off the presses. Pamela Hulse Andrews had brought her vision to life. In 2017, Pamela was diagnosed with cancer and passed shortly after, the day after her final birthday party with her “besties.” This publication, the cornerstone of her Central Oregon publishing venture, lives on as a tribute to her determination and tenacity. This September, we will quietly celebrate 30 years of continuous publishing.
To tell our story, I’m going to take some snippets of articles published previously in CBN and weave in some related information along the way.
Cascade Business New (CBN) was founded by the late Pamela Hulse Andrews in 1994. She was told by many advisors that starting a business journal was going to be difficult and was advised against the endeavor. She did it anyway. Relying upon her past experiences in marketing and owning an advertising agency, she secured a small business loan from Bank of the Cascades and went to work.
Pamela was tireless, feisty and incredibly smart, but most of all, she had grit, and her will wouldn’t let the doubters stand in the way of her vision.
CBN, A&E Magazine and the annual Book of Lists were the core publications. In 1998, I joined the team, and we created Cascade Publications Inc., expanding the business and adding new products — Cascade Discovery and Sunriver Magazine, to name a couple — as well as helping others with their own publications such as the Rotary Sports Programs, annual Wedding Planning Guide, Redmond Visitors Guide and so on. Some of these have come and gone, but the core remains solid. That has a lot to do with the fact that this has been a family affair.
Family businesses continue to be the largest sector of privately owned businesses in America. There are many obvious reasons why family businesses have clear advantages over others, including trust in employees, growing up in the industry, family name, legacy and many more comforts of “home.” With that, however, comes the flip side of a family working so closely together. TV shows like Succession peer into the lives of family members involved in transitioning a large business and portray a dark infighting scenario that gets great ratings for all the drama that ensues. (I’ve actually only watched a couple of episodes, sorry fans!) For most of us, however, the knives aren’t out. We’re working closely to succeed and that means teaching all aspects of the work from taking out the garbage to writing payroll checks, and of course, focusing on real business and businesses in between.
As you’ll see below from the statistics about family businesses, as reported on startupsanonymous.com, we are all impacted by family businesses:
- 60 percent of the U.S. workforce is employed by a family-owned business.
- Family-owned businesses are responsible for creating 78 percent of all new jobs in the U.S.
- Family businesses are contributing more than half (57 percent) of the total U.S. gross domestic product.
- Just under 20 percent (19.3) of U.S. firms are family-owned.
- Like our publishing business:
- Of the family firms that reported an annual growth rate of more than ten percent in the year 2018, more than 80 percent also reported having a clear sense of purpose and agreed-upon values within their business.
- Almost three-quarters (74 percent) of family businesses report a strong sense of culture and values.
Even so:
- Only 30 percent of family-owned businesses last until the second generation, and only 12 percent will make it to the third generation.
- 47 percent of people who own a family business are planning to retire within the next five years but don’t have any kind of succession plan in place.
We’re beating those odds at CBN, in large measure because we’re still guided by Pamela’s dream. As it turns out, we’re far from the only ones that can point to a woman as the key to their success:
- 24 percent of family businesses are led by a woman who holds the rank of president or CEO.
- More than a third (31.3 percent) of family businesses have designated a woman as their successor.
- Just under 60 percent of family-owned businesses have women in top management positions within the company.
- The number of family businesses owned by women has increased by 37 percent in the last five years.
Pamela was never one to rest. She had just launched Bend Fashion Quarterly (BQ) in 2017; a quarterly, slick magazine that no one thought possible in little Bend, Oregon. The magazine had celebrated its one-year anniversary when at 72 years old she got cancer and passed away not long after diagnosis.
Her impact extends way past her publishing achievements.
Pamela loved a good party. Her Christmas parties were legendary. Her last party — her celebration of life — was attended by hundreds, and for good reason. Not only was Pamela a huge part of the Central Oregon business community, she had also become an advocate for the arts and culture. But most of all, she had become a mentor to many, especially women. Through her business and her women’s group, she inspired so many to reach for the stars, get out of their comfort zones and just go for it!
I could go on and on about her, but really, I just wanted to say, “Cheers, Mom! You are missed and won’t be forgotten!” And cheers to Cascade Business News, which 30 years later continues to honor Pamela’s commitment to a dream that was all but impossible to achieve, and to this place she called home.
