Dr. Sara Evans, dentist and owner of Northwest Family Dental in Rainier, says the most important thing she’s learned from the Small Business Development Center at Clackamas Community College can be summed up in one sentence.

“I learned it my first day of class,” she says. “And I even get a little emotional about it, because it was so huge for me. It was, ‘Do what you love, and outsource the rest.’” You see, Evans loves teeth, not business. “That one sentence was the most liberating and empowering thing I could have heard,” Evans says. “When you own your own business, you think you have to know everything and do everything and do the right thing, and know all. And there’s no way you can do all that.” 

It was a turning point that prompted Evans to turn over personnel management and bookkeeping to her now Director of Operations, Kim Dole. Since then, Evans and Dole have taken an SBDC class together. Evans says another key was her one-on-one coaching sessions. She says her mentors helped her create a vision board, filled with images that represented her life and business goals. 

Now Evans, who lives in Kelso, Washington, is recommending the SBDC to everyone she knows. “I tell people to get in there and sign up,” she says. “I know some people in my class have been going for years, and they keep coming and learning even though it’s the same class. It’s still effective because you’re always in a different space in your business.”