A History of the Heart

Glad to meet you.

Heart of Business began life as Success by Design in 1999, an enterprise which helped entrepreneurs create marketing that felt clean, was effective, and yet was authentic and felt like them.

It soon became obvious that designing marketing materials was much more about coaching the client into his or her heart, than it was about the design process. Working with an experienced mentor coach, Anne Sagendorph, CEO of Support System for Success, provided a grounding in coaching, and what a successful practice can look like.

With the introduction of Sufi-based healing work at the Jaffe Institute (now the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism), it all came together into the Heart of Business. My vision here at Heart of Business, whether you are self-employed, own your business, or bring an entrepreneurial heart to your job at work, is that your business become a profitable, sustainable, beacon of generosity in the fabric of your community.

Mark Silver

As the founder of Heart of Business, and a successful business consultant and healer, I bring an active connection with the Divine to my work.

I have worked with thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners in the areas of marketing, sales, business mission, and just plain taking care of yourself and your business.

I have run a magazine, worked as a paramedic, run a distribution business, been an activist, and worked in the non-profit arena. I have failed horribly in business, and succeeded beautifully, each in turn.

Trained at, and formerly faculty of, the University of Spirituality Heailng and Sufism in Organizational and Business Healing, I blend my skills as a Sufi healer and teacher with teaching heart-centered business practices. My vision is for your heart to deepen into knowing its own truth, and from that knowingness your business becomes profitable and sustainable.

I live in Portland, Oregon with my wife Holly, our twin sons Sam and David, two cats Rafi and Kira, and as much rain as you care to soak up.

Kate Williams

The infrastructure queen, evolving with the business, that’s me–systems creator, project coordinator, editor, random administrator, postal wizard, communicator extraordinaire, and pseudo-techie-type support person. I wound up here after leaning into some of Mark’s teachings as a business owner myself–WordTurners, freelance editing, writing, and coaching. Prior to that, I was a director at the National College of Natural Medicine–a community and lifestyle I have been involved with for over 25 years. Past lives have included being a naturopathic clinic co-owner, art framer, massage therapist, nursery worker, waitress . . . you get the picture–I’m not an easy niche fit.

I’ve found a home here for my collaboratively creative entrepreneurial spirit. As for education, it includes volumes of life experience, personal growth adventures, several self-employment journeys poised atop an MA in English and a BS in Natural History and Creative Writing (read: nature lover with a science twist).

Though I am a Southern California native, Portland, Oregon has been home for 25 years. My pack includes Nancy, my partner, Toby, the Standard Poodle pup, and Ruby, the guru kitty.

One-on-One Practitioners & Oasis Guides

Judy Murdoch

Hi, I‘m Judy Murdoch, and I help small business owners create products that enable them to make a bigger difference in the world while adding to their bottom line.

I’ve been working in advertising and marketing for over 25-years. My start was in the corporate world doing marketing and consumer research for Fortune 500 companies such as Sara Lee, Coors, S.C. Johnson, General Motors, and Helene Curtis.

But I’ve always loved working with small businesses who need to get big results with very small marketing budgets. There’s something very satisfying for me when ingenuity and passion combine to create marketing that enables clients to attract more clients and make more money. I also like helping small business owners turn successful promotions into systems that they can easily apply again and again, so they have more ease in developing and implementing marketing programs.

I founded my own marketing consulting business, Highly Contagious Marketing, in 2005 to help small businesses create and implement effective, affordable marketing.

I’ve been working with the Heart of Business since 2005 beginning as a client in the Organic Business Development program. Since that time I’ve participated, and more recently assisted, in the Sacred Moment Seminar, Path to Profitability Retreat, and Opening the Moneyflow. In the past two years I’ve helped numerous small business clients attract more customers, earn more money, and have more fun.

Jason Stein

I’m Jason Stein, the official Heart of Business Team bozosattva.  Meaning I’m passionate about the sublime and the ridiculous parts of engaging in business.

Don’t let my sense of humor fool you, though.  I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and corporate professionals to enhance communication and increase connection at work and at home.

My background is an eclectic blend including degrees in Psychology and Oriental Medicine along with a Professional Coach Certification and Chaplaincy Training. As a licensed acupuncturist, I’ve practiced as a doctor of Oriental medicine, set up an integrative medicine program in a hospital, helped business professionals learn meditation and mindfulness tools, played around in academia, counseled couples, and even officiated a few weddings.

However, nothing has taught me more about building positive relationships and compassionate leadership than the family I grew up in and now being a dad and raising my son Jack and daughter Sierra. My grandparents on both sides of my family were serial entrepreneurs.  Although their commitment to succeed in business made huge profits, their drive for success came at a cost filled with alcohol, divorce, and a disconnection within the family.

My grandparents and children, in their way, have given me the skills to teach parentpreneurs how to build rockin’ communities that celebrate their success, to find balance so that they may make a difference not only for their clients, but for their friends and family as well.

I’m an adventurer having enjoyed scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, dog sledding, and running with bulls.

I currently split my time between Heart of Business and being the Chair of Professional Development for the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine.

Yollana Shore

As a healing practitioner for over ten years, I know what it’s like to have work that you love, and I know what it’s like to be absolutely befuddled about how to attract more clients, and make more money, so you can do more of what you love.

It was this very experience that led me to seek a deeper understanding of business, marketing and money, and ultimately led me to Heart of Business. (Just as, I’m guessing, your own search for a more heart-centred way to do business has led you here also.)

As a Heart of Business practitioner, I love that I am able to combine heart-centered approaches to business development, money, marketing and sales with my experience in helping people to overcome emotional issues and blocks, clear away sabotage and align with their deeper self.

While I can help in many areas of business, I have a special interest in helping you experience a deeper level of connection with your business, as well as helping you to clear away any core issues that are getting in the way of you really letting your business thrive.

I’m deeply spiritual at heart, but I rarely practice meditation or Remembrance sitting down. I am blessed with a beloved husband and two beautiful kids – Erin, born 2006 and Ashwin, born in 2009 – who are always teaching me about Love, Patience and Having Fun.

We live in Northern New South Wales, in the forested hills behind Australia’s most easterly point. Being close to Nature and surrounded by community-minded folks are the values we hold dear and what brought us to this place.

What do I like to do to relax? My idea of heaven is sitting around a fire at night with people who care deeply, drinking chai, making music, hearts open, conversation flowing.

I look forward to connecting with you and your business in a Heart of Business program, in the Business Oasis, or one-on-one through our work here at the Organic Business Development Program.

…And if you ever make it to our patch of Australia, I look forward to sitting around the fire with you, too.

Amazing Virtual Assistance

Susan Lucibello

Hi, I’m Susan Lucibello of Ribary & Associates, LLC, and I love helping small business owners succeed. Thankfully, that is just what I get to do by working with Heart of Business as their valuable virtual assistant. You may not hear from me directly (or you might), but I am always behind the scenes helping to ensure that you receive a truly wonderful experience at HOB. And, I help the practitioners here at HOB stay focused on you, by handling many of the marketing and support initiatives that must take place in order to run a successful business.

Over the past 20 years, my skills and experience were accumulated working in a variety of positions within the corporate world. This included a highly successful career at two leading newspapers in the nation, providing executive and administrative support to high-level executives, as well as working within the sales, marketing and management environments.

I pride myself in providing individualized attention to each client and in making certain my business skills are constantly updated

I am proud to be a part of the HOB team!

I work as a team member of Ribary & Associates, LLC who provides high level administrative assistance and office efficiency consulting to small businesses in the Portland Metro area, as well as throughout the United States.

Please feel free to call, (503) 282-3037, or email us with any questions.

Even after all this time,
the Sun never says to the Earth:
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that:
It lights up the whole Sky.
from The Gift by Hafiz