Season 2 Episode 009
Cara Turano
"Don't be afraid to dream big and be in that 30% and beyond of women business owners that are bringing in a million dollars in revenue per year. Think bigger, reach farther, take a little bit more of the risk."
Alice Tang: Good morning. This is Alice Tang, the host of Women’s Million Dollar Conversation. And today, I’m sitting down with Cara Toreno, a community leader in Portland and when we get to know her, you will find out more. she is the person who have single-handed rallying the team to grow back the OEN, membership, and extended the very ripple effect to the business owners, the entrepreneurs in the region, so that they can get better resource and better help, and in turn, we have better business in Portland. So let’s welcome Cara
Cara Turano: Hi, Alice. Thank you. Good morning. Nice to see you
Alice Tang: [00:01:00] Nice to see you, Cara. Would you mind sharing a few things about yourself before we begin, asking you about insight of your million-dollar path?
Cara Turano: Sure. I grew up in Atlanta. I went to the University of Georgia. Those are very important things to me. And I moved to Portland about a decade ago. I’ve spent most of my career working in startups or with startups, and so I’ve seen how entrepreneurship is a path to, wealth creation. And I’m a 34-time marathon finisher, 11 of those are the Boston Marathon.
Cara Turano: And I also really like to read and cook and ski and camp, and I have a fantastic family, two adult stepchildren, one adopted daughter, and a tiny senior chihuahua
Alice Tang: Wow. This podcast is focusing on empowering women to
Alice Tang: first million, whether it’s the million dollars saved, [00:02:00] earned, or sold. would you mind, sharing with us?
Cara Turano: When I took over OEN, we were running at a $250,000 budget, and this year we’re over a million dollars, and that was a really big step.
Alice Tang: That’s so awesome. before we get to the OEN and, a million dollar plus revenue from negative,do you have any money stories? So what shape your money attitude, when you’re a child?
Cara Turano: Oh, that’s a really good question. my mom was an accountant, And so my mom, from a very early age, taught us how to balance our checkbook, which I don’t think people do anymore, I think they just look online, and how to save money and why it was important.
Cara Turano: So I’ve always been more of a saver than a spender. and then as I got into my late 30s, my husband was really keen on ensuring that I had my own wealth generation, and [00:03:00] so he taught me a lot about, brokerage accounts and different investment thesis, and then together he and I are pretty active Angel investors ’cause now I understand what risk capital is and I’m a little less, of a saver and more of a supporter with the money that we have access to.
Alice Tang: Great. What is one belief you would like to share with our audience about money?
Cara Turano: Oh, I think understanding financials is the most powerful thing that anyone can do in the room, and I’ve seen it in my career at this point. Knowing how to read a financial statement and being able to tell a strategic story around money is very empowering, and I don’t think we teach enough people to do it, and I definitely don’t think we teach enough women to do it.
Alice Tang: Great. You’ve built a 20-plus year career across tech, startups, and now leading OEN. Looking [00:04:00] back, what are two or three financial moves that actually moved the needle for you?
Cara Turano: Oh, that’s such a good question. I was really fortunate because of that early saving, be able to buy my first piece of property when I was, like, 23, in a sort of transitional neighborhood. And so when I sold that, I was able to make some money on top of it. And then when I bought my second piece of property, it was right after the, financial crisis of 2008.
Cara Turano: And so again, I got a really great deal for,a, a piece of property that I actually lived in. And then because things got better over the decade that I owned that property, I was able to sell it for, again, a larger win, and then buy a third piece of property in another transitional neighborhood that then resulted, again, in, a nice amount of savings.
Cara Turano: I had the opportunity to do as a startup, employee was have [00:05:00] stock in the company. And that then wound up being a lovely nest egg, when the first company I was at sold.
Cara Turano: That’s not always the story when you sell your business. but I was not the founder, and so I still got a nice chunk of equity and was able to put that into, my savings strategy. And then I think from a, a work perspective, it was really partnering with both a financial planner and a CPA and a controller to, understand how money flows, where it flows, and how to share that story, in a way that doesn’t make people uncomfortable, ’cause I think talking about money sometimes just makes people uncomfortable
Alice Tang: You name it, ’cause, In general, money is a taboo topic, because sometimes people compare themself with others Now, you mentioned that, the three best money moves or important money moves are really real estate [00:06:00] related. You buy the first, you buy the second, you buy the third. Now, there are audience out there who are thinking, real estate just like any other investment, like stocks, right? When you don’t understand it, it’s a lot of risk.
Alice Tang: But I know I’m doing the right thing, or at least I want to try. What if I fail? So have you ever thought about those?
Cara Turano: yeah, and I think that probably a lot of that has been influenced in my background of working with startups because the, the math for investing is high risk, high reward. And in my perspective of asset classes, I actually view real estate as not particularly risky compared to other things. I think one thing that I didn’t know that I was doing was buying low and selling high, and I think a mistake that is the riskier one, you buy at the peak of a [00:07:00] market, and then it becomes harder to capitalize on the sale.
Cara Turano: And I think the other risky thing that I would flag from a real estate perspective is involves care and feeding. You don’t just buy a house and do nothing with it. Like
Cara Turano: Water lines leak, bathrooms flood, roofs have to be replaced. and so you have to think about that as part of your cost calculation of what you’re trying to get out of it, ’cause if you put a lot in, you may not be making all that money back on the end.
Alice Tang: Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about real estate investor mindset.
What’s one belief about money you absorbed earlier, but actually today you have to unlearn it?
Cara Turano: Something I learned earlier about money that I’ve had to unlearn. I guess one thing is that, you don’t talk about it. It’s not polite to talk about, because now it’s something I just talk about all the time.
Cara Turano: Like I’ll meet with a founder and [00:08:00] they’re trying to raise money and the question now always is, “Do you have any debt?””No, I haven’t taken out any loans.” I’m like, “Oh, that’s great.” “But I do have $70,000 of credit card debt ’cause that’s what I’ve been running the company on.” I’m like, “That is not good.”
Cara Turano: And like in, I think in people’s perspective, that’s like a rude thing to ask somebody about their debt, and so I’ve had to unlearn that at least from a business perspective to be able to help folks grow their businesses and move them forward
Alice Tang: So honest conversation about money, where you’re at,
Cara Turano: open to receive the feedback from the other person,
Alice Tang: They may be seeing a blind spot,
Cara Turano: Totally. when a SBA loan is 0% and yes, it involves collateral, but like it’s again, like how do you analyze what works for you? And I don’t know that 29% interest should work for anybody
Alice Tang: Now, when you step in OEN carrying a real deficit, like you said, minus 250,000, and you turned that around and grew the membership [00:09:00] significantly, and thus the revenue, that you just told us is over a million dollars. That’s such a great moment and, deed that you have done. Walk us through that and what did leading an organization back to financial health teach you that no spreadsheets could?
Cara Turano: Oh, that’s really hard. it actually taught me the value of relationships. I know we hear that a lot, and to capitalize on your network and don’t be afraid to utilize, social capital that you’ve built.
Cara Turano: And I think my assumption when I started is while we do good work and anyone would be happy to give us a grant or a donation because we do good work. And what I’ve learned in this process of building up the revenue to over a million dollars is that, [00:10:00] yes, We do good work, and the relationships that we build is really critical.
Cara Turano: And so I think that relationship component was what I misunderstood.
Alice Tang: Now, I’m gonna take the audience a little bit back when we met at TAO.
Alice Tang: I spoke about networking, so this is a relationship question for Cara.
Alice Tang: s- ready? Okay.
Cara Turano: I’m ready. I’m ready. Let’s do it
Cara Turano: it looks like you’re leading a very busy life, right?
Alice Tang: You’re a spouse, you’re a mom, and you also do your work, and you cook, you eat, you run, you do all these things. How do you incorporate, relationship? ‘Cause the best, to me though, it’s best built by the one-on-one conversation. Because when you have a group people, everything become a little bit more superficial.
Alice Tang: People do not go deep when there is more than two people in the room.
Cara Turano: Yeah
Alice Tang: you take, take the lead here and teach us
Cara Turano: I’m a [00:11:00] big proponent, and I tell my team this, that we say what we’re gonna do, and then we do what we said we were gonna do. So for me, all of it is like upfront communication, and then delivering against whatever you promise to do. I get asked to serve on lots of different boards and committees and commissions, and I don’t just put it on my resume.
Cara Turano: I, do show up, and I do contribute work, and then the folks on the committee or that lead the committee see that. and then that kind of creates opportunities for one-on-one, conversations and work because if you’re a committee chair, then you are obviously talking to the person at the organization that the committee chair reports to.
Cara Turano: And I found a lot of unique opportunities to build relationships through the work. I’ve also been able to use my running as a way to have business meetings, which is fascinating. I always like a, [00:12:00] a walking meeting, so I’ll always do something active. and then I actually, keep a pretty strong boundary about my evening.
Cara Turano: I try to be done between 5:00 and 6:00, so I am the queen of the early happy hour. you can find me at 4:00 PM. I’ve had a couple of my favorite locations where I do one-on-ones, and I try to do two or three a week.
Cara Turano: My very first boss, a guy named Sanjay Singh, said that, “You make time for the things that matter to you.” And so having personal relationships with people matters to me, so I make time for it.
Alice Tang: And when you say you make time for what matters or the person who matters to you, I had a lot of goosebumps because that’s it.
Cara Turano: That’s it
Alice Tang: People feel that they are the only person in the room with you
Cara Turano: Mm-hmm.
Alice Tang: When they meet you. I had the same feeling. So thank you so much for sharing your networking tips. And truthfully, it’s really how do you build authentic [00:13:00] relationships. Now, hustle cultures tells us to sacrifice a lot. You just talk about boundaries,
Alice Tang: you run to very demanding organizations.
Alice Tang: that you kept very tight boundaries.
Cara Turano: Going back to the OEN and your work with the startups, you watch a lot of, founders raising
Cara Turano: Mm-hmm.
Alice Tang: it and the one who didn’t make it. From your seat, how do you tell the difference between a smart calculated risk and a reckless gamble?
Cara Turano: Well, I will start by saying that I think the biggest challenge for anyone starting a business is understanding the financials. Again, because we don’t really learn it, and business finance is so different from your personal finance. the world of startup risk assessment is constantly evolving.
Cara Turano: So even as late as five years ago, you could show up with a [00:14:00] great idea and get funding, and that has changed. So the, the tolerance for risk in the market has lowered. and so now a lot of what we’re looking for is traction with some revenue, and then the potential to scale that in a market where you have good product market fit, where you are doing something innovative enough that you will get early adopters, quickly and then be able to change through your innovation whatever market you’re trying to disrupt.
Cara Turano: so I think that a, a calculated risk is really the folks that understand that and can talk through it, whereas a reckless gamble is… And this is my favorite example. my next-door neighbor’s son is doing a AI app startup, and we need $20,000 [00:15:00] of investor money. that’s a risky gamble, because you don’t– Yes, you know the guy’s son, but you don’t know what his business is doing or his business model.
Cara Turano: So there’s some things you can look at to assess that risk, a little bit better. And an early-stage company, like maybe 10% are gonna be the big reward at the end. I think some of entrepreneurship is a risky gamble no matter how you slice it.
Alice Tang: I just, learn something from you. Business owner needed to learn about business finance. You just said it perfectly. Business finance is different from personal finance.
Alice Tang: For a new business owner, if they were to learn about their, business finance, I’m interested at least because it’s the language of business, right? Know your financial statement. Where do they get help? Does OEN provide or the SBA office provide? So could you give us some resource so that the people who listening [00:16:00] can have some idea about what they can do about this blind spot?
Cara Turano: Yeah, that’s such a good question. There’s a lot of organizations that provide technical financial assistance. So yes, it’s through the Small Business Administration, through the, the Oregon Small Business Development Centers, or, anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, every state has a network of small business development centers.
Cara Turano: There are organizations like the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, so OEN. so if you’re in the Portland metro area, there’s an organization called Accelerate. many of these organizations run capital literacy programs, to get folks understanding the financials behind running a business.
Cara Turano: But I would say if it’s the first time you’re doing it, I would absolutely find your local SBDC. they generally are embedded within community colleges, and they can talk you through a business plan and a basic financial model, and maybe even [00:17:00] introduce you to a business banker, ’cause that’s one of the mistakes I see all the time too, is people are just writing their business checks out of their personal checking account, and they need, they need a business account so that they can start building the business credit so that they are then become more eligible for loans down the road
Alice Tang: Yeah, and also it’s also for protection, the little that I know. I don’t want
Cara Turano: Yeah
Alice Tang: expert. sometimes it doesn’t work.
Cara Turano: 10%. 40, 40% is who will make it 10% is who will be really successful, and then there’s like some tiers in between
Alice Tang: Very good statistics.
congratulations on being named the 2025 Portland Business Journal Woman of Influence. what is the single most important thing you’re gonna tell a woman who’s just starting, either to building their business or building wealth?
Cara Turano: gosh, start your savings early. Compounding interest matters. [00:18:00] And truly be able to understand your business finances. I know I keep repeating that. it’s complicated, it evolves, tax policy changes, but the more you know at the basic level, then the better you, equipped you are as those changes continue to evolve.
Cara Turano: don’t be afraid to have an uncomfortable conversation about money, or ask someone to help you learn about money
Alice Tang: Yeah, so true because We always let the one thing that we are afraid of, conquer us.
Alice Tang: we talk a lot about, the funding and the mentorship gap women face today. how are you using your platform to help the next generation of women not just to master the numbers, but carry the emotional weight that comes with leading?
Cara Turano: Oh. I would say for the next generation,
Cara Turano: I strongly encourage women to [00:19:00] take the risk to become business owners. And you can see that in the state of Oregon, we have one of the highest percentages of women business owners that make over a million dollars a year in the entire country. And that is upwards of 30% of our women-owned businesses, which is really impressive.
Cara Turano: And my advice to the young folks would be don’t be afraid to dream big and be in that 30% and beyond of women business owners that are bringing in a million dollars in revenue per year. Think bigger, reach farther, take a little bit more of the risk. I know it’s hard. and then always make sure you have a backup plan when you do fail, ’cause you will
Alice Tang: That’s so true. failing to just learning, ’cause either I succeed or I learn.
Cara Turano: I love that. We always tell, we tell [00:20:00] everyone, particularly the founders that we work with because we do give them a lot of feedback that, feedback is a gift. it’s not a gift you always have to accept
Alice Tang: That’s true. It’s a gift. You don’t need to open it, right?
Cara Turano: No, you don’t need to open it. You can choose to not open it Yeah
Alice Tang: There is a turning point in wealth where you stop trading time for money,
Alice Tang: there is also a time when you start using money, to buy time.
Alice Tang: what’s the freedom of your work buy to you right now?
Cara Turano: oh my gosh, I love that. I’m very lucky ’cause my husband is retired, so he does a lot of those things. But, from a personal perspective, I am able to have somebody else take care of my dog when I am not around, or even when I am and have a busy day. and somebody to help clean the house, and somebody to help plan [00:21:00] travel, which is delightful.
Cara Turano: I was thinking about this question this morning when I was prepping, what’s been exciting in getting OEN over a million dollars is I was able to hire a grant writer.And one, I truly enjoyed the collaboration, but two, we had a very short timeline to put that grant together.
Cara Turano: It was 58 pages long and involved 21 letters of support from from people around the state that we tracked down in nine days. And all of that was happening when my nieces were in town from Georgia, who are nine and 13, and all I wanted to do was spend time with them. And so I bought my time back by paying a grant writer, and it was fantastic.
Cara Turano: yeah. So it was nice that I could go to the finance committee at OEN and say, “Hey, I need $1,750 so that we can pay for some grant writing support,” because otherwise, I don’t think I can get it done and I don’t have the expertise. And gosh, [00:22:00] we got that grant submitted five days before it was due.
Cara Turano: And there was so much peace of mind in that. it was incredible. And actually, I think that we’ll continue to pay him over the course of the rest of the year to finish some of our grant writing opportunities
Alice Tang: Money can buy peace, we just heard
Cara Turano: Yeah. And then, my $1,700 could result in a $305,000 contract, which is a no-brainer
Alice Tang: That’s right. That’s right. With simple maths, right?
Cara Turano: Yeah, I was like, “That’s like less than 1%. That’s half a percent. Let’s just invest half a percent and get this done. this will be great.”
Alice Tang: I know. return on investment.
Alice Tang: I’ve learned again from the person who has experienced so much in helping others and helping herself to just elevate in that wealth ladder.
Cara Turano: You’re very welcome. It’s always a pleasure to see you. Your energy and your positivity is infectious[00:23:00]
Alice Tang: Thank you again.
Cara Turano leads with a ton of energy and enthusiasm for innovative ideas. She is passionate about entrepreneurship as a wealth-building avenue for individuals and a driver for community-building. Formerly COO at the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), she has spent over 20 years in technology and technology-adjacent companies, including a couple of startups. Cara chairs the Portland Public Schools Bond Accountability Committee and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Portland. She was recognized as an Atlanta Business Chronicle 40 Under 40 and is a graduate of the University of Georgia. In her spare time, Cara is an avid runner, skier, camper, reader, and vegetarian chef with a soft spot for her 6 ½ lb chihuahua, Toby, and her amazing family.