About
We believe that who you do business with matters most. We've spent decades elevating local companies and fueling them with Quality Customers. Here, you'll transform how you think, lead, operate and communicate to get the long-term success you need.
Quality Customers for Quality Companies
Our Mission
To transform our members into masters
at fueling their companies with Quality Customers.
The Quality Customer Strategist
A commitment is really a promise for the future. By committing to something, you focus your future actions to accomplish it.
Jim Stein, President of OP J inc
During the 1980s, Jim founded and grew the Asian Yellow Pages and the Hispanic Yellow Pages into the largest second-language Yellow Page publishing company in the United States, with 24 directory titles in three states. He also founded El Mensajero, the top Spanish language weekly newspaper in the U.S. as judged by the National Hispanic Publishers Association. During this time, the Young Entrepreneurs Organization recognized him as one of the nation’s top 100. In the 1990s, he founded and ran ValueStar, the first company to rate and certify local service and professional firms on their level of customer satisfaction.
In 2001, Jim founded American Ratings Corporation, creators of Diamond Certified, a certification for local companies that are rated Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise. Through interacting with more than 10,000 local companies and analyzing over 2,000,000 consumer survey responses, Jim has shown consumers how to become Quality Customers and get the customer experiences they deserve. He’s also developed unique insights and techniques to help local company owners better satisfy customers, super-glue their loyalty, increase referrals, and use their Quality Company reputation to fuel their companies with Quality Customers for the long term.
Since founding OP J inc in 2018, Jim has spent his professional time creating new ratings, certifications and information products to help local company owners engage with consumers based on their dominant buying perspective. In 2023, after decades of writing on the topic of Quality Customers, Jim founded Quality Customers Resource, a community of local company owners who love Quality Customers and are committed to building their companies for the long term by transforming how they think, lead, operate, and communicate.
Jim lives with his wife in Sonoma County and spends his personal time learning from his two children, who live in Sunnyvale and New York. He also loves connecting with extended family and friends, both young and old. In addition, he reads extensively, plays poker and takes road trips with plenty of music.
Matt Solis, Editor
Matt Solis has more than 15 years of editorial experience in the print media and marketing industries. After earning an English degree at Sonoma State University, he spent several years as the assistant editor for NorthBay biz magazine while working on various freelance writing projects.
In 2010, Matt joined the team at American Ratings Corporation (ARC), creators of Diamond Certified, as a staff writer. After only six months, he was promoted to the position of Editor and started overseeing ARC’s editorial department. Over the years, he has developed a strong editorial style and is dedicated to ensuring the quality of ARC’s print and online content.
Matt lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two dogs. In his free time, he enjoys playing music, reading, hiking and exploring the Pacific Northwest.