Features
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Stacy Bush on the Recent Love of the Market
February 21, 2014
With the enthusiasm of new love, American stock markets pushed higher during Valentine's week. Were investors enamored of the Federal Reserve's new Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, who spoke on behalf of the Fed for the first time last week?
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Gathering of Eagles Symposium at Georgia Wiregrass Technical College Today
February 20, 2014
Today at the Valdosta Campus of Wiregrass, the annual Gathering of Eagles Business and Leadership Symposium will celebrate its 8th year of networking and world-class speakers.
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Steel Magnolias Defies the Odds
February 19, 2014
The restaurant business isn’t for the meek, with some studies showing failure rates as high as 60-80% for new restaurants. Yet, for the prepared and persistent—like Steel Magnolias owner Keira Moritz—the doors can remain open.
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Georgia Experiences Fourth Record Year in International Trade
February 18, 2014
Georgia experienced its fourth record year in a row for international trade, exceeding last year’s milestones in both imports and exports. The total value of goods exported from Georgia totaled $37.6 billion, the most the state has ever exported within a single year.
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SBA Nominee Talks Marketing to Banks, Businesses at Confirmation Hearing
February 14, 2014
If finally confirmed, the newly nominated chief of the U.S. Small Business Administration promised to do more to promote the agency’s services. Maria Contreras-Sweet said at her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship that more must be done to brand the SBA.
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The Gift of Margin - 3 Ways to Get You Some
February 13, 2014
Margin in life is truly a gift and most of us have so little these days. Margin in our calendar gives us time to listen to a friend. Margin in our finances allows us to help a friend, or help ourselves. It is also keeps us out of debt and reduces stress.
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VSU Launches Institutional Identity Study
February 12, 2014
As part of Valdosta State University’s strategic plan, an institutional identity study is being conducted to examine the university’s core strengths and to determine the best ways to communicate those strengths to the university’s key audiences.
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Buying is a Sensual Activity
February 11, 2014
I once heard Ken Blanchard (the One Minute Manager author) tell a story about Sheldon Bowles, a Canadian entrepreneur who decided to go against the self service gas trend back in 1970 by creating a full service franchise in western Canada called Domo Gas.
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Top Economists Provide Valdosta Business Outlook for 2014
February 10, 2014
Southeastern Federal Credit Union hosted the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber’s Business Outlook Breakfast at the Valdosta Country Club on Thursday. The meeting held 170 of the area’s top business leaders to provide an economic forecast for 2014.
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Small Businesses Once Again Create More Jobs Than Big Businesses
February 07, 2014
Small businesses created almost double the new jobs in January 2014, compared with large businesses. And when you add growth among medium-sized businesses to the employment growth in small businesses, the numbers swamp the job growth of large corporations.
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CJB Industries, Inc. Expansion Set for Gil Harbin Manufacturing Plant
February 05, 2014
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority announced CJB Industries, Inc. is adding a 42,000-square-foot expansion onto its current manufacturing facility, adding 10 full-time jobs.
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Georgia Manufacturing Activity Drops for Second Consecutive Month
February 04, 2014
Georgia manufacturing activity dropped slightly for January, while the nation experienced a greater decline for the same month, closing the gap between manufacturing activity in the state and the nation.
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Fewer Small Businesses Paying Late in 2013
February 03, 2014
Small businesses were prompter at paying their loans and bills in 2013 than in 2012, data from several sources reveals. Moody’s Analytics and Experian reported substantial declines in both 30 and 90 day small business credit delinquency rates during the past year, part of an improving trend since the summer of 2011 when those rates peaked.
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The Bright Side of High Employee Turnover
January 31, 2014
Are you worried about losing key employees this year? A Right Management study says 83 percent of employees definitely plan to look for jobs this year, while 12 percent say they might and just 5 percent have no plans to look for new jobs. This is bad news for your business, right? Maybe not.
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What is Strategy?
January 30, 2014
Despite all the consultants in the world wanting you to believe that you could never comprehend strategy at "their level", strategy is quite simple. Strategy is simply a plan to get from point A (where you are at today) to point B (where you want to be at a future date). Curt Fowler shares how all of us use strategy each and every day, even for the simplest of things.
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What Do Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans Look Like?
January 29, 2014
Hidden among the large amount of data released regularly by the Federal Reserve is some valuable information about the terms of Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans.
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Small Business Optimism: Status Quo or Cautious Optimism?
January 27, 2014
Small business owners tend to be optimistic by nature. You have to be, if you want to overcome the obstacles of running a business. Still, the economy has been pretty rough since 2008. Are there signs of improvement? If I had to sum it up based on two small business optimism surveys, I’d say it’s “status quo” or perhaps “cautious optimism.”
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Why You Should Consider Building Business Credit
January 24, 2014
Building business credit is both highly misunderstood and becoming more and more important all the time for business owners. I have heard some people say that building business credit doesn’t matter. I say, then why are a lot of business credit reports being pulled if business credit doesn’t matter?
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Huckaby: “We are Making the Right Decisions for Students & the State”
January 23, 2014
The need to help more students afford and earn a degree is driving key and fundamental changes in the University System of Georgia, said Chancellor Hank Huckaby in remarks to the Georgia General Assembly’s Joint Appropriations Committee.
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Georgia Ports Authority Has Banner Year in 2013, Looks to Top It in 2014
January 22, 2014
When success is part of your DNA, it can become tempting to rest on your laurels and keep doing more of the same. Or, your company can keep your foot on the gas and strive for more. Georgia Ports Authority certainly falls into the latter category, partly because the whole state—heck, the whole country—is watching.
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Wiregrass to Host Gathering of Eagles, a Leadership Symposium
January 21, 2014
The Wiregrass Gathering of Eagles Business and Leadership Symposium is back for the eight year. This year’s theme is Connecting the Dots and will feature Bill Boggs, author of “Got What it Takes”.
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Should You Consider an Accountability Partner?
January 17, 2014
When people, especially salespeople, are left to their own devices, they lack consistency and succumb to their own emotional performance roller coaster, operating more by default than by design. Hence, consider bringing in an accountability partner.
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No Sign of Real Recovery in Small Business Numbers
January 15, 2014
Small-business optimism ended the year slightly up from November at 93.9, but below the previous 3 mid-year readings of over 94 and 6 points below the pre-recession average, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB’s) latest index. On the positive front, reports of capital spending rose significantly in December, increasing by 9 points from November and job creation among NFIB firms was the best since February 2006.
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The Era of Declining Self-Employment
January 13, 2014
The number of employed Americans rose from 144,144,000 in October 2013 to 144,775,000 in November 2013, an increase of 631,000, according to Federal government data. That’s good news. More people going back to work is something that everyone – left, right and center – agrees is good for the country.
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Is Your Business a Talent Attractor?
January 10, 2014
Only an elite group of businesses earn the title “talent attractor.” What is a talent attractor you may ask? A talent attractor is a company that is best in class when it comes to benefits packaging and delivery. The human resources departments at these companies are more likely to believe that overall employee health is important to workforce productivity.