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Free Access: Expo Preview: Ex-Major Leaguer makes pitch to help CSRA businesses save on health benefits costs

Drive, hard work, and asking questions propelled Tom Mastny to a three-year Major League baseball career. Now, he’s using those same attributes to help CSRA businesses contain health care costs. Mastny is CEO of The Pennant Group, a health benefits company that helps employers dig deeper to discover the reasons for high health costs and then find ways to reduce or contain those costs. “It’s the ‘hidden paycheck,’” Mastny said about the health care costs. “Most employees don’t understand all the things taken out of their check, and if you

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Top Story

Taps will stop flowing at Evans restaurant after county revokes its alcohol license

The beer will soon stop flowing at an Evans eatery, thanks to a decision by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, which voted 4-1 to revoke its alcohol license Tuesday evening. Last month, Renee Hajek, owner of Stay. Social Tap & Table located at 7025 Evans Town Center Blvd., received a letter from Development Services Division Director, Paul Scarbary informing her that her license is being revoked because the restaurant violated the county’s alcohol ordinance. The ordinance mandates that all restaurants serving alcohol receive 50 percent of their gross sales

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Darin Myers

Free Access: LinkedIn profile mistakes and how to fix them

Darin Myers is the local facilitator of The Alternative Board (TAB), a peer-to-peer advisory board designed to help company leaders maximize their opportunities and work through challenges. Darin recently retired after a 30-year career in the nuclear industry as the leader of Plant Vogtle I and II. He has proven success in strategic planning and alignment, employee development, organizational performance improvement, accountability, and coaching. Recently, he started a family business in Augusta focused on home health care, providing him the knowledge and experience surrounding small- to medium-sized business operators. Every

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B2B Stories

13-year-old entrepreneur set to open a pizza business

Who knows pizza better than a teenager? After all, it’s one of their favorite foods. It’s certainly true for 13-year-old North Augustan, Phinehas Esser, which is one of the reasons he is set to launch his own pizza business, PDog’s Pizzeria, on October 11. “I started making pizzas last year, perfecting my recipe, and about a month ago started planning my business,” Phinehas explained. The average age of most entrepreneurs is 42, according to the Harvard Business Review, but entrepreneurship is not new to him. At the age of 8,

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Free Access: Expo Preview: Dynamic duo finds the best solutions for local offices

It takes two to make a thing go right. That’s how you could describe the tag-team approach Robin Baxley and Sandi Shields have to run Best Office Solutions. The pair manages everything a commercial business needs: furniture, supplies, promotional products, and more. For more than 20 years, they have worked together to help set their company apart from the rest. “We both worked for a similar company that went out of business after 63 years,” Baxley said. “Our customers asked us to continue in the same type of business, and

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B2B Stories

North Augusta showcases businesses to fall in love with

Ashley Murphy, owner of ABECA Naturals in North Augusta, enjoys helping her customers improve their health by offering a variety of natural self-care products and over-the-counter medicines. “There is a growing need here in the community for a holistic approach to wellness, so we manufacture and sell herbal remedies, homeopathic medicine, and more,” she said. ABECA is one of nearly 40 local businesses and non-profit organizations participating in the Fall in Love with Local Business Showcase, Thursday, 3-7 p.m. at the North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Ave. The free

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Consumer Stories

With help from Augusta residents, a local cleaning company provides hurricane relief

After Hurricane Ian caused monumental damage to homes and businesses in Southwest Florida last week, a commercial cleaning company with franchises in Augusta and Fort Myers, acted quickly to ensure supplies were delivered to those who lost everything. Jani-King Vice President, Dalton Self who helps budding entrepreneurs, establish franchises throughout the Southeast, said many Augusta residents donated supplies, such as bottled water, nonperishable food, and batteries (pictured above in the Jani-King office). On Monday, the company delivered two truckloads of supplies to Fort Myers. Self said they sent a pickup

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: Slow economy ahead but not a cause for worry

The Augusta Leading Economic Index (LEI) fell 0.2 percent in July from June, the first monthly decrease since November 2020. It remains 5.3 percent higher than in July 2021, though the rate of increase has halved from November 2021. Adverse movements were seen in initial claims for unemployment insurance and real deposits in local banks. The positive movement was seen in residential permits and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (at the end of July). Job openings were essentially unchanged. Because job openings are the last bit of data used in

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Consumer Stories

Local senior living community celebrates its third anniversary

The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll helped a local assisted living and memory care community celebrate its third anniversary Friday. Thrive at Augusta, a more than 62,000-square-foot facility located at 313 Furys Ferry Road in Martinez, opened its doors in Sept. 2019, which was just six months before the pandemic began. Like most businesses, covid forced Thrive to make major changes. With its older, more vulnerable population, the community needed to be especially careful to protect its residents. “The National Guard helped us with sanitation, cleanliness, and testing,” said community

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B2B Stories

Georgia ranks No. 1 – in business

  Georgia is once again named the best place for business and Georgia Power wants to hike its rates. Enjoy the new video format of the Augusta Business Daily Business Update by Mike Petchenik.  

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