Business Coaching

Publisher’s Note: Dr. Rick Franza and his wife hiked Danali, visited sea lions, “held up” the Alaska pipeline, and spent a lot of time as customers mostly focused on the hospitality sector. Here are Rick’s lessons learned from his 17-day trip to the Northwest, starting with his daughter’s wedding in Seattle and concluding with an escorted tour of five cities in Alaska BELOW. We spent much of our time as customers of service businesses, often focused on the hospitality sector (e.g., guest stays, food, drink, entertainment, fun). Such a trip

I’m back! You may have noticed my absence from the Augusta Business Daily (ABD) for a few weeks. My first week away was spent in Seattle, Washington, primarily for the wedding of the younger of my two daughters, Augusta Jayne, better known as AJ. As the father of the bride, I was primarily responsible for paying for the wedding (i.e., ceremony, reception, photography, florist, etc.). My trip to the Pacific Northwest yielded a chock-full of lessons on running our businesses. (Note: The groom’s family paid for a splendid rehearsal dinner

The Augusta office of the University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) wants to help managers build the bridge between generations in the workforce. The event is coming up next week. It has scheduled Supervisor Skills for the Modern Manager, a one-day workshop to learn new management and communication styles, along with discipline processes. Rebecca Mixson, area director for the Augusta office, will be one of the instructors. She told ABD that business owners have hired younger employees who have stayed with the company but have not had training

An Augusta attorney has advice about an often-overlooked step for every fledgling entrepreneur and individual thinking about starting a business or protecting an existing one. There is a laundry list of top-of-mind steps, including financing, licensing, location, and competition. But just as important is protecting your name and brand. Attorney Rachel Ray with the Enoch Tarver law firm told ABD that a vital, but overlooked step is the need to copyright material for the new business, even something as basic as the name of the business. “If you file that

When the Atlanta Braves hired Walt Weiss to be their on-field manager, replacing the retiring Brian Snitker, some fans found the choice to be uninspiring, while some others were upset.   Snitker’s tenure as manager was highly successful, highlighted by six consecutive division championships, seven consecutive playoff appearances, and a World Series championship in the 2021 season.   However, many fans saw his final two years as a downward trend. In 2024, the Braves barely made the playoffs, and in 2025, they won less than half of their games and failed to

In mid-December 2025, 54-year-old Ben Sasse was diagnosed with metastatic, Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His cancer has spread to his liver, lungs, and vascular system. When diagnosed, he was given a life expectancy of four months. As of late last month, a new clinical trial drug had reduced his tumor volume by 76%, and he had already outlived that predicted life expectancy. If you are not familiar with Mr. Sasse, he has lived a very accomplished life. He graduated from Harvard in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in government and