Entrepreneurs

It’s still summer, but 5-year-old Jackson Williamson and his 3-year-old brother, Jones, got to spend an hour with Santa Claus Saturday morning (shown above), thanks to two local photographers. Melissa Gordon, the wife of Publisher Neil Gordon and owner of Studio Gordon, LLC, and Addie Strozier, owner of Addie Strozier Photography, LLC, have developed a unique Christmas experience for children and their families. In the past, Gordon and Strozier took quick photos of children with Santa. This is their first year doing one-hour sessions. “I love seeing the excitement on

Camarie Casper was able to do something many aspiring entrepreneurs only dream about: She quit her full-time job as a dental assistant and opened her own business. But the licensed esthetician and tattoo artist caution others to take their time and figure out if that’s the best path for them to take. Casper, the owner of Charmed Beauty Company located at 119 Davis Road, Unit 5B, offers eyelash extensions and permanent makeup, which involves using tattoos to replace a client’s natural eyebrows. Some of these clients lost their eyebrows due

Like millions of business leaders around the world, Erik Smith attended this year’s Global Leadership Summit and was particularly inspired by British entrepreneur, Sahar Hashemi. Smith, the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A’s Grovetown location, watched the annual live broadcast event at TrueNorth Church, one of more than 500 host sites throughout the United States, on Thursday and Friday. The summit featured 14 speakers, including Hashemi, co-founder of Coffee Republic. She told her story and shared her motto: “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” That resonated with Smith. “The learning process is

Women-owned businesses are on the rise across the country — but there’s always room for even more growth. A recent study by the U.S. Census Bureau shows one in five businesses in the country is women-owned. Augusta ranks high in that study, checking in at number 19 out of 100 cities nationwide. About 21.9 percent of Augusta’s businesses are owned by women, totaling nearly 1,800 businesses. Nancy Powell, an Augusta University alumna, is one of those women. Powell is the owner of Powell & Associates Inc., a local real estate

Augusta Business Daily hopes that some of our member companies apply to get a cash infusion from a national payment company. Twenty lucky small businesses will soon receive a pile of cash from Venmo to help their businesses survive. On Thursday Venmo, part of PayPal Holdings announced its Venmo Small Business Grant that will provide $10,000 to help cover business expenses like rent or promotions. Twenty companies will be selected from those that apply for the grant. In addition to the money, the Venmo Small Business Grant will also provide

One of the next three Tuesdays may change your mind about going into business or not. Every Tuesday through August 9, theClubhou.se is hosting complimentary business viability workshops. Various business leaders from the non-profit incubator and the community will help entrepreneurs examine their business idea, review numbers to evaluate business potential, develop a clearer vision of the business and determine the next steps for growing their business. “This is a working workshop,” said Eric Parker, founder of theClubhou.se. “We want entrepreneurs to be prepared to bear down to the heart

Up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, and it’s….a drone delivering your weekly groceries? That could be a possibility in the future, thanks to a business project developed by the Augusta Regional Airport. The airport created Airworx Innovation Xchange, an aerospace business incubator, a few years ago to support startups in the aeronautical and aviation industries, according to its Director of Marketing and Business Development, Diane Johnston. “It provides an opportunity to move the industry forward,” Johnston said. “If they need help with marketing, we can help

Every great business starts with a plan, but many aspiring entrepreneurs don’t know where to start in developing that plan. The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center wants to help. The center’s Augusta office, which provides a variety of support services and resources for local small businesses, will offer an in-person Business Plan Workshop on Tuesday, August 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshop will meet in person at the SBDC located at 2907 Professional Parkway. Participants will learn the key components of a business plan and