B2B Stories

B2B Stories

Love and $: Financial tips for success

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s a day of flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners, and proposals. Nearly six million couples will become engaged today. Beyond romance, there are some practical tips to make the future as sweet as the present. That includes aligning your thoughts on financial habits and goals. According to a new Bank of America survey which examined the investing mindsets, motivations, and habits of affluent young adults, Millennials and Gen Z are making smart choices with their money. However, men and women in this cohort differ in views on money

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B2B Podcasting

Ex LEO makes Headway with new biz

“We meet by accident.” Not a good way to meet, but when you have a car accident, there is a new collision business that is ready to help. This one is manned by an owner who understands better than most that accidents happen. Mike Petchenik has the rest of the story in today’s Biz Bits.

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B2B Stories

Challenges get the best of local restaurant and take-out business

Editor’s note: The best part of my job is writing about new businesses. During the interview process, the excitement is palpable. The hardest part is telling the story of the ones that close. Telling those stories brings a different set of emotions to the table. Like most entrepreneurs, Jennifer Steller, owner of A Steller Kitchen, followed her dream which was to open a restaurant. Along the way, she endured some big challenges, including opening her doors in the midst of Covid and later her husband was diagnosed with two brain

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B2B Stories

Putting empty Augusta buildings back to work

Augusta-Richmond County will soon see a series of vacant buildings finding new life for different purposes. The most recent is the former Rite Aid/Eckerd Drugs store on Walton Way at 15th Street. It re-opened on Feb. 8 as a retail store and training center for Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA. That came on the heels of Goodwill turning the former Georgia Federal Bank on Washington Road at Furys Ferry Road into its welcome center for Helms College. Both locations had been commercial tracts, generating property taxes for

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B2B Podcasting

How much is your honey worth?

Heads up! Don’t miss Wednesday, February 14. It’s Valentine’s Day. You don’t want to end up in the doghouse. Mike Petchenik has more on big spending for the big day.

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: Augusta LMI in the middle of the pack

The fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) labor market in Georgia for 2023 was Dalton, followed by Columbus and Rome. Dalton’s Labor Market Index (LMI) which includes employment, unemployment, labor force, hours worked, and average weekly earnings, increased by 2.9% in 2023. Columbus LMI grew by 2.6% and Rome by 2.3%. Augusta grew at 1.1% as did the state of Georgia as a whole. Perhaps surprisingly, some MSAs that have racked up strong growth in the last few years were less robust in 2023. Atlanta’s LMI grew by just 0.8%, Gainesville

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B2B Podcasting

Important CSRA business meeting

This week is one that can change the fortunes of local companies wanting to grow. Mike Petchenik explains more in today’s Biz Bits.

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B2B Stories

Enoch Tarver Business Law Firm Mourns Loss of Partner

The following was a late Friday afternoon statement Augusta Business Daily received from Ed Enoch. For many years, Partner Ed Tarver collaborated with Enoch on various legal matters, including complex business contracts and discrimination lawsuits from their law offices on Wheeler Road. “Honorable Edward Jerome Tarver, former United States Attorney, and State Senator, died this morning from complications following surgery in December. Ed’s wife, Carol and I appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have already received from the community. Ed was a significant and important figure in our

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B2B Stories

Sweet smell of baking success

With her husband’s encouragement, Angela Dragano started her own business three years ago, La Vita Bella, which means ‘It’s a beautiful life.’ Indeed, it’s been beautiful for this entrepreneur who has mastered custom cakes, catering, and event coordination from setup, to decorating and food. Last week, she moved her commercial kitchen from her home to a new location, 908 Dougherty Road in Aiken. La Vita Bella’s hours will vary depending on their custom catering and cake orders. The days and times the new shop will open to the public will

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B2B Stories

Transportation impact on CSRA economic growth

The future of public transit needs in light of growth in Aiken County was the focus of the Feb. 8 “Good Morning North Augusta” breakfast, sponsored by the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce. The Lower Savannah Council of Governments (COG) is working with a Minnesota-based company to study transportation and economic growth in the Aiken-Augusta area. Public transit in Aiken County had been operated by the City of Aiken but was turned over to COG in 2004. “Since then, we’ve modified a little bit of our transit system, our Best

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