Aug/Sept 2018 Buzz Issue

SEPTEMBER 2018 • THE CSRA’S MONTHLY BUSINESS MAGAZINE

‘WHERE WE TELL OUR STORY’

Why buying local matters.

Pages 22-24 2018 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

BECOMING A LEADER PEOPLE LOVE TO FOLLOW

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

to unveil more detailed plans for the ground floor this fall. Currently, that space is filled with merchandise and a series of posters displaying various activ-ities around what the organization has branded as “Augusta’s River Region.”

The move is part of a larger vision that the CVB calls “Destination Blueprint,”

Most business leaders want to be someone their employees love to follow, but achieving that might require a change of thinking on the part of the leader, according to Craig Groeschel.

Groeschel is the pastor of Life Church, the largest church in the United States, with more than 60,000 members on 30 campuses around the country. Groe- Learn key traits schel was the of “anticipatory keynote speaker of the 2018 leadership.”

Global Leader- Page 4 ship Summit, which was held Aug. 9-10 in Chicago and linked via satellite to locations around the country, including at True North Church in North Augusta. Several hundred local business leaders attended the simulcast event there.

In the opening session, Groeschel cited a poll showing that the areas business leaders think they need to improve in don’t jibe with a survey of their employees. The leaders believed that the two areas they needed to improve in were finances and technology, but according to the employees, the two areas were leadership and emotional intelligence.

Leaders, though, often mistake popular-

See CENTER on Page 13

See LEADERSHIP on Page 2

The Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau and Augusta Sports Council are in new digs at 1010 Broad St. Photo by Witt Wells

NEW DOWNTOWN VISITOR CENTER OFFERS LOCALS, VISITORS TASTE OF AUGUSTA

BY WITT WELLS

Following a thorough renovation of a historic downtown building, the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and Augusta Sports Council (ASC) have moved into a new downtown visitor center.

The new center, in a former antique store at 1010 Broad St., is designed to maximize the visitor experience while serving as an informational hub for

both visitors and locals looking to learn about what Augusta has to offer in entertainment, culture and history.

The Augusta CVB and ASC were previously housed at Enterprise Mill.

The bureau said that the new facility is still in progress. What the organization described as an “experiential” space has not yet been completed.

The organizations’ offices are on the top two floors. The CVB said it plans

W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T PL ANS FOR adventure

A crowd gathered at True North Church in North Augusta to hear Life Church pastor Craig Groeschel in the 2018 Global Leadership Summit simulcast. Photo by Gary Kauffman

LEADERSHIP

Continued from Page 1

ity for good leadership.

“You may be popular if you are respected,” Groeschel said, “but you’ll never be respected if you’re only trying to be popular.”

He outlined four areas that leaders need to succeed in to be trusted and respected.

1. A heart to care. “You will never be a leader that others love to follow if you aren’t a leader who loves people,” Groeschel said.

He said there are four words that are essential for leaders to remember in interactions with employees: “I notice; you matter.” He advised leaders to appreciate their employees more than they think they should – then double that appreciation. The best leaders help their employees know they are valued. That’s important, because the top reason that employees leave is because they don’t feel appreciated by management.

“Good employees don’t leave organizations — they leave bad managers,” he said.

2. A passion to inspire. Inspiration, Groeschel believes, is different from motivation.

“Motivating is pushing people; inspiring is pulling out what’s already inside them,” he said.

Surveys show that among great leaders, one quality stands out: Being centered. A centered leader is secure, stable, confident and not trying to prove something. He or she inspires employees to see their work as bigger than themselves.

“They are guided by their values, driven

2 Buzz on Biz September 2018

by purpose and obsessed with mission,” Groeschel said. “Passion transforms a job into a calling.”

3. A willingness to empower. The best leaders unleash higher performance through empowerment, not through command and control.

“If you think you need to have control over everything, you’ll become the lid to your organization,” Groeschel said. “You can have control or growth, but not both.”

Delegating tasks, he added, creates followers, but delegating authority creates leaders and employees who feel more ownership in the company. The strength of an organization is reflected by how deep into the organization people have the ability to say yes without approval from the top.

That requires trust, though, which is something leaders sometimes have trouble doing.

“The best way to find out if you can trust someone is to trust them,” Groeschel said. “If you don’t trust your team, you’re either too controlling or you have the wrong people. Either way, the problem is yours to solve.”

4. A willingness to be real. Groeschel acknowledged that leaders often have trouble being real because of the pressure to provide strong leadership and to do things right. But what employees are most often looking for is leaders who exhibit honesty, integrity and vulnerability.

“In this broken world it’s time for great leaders to step up,” he said. “You don’t have to be someone you’re not, you don’t have to always get it right, but you do have to be real.”

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PEOPLE MATTER

KNOWING YOUR PEOPLE IS KEY TO GREAT LEADERSHIP

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Earlier this month, I attended the two-day 2018 Global Leadership Summit simulcast. The summit takes place in Chicago but is simulcast to locations around the world, including to True North Church in North Augusta.

The goal of the GLS is help local leaders become better leaders through talks from some of the world’s top leaders, and they had plenty to say (you can read more about it on the front page and on page 4). There are many attributes of a great leader, but one common theme was prominent — People matter.

Craig Groeschel, the pastor of Life Church and the summit’s keynote speaker, perhaps said it the most succinctly: “People need to be needed, and they need to be known.”

That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Don’t you feel the same way? I think the theme from the old TV comedy Cheers is the goal of most people – we all want to go where everybody knows our name.

A number of years ago, I worked for a few months on a temporary basis as a catalog copywriter for a large hardware chain.

Entering the building required that I scan my security badge at the security

they were doing, and I told them bits of information about myself. We shared a couple of running jokes that started our days with smiles.

But I noticed that hardly any of the other people who worked on the upper floors stopped to talk to the guards or receptionists.

Many didn’t even acknowledge their presence, almost as if it was beneath them to talk to the lower-level employees. And, it seemed, those lower-level employees seemed to look away and lose their smiles when those people walked by.

I don’t say that to brag on myself, but simply to point out that all the people in a company, whether at the reception desk or in the president’s suite, are co-workers.

Yes, I had an important job writing the copy that went out to hardware stores around the country, but was it any more important to the company than the people who guarded the facility, the people who fielded the incoming calls or, for that matter, the people who cleaned the toilets?

All the people in a company, whether at the reception desk or in the president’s suite, are co-workers. ... If you’re the owner or in upper management of a company, let your people know how important they are, from top to bottom. guard station, then walk past the reception desk to the stairs (I think there was an elevator, but my work station was on the second floor).

Every morning, I exchanged a few words or joked with the security guard on duty. The Monday morning guy was an older fellow who spent his weekends with his grandchildren, so I made sure to ask him about that. Then I’d pause at the reception desk to ask the ladies there how

Features Words of Wisdom.........................................4 World leaders offered nuggets of wisdom at the 2018 Global Leadership Summit

Businessperson of the Month.................. 20 AU professor Simon Medcalfe enjoys teaching the practical side of business economics.

Buzz Bits................................................... 6-7

Georgia Food on Our Minds..................... 22 Local farmers and restaurants work together to promote Georgia’s food economy.

No Free Lunch..............................................8 UGA professor says socialism in the United States would hurt small businesses and the economy.

Openings, Closings............... 12, 13 Upcoming Events...................14, 15

Arts in the Heart....................................... 29 The annual Arts in the Heart Festival is growing, but organizers strive to keep the small-town vibe.

Photo by Redwolf

Columnists Tim Dalton: Ensure your business can run without you...........10 Russell Head: Pros and cons to standing desks in your company...................................................................................................11 Christine Hall: Survival depends on controlling cash flow......16 Ed Enoch: Holiday parties can be fun – or hazardous...............16 Tony Creighton: The importance of regular maintenance cleaning.....................................................................................................18

Dagan Sharpe: Use 10 percent habit with finances...................18 Terra Carroll: Chamber councils make impact in North Augusta community............................................................................26 Samantha Barksdale: Superhero flicks offer inspiration...........30 Ben Casella: A sour ale worthy of a sweet review.......................30 Millie Huff: Your Pie offers wide range of pizza choices............31

If you’re the owner or in upper management of a company, let your people know how important they are, from top to bottom. Learn their names and something about them.

Thank them often for their contributions and reward them appropriately — although a personal thank you and acknowledgment is often better than money (but don’t let that be an excuse to be a cheapskate, either).

When you let your people know they’re needed and let them know you’re aware of who they are, you’ll be amazed at how loyal and productive they’ll become. And it’ll make you a better leader because you’ll understand who you’re leading and why.

In addition to serving as editor of Buzz on Biz, Gary Kauffman is a Christian life coach working from an office in Martinez. Contact him at 803.341.5830 or kauffmancoaching@gmail.com or visit kauffmancoaching.com.

The Buzz on Biz mission is to act as an inspirational tool for those in the workplace and those who are entrepreneurs, and to provide useful, practical information to increase their companies’ bottom lines.

To order a 12-month subscription mailed to your home or office, please mail a check for $49 (includes sales tax) to cover postage to the address below.

Publisher Ashlee Duren, ashlee.duren@augustamagazine.com Editor in Chief Gary Kauffman Assistant Editor & Layout Amanda Holahan Multimedia Journalist Witt Wells, witt.wells@buzzon.biz Photography Witt Wells, Gary Kauffman Sales Manager Lisa Dorn, lisa.dorn@augustamagazine.com Sales and PR Leslie Whitney, leslie.whitney@augustamagazine.com, 706-823-3719 Ad Building Michael Rushbrook Distribution Ken Brown Opinions expressed by the writers are their own and their respective institutions. Neither Morris Media Network nor its agents or employees take any responsibility for the accuracy of submitted information, which is presented for informational purposes only.

For the latest news, visit us at buzzon.biz Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/buzz-on-biz Follow us on Twitter @BuzzonBiz 643 Broad Street, Augusta GA 30901

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

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2018 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

LEADERS OFFER WORDS OF WISDOM

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Craig Groeschel believes that the difference between a good leader and a great leader is that a great leader anticipates changes rather than simply reacting to them.

Groeschel is the pastor of Life Church, the largest church in the United States, with more than 60,000 members on 30 campuses around the country. He spoke at the 2018 Global Leadership Summit on Aug. 9-10 in Chicago, which was linked via satellite to locations around the country.

In the summit’s closing talk, Groeschel used three “D” words to describe anticipatory leadership: Develop, Discern and Disrupt.

Develop situational awareness: Groeschel urged leaders to honestly and accurately assess the true state of their organization, including the leadership.

“Self-awareness is incredibly difficult,” he said. “People have difficulty recognizing their own incompetence.

Look at everything and tell the truth.

Have the courage to be honest.”

Discern future threats and opportunities: As an example, Groeschel said that empty stores in a strip mall are a threat to the owners of that property but created a great opportunity for his church to expand into new locations.

“What is a threat to one organization is an opportunity for another,” Groeschel said. “Practice thinking outside your field.”

He added that new challenges equal new opportunities and that innovation is born out of limitations.

“When you see a problem, train yourself to see the opportunity,” he said.

Disrupt what is with what could be: Groeschel gave leaders permission to break some rules because doing so allows them to see possibilities before others can.

He also warned against the “curse of confidence.”

“What you ‘know’ may be completely wrong,” he said.

Leaders become vulnerable when they become overconfident, especially when things are going well. That makes it difficult to receive valuable feedback, can cause leaders to provide more answers instead of asking more questions and assume so much that they stop innovating.

“Don’t be afraid of the future,” Groeschel urged. “Create what the future needs to be.”

4 Buzz on Biz September 2018

MORE VOICES FROM THE SUMMIT Author Rasmus Ankersen used statistical analysis and observation of what makes businesses and athletes successful. Photo

by Gary Kauffman

l “Seek

out a human need and find out how to solve it.

Values are universal, so you can take your values beyond your faith. Our greatest challenge we have in the world today is insufficient exposure to each other, but we need to make sure technology doesn’t divide us.” – Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman, Econet Group, creator of a cellphone network that connected 75 percent of Africa l “The

secret to growing your power is to give it away.

Don’t be so afraid of making a mistake that you don’t define success. The price of inaction is greater than the price of making a mistake. The way you differentiate yourself is by taking risks. Fear has no place in your success equation. It takes courage to be a powerful, impactful, influential leader.” – Carla Harris, vice chairman and senior client advisor, Morgan Stanley l “There

are three blind spots companies fall into: conformity, compulsivity, control. Symmetric inertia is when nobody changes until everybody changes so nobody changes. Take small, safe contrary actions. Leaders, take your hands off. The more things you have your fingers in, the slower everything goes in an organization. The story about you is yet to be written, but you hold the pen.

Seek simplicity.” – Juliet Funt, CEO, Whitespace at Work and daughter of Candid Camera’s Allen Funt l “The

greatest battles we face are the ones inside of us.

All of us are desperately afraid that there’s greatness inside of us that’ll never be realized. But so many of us hang onto the status quo because that’s where we’re best accepted.

Freedom is on the other side of your fears. Your greatness is on the others side of your pain. Your future is on the other side of your failures.” – Erwin McManus, founder, Mosaic church “The road to success is paved with mistakes well-handled.

What if we could look at mistakes as our greatest renewable resource? What if mistakes that are embraced and handled in a profitable way could land you in a better place than if you’d never made them? Mistakes provide a great opportunity to learn.” – Danny Meyer, restaurateur l “Everyone

on this planet has difficult conversations. How you handle those conversations day in and day out defines your relationships. Change your internal story. Instead of determining who’s right, find out what it is that we both think this conversation is about. What have we both contributed to this situation?” – Sheila Heen, founder, Triad Consulting Group l “As

leaders, our job is to connect, to communicate, to celebrate. My dad used to say, ‘I can teach you anything, but I can’t teach you to care.’ How can you look someone in the eye and let them know you care? If you care about (your employees) don’t talk above them. Put yourself in their shoes. Never forget where you came from. What would I want someone to say to me?” – Angela Ahrendts, senior vice president, Apple

l “Never

trust success. It creates a lack of urgency, so we hesitate to improve until we have a burning platform.

Make people understand you haven’t reached the top of the mountain. Make the world bigger and yourself smaller.”

– Rasmus Ankerson, entrepreneur and author l “A

vision should be a little aggravating, a little tormenting. If you have a vision that everyone agrees with it isn’t big enough. Dream something so big that it gets you out of your comfort zone and scares you to death.”

– T.D. Jakes, founder and senior pastor, The Potter’s House l “Challenges

don’t mean the dream isn’t working. See the challenges for what they are – stepping stones to take you to a better place. Challenges shouldn’t be deterrents; challenges should spur us on. There’s no great leader without pain, no great leader without challenges.”

– Nthabiseng Legoete, founder and CEO, Quali Health, health clinics for the poor in South Africa l “Leaders

see more than others see and they see it before others see it. Creativity says there’s always an answer, and flexibility says there’s usually more than one answer. When you know what you want for your business, your mind will start to think about what you need.” – John Maxwell, leadership coach and author l “Cultural

Intelligence (CQ) is the capability to work and relate effectively in diverse cultural situations. The No. 1 characteristic of a CQ leader is their curiosity. They have a high understanding of how cultures are similar and different.” – David Livermore, president, Cultural Intelligence Center l “Women

and men are better together. We desire this deep inside because we’re designed for this. Fear is the currency of oppression. Differences through the lens of fear are threats, but through the lens of faith they’re opportunities.” – Danielle Strickland, pastor and author l “It

takes courage to lead. The pressures around us are overwhelming to focus on the short term, to focus on winning. We all have a choice to live by the infinite rules or the finite rules. If we live by the finite rules, when you die, you just die. In the infinite game, we will live on in the impact we’ve made in other people’s lives.” – Simon Sinek, author

buzz bits

SRP PARK NAMED BALLPARK OF THE YEAR

It took longer than expected to build the Augusta GreenJackets’ new stadium, but in its first year of operation, the facility has already garnered awards.

In early August, BaseballParks.com announced the new SRP Park in Riverside Village in North Augusta is its 2018 Ballpark of the Year.

Then, in late August, Ballpark Digest presented the park with its 2018 Ballpark of the Year award.

BaseballParks.com Award The BaseballParks.com award was based on the combination of site selection, exterior appearance, architectural design and fan amenities.

In a news release on the GreenJackets’ website, Jeff Eiseman of Agon Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the team, said, “For BaseballParks. com to give us this award is truly an honor. When you have an outside, independent, respected voice that has done its due diligence seeing every ballpark recognize our ballpark with this award, it’s truly special. It’s affirmation of what we believed. And we’re in tremendous company considering the others that have won it.”

The winner of the first BaseballParks.com award in 2000 was AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants and the Major League parent team of the GreenJackets. SRP Park was even designed with AT&T Park in mind.

Other parks to win the award include Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, San Diego’s Petco Park and last year’s win-

ner, Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford, Conn., home of the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats.

The award was announced by Joe Mock, founder of BaseballParks.com, in the Aug. 8 edition of USA Today Sports Weekly.

“I always enjoy scrutinizing a new park as soon as it opens,” Mock said. “When I visited SRP Park on its opening night, though, I knew instantly that this was a truly special facility — one that will stand out for many years to come. Its riverside location and the way the park’s design takes advantage of that are truly remarkable.”

The honor extends beyond the GreenJackets. It is a highly prized architectural award as well, and honors Tad Shultz of TL Shultz/ISC for his design.

In the news release, North Augusta City Administrator Todd Glover said, “We are thrilled that our stadium is now being recognized nationally. It is symbolic of the excellence that our citizens expect.”

SRP Park and the award also earned accolades from Pat O’Conner, president and CEO of Minor League Baseball. “SRP Park is the gem we all knew it would be, and I am so pleased that BaseballParks.com recognized what a tremendous facility it is,” O’Conner said. “All of the hard work and effort put forth by the ownership group led by Chris Schoen, Jeff Eiseman, Missy Martin and Tom Denlinger was well worth it.”

Mock published an in-depth review of SRP Park at baseballparks.com/indepth/srp.

Ballpark Digest Award For its award, Ballpark Digest considered not just SRP Park’s design but also how it is a centerpiece of the Riverside Village area.

Last year’s winner was the Atlanta Braves’ SunTrust Park. Past winners also include Columbia’s Spirit Communications Park, Minnesota’s Target Field and Arizona’s Salt River Fields.

“We are incredibly honored to receive the Ballpark Digest 2018 Ballpark of the Year Award,” Eiseman said. “I have personally visited many of the past years’ recipients, and to be listed alongside them is truly remarkable. This award belongs to the City of North Augusta. Their leadership and vision made this all possible. The best is yet to come as the Riverside Village district fills out.”

North Augusta Mayor Bob Pettit said the award validates the benefits of public-private ownership.

“SRP Park is the perfect ballpark in the right location as the jewel of our new Riverside Village development,” he said.

“We expect a lot of things from modern ballparks,” said Kevin Reichard, Ballpark Digest’s publisher. “We expect them to provide a great fan experience, we expect them to take good care of players and we expect them to provide tangible benefits for their communities. SRP Park succeeds at fulfilling these expectations.”

Get more information at ballparkdigest.com/2018/ 08/22/2018-ballpark-of-the-year-srp-park.

PINNACLE CLUB UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Popular private club and restaurant The Pinnacle Club will be under new management by another popular dining establishment.

Edgar’s Hospitality Group, the regional hospitality division of Goodwill Industries and operators of Edgar’s Grille, Edgar’s Bistro, Hire Grounds Café and Snelling Center, will serve as the new management team. The transition took place after the retirement of

6 Buzz on Biz September 2018

ness makes Edgar’s Hospitality Group ideal for managing the club, which occupies the top two floors of the former Wells Fargo building on Seventh Street between Broad and Reynolds streets in downtown Augusta.

The Pinnacle Club opened in 1967.

The Pinnacle Club has been part of Augusta since 1967.

Joel Sobel, who had served as The Pinnacle Club’s chief operations officer for the past 18 years.

Pinnacle Club Advisory Board President Robert Osborne said the experience in the high-end food service busi-

COMCAST’S UPGRADE NEAR COMPLETION

Comcast subsidiary Comcast Business has nearly completed a multimillion-dollar upgrade of its 700-mile

buzz bits fiber network in Augusta that will deliver internet speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second.

The buildout, which began nine months ago and is expected to be completed by late September, will provide businesses, schools, hospitals and government organizations with fast, scalable Internet connectivity and cloudbased voice solutions.

“Today’s announcement reinforces the importance of technology as a major consideration for cities looking to grow and attract multiple industries,” said Doug Guthrie, regional senior vice president for Comcast. “With this investment by Comcast, Augusta will soon be better positioned to support the next generation of business.”

Comcast Business serves schools, businesses, hospitals and other organizations that require large amounts of bandwidth, are looking to link multiple locations or that plan to connect their offices to third-party data centers.

Services offered include ethernet private lines, ethernet virtual private line, ethernet network service and ethernet dedicated internet.

PREMIER NETWORX ON INC. 5000 LIST FOR FIRST TIME Local information technology company Premier Networx has made the 2018 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America.

The list, which is put out annually, has featured m a j o r companies including Microsoft, Timberland, Vizio and more. Premier Networx was ranked No. 2,301.

“It’s truly an amazing accomplishment for myself and my employees,” Premier Networx CEO Chad Harpley said in a news release. “I didn’t start this business for special awards; I started it because I saw a need for a reliable IT company. However, this recognition makes me feel like we’re doing something right.”

Premier Networx was not the only Augusta-area company that made the list. EDTS, coming in at No. 3,873,

made the list for the ninth year in a row. Several Atlanta-area companies, including Areonux Airways (No. 6) and health company HealPros (No. 90), also were on the list.

Inc. 5000 selects the companies on its list based on a company’s revenue growth from 2014 to 2017, as well as employee growth. In order to qualify, businesses must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit and independent, not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies.

Premier Networx will be recognized at the Inc. 5000 Conference and Gala in October in San Antonio, Texas.

AIKEN SETS RECORD WITH HOSPITALITY TAX FOR YEAR A hospitality tax is paying off for the city of Aiken.

The Aiken City Council has reported that it collected more than $1.5 million from the hospitality tax in its recent fiscal year, a record amount. It is 2 percent more than the previous year and 8 percent more than had been budgeted.

Part of the increase comes from a record number of businesses, 260, remitting hospitality tax funds to the city.

The hospitality tax went into effect June 1, 2015. It is a 1 percent tax on prepared meals, food and drinks, including alcohol. The tax collection has exceeded $100,000 each month since it was implemented.

Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon said the record hospitality tax collection is a sign of a confident economy.

HIPPODROME CHANGING ITS BUSINESS MODEL

The Hippodrome Events Complex in North Augusta, which includes the 52,500-square-foot outdoor City Spin Arena, has announced it will not be scheduling any new events for the year.

According to reports, the events complex will remain open but is looking to change its business model.

The Hippodrome has long been a fixture on Schultz Hill in North Augusta, overlooking the Augusta skyline. It is most well-known for hosting events

The Hippodrome Events Complex has scheduled no new events for the year as it is changing its business model.

for the annual Augusta Futurity horse event and the National Collegiate Disc Golf championships on its five disc golf courses.

It was purchased by Morris Communications and opened as an events center last November when it hosted the annual Border Bash.

CONSTRUCTION ON ARTS CENTER TO START IN EVANS Construction will soon be underway for a new Performing Arts Center in Evans’ new town center plaza development.

The $31 million center will be the central feature of the Plaza at Evans Towne Center and will face North Belair Road. Rain has delayed the start of construction, but building is now expected to begin by late September or early October. It is still on track to be completed by June 2020.

The planned 70,000-square-foot Performing Arts Center will seat about 2,000 people and will be capable of hosting Broadway-style performances.

It will also be the new home of the Columbia County Ballet.

Other buildings have already been built in the plaza, a Meybohm Realty development.

AU EMAILS ARE HACKED Even as Augusta University’s new Cyber Institute opens for students, the university is investigating a breach of cybersecurity that might have led to compromised security for 417,000 people.

Investigators found that on Sept. 10-

11, 2017, an unauthorized user gained access to email accounts and potentially to Social Security numbers and personal health information. A second, smaller phishing attack happened on July 11 of this year.

After the first phishing incident, Augusta University disabled the affected emails, required passwords to be changed and heightened monitoring of the accounts. Information that might have been obtained in that incident included patient names, addresses, dates of birth, medical information and insurance information. A small number of individuals might have had their Social Security number or driver’s license numbers compromised.

However, AU has not been notified that any such information was misused.

AU will notify affected individuals through the U.S. Postal Service.

The university is reviewing its policies and making changes to policies and procedures to protect against future attacks.

Area McDonald’s restaurants are part of the company’s $170 million upgrade.

UPGRADES PLANNED FOR MCDONALD’S McDonald’s restaurants in the CSRA will take on a new look in the next two years.

McDonald’s plans to invest about $170 million in upgrades to its Georgia franchises over the next two years, including more than 35 in the CSRA. Plans are to upgrade to digital menu boards and self-order kiosks, which are already present in some local McDonald’s.

In addition, the upgrades will include new décor and furniture, expanded McCafe counters and larger display cases. Kiosks and remodeled counters will also expand the ability to provide table service, where employees bring the food to customers.

McDonald’s is the largest fast-food burger restaurant in the Augusta area.

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

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September 2018 Buzz on Biz

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NO FREE LUNCH

PROFESSOR SAYS SOCIALISM IN U.S. WOULD HURT SMALL BUSINESSES, ECONOMY

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Even as the socialist politics in Venezuela implode, some Americans are calling for socialist policies in the United States.

But that, says a University of Georgia professor, would not bode well for small businesses or the economy.

“Under socialism and government control, everybody ends up much poorer, because the government isn’t very good at running things,” said Jeffrey Dorfman, professor of agricultural and applied economics at UGA who has authored a book, Ending the Era of the Free Lunch, and written about socialism for Forbes.

He said that some of the interest in socialism stems from a lack of understanding of what it really means.

Capitalism vs. socialism

By definition, “capitalism,” the economic system the United States has always operated under, is a system of private enterprises producing goods and services that they sell to consumers, at a profit, through voluntary transactions. In other words, people make things that people want to buy, which funds the ownership of the business. Production is basically controlled by consumer demand.

Under “socialism,” though, the ownership or control over production is controlled by the government. Consumers pay the price set by the government, and their choices are limited by the supply the government allows.

Dorfman said true socialism would be devastating to America’s small businesses and the economy. “What we see in Venezuela, and any actually socialist country, is that it’s either impossible to have a private business or is very hard to start one,” he said. “Small business is where we have the most job growth, so if you squash small business, there are severe consequences.”

New definition of socialism

But, Dorfman believes, many Democrat candidates who espouse socialism really mean something other than true socialism. They want the government, rather than consumers, to pay for such things as health care and education but still want those areas to be under private ownership and control.

“They’re trying to redefine ‘democratic socialism’ to just mean a large social safety net,” he said. “That’s fine if that’s what you

8 Buzz on Biz September 2018

want to support, but that’s not socialism.”

However, he pointed out that the Democratic Socialists of America publically acknowledge that they want to abolish capitalism and profit in order to run the country under true socialism, and some candidates do hold to that view.

Polls show that a growing number of Americans under the age of 30 embrace this redefined “democratic socialism.”

Frequently they point to the “socialism” of countries such as Sweden, Denmark and others in Europe. Dorfman said, however, that those countries actually operate under capitalism but have a large social welfare system funded by a high tax rate.

Problems with a welfare state

But even such a social welfare system would be problematic for production and economic strength in the United States.

“You lose a lot of productivity and raise costs a lot if the government creates a safety net that is overgenerous,” he said.

“It would be hard to hire workers. For small businesses, costs would go up and many would close before they became successful and profitable.”

There is also a question of the longterm sustainability of such a system.

“Can you have a super-big social safety net and not slide into too much government control?” Dorfman asked.

That, he said, is happening in some European countries, where they now have long-term unemployment rates of 10 percent and 25 percent unemployment among youth. As a result, some countries are scaling back government control to increase productivity.

“In the long run, this is really expensive,” he added. “We older people may die before it crumbles, but the young people probably won’t.”

Adding such items as Medicare for all and free college to the entitlements already in the government budgets would require a federal tax rate as high as 80 percent, Dorfman projected, which he said couldn’t work. He noted that the tax rate would have to rise considerably to even fund those entitlements already on the books without adding any new ones.

Misinformation about economics

Still, this idea of democratic socialism appeals to many young people for several

WHOLE WORLD HAS BENEFITED FROM CAPITALISM

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Among those people advocating for socialism, a common bogeyman is capitalism. They see it as symbol for greed and unfairness.

But Jeffrey Dorfman, professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Georgia, holds the opposite view.

“Capitalism is working great in the entire world,” he said. “Capitalism has lifted a billion people worldwide out of extreme poverty.”

He pointed to the example of China, where many people had been living on a wage of less than a dollar a day. But a move toward capitalism has nearly eliminated that.

“People complain about poverty and inequality in the United States, but the poor people in the United States live better than the middle class in many European countries,” he said. reasons, Dorfman said.

“Fairness and equality are highly valued but much misunderstood things,” he said. “Also, we’re not doing a good job of teaching economics. They’re convinced the government can spend as much money as they want — they’ll just print more.”

But printing money without any real value to back it, history shows, creates inflation. Recently, in Venezuela, that led to an inflation rate of 46,000 percent and it is still climbing.

“Inflation is a tax on people who were responsible and saved money,” Dorfman said.

The things that people view as “free” in other countries, such as health care, are not really free. Those countries have fed-

“They have bigger houses and more access to air conditioning.”

Many opponents of capitalism point out that the rich are getting richer in the United States, but Dorfman said that doesn’t mean the poor are getting poorer.

“Certainly, the rich have gotten richer than the rest of us,” he said.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that most of us have gotten richer, too, just not as fast. Those people got superrich because we volunteered to pay them for products that made our lives better.”

He cited Walmart and Amazon as two examples in which those getting rich helped everyone else save money.

“Even if you don’t shop at Walmart, if there’s a Walmart in your town you’ve saved $600 in groceries because your store had to lower prices to compete,” he said. eral tax rates of 40 percent or higher, and it’s those tax dollars that are used to pay for the “free” things.

A middle-class married couple with a taxable income of $300,000 in Europe could pay 40 percent or more in taxes; in contrast, an American couple making the same would pay only 24 percent in federal taxes.

A common refrain among those who want increased social programs is to have “the rich” pay their “fair share.” But, Dorfman said, the top 1 percent of earners in the United States already pay half of all taxes, and the top 10 percent pay 70 percent of taxes. Taxes on the bottom 80 percent of U.S. wage earners account for only 15 percent of federal taxes.

GET OUT OF THE WAY

5 WAYS TO ENSURE YOUR BUSINESS CAN RUN WITHOUT YOU

BY TIM DALTON

We’ve addressed in the past the difference between having a true business versus just having a job within your business.

The more a business can run without the owner involved in its direct operation, the more value the business has to the owner and any eventual acquirer.

Some owners focus on growing their profits, while others are obsessed with sales goals. Have you ever considered making it your primary goal to set up your business so that it can thrive and grow without you? A business not dependent on its owner is the ultimate asset to own.

Here are five ways to set up your business so that it can succeed without you.

1

Give employees a stake in the outcome. A company’s greatest asset should be its employees. As a business owner, you need to work on creating an ownership culture inside your company: You are transparent about your financial results, and you allow employees to participate in your financial success. This results in employees who act like owners when you’re not around.

2

Get them to walk in your shoes. If you’re not quite comfortable opening up the books to your employees, consider a simple management technique in which you respond to every question your staff brings you with the same answer: “If you owned the company, what would you do?”

By forcing your employees to walk in your shoes, you get them thinking about their question as you would, and it builds the habit of starting to think like an owner.

Pretty soon, employees are able to solve their own problems.

3

Vet your offerings. Identify the products and services which require your personal involvement in making, delivering or selling them. Make a list of everything you sell and score each on a scale of 0 to 10 on how easy they are to teach an employee to handle. Assign a 10 to offerings that are easy to teach employees and give a lower score to anything that requires your personal attention. Commit to stopping to sell the lowest-scoring product or service on your list. Repeat this exercise every quarter.

4

Create automatic customers. Are you the company’s best salesperson?

If so, you’ll need to fire yourself as your company’s rainmaker in order to get it to run without you. One way to do this

10 Buzz on Biz September 2018

is to create a recurring revenue business model where customers buy from you automatically.

Consider creating a service contract with your customers that offers to fulfill one of their ongoing needs on a regular basis.

5

Write an instruction manual for your business. Finally, make sure your company comes with instructions included.

Write an employee manual or standard operating proce“You-proofing” your business — making dures (SOPs). These sure it will keep going even when you are a set of rules are not there — has many benefits. employees can follow for repetitive tasks in your company. This will ensure that employees have a rulebook they can follow when you’re not around and that when an employee leaves, you can more quickly swap them out with a replacement to take on duties of the job.

You-proofing your business has enormous benefits. It will allow you to create a company and have a life. Your business will be free to scale up because it is no longer dependent on you and you are no longer its bottleneck. Best of all, it will be worth a lot more to a buyer whenever you are ready to sell.

If you are interested in learning more about how to increase the value of your business, take the Value Builder assessment on our website and see where you score.

Tim Dalton is president of Integra Business Brokers and has more than 19 years of experience in the Augusta area assisting business buyers and sellers. He is also a Certified Business Value Builder. Additional services include targeted business acquisitions, business valuations and financing assistance. Dalton is a licensed real estate broker in Georgia and South Carolina and can be reached at 706.650.1100 or tdalton@integrabrokers.com. Visit Integra’s website at www.integrabrokers.com.

OFFERING SERVICES FOR BUSINESSES FOR SALE IN GA & SC • SELLING A BUSINESS • BUYING A BUSINESS • BUSINESS CONSULTING

• VALUATION CONSULTING • MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS • BUSINESS ACQUISITION RESEARCH

Mordecai Evans Michael Reagan Tim Dalton mreagan@integrabrokers.com tdalton@integrabrokers.com mevans@integrabrokers.com

4468 COLUMBIA RD, SUITE B MARTINEZ, GA 30907 | 706-650-1100

STANDING TALL

PROS AND CONS OF BRINGING STANDING DESKS TO YOUR COMPANY

BY RUSSELL HEAD

Standing desks are a growing trend in business settings across the country.

Although experts agree that sitting for extended periods of time throughout the day can be dangerous for your health, so far there is little agreement on the results that standing desks have on employees.

The impact of implementing standing desks will likely be determined by a variety of factors unique to your workplace and employees.

Here are some factors to keep in mind while considering the use of these desks at your organization.

Potential advantages

Health: Health care experts agree that maintaining a sedentary or still position for extended periods of time can lead to health risks later in life, including heart disease and diabetes. Standing desks encourage employees to move around the workplace more frequently. While standing, the heart works harder and causes the body to burn more calories.

All of these potential benefits could help reduce health insurance claims at your company and keep your employees at work, reducing costs that would otherwise have been spent addressing health concerns.

Productivity: Depending on the task assigned, standing or walking can help individuals increase productivity. Research shows that employees who stood while composing emails or answering phone calls were able to focus more on their work.

Standing or walking can add a sense of urgency to an activity and discourage employees from ineffectively multitasking or becoming distracted.

Culture: As standing desks are becoming a trend, offering them to your employees can make your organization a more desirable place to work. Prospective employees may be drawn to a company that offers the option of sitting or walking in an effort to improve their health.

Notable companies such as Google, Twitter, AOL and Facebook all offer their employees the opportunity to use a standing desk.

Potential disadvantages

Health: Although researchers agree that sitting for extended periods of time throughout the day can lead to significant health risks, they are divided as to whether standing can help prevent these risks.

Some occupational health specialists

Standing desks are a growing trend in today’s business world. The research is still out on how effective they are at improving health.

Whether standing desks have a place at your business or not, employers can always find ways to encourage healthy habits. are concerned that the rising trend of standing desks might give employees who use them the impression that standing in one place is an acceptable replacement for sitting in one place. They argue that the calorie-burn difference between sitting and standing is relatively insignificant and will not have a noticeable impact on long-term health.

Productivity: Research shows that walking or standing might increase productivity during some tasks, but it might be a hindrance when added dexterity or creativity is required. For example, the additional sense of urgency caused by standing may distract an employee working in a creative field, such as design.

Cost: Offering employees the option of using alternative desks can represent a significant financial expenditure. Highend standing desks can cost thousands of dollars, and units that are simply placed on top of an existing desk can still cost hundreds of dollars.

Existing desks can be customized with inexpensive materials, but these desks would not be as structurally sound and could pose a potential risk to the employees using them.

Are standing desks right for your company?

Establishing the effectiveness of standing desks for your organization can be a

difficult task.

If you are interested in standing desks, consider purchasing a single unit as a trial for one eager employee to use or for several employees to share. This step can help establish the advantages or disadvantages of these desks at your organization without committing to large expenses.

Other employee wellness habits can be used to complement or replace standing desks. Employees can be encouraged to engage in walking and frequent breaks away from their desks to avoid the potential health risks associated with oversitting.

Whether standing desks have a place at your business or not, employers can always find ways to encourage healthy habits.

Russell T. Head is CEO of Head Capital Advisors, an Acrisure agency partner and Augusta’s largest employee benefits brokerage. He can be reached at 706.733.3459 or rthead@ headca.com.

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

11

Openings, Closings and Moves COFFEE ROASTER PLANS TO OPEN NORTH AUGUSTA STORE

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

To hear Brad Stone talk, you might think he’s a scientist. His speech is peppered with statements about carefully controlled experiments, blending various products and keeping detailed notes in order to repeat the processes.

But Stone is a coffee roaster. His company, Stone Roastery, opened in April in a small shed behind his home on Five Notch Road in North Augusta.

His products have proved so popular already that he plans to open a retail coffee shop in North Augusta before the end of the year.

“I’ve spent hours and hours tasting coffee,” Stone said.

While many roasters offer singleorigin coffee, Stone Roastery specializes in blends, combining beans from different countries to create unique flavors. Unlike most other roasters, Stone blends the beans before roasting them, which he believes creates a more flavorful blend.

In addition to hot brewed coffee, Stone also creates cold-brewed coffees and brews that are infused with nitrogen.

Stone has been a coffee connoisseur ever since he began traveling throughout the country as a government contractor, which allowed him to visit many coffee shops. He left that job and started his own construction company, then

Brad Stone, owner of Stone Roastery, currently roasts coffee beans at his North Augusta home, but he plans to open a shop on Belvedere-Clearwater Road before the end of the year. Photo by Gary Kauffman

landed a job as a millwright at a paper company. But back surgery made that type of physical labor impractical.

While working in construction, Stone had helped a friend with a small coffee-roasting business. Needing a new occupation after surgery, he launched into that role again in 2017. He spent many hours visiting other coffee roasters and baristas to study how to create

OPENINGS

Tailgate Tavern Residents of the Aiken area have a new venue to watch sports while they eat.

Tailgate Tavern opened in The Alley in downtown Aiken in the former home of Catch 231, Soiree and other restaurants. The new owners, Dave and Rhonda Robinson, are not strangers to the area. They had owned Playoffs Sports Bar and Grill, which is now closed and under new ownership.

Tailgate Tavern serves as a tribute of sorts to Aiken, with recycled materials from Hotel Aiken and the Aiken Mall in use. The Robinsons also brought bar stools and sports memorabilia with them from Playoffs.

The new restaurant will feature 28 televisions and indoor and outdoor seating.

In addition to wine, beer and mixed

12 Buzz on Biz September 2018

the blends he wants.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun with it,” he said.

He bought two roasters for his shop and has ordered a third, a larger roaster that he plans to use in his shop once it opens. He plans to have it behind glass and set scheduled roasting times so customers can view the processes he uses.

His customers include some of the

Tailgate Tavern in downtown Aiken will offer indoor and outdoor seating and 28 TV screens for watching sports events.

drinks, Tailgate will serve sports bar food such as wings, nachos, burgers and salads. Dinner hours will include more upscale fare such as steaks, pork chops, barbecue and fish.

Brandon Hanisee will serve as the

head chef.

Food will be served from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Drinks will be available later on weekends.

area’s largest churches. He also sells coffee to some restaurants.

He currently has eight blends that he sells in 1-pound and 5-pound bags.

One specialty coffee, named Jalopy, keeps changing in taste — Stone orders specialty beans in one-time orders and blends those he doesn’t use into the Jalopy blend. Since the beans keep changing, the flavor changes, too.

Stone is not only particular about how he blends the coffees, but also where they come from. He has specific farms in places such as Guatemala and Papua New Guinea that he buys beans from. Like wine, the vintage can change from year to year and from location to location because coffee beans are affected by soil and climate. He plans to travel to Guatemala next year to visit some of the farms.

Stone’s retail business will be at 502 Belvedere-Clearwater Road, just a few blocks off Edgefield Road in North Augusta, in a building that formerly housed Belvedere Cleaners. Stone, who has built a 1965 pickup and owns a 1967 Mustang, plans to give his business a retro look.

In addition to serving his own blends of coffees, he also plans to offer homebaked treats. He doesn’t have a date yet for when he’ll open his retail store but said it would be before the end of the year.

PDQ PDQ restaurant, which earlier this year closed its Washington Road location, plans to open a new restaurant inside Walmart on Bobby Jones Expressway. PDQ is a fast-casual restaurant chain serving chicken products and salads.

This will be one of the few PDQ restaurants that will not be a free-standing store and will not have a drive-thru. The restaurant will be approximately 2,000 square feet inside Walmart, which previously had contained a McDonald’s.

No opening date has been set.

PDQ also has a store at the corner of Washington and North Belair roads.

Openings, Closings and Moves

ACQUISITIONS

MAU Workforce Solutions Augusta-based staffing company MAU Workforce Solutions has acquired Atlanta-based staffing company 3Ci. The deal gives MAU, which has been based in Augusta since 1973, 10 company-owned offices in three states from the East Coast to Utah, with employees and consultants working around the world.

Rob MacLane, president of 3Ci, stated in a news release from MAU that his team is excited about the possibilities the partnership presents as it opens up more markets in the tech sector.

“We have focused heavily on tech in the Atlanta area, and this new venture allows 3Ci to grow quickly into booming tech markets where MAU is currently located and in targeted IT markets across the world,” MacLane said. “In addition, MAU is a certified diversity-owned business, which will help us create new opportunities and better serve our clients.”

IT employment is projected to increase by 13 percent between 2016 and 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around 17,000 technology jobs have a $113.1 billion impact on the Georgia economy each year.

MAU plans to extend its global reach by adding the Atlanta-based company’s expertise in the fast-growing sector.

“The acquisition of 3Ci opens up new avenues of growth for both companies to leverage our combined 85 years in business,” said Randy Hatcher, president of MAU Workforce Solutions.

“MAU broadens its current service offering to include expertise in technology staffing and consulting at a time

when Georgia has staked its claim as the technology hub of the Southeast.”

Hatcher said 3Ci caught his eye not just because of its accomplishments in the technology sector, but because it was bringing fresh ideas to its approach while having a company ethos that correlated with the MAU culture.

With the expansion, 3Ci expands its base of services to include MAU’s suite of staffing and outsourcing solutions in manufacturing, finance, accounting, administrative, engineering and supply chain segments.

“There is a synergy between two Georgia-based companies coming together,” Hatcher said. “This is almost a perfect alignment of work, values and culture.”

CLOSINGS

transform it into an indoor-outdoor shopping and dining area, similar to its Shelter Cove Towne Center in Hilton Head, S.C. The city of Aiken bought land surrounding the mall to be used as a walking track or an exercise area.

Demolition is expected to take place by the end of the year or early 2019.

EXTENSIONS

SRNS Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has received a one-year contract extension from the Department of Energy.

The extension, valued at $1 billion, runs through July 31, 2019.

SRNS has been the management and operations contractor for Savannah River Site since 2008. According to the Department of Ebergy, SRNS is the only company with the knowledge, experience and capability to provide the highly specialized services required there.

EXPANSIONS

Aiken Mall will be torn down as its owners have plans to completely overhaul the property.

Aiken Mall Aiken Mall will close and be demolished, possibly before the end of the year, but some businesses continue to operate in the Mall Complex.

Southeastern Development Associates, based in Augusta, bought the mall and, according to signs, has closed it.

But LensCrafters, Books-a-Million and Belk all continue to operate there.

Southeastern purchased Aiken Mall for $3 million in 2016 and plans to

CENTER

Continued from Page 1

which seeks to make the Augusta area, especially downtown, a more dynamic tourism destination.

“It’s an experiential space,” said Augusta CVB President and CEO Bennish Brown. “It will help visitors and residents alike to get that experience of what’s available here in the Augusta River Region and inspire them to go explore more.”

Brown said he does not know when the center will be finished.

Other elements of Destination Blueprint include a proposed expansion of Augusta Common to the Savannah River, golf car tourism downtown and a plan to attract more breweries and distilleries to the central

idly becoming a mini-medical community, with The Claiborne assisted living community, Augusta Plastic Surgery, Myers Family Dental, Savannah River Dermatology and Augusta University’s Care Center all located between Inverness Way and Evans to Locks Road.

University Hospital Prompt Care A new University Hospital Prompt & Primary Care Clinic is slated to be built next to West Lake on Furys Ferry Road.

T h e 11,000square-foot facility will be built at the corner of Furys Ferry and Inverness Way and is expected to be open by April 2019. This will be the eighth such facility for University Hospital in the CSRA. That area of Furys Ferry Road is rap-

business district (the owners of Carolina Moon Distillery in Edgefield, S.C., recently revealed that they will open a distillery called Second City Distilling Co. on Eighth Street by early next year).

Brown said he’s glad to have the entire CVB and ASC back under one roof together.

“It will be innovative; it will be a place where we tell our story in a more visible and more interactive way than we have in the last few decades,” Brown said.

“It’s one thing to read about that, but our challenge to ourselves is how to turn that into an experience where someone comes into this space and they actually get to taste a dish or a treat from one of the local restaurants to entice them to now make a reservation to go eat somewhere.”

Queensborough National Bank & Trust Queensborough National Bank & Trust will soon open a full-service banking office in Pooler, Ga., in front of Lowe’s on Pooler Parkway. The office will offer checking and savings products, commercial, small business and consumer loans, mortgages and wealth management.

“The south end of Pooler Parkway is still in the early stages of a major development boom,” said Senior Vice President and Coastal Region Manager Mike English. “We looked at many options and decided this was the best location to get on the ground floor of the new growth in an area that isn’t presently served by a bank. This also provides a convenient location for our many existing customers in the Pooler area.”

Queensborough National Bank & Trust operates 26 offices between Augusta and Savannah and has steadily grown in the Savannah market since first opening a mortgage lending office in 2003. Queensborough opened its first branch in Savannah in 2009 and expanded in 2015 with the acquisition of the former Certus Banks branches.

That will likely be the case with The Southern Salad, Brad and Havird Usry’s new restaurant concept that will soon open in the neighboring building.

Havird Usry said in an interview earlier this year that he plans to have a door connecting the restaurant to the ground floor of the visitor center.

“It’s a great place to be, where energy exists with the kinds of businesses that we promote to travelers,” Brown said.

“This is a part we play in that. It puts us certainly in the core of where visitors tend to want to go anyway.”

The new visitor center will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

13

UPCOMING BUSINESS EVENTS

Wednesday, Sept. 5

Membership 101, 4 p.m., Columbia County Chamber, 1000 Business Blvd., Evans. A onehour class on what the Chamber is all about. For new members or those who want a refresher course. For more information, visit columbiacountychamber.com.

Thursday, Sept. 6

Member Compass 101 Online Webinar, 1 p.m., Augusta Metro Chamber website. A chance to learn about the new features on the Chamber website and the updated and extensive technology supporting Chamber membership. Registration required.

For more information, visit augustametrochamber.com.

Friday, Sept. 7

First Friday Means Business, 7:30 a.m., 117 Newberry St. NW, Aiken. Informative breakfast meeting with a keynote speaker.

For more information, visit aikenchamber.net.

SCORE Seminar: Tax Law Changes and Strategies for Small Business, 10 a.m., North Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Ave., North Augusta.

The 2018 Tax Reform Law includes major changes to tax calculations.

This workshop will share how that information could affect both businesses and individuals.

Presented by Joel Stewart, a partner at Serotta Maddocks Evans & Co. CPAs of Aiken. Registration required. For more information, visit northaugustachamber.org.

Tuesday, Sept. 11

SBDC GrowSmart, 9 a.m., Columbia County Water Utility, 2140 William Few Pkwy., Grovetown. This all-day, five-week Small Business Development Center course helps businesses

14 Buzz on Biz September 2018

SCHEDULED RIBBONS CUTTINGS Aug. 31: Augusta Gardens Senior Living & Memory Care, 3725 Wheeler Road, Augusta, 10 a.m.

Sept. 5: Turner Padget, 3730 Washington Road, Martinez, 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 6: Alison South Marketing, 668 Broad St., Augusta, 4:30 p.m.

Sept. 7: Gateway Grant Service at Columbia County Chamber office, 1000 Business Blvd., Evans, 10:30 a.m.

Sept. 12: Classic Collision of Augusta, 3069 Washington Road, Augusta, 11 a.m.

Sept. 24: Mayo & Associates CPAs, 2907 Professional Pkwy., Augusta, 4 p.m.

Oct. 4: CounterSync, 2014 Westside Ct., Augusta, 4 p.m. evaluate their business, competition and target markets and develop strategies for growth.

For business owners and senior managers of growing businesses.

Must have been in business at least two years and have annual revenues of $300,000 or more.

Registration required. For more information, visit georgiasbdc.org/ augusta-office.

Wednesday, Sept. 12

Member Economic Luncheon, Augusta Marriott, 2 10th St., Augusta. The Augusta Metro Chamber presents The Healthcare Landscape in 2018 with guest speaker Jim Davis, president and CEO of University Health Care System. Registration required by Sept. 7. For more information, visit augustametrochamber.com.

Thursday, Sept. 13

Gossip and Tattles and

Catch the Buzz!

Get more on events at buzzon.biz.

Rumors, Oh My! 8:30 a.m., Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce, 121 Richland Ave. E., Aiken. A two-hour informative workshop featuring video scenarios, a discussion about tough workplace behaviors and how to handle them like a seasoned professional. Registration required. For more information, visit aikenchamber.net.

SCORE Seminar: Thinking of Starting a Business?, 5:30 p.m., North Augusta Chamber, 406 West Ave., North Augusta. This seminar covers the basics of starting a business, from identifying your product or service and naming your business to researching your community and developing marketing. Presented by certified business counselors from SCORE’s Greater Aiken Chapter.

Registration required. For more information, visit northaugusta chamber.org.

Understanding the Impact and Defining a Response,” presented

by Terry Childers, Community Representative for Bradford Health Services. Registration required by Sept. 17. For more information, visit augustametrochamber.com.

SBDC Business Plan Essentials, 1 p.m., Augusta SBDC Classroom, 1450 Greene St., Augusta. This class guides participants through specific components of a wellwritten and comprehensive business plan to create growth.

Registration required. For more information, visit georgiasbdc.org/ augusta-office.

Columbia County State of the Community Address, 5 p.m., Columbia County Exhibition Center, Grovetown. A communitywide barbecue dinner and business expo with more than 425 community members in attendance.

Community leaders will discuss future growth and goals of Columbia County. Registration required. For more information, visit columbiacountychamber.com.

Monday, Sept. 24

Chamber After Hours, 5 p.m., Meybohm Real Estate, Evans Town Center Park, Evans. A networking opportunity to meet and build relationships with other local businesses.

For more information, visit columbiacountychamber.com.

Tuesday, Sept. 18

Thursday, Sept. 27

Thursday, Sept. 20

Friday, Oct. 5

Women in Business, 11:30 a.m., Legends Club, 2701 Washington Road, Augusta. Topic to be announced. Registration required.

For more information, visit augustametrochamber.com.

Third Thursday Business Builder, 11:30 a.m., Augusta Metro Chamber office, 1 10th St., Augusta.

“The Opioid Crisis in the Workplace:

Business After Hours, 5 p.m., George Funeral Home & Cremation Center. Learn more about the funeral processes and personalized services. For more information, visit aikenchamber.net.

First Friday Means Business, 7:30 a.m., 117 Newberry St. NW, Aiken. Informative breakfast meeting with a keynote speaker.

For more information, visit aikenchamber.net.

AT THE CLUBHOU.SE

WHAT’S NEW

Sept. 5: 1 Million Cups offers a couple of area entrepreneurs a chance to share their story with the community. Arthur Chapman, of Car Care Cash, and Chris Crozier, of Mobile Mentors, are our speakers this month. 8-9 a.m.

Sept. 12: ATDC Lunch & Learn-All About Intellectual Property, with Chris McKinney. He will discuss transforming innovative ideas into market-ready realities. Noon to 1 p.m.

Sept. 12: Beer & Bytes is our time to bring together our entire community of entrepreneurs, makers, techies and creatives for a bit of new-fashioned networking. Jen Bonnett, executive director of Creative Coast, will share her entrepreneurial journey. 5:30-7 p.m.

Sept. 13: The Augusta Developer brings together developers and managers to talk about the developer culture in Augusta. This month is open mic-style: Developers can grab the stage and show off projects. 6-8 p.m.

Sept. 14-16: theClubhou.se will have a tent at Arts in the Heart of Augusta with interactive exhibits showcasing the Technology & Craft of Creativity.

Sept. 21: PyNight is our quarterly night of competitive Python programming sponsored by Booz-Allen-Hamilton. 5-9 p.m.

Sept. 24: Robotics Meetup will have a discussion on autonomous robotics and methods. 6-8 p.m.

Sept. 25: Agile Augusta meets to discuss agile project management. 6-7 p.m.

Sept. 27: Gordon Jones, the Clubhou.se entrepreneur-in-residence, is hosting a Blockchain Meetup to offer the local community a forum. 6-8 p.m.

Sept. 28: Join Kim Hines of Augusta Locally Grown as Growler Gardening gets together the horticulturally minded for some garden maintenance and good beer! 540 Telfair St. 5-7 p.m.

OUR CYBER CENTER LOCATION IS OPEN

THE

theClubhou.se has been made the official expansion to the new Georgia Cyber Center, 1 11th St. (Soon to be 100 Grace Hopper Lane.) All activities except those with Augusta Locally Grown will happen at the cyber center.

• Augusta Locally Grown has pickup at theClubhou.se’s 540 Telfair St. location every Tuesday, 5-7 p.m.

• Entrepreneur members of the Clubhou.se meet every Wednesday morning for Founders Circle, 9-10 a.m.

SEPTEMBER

AUGUSTA’S INNOVATION NEWS

ACCELERATOR 09.01.18

STARTUP LIFE APPLICATIONS OPEN FALL CODE BOOT CAMP SESSION STARTS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Arthur Chapman FOUNDER, CEO

presence and influence acquired through previous PR work. There is also a bit of traditional marketing to come through musical radio advertisements.

1. What is the business?

10. Who are your main competitors?

Car Care Cash, LLC is an entity committed to providing fast funding for vehicle repairs in an effort to eliminate predatory subprime lending as it pertains to vehicle repair.

Traditional lenders, payday advance and title pawn entities, third party insurance providers (AAA, Car Shield).

CAR CARE CASH

2. When and where did you found it?

Car Care Cash, LLC was founded May 29, 2018 in Augusta, GA, headquartered at theClubhou.se.

3. Where is the business now?

Car Care Cash, LLC is currently in its fundraising phase, working diligently to procure the backing needed to compensate repair shops for their work and fund the consumer’s repair in a timely manner.

4. Any significant experiences/skills that influenced your business?

My ability to brand and market products has helped tremendously. I speak about the benefits of what I offer and get others enthused about it. I’ve been able to do the same with the concept of financing for vehicle repair.

5. What appealed to you about entrepreneurship?

The ability to control your schedule, your income, and thus your reality. While you may work significantly harder for security, I know it’s worth it. I also saw entrepreneurship as a way to uplift my community, understanding the social ills and wealth disparity that the minority community faces, I wanted to do my part by creating something to help.

6. How did you get the idea?

TO BECOME A MEMBER VISIT www.theclubhou.se SCHEDULE A TOUR heythere@theclubhou.se

11. What does a typical day involve for you?

ARTHUR CHAPMAN The idea came out of necessity and a lack of options. I am my target consumer. All through undergrad, I never had enough money to keep my car repaired when things went wrong. I see the same problem within the underserved community. I needed a way to get my car fixed and be able to affordably pay it back over time and I saw that need in the community, so I stopped wishing and created it.

7. How has your idea progressed over time?

Initially it was an idea for FinTech-an app that lets you sign up, enter information, schedule a repair and sign up for recurring payments until the repair is paid off and while that is the ultimate goal, the StartUpLife program and my time at theClubhou.se have helped me establish steps, finding a way to execute my model manually to generate profit that can be reinvested to build the technology.

8. How did you fund the business?

The main avenues of funding being assessed now are commercial credit lines, grants, and seed investments.

9. How do business?

you

market

your

Our web presence--social media & website, leveraging my community

Meeting with potential lenders, creditors, or connectors that can help me access funding, as well as repair shop owners and managers to get their feedback on my model.

12. What’s next for your business?

Generating enough profit to begin work on the FinTech application.

13. What’s next for you?

Validating my model and growing my company’s valuation. I want to make this business sustainable enough to move on to a new idea and become a serial entrepreneur.

14. How have you benefited by being a member of theclubhou.se?

I’ve learned things that may seem like common sense and easy to some, such as how to setup an LLC or any other business formation, yet these things have been invaluable along my journey through entrepreneurship. Being a firstgeneration entrepreneur and having little business knowledge, (including financial literacy & business terminology, customs and law) put me significantly behind my peers, but my time at theClubhou.se has helped me close that gap.

I’ve also been able to take what I’ve learned and share it with my family and community to help others that want to be entrepreneurs.

check out new rates for our new (cyber) space. www.theclubhou.se theClubhou.se at the Georgia Cyber Center 100 Grace Hopper Lane, STE 3700

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

15

LET IT FLOW

BUSINESS SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON CONTROLLING CASH FLOW

BY CHRISTINE HALL

Cash flow is the lifeblood of every small business, but many business owners underestimate just how vital managing cash flow is to their business’ success. In fact, a healthy cash flow is more important than your business’ ability to deliver its goods and services.

Cash flow, simply defined, is the movement of money in and out of your business; these movements are called “inflow” and “outflow.”

Inflows for your business primarily come from the sale of goods or services to your customers. Other examples of cash inflows are borrowed funds, income derived from sales of assets and investment income from interest.

Outflows for your business are generally the result of paying expenses. Examples of cash outflows include paying employee wages, purchasing inventory or raw materials, purchasing fixed assets, paying operating costs, paying back loans and paying taxes.

While they might seem similar, profit and cash flow are two entirely different concepts, each with entirely different results.

The concept of profit is somewhat broad and only looks at income and expenses over a certain period, say a fiscal

The first step toward taking control of your company’s cash flow is to analyze the components that affect the timing of your cash inflows and outflows.

quarter. Profit is a useful figure for calculating your taxes and reporting to the IRS. Cash flow, on the other hand, is a more dynamic tool focusing on the day-to-day operations of a business owner. It is concerned with the movement of money in and out of a business.

But more important, it is concerned with the times at which the movement of the money takes place.

The sooner you learn how to manage your cash flow, the better your chances of survival. Furthermore, you will be able to protect your company’s short-term reputation and position it for long-term success.

The first step toward taking control of your company’s cash flow is to analyze the components that affect the timing of your cash inflows and outflows. A thorough analysis of these components will reveal problem areas that can lead to cash flow gaps in your business. Narrowing, or even closing, these gaps is the key to cash flow management.

Some of the most important components to examine are: • Accounts receivable. Accounts receivable represent sales that have not yet been collected in the form of cash. An accounts receivable balance sheet is created when you sell something to a customer in return for his or her promise to pay at a later date. The longer it takes for your customers to pay their accounts, the more negative the effect on your cash flow.

• Inventory. Inventory describes the extra merchandise or supplies your business keeps on hand to meet the demands of customers. An excessive amount of inventory hurts your cash flow by using up money that could be used for other cash outflows. Too many business owners buy inventory based on hopes and dreams instead of what they can realistically sell.

Keep your inventory as low as possible.

• Accounts payable. Accounts payable are amounts you owe to your suppliers

that are payable at some point in the near future — “near” meaning 30 to 90 days.

Without payables and trade credit, you’d have to pay for all goods and services at the time you purchase them. For optimum cash flow management, examine your payables schedule.

Monitoring and managing your cash flow is important for the vitality of your business. The first signs of financial woe typically appear in your cash flow statement, giving you time to recognize a forthcoming problem and plan a strategy to deal with it.

Furthermore, with periodic cash flow analysis, you can head off those unpleasant financial glitches by recognizing which aspects of your business have the potential to cause cash flow gaps.

Christine Hall is a partner in Hall, Murphy & Schuyler PC, a full-service accounting firm. For a complimentary accounting, tax or business consultation, call 706.855.7733 or email cmh@hmandscpas.com.

HO-HO NO-NO’S

HOLIDAY PARTIES CAN BE FUN — OR HAZARDOUS

BY ED ENOCH

I know, it’s just barely Labor Day and still hot as Hades in Augusta. But let me be the first Grinch to get you thinking about the holiday season. It will be here before you know it — you know it will.

I frequently speak to employer groups on the hazards of holiday parties. Unfortunately, by the time I think to include it in my column, the planning people are already way down the road. So, this year I am getting a jump on the crowd.

Why do employers sponsor holiday parties? To show our appreciation for our employees’ work and, hopefully, to celebrate a successful year in business. However, in my experience, holiday parties are fraught with as much opportunity to damage morale as to improve it. So, here are some thoughts from a war-scarred veteran of many year-end parties.

First, let your employees help plan the party. It is not really a party unless the people you plan to honor and entertain

16 Buzz on Biz September 2018

actually want to come.

I once worked for a company that hosted its holiday party at a fancy restaurant that required men to wear a jacket. Many of us in management frequented this restaurant and considered it a big perk to invite rank-and-file employees to a party there. However, almost none of the staff (primarily female) attended. After a couple of years of this, someone had the bright idea to ask the staff why the party was not well attended. Turns out, most of the staff ’s husbands hated wearing a sports coat or jacket, so they did not attend.

The moral of the story is, let your people help plan the party.

I cannot discuss holiday parties without discussing the issue of alcohol. To paraphrase: “What happens at the holiday party does not stay at the holiday party.”

Behavior at any office party comes back to work. The party is not a free pass for adolescent behavior, and there is no law against discharge or discipline for actions

taken at the party. Don’t punch out the boss. “Innocent flirting” with a subordinate at the party can become sexual harassment in the cold light of day.

For the employer, the presence of alcohol means the possibility of “social host liability.” In Georgia, social hosts can be held liable for the damage caused by someone to whom they serve alcohol if the person was noticeably intoxicated at the time and the host knows the person will soon be driving a motor vehicle.

In South Carolina, social host liability is limited to hosts who serve alcohol to minors (including providing open access, such as a keg).

My rule of thumb when advising clients is: all things in moderation. Here are some tips to help keep the party in check and still have a good time: 1. Invite spouses if the party is after business hours.

2. Do not serve unlimited free alcohol.

If the party is a dinner, have an open bar

for 45 minutes or an hour before dinner, and then go to a cash bar. Hand out two free drink tickets to each person.

3. Serve food to help slow alcohol absorption.

4. Do not serve unattended alcohol, particularly if there are minors at the party.

5. Hire a professional bartender.

J. Edward “Ed” Enoch has practiced law in Augusta for more than 20 years, mostly focusing on helping business owners and companies to include formation, transition, business planning, contract writing, employment law and other areas of the law. Email jenoch@ enochlaw.com.

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September 2018 Buzz on Biz

17

YEARNINGS VS. EARNINGS

USE THE ‘10 PERCENT’ HABIT FOR A MORE FULFILLING FINANCIAL LIFE

BY DAGAN SHARPE

There’s a bumper sticker that reads, “I’m starving on the salary I once dreamed of.”

Funny how that can happen — I see it all the time. People yearn for more, eventually earn more and then end up being no better off than they were before because they continue to spend every penny.

In fact, their stress only grows, because now they have more stuff to worry about and maintain.

The stuff we buy will always eventually wear off or wear out, and we are stuck with the payments and maintenance to fund those things we once dreamed of acquiring.

Clearly, there are those people with so much money that they can pay others to take care of their stuff for them, but even they find money doesn’t buy lasting fulfillment. Others make good incomes but they stretch it so far that their possessions eventually possess them rather than the other way around.

As one mentor once said, when our yearnings exceed our earnings, we will always be broke.

Thankfully, there is hope and rescue from this tailspin behavior — unfortunately, though, it’s rarely popular, adopted or appreciated because it requires selfdiscipline and restraint.

Book after book and seminar after seminar with reputable merit have repeated a simple truth — in order to achieve fi-

Begin learning and developing a budget, saving and giving habit now — and the power of good financial stewardship can begin contributing to a healthier financial and fulfilled life. nancial freedom, for most people the first step is learning to live beneath, not above or at, our means.

This is not popular because we like immediate gratification. We want it now for “tomorrow we die,” as the saying goes.

The problem is when we can’t pay for tomorrow because of what we spent today.

Tomorrow will come, and we don’t know what it will bring. Therefore, we must learn balance in our financial behavior. I always recommend for people who genuinely want to know — and are willing to work hard to get their finances in order — the habit of “10 percent.” It’s a behavior I work hard to instill in my kids as well, and I see how hard it is for them, much less adults, to actually stick to.

The 10 percent habit is simply beginning to save at least 10 percent of what we make, giving 10 percent away to charity

and living on the rest within a budget.

Why do this?

We need savings because we never know when those rainy days and emergencies will come — we only know they will come. So, a savings plan is always wise. Giving helps keep us from a hoarding mentality, and generosity has been proved to help reduce stress and elevate our levels of joy.

Finally, living on the rest within a sound budget is restorative. This means that if we don’t have the money to take that second or third vacation this year, buy that new boat, car and/or second home, then we don’t. The rule keeps us from exceeding our earnings.

This is where some of you might be thinking, “I wish I could afford just one vacation!” This is also where our yearnings principle comes full circle. For if

those who begin to make the money they once dreamed of never learn these simple money disciplines, they soon discover they are still broke.

So, begin learning and developing a budget, saving and giving habit now — and the power of good financial stewardship can begin contributing to a healthier financial and fulfilled life.

A person can make a million dollars and spend every penny, leaving him or her stretched financially and stressed emotionally, because the truth is that income doesn’t make a person rich. Another person can make a modest income, save, budget and live within his or her means and achieve a level of wealth that the person making millions never could. This is because the second person learned to control the money rather than having the money control him. As the saying goes, money is a great servant, but a terrible master.

Dagan Sharpe is senior vice president of Queensborough National Bank & Trust and the author of Highways End and Full Disclosure. Email him at dagan. sharpe@qnbtrust.com.

EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY

THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR MAINTENANCE CLEANING

BY TONY CREIGHTON

Imagine only cleaning your bathroom surfaces once every three months. Or imagine only cleaning your kitchen surfaces once a year. What if a restaurant manager never scheduled any employees to clean the toilets in the men’s restroom or mop the dining room floors?

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who could successfully argue in favor of such cleaning schedules. Yet, how often are the service entrance concrete, dumpster pad areas, concrete entryways or your buildings’ siding, brick or stucco surface properly cleaned?

Often, we see restaurant service entrances and dumpster areas that are so infrequently cleaned that they are the analogy of how a kitchen only cleaned once a year would look: unsightly and unsanitary and eventually irreparably damaged.

18 Buzz on Biz September 2018

Next time you go into any commercial store, restaurant or mall, take a look down at the concrete at the entrance doors.

Is it covered in discarded chewing gum splotches and stains? Discarded chewing gum that sits on concrete for weeks or months will eventually cause a permanent stain to the surface that will still be visible once the actual gum blob is melted away with hot water pressure washing. So, even though the surface has been cleaned with a pressure washer, it will still have dirty looking “gum shadows.”

A regularly maintained commercial property that is professionally cleaned with proper detergents and hot water pressure-cleaning systems will result in immensely cleaner and sanitary conditions, ensuring you never have a “shadow” stain.

Additionally, the accumulation of algae,

dirt, pollutants and other environmental materials will begin to deteriorate the surfaces of your property over time if left unchecked.

Regularly scheduled cleanings of your property’s exterior surfaces not only maintain a clean and inviting appearance, they will also prevent wear and tear damage that can be costly to repair.

Regularly scheduled exterior cleanings from a reputable pressure washing company such as AllClean Pressure Washing to maintain clean concrete surfaces and building exteriors will be significantly less expensive over time than doing so on an irregular basis.

Properly cleaned and maintained properties are also safer for tenants, customers and employees. In the long run, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual exterior cleanings with a licensed, knowledgeable

pressure-washing company can leave your property with a clean and professional appearance while saving you money and the headache of building exterior repairs.

For information or a free estimate on any of our exterior cleaning services, reach us at 706-651-8089 or allcleanaugusta@gmail.com.

Tony Creighton is the owner/operator of ALLCLEAN™ Pressure Washing LLC and its subsidiary, Augusta PROCLEAN™ — committed to providing high-quality cleanings for the CSRA’s commercial properties and homes. Call 706.651.8089 or email allcleanaugusta@gmail.com.

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September 2018 Buzz on Biz

19

BUSINESSPERSON OF THE MONTH

TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION: MEDCALFE ENJOYS PRACTICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

If you walk into a local Publix and see a man taking pictures of boxes of Corn Flakes, it’s probably Simon Medcalfe. If he talks in a British accent about cricket, it’s definitely him.

Medcalfe, professor of economics and finance at Augusta University, has lived in Augusta for more than a decade and is known for, among other things, his annual Economic Outlook breakfasts that are peppered with corny jokes and his quirky sense of humor.

Economist Simon Medcalfe Medcalfe was born and raised in Manchester, England, and studied economics and finance at a college in Leicester, England. While in college, he spent a summer working at a camp in New Hampshire, where he met the woman he eventually married.

After a brief career working for a temp agency in Manchester, he took a job teaching economics in the tiny Caribbean island nation of Grenada.

“They needed someone to teach economics, and I fancied doing that,” he said.

He interviewed for the job on a Thursday and started teaching the following Monday. He stayed there for two years before moving to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in finance at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Initially, he pursued international economics, but when his mentor in that subject was called into the Gulf War in the early 1990s, he concentrated on labor economics instead.

Since his wife’s family has roots in Augusta, he took a job at the local campus for Brenau University. In 2008, he began teaching part-time at Augusta University, and he became a full-time professor in 2009.

Economics is an often-misunderstood field, Medcalfe said. People either equate it with macro-economics — looking at the large picture, like the federal budget and tax rates — or they think it’s simply finances, like the stock market. But Medcalfe deals in micro-economics, which involves the practical side of economics and how it works in the business world.

“The economics I like involves firm behavior and individual behavior — industry-level behavior,” he said.

20 Buzz on Biz September 2018

Simon Medcalfe has been teaching economics at Augusta University since 2008.

His annual Economic Outlook breakfasts have become a trusted (and entertaining) barometer of the area’s economic climate. Photo by Gary Kauffman

He also enjoys studying the psychology behind how and why businesses and consumers act the way they do.

“I love looking at the psychology behind it and try to figure out why people are doing these stupid things,” he said.

Which is why he takes pictures of cereal boxes. In his example to one of his classes, there were three box sizes — small, medium and large — with the largest costing minimally more than the medium size. In experiments, he found that 90 percent of his students would choose either the small or large box, leading to the question of why a company would bother producing the medium-sized box.

It turns out that without the mediumsized box, people might make a different choice.

“The way it’s positioned gets people to make choices that sometimes seem irrational,” he said.

It is that kind of practical experiment that allows him, and sometimes his students, to help local businesses make simple but effective changes to their business practices.

“I like problem-solving,” he said. “I like getting out in the community, talking to business leaders and hearing their thoughts on the economy and what they’re struggling with. I try not to be this ivory-tower economist who sits here and regurgitates the text book. I can bring that back into the classroom.”

One of his most visible community endeavors is the annual Economic Outlook Breakfast for local business leaders, a task he took over from another professor about eight years ago. During the breakfast, he relates trends of the past several years and the most recent year and things to look for in the coming year. He manages to do it in a way that has audience members chuckling along the way.

“Any lecture or talk can be a bit dry, so it’s good to break up the presentation,” he said. “I try to use jokes that have some tenuous connection to the theme.”

Medcalfe has also become known for creating a local Leading Economic Index (LEI) based on the national LEI. He discovered five variables in the index that he can localize to project trends for the area.

Three years ago, he also created a local labor market index to present information about the Augusta labor market and how it compares to other areas of Georgia.

In his own words

What are you passionate about in business?

“Encouraging students to dig deeper into the economic problems they find interesting. Getting to understand why people don’t act rationally, why they do things that economists can’t explain. I help students see how behavioral economics can help us understand why people are not doing what we want them to

do. If a business has a problem I can work with them, or with a student, and come up with business solutions in the general sense. I’ve come to like game theory. You can apply it to almost anything, especially behavior.”

How do economics differ in the United States from Europe?

“Politically, Americans still have a more free-market response to problems, and in Europe, it’s more that the government can help out. But economics rarely has a straight answer.”

How do you unwind?

“For the last 18 months or so, my son and I play cricket at Eisenhower Park, mostly pickup games. I’m not that good of a player, I just go because my son is really into it. And we have a subscription at home to the cricket TV channel. We play tennis as a family. I used to play soccer, but I aged out of that. Now I enjoy running along the canal or the Greeneway. I try to run a half-marathon every year. I enjoy going to sporting events. Out of the American sports, baseball is my favorite.

I’ve seen the Braves play and I’ve been to Yankee Stadium, but I prefer the GreenJackets. I like being closer to the action.”

How do you give back to the community?

“Professionally, I do community talks for different groups, like SRP, civic clubs like Rotary, and professional associations. One thing I became involved in recently came from one of the community talks. I was asked to do a case study for the Augusta Training Shop, which helps disabled people weave (decorative) snowflakes. I helped them work out how much it costs to make the snowflakes, and ever since I still enjoy helping out. It’s a charity but not a charity because it provides meaningful work for them, they get paid for it and they’re so happy to be working.

If you’ve had a bad day, you go there and those people are just so happy to work, so happy to see you. They cheer you up.”

What does the future hold for you?

“I like working here. I enjoy teaching, the flexibility and the research end of it.

There’s a lot of freedom to explore what interests you or challenges you. Augusta University is a good place to work, and we’re poised for growth and expansion that goes along with growth in Augusta.

It’s going to be good for the next five or 10 years. I have kids in middle school and high school and I want to get them through the school system before I think about doing anything completely different.”

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21

GEORGIA FOOD ON OUR MINDS

STUDIES SHOW LOCALLY SOURCED FOODS ARE HEALTHIER AND GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY

BY WITT WELLS

W

hat if Georgians ate Georgia produce?

That was the question posed by a 2010 study conducted by the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.

One major conclusion from the study was that Georgians eat less than the national average of locally grown food. If Georgians did consume that much local food, direct farm-to-consumer produce sales for vegetable, fruit, nut and melon farms would have jumped from $14.4 million to $25.8 million.

“We’re a big agricultural state, and small farms are the ones that could take advantage of the direct-to-consumer market,” Alice Rolls, executive director of nonprofit Georgia Organics, said in an article published by the group following the study. “But we don’t have that model anymore. The ‘get big or get out’ mentality has driven us towards large mono-cropping, which is mostly commodity crops.

Food products are so cheap now that Americans are addicted to a diet based on non-food.”

Rolls said that when all crops in Georgia are considered, the state is losing out on approximately $780 million per year. If each of the state’s 3.7 million households (a figure that has grown since the study) devoted $10 per week to locally grown food, they’d be giving the state economy a $1.9 billion boost.

“The most surprising thing this study revealed to me was that we consumed so little locally grown foods in the state,” said Kent Wolfe, a marketing specialist for the Center for Business and Economic Development. “It just made me excited to see what the potential is out there. There are a lot of small farmers who’d love to

22 Buzz on Biz September 2018

Hydroponically grown greens from Hancock Farm in Bartow, Ga., will soon grace the plates at The Southern Salad, a new restaurant that is among the growing number of farm-to-table establishments in Augusta. Proponents say locally sourced foods are good for both physical and fiscal health. Photo by Witt Wells

take advantage of all that potential. We just need to find a better way to connect everybody.”

Ups and downs in Augusta

There are two sides to that potential.

While small farms around Augusta have become increasingly connected over the last decade thanks to Augusta Locally Grown (ALG) — an organization that provides fresh, local food and other natural products through an online market — farmers in Georgia are largely a dying

breed. The story of ALG’s 10-year existence has two parts, and the more recent part doesn’t exactly match Wolfe’s initial optimism.

“Our sales were really on an upswing for the first six to seven years,” said Kim Hines, director of Augusta Locally Grown. “The last few years, we haven’t been able to get farms as fast as we’ve lost them.”

Overall, the program has come a long way. Hines said that participating farmers earned about $30,000 collectively

in ALG’s first two years. In 2017, they earned $300,000.

The question is how often locals will choose local food going forward, and how much an aging generation of farmers can keep up with demand.

“The question becomes, how many farmers are growing for the local community?” Hines said. “And that number is actually shrinking. If you looked at that list of 57 farmers (on ALG’s website), I could tell you a lot of sad stories of people aging out of this work, burning out. When I

connect a farmer to a local chef, I’m doing it because they won’t be able to survive.”

Hines said Georgia could greatly benefit from the kinds of young farmer recruitment efforts that are happening now in other places around the country.

Aside from the market itself, ALG provides a wealth of education based on empowering people to grow and eat real, healthy food for the sake of a future that can appear dismal or hopeful, depending on how one looks at it.

“When you buy local produce or local meat or local whatever agricultural product, those dollars really do stay in the community,” said Alesha Gonzalez, a farmer who runs Urban Grange, a farm in Hephzibah that raises chickens, goats and pigs and grows a variety of vegetables.

“When you shop with us, that allows us to hire help. That in turn impacts that health life.”

Hines is straightforward about what happens when consumers do the opposite. “Every single time we buy a single dollar of food that isn’t from here, we’re literally undermining our local economy,” Hines said.

Providing a healthy lifestyle

Coming from a family in which high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes are rampant, Denise Tucker is direct about why she became a vegan intent on eating healthy local food. She did it to save her life. The change came at the cost of close friendships and even a marriage.

After years of juicing for cancer patients and fellow church members who were struggling with health issues, she opened Augusta’s first juice bar that remains a staple of downtown’s food scene and a group of local eateries dedicated to serving food made with local ingredients.

Tucker estimates that around 80 percent of the food served at Humanitree House comes from local farms. In the end, veganism is just a personal choice for Tucker, who has no ties to what she refers to as the “religion of veganism.”

Far more important to her — and integral to her business — is a certain truth about life: The closer food is to you, the better it is.

Around 60 miles south of Humanitree House, in Bartow, Ga., lies a 76-acre family farm: the Hancock Farm. Cari and Coy Hancock have only owned the farm for two years (they moved from southern Missouri), but they grow a variety of fruits and vegetables that Augustans then eat at local restaurants such as Abel Brown, The Bee’s Knees, Humanitree House and Cocina 503. They also sell wholesale in local

farmers markets and in Atlanta and Macon, which is more lucrative.

Business hasn’t come easy. A massive amount of rain early in the summer ruined an entire crop of heirloom tomatoes grown in one of their greenhouses.

Now they’re playing catch-up to keep the paychecks rolling in. In a few years, they

that serve it.

Restaurants in Augusta are making progress in selling more locally sourced food, albeit more slowly than most major cities.

Eric Kinlaw, co-owner of The Bee’s Knees, said that when he opened the tapas restaurant in 2002, it was one of the

“That’s why I use local, because I can’t dream of giving my money outside of this community if the resource is available inside. It’s just important.”

– Denise Tucker, co-founder of Humanitree House hope to grow the farm into a one-stop shop for people to get fresh vegetables, fruit and bread.

“For us it’s a lifestyle,” Coy Hancock said. “We’ve always tried to be pretty selfsufficient as far as raising our own animals to eat, raising our own food to eat, teaching our kids how to work, knowing where food comes from. We don’t want to ever get big. Farm-to-table, local restaurants, they’re becoming a lot more common. New York City, they’re putting a lot in. People are seeing the benefit.”

Growth in local food sales

Local food sales grew from $5 billion to $12 billion between 2008 and 2014, according to USDA data analysis by food industry research firm Packaged Facts. Sales are predicted to jump to around $20 billion by 2019.

People are seeking out local food far more often, and it shows in the number of restaurants

only restaurants in the area sourcing some of its products locally and using sustainable business practices. Over the years, more restaurants with the same values have opened.

In 2010, for example, Sean Wight opened Frog Hollow on the premise of using local and regional ingredients, which Wight said make up 90 to 95 percent of the establishment’s menu.

“I think diners today are more educated than ever about what they’re eating,” Wight said. “People are way more knowledgeable about seasons. You can really tell the places that are truly farm-to-

table. It definitely has become a catchphrase, unfortunately. It gets misused, but it’s always a great thing when it gets done honestly and properly.”

Developing a relationship

Eleven years prior, Wight had opened his first restaurant in Edgefield, S.C., called The Old Edgefield Grille, which he launched with a similar local focus.

It didn’t take long for him to start reaping the benefits.

“When you develop a reputation for that, a lot of the regional farmers will seek you out,” Wight said. “I have a lot of long-term relationships, and we’re always developing new ones, too.”

Caleb Taylor, head chef of The Bee’s Knees, said that while sourcing locally is usually more difficult, the restaurant is “bringing the eye of the community towards what people are doing locally and getting away from big-box vendors as much as we can.”

The Southern Salad, a new restaurant concept owned by Brad and Havird Usry that will open soon, has built a menu based on locally sourced, hydroponically grown greens (grown in a controlled environment of mineral-nutrient solutions instead of soil) that will also come from the Hancock Farm.

“The greens that you’re eating on your plate are literally grown 45 minutes outside of town,” said Jeremy Miller, whom the Usrys hired as head chef. “I know the time and detail and care they’ve put into it. To me, it’s the beginning of something huge.”

This year, Miller and his wife, Cara, also See PRODUCE on Page 24

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

23

PRODUCE

Continued from Page 23

started a local cold-pressed juice business called Earth Candy. Tucker said she believes there’s plenty of room in Augusta for more businesses that are based on natural foods.

“I believe that Augusta is large enough for all of us to be successful, and I’m not trying to put anybody out of business in order to grow mine.”

If you talk to people who are passionate about local food, a common truth is always revealed: it just tastes better. It’s why Frog Hollow has been ranked on nationwide lists for fine dining. It’s why hydroponically grown lettuce is a key factor in the Usrys new restaurant. It’s how Tucker can tell organic products from those that aren’t when she’s looking for the best ingredients for the 17 juices available at Humanitree House, where she estimates around 80 percent of the food and juice served is local.

“It’s great to make money, and I think everybody loves to make money — that’s the purpose of business,” Tucker said.

“But when you can actually touch the people that you are feeding, that’s the most rewarding part of what we do. If they come in regularly enough, I usually get to know them and know their stories.”

Local economic impact

Local economic growth is another of Tucker’s biggest passions tied to her dedication to healthy food. Typically, she strives to use organic food in as many products as possible. But if a farm is in or near Augusta, she’ll settle for certified naturally grown, a comparable certification ideal for small-scale farmers.

“It comes from a space of love for me,” Tucker said. “And that’s why I use local, because I can’t dream of giving my money outside of this community if the resource is available inside. It’s just important.”

While Wight admits that the farm-totable trend has its downsides, he also sees that diners are more aware and knowledgeable than they ever have been before, which is a good thing. The question is how much that can actually impact a local economy.

According to a report from Penn State, there is a positive correlation between

24 Buzz on Biz September 2018

the two, albeit a small one.

Stephan Goetz, a professor of agricultural and regional economics at the university, said that the study’s findings showed that community-focused agriculture in certain regions of the country has a measurable impact on economic growth.

Goetz said the study, which was carried out on a county level from 2002 to 2007, found that for every dollar increase in local agricultural sales, personal income rose 22 cents over the course of the next five years.

“When we set out to measure the economic impact of local food sales, we frankly didn’t expect to find one,” Goetz stated in the report. “Injection of new money — money from outside of the community — is what many economic development practitioners think of as the fuel for economic growth. But to me, these findings provide quite robust evidence that even direct sales do have an effect on growth in the Northeast U.S.” The study stated that the same positive correlations were not discovered in the South. But the age of the study, which was published in 2014, would seem to suggest that those numbers have changed significantly in the last decade, during which the farm-to-table movement has taken off throughout the entire country, including the South.

More connections needed

By launching an online-based market where shoppers can buy a variety of meats, produce, dairy, eggs, flowers, soaps, artisan products and more from 57 local farms and businesses, Augusta Locally Grown is trying to create a more robust and well-connected community of farmers, restaurants that want to serve local food, and individuals who want to learn how to eat well and teach family and

friends to do the same.

The result is a more viable local food ecosystem that draws in more people, including those who would have never sought it out.

“If I can get it in their mouth, 85 percent of the time, they’re gonna buy it,” said Kelly Hammond, owner of Trail Ridge Farm in Aiken. He sells goat cheese and dairy products in markets around Aiken, Columbia and Augusta.

Trail Ridge, a goat dairy farm, shares a struggle with almost all other small farms: being slowly but surely pushed to the margins as large-scale farms take over. It takes a personal connection with a potential customer interested enough to sample a piece of cheese at a market in order to convince some people of the massive difference in quality between cheese from Trail Ridge and most of what you’ll find at the grocery store. The reality is, most people today have no understanding of what food is supposed to taste like or where to find local food.

“Some of that knowledge is lost on folks,” Gonzalez said. “They don’t know how to put a seed in the ground.”

An optimistic future

Hammond’s own observations over the last 16 years of farming line up with Hines’ experience at Augusta Locally Grown, that the last few years have seen a slight drop-off of local farmers in the area that partner with the organization.

He doesn’t see that being a long-term decline. Everything works in highs and lows, he said.

As a small farm owner, he does see a lot to be desired in agricultural industry regulations in Canada that are meant to keep small farmers from being marginalized by instituting quotas for massive farming operations. But there is no such legislation on the horizon in the United States.

“We can’t predict the future,” Gonzalez said. “So much of our food is trucked in.

They come in on big trucks. My biggest concern is, when does the price of the transportation of food become too much?

That’s my big concern, that we will lose so many local farmers, and that if that situation occurs, the community will have nothing to fall back on.”

A big part of Augusta Locally Grown’s local presence is its mission to make locally grown food available to people who wouldn’t normally have access to it. According to a report from Business Insider, access to healthy food in rural and urban communities has dwindled. Three years ago, Augusta Locally Grown started its Fruit and Veggie RX program that provides locally grown produce to mothers and children at risk of diet-related diseases while also teaching families to cook healthy, local food for themselves.

When it comes to connecting with local businesses, Susannah Johnson thinks there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“We’d like to do more,” said Johnson, who volunteers and also sells her own wool and soap through Augusta Locally Grown. “We need to really connect with chefs. If you serve this, it will bring in customers for life.”

#AchievingMoreTogether

Thursday, September 20

Opioid crisis in the workplace: Understanding the impact and defining a response 11:30 am, Augusta Metro Chamber office Register at augustametrochamber.com

Presented by:

Terry Childers, Community Representative of Bradford Health Services

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

25

FIND YOUR FIT

CHAMBER COUNCILS MAKE IMPACT ON NORTH AUGUSTA COMMUNITY

BY TERRA CARROLL

State Reps. Bill Hixson and Tom Young and state Sen. Shane Massey updated the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 17 about actions the Legislature had taken in 2018 and what to expect in 2019. Photo by Gary Kauffman

MONEY BACK

SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATORS DEAL WITH FALLOUT OF CANCELED NUCLEAR PLANT

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Some South Carolina electric utility customers will be getting a break in their bills, thanks to the work of the state Legislature.

State Reps. Bill Hixson and Tom Young and Sen. Shane Massey addressed the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Update Breakfast on Aug. 17, spending a large portion of their time discussing the situation with the V.C. Summer nuclear plant project. The project was canceled earlier this year.

Massey said it has taken some time for the Legislature to address the issue.

“I think you want us to take our time to get it right,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is screw it up even more than it has been.”

That work has included adding an advocate for the consumers. Before, the only advocate had been for the utility companies.

The Legislature is also asking the Public Service Commission to consider additional factors before setting utility rates. In the past, if the regulatory office and the utility agreed, the PSC essentially had to rubber stamp that agreement, regardless how it might affect the consumers.

One benefit from the Legislature’s

26 Buzz on Biz September 2018

activity for SCE&G customers is some extra money. To fund the V.C. Summer project, a fee of 18 percent was added to the bills.

That figure has now been reduced to 3.2 percent.

As a result, customers in August saw a one-time credit to make up for what they’d been charged in prior months. The September bills will show another reduction as it is adjusted for the new rate. Massey said the average customer had been paying $27 per month for the V.C. Summer project, and the new rate will reduce that to about $5 per month.

A new permanent rate will be established in 2019.

An interesting part of the discussion about the defunct nuclear project was a definition of the words “prudent” and “imprudent.” The project is allowed to be reimbursed for prudent expenditures, but without a specific definition a wide range of items fell under that designation. Defining the terms narrows the scope of items V.C. Summer can claim.

The South Carolina Legislature is also considering whether to keep or sell Santee Cooper, a 1930s New Deal power plant that is state owned. Hixson said it has been a valuable asset for the state.

“It’s been very good for economic development,” he said. “We were able to locate and relocate companies here because, when you own the power company, you can set your own rate.”

In other areas, Young noted that while the state’s teachers overall received a 1 percent pay raise, all Aiken County school employees received a 2 percent pay raise. With a $32,000 minimum starting salary, Aiken County has the highest-paid teachers in the state.

Young noted that South Carolina’s unemployment rate, 4 percent, is the lowest it has been in 18 years.

South Carolina also plans to build a new forensics lab and erect higher fences around state prisons to keep people from tossing cellphones across them to prisoners, which has become a problem.

One of the big issues for the Legislature in 2019, the speakers said, will be handheld cellphone use while driving. A new law in Georgia went into effect in July prohibiting drivers from holding their cellphones while on the road.

South Carolina legislators plan to monitor the effects of that law over the next few months to decide whether the state will institute a similar ban.

The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce works year-round to support a strong economy through advocacy and business development.

From monthly SCORE workshops and legislative breakfasts to afterhours networking and power lunches, our vision is to be the compass to business empowerment in our region.

To promote and meet the unique needs of local business and industry, we need input from those who have “boots on the ground” in overcoming challenges and enjoying success each day. If you want to lend your voice and unique talent to grow our community, we ask that you consider serving on a Chamber Council. So, are you wondering where you might fit? Take a look at four councils that have a tremendous impact on our community.

Ambassador Council: The Ambassador Council serves as the goodwill arm of the Chamber, playing an essential role in member communication, appreciation, retention and level of engagement. ​Ambassadors are highly visible, prestigious volunteers who serve as the Chamber’s primary liaison to new Chamber members.

Government Affairs Council: The Government Affairs Council works to improve the effectiveness of legislation and regulations which affect our business environment every day. Members will attend North Augusta City Council and Aiken County Council meetings to monitor key issues, receive input from our membership and develop policy statements on behalf of our member investors.

Programs/Events Council: The Programs and Events Council exists to create opportunities for Chamber membership to interact, network and build relationships. Additionally, the programs and events are designed to increase visibility for our membership, foster involvement in the North Augusta Chamber and business community, provide opportunities for business referrals and cultivate professional development and growth.

Workforce/Education Council: The Workforce/Education Council seeks to improve communication between the business and education communities to keep the Chamber informed on the issues and encourage improved outcomes, with the ultimate goal of a well-trained workforce for our business community.

Have you found your fit? Give us a call and let’s work together to make a difference in our community. Check us out online at www.northaugusta chamber.org.

Terra Carroll is the president and CEO of the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce. Reach her at terra@northaugustachamber. org.

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ALL THAT JAZZ

FESTIVAL OFFERS WAYS TO SUPPORT DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES

BY WITT WELLS

Over the last few years, what was once a one-day festival has now become a jam-packed Labor Day Jazz Weekend in downtown Augusta.

This year, Aug. 30 will kick off the weekend, which will include concerts, gallery crawls, panel discussions, pop-up jazz clubs and a drink crawl. In all, there will be eight events, four of which will be free.

“I grow tired of hearing people say there’s nothing to do in Augusta,” said Karen Gordon, founder of Garden City Jazz, which organizes the events. “This is one of the most wonderful times of the year for me, personally.”

Music

What used to be a one-night concert has turned into a whole weekend of music for locals and visitors to enjoy, starting with a jazz jam session at 7 p.m. Friday night, Aug. 30, at Partridge Inn Bar and Grill. The following day, a showcase of artists during Augusta Market at the riverwalk will feature musicians Robert Reid, John Hobbs and others.

There will also be a pop-up jazz club at the Partridge Inn Rooftop Bar on Saturday, Sept. 1.

The 18-part Candlelight Music Series, which has been going on at Augusta Common all year, will have its final act on Sunday, Sept. 2, closing out this year’s series. Local band Quiet Storm will headline the concert.

Art

Labor Day Jazz Weekend will include much more than music, starting with a downtown art crawl through some of the area’s galleries at Humanitree House, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta Museum of History, Sacred Heart and others.

“I personally have a heart for community service,” Gordon said. “So, I’m always looking for opportunities with creatives and to support artists.”

The downtown art crawl will take place on Friday, Aug. 31, at 12 p.m.

Food and Drink

Augustans won’t just be hopping from gallery to gallery on Labor Day weekend; they’ll be hopping from bar to bar, too.

The Bee’s Knees, The Hive, Whiskey Bar, Boll Weevil Cafe, Soy Noodle House, Fuze and other restaurants and bars will participate in the festivities as well, offering a wide variety of drink options, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, for a drink crawl on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

28 Buzz on Biz September 2018

Many of the businesses in downtown Augusta will participate in parts of this year’s Labor Day Jazz Weekend event. The weekend kicks off Thursday evening, Aug. 29, with a panel discussion at the Augusta-Richmond County Library about how local artists can better promote their shows and continues with various events through Sunday evening, Sept. 2. Photo by Witt Wells

For those looking for an adventure, a more-secret endeavor is up for grabs.

A three-part progressive – Karen Gordon, founder of Garden City Jazz dinner will serve an a p p e t i z e r, entrée and dessert at various locations around Au- take part in a panel discussion about how gusta. The locations will not be revealed artists, specifically in downtown Augusta, until guests arrive at the destinations. can be more effective in promoting their The progressive dinner will begin on shows.

Sunday, Sept. 2, at 5:30 p.m.

The panel will feature Coco Rubio, operations manager of the Miller Theater and former co-owner of Sky City, George Relationships and discussion Part of Gordon’s passion for the Labor Claussen; current Sky City co-owner and Day weekend event is rooted in its po- founder of music production and promotential for bringing together people with tion company Friends With Benefits; art dealer and graphic designer Dorian Harsimilar passions.

So, it’s fitting that the weekend begins ris; and interior designer and Aiken Muwith a forum for people in Augusta who sic Festival co-creator Katy Lipscomb.

It will be moderated by Brenda Durant, share a passion about local music. On executive director of the Greater Augusta Thursday evening, Aug. 29, a few people Arts Council. involved in Augusta’s music scene will

The panel will discuss ways in which artists can best present themselves as performers, how to book gigs and how to pitch to festivals and clubs.

It will also focus on the role of the arts as local economic drivers. The discussion and roundtable will take place at the Augusta-Richmond County Library at 6 p.m.

“The more we try to talk about this, the more we realize we need to do more of (these discussions),” Gordon said.

Various other businesses will participate in the weekend as well, wellness retailer Field Botanicals, New Moon Café, Tire City Potters and Augusta Candle Company among them.

“We’re always trying to identify people who are always in the process of discovery,” Gordon said. “We have a responsibility to be the thing that we want to be.”

“I grow tired of hearing people say there’s nothing to do in Augusta. This is one of the most wonderful times of the year for me, personally.”

BIG FESTIVAL HOLDS ON TO SMALL-TOWN FEEL

BY GARY KAUFFMAN

Augusta’s annual Arts in the Heart Festival is growing, but not at the expense of its hometown roots.

“We’re always expanding,” said Executive Director Brenda Durant, “but not so greatly that it hinders anyone’s ability to enjoy it. We never want to give away that hometown feel. We don’t want anyone in Augusta to think that it’s not an Augusta festival.”

The 38th annual Arts in the Heart takes place Sept. 14-16 in downtown Augusta and, as always, features a wide variety of arts and crafts, family fun, music and shows and, of course, food with an international flavor. The fun starts at 5 p.m. Friday and ends at 7 p.m. Sunday, featuring both old favorites and new events.

“I think it’s a balance of always changing things a bit but not changing it completely,” Durant said.

One new feature this year will be buskers — street performers who pop up unannounced in various locations. Many of them are local.

“Throughout the weekend they’ll pop up and perform,” said Christina Berkshire, administrative manager for Arts in the Heart. “It’s something to keep it lively the whole weekend and give it a little bit of magic.”

The five stages located throughout downtown, though, will have scheduled performances with times of the events posted at the locations.

The Global Stage, located at Augusta Common, features a variety of dance numbers during the day and bands in the evening and concludes Sunday with a performance of the Man from LaMancha by the Fort Gordon Dinner Theater group.

The Community Stage, on Ninth Street, will feature bands playing a wide variety of music styles.

The 38th annual Arts in the Heart Festival, held in downtown Augusta, is set for Sept.

14-16. Photos

by Redwolf

The Family Stage, across from the Miller Theater, hosts a variety of entertainment groups, including the Evans High School musical theater group, hiphop belly dancers and, on Saturday night,

a fire dance performance.

Jazz enthusiasts will enjoy the Jazz Stage on Eighth Street. The Troubadour Stage, inside the Doris Building, features poetry and spoken word performances.

Fine arts booths will be set up in three themed zones. The 700 block of Broad Street will have artists who connect more easily with families and are a bit more budget-friendly. The 800 block, the noisiest and most raucous area, will feature the hip and funky collections. And the 900 block, which tends to be quieter, will

feature the artists who deal in the more upscale arts. Both old favorites and new vendors will have displays.

“You don’t get to see this much handcrafted artwork all in one place,” said Pax Bobrow, project manager for Arts in the Heart. “If you’re looking for that truly one-of-a-kind artwork, jewelry, pottery, it’s there.”

Not only is the art unique, but the booths are staffed by the people who make the art, giving visitors a unique perspective on how it’s made that isn’t available when buying items in a store or online.

Bobrow said there are 166 vendors this year, the most ever.

“We are chock-a-block full,” she said.

“There’s not an empty block anywhere.”

Arts in the Heart continues its unique international atmosphere with food booths featuring items from 26 countries. Although Germany won’t be represented this year, booths from Yemen and France have been added. All of the food is authentic cuisine representative of the countries.

“We do a lot of research to make sure it’s authentic,” Durant said.

In addition to the food, there are also international dances. This year, Guam will teach the dancing.

Arts in the Heart offers something for all ages, both as consumers and as participants.

The Family Area, near the Imperial Theatre, features booths with items for sale made by local youngsters.

This year, the Miller Theater will give tours during the festival. Four years ago, it also gave tours of the venue that showed the disrepair it had fallen into. Now, visitors can see how it has been transformed into a showcase theater.

Arts in the Heart drew 90,000 visitors last year, both from the CSRA and from a broader area.

“It’s like an annual reunion downtown,” Durant said. “You see classmates, family, friends together. I like to pause at the gate and take a look at the people walking in.

This event looks like Augusta.”

September 2018 Buzz on Biz

29

SOARING HIGH

SUPERHERO FLICKS OFFER INSPIRATION FOR EDUCATORS

BY SAMANTHA BARKSDALE

Summer is officially over. Well, maybe not officially, but it’s back to work for us teachers.

Prepping for new students, trying to figure out new technology and lots of meetings make Sam a tired girl. Sometimes it feels like the only way to get it all done in time is to have super powers.

With that in mind, this month’s reviews are dedicated to superheroes of all kinds. Maybe this isn’t your usual viewing choice, but when you as overwhelmed as I am, you need a little saving.

‘Black Lightning’

In case you haven’t figured it out, I truly believe that anybody working in education is a superhero. So, when my son told me the protagonist of this series was a high school principal fighting gang violence to protect his students, I was in.

Once upon a time, Jefferson Pierce decided to use his power to control

In case you haven’t figured it out, I truly believe that anybody working in education is a superhero.

be ridiculously cheesy. But what do you really expect from a superhero series?

In the midst of all the cliches, however, the show does attempt to address issues facing African-Americans today.

At times, the way this is done distracts from the premise of the show, but I can respect the effort. Overall, Black Lightning is definitely worth checking out.

electricity to fight crime. After almost dying in his bathtub one night, his wife told him she’d had enough. She wouldn’t be married to a superhero and most certainly would not subject their daughters to that life.

Fast forward and Pierce is now the much-respected principal of Garfield High School. It’s been nine years since he fought crime, and he is closer than ever to getting his wife back. Unfortunately for Pierce, crime is about to bust down the doors of his school and his home.

I’ll be the first to admit this show can

So, maybe I’m a little behind the times here, but Thor is apparently really popular. I clearly missed the boat on the first film, but it was pretty easy to get caught up with the sequel.

So here’s the deal. Thor, the god of Thunder, has been far from his home planet of Asgard for some time. He finds out it is facing destruction and heads back to save the day. In the process, he finds out there’s more to the history of his people than he thought and finds help in unlikely places. It’s pretty simple.

Maybe I made this movie sound a little dull, but it certainly wasn’t.

The dialogue was clever, the fight scenes were intense and the characters were endearing. I definitely recommend Thor, I just don’t have enough space in this column to even begin to describe the fantastic places and people you’ll meet watching it. Just trust me, you’ll enjoy it!

‘Thor: Ragnarok’

Samantha Barksdale, “Sam the Movie Chick,” is on a mission to find the best movies and TV shows for you to stream from Netflix. She loves good flicks, good food and good friends. Her eclectic tastes are sure to give readers a wide range of viewing choices.

SOUR NOTE

A SOUR ALE WORTHY OF A SWEET REVIEW an overtly tartness that would, at least for me personally, damage its drinkability.

The tartness is evident — don’t get me wrong. However, the tartness doesn’t pull too much from the sweetness, and the sweetness doesn’t pull too much from the decay. The balance of Red Angel reflects the care with which it has been crafted. Well done, Wicked Weed.

BY BEN CASELLA

I’ve never really been that into sour ales. There have been a few that have been damp enough for me to finish over the years, and there have been some so pucker-causing that I really had to muscle my way through them. No offense to the sour ale craft. It’s just never really been my scene.

To that end, however, I have recently come upon a sour ale which made me revisit my thoughts on the craft in general. Looking back, I feel that perhaps my initial unwillingness to embrace the hoppy savor of an IPA way back when everyone was becoming a hophead was more about me just wanting to have the dissenting opinion.

As for sour ales, well, I just plain didn’t have a taste for them.

So, here we are in 2018 and approaching 2019. I have now found a sour ale that I can not only work with, but also find worthy of calling to your attention

30 Buzz on Biz September 2018

Wicked Weed Red Angel ale has a tart-sweet flavor that is well-crafted and changes my mind about sour ales.

in print.

I’m well aware I have more work to do in this category, and, for reasons ranging from culinary chauvinism to simply taste, I have neglected the sours. So, here’s a start.

Wicked Weed Red Angel

I would describe the color of this ale

as more of a reddish-purple than anything else (I suppose that’s a color). I had mine in a snifter, and it poured a bit hazy with a light pinkish head.

The raspberries are vividly evident on the nose and on the tongue. The red wine barrel aging process also comes through in, among other ways, a drying effect that does not equivocate with

Ben Casella’s original dissenting opinion regarding IPAs was not his only one. In fact, he does not like pina coladas or taking walks in the rain. He would also prefer that you not wake him up before you go-go.

HAVE IT YOUR WAY

YOUR PIE OFFERS WIDE RANGE OF PIZZA CHOICES

BY MILLIE HUFF

When one embraces a low-carb diet as the norm, the excitement about an assignment to review a restaurant called Your Pie can only be described as euphoric. My editor provided me with a legitimate — and delicious — excuse to load up on all of my favorite pizza toppings, selected and stacked to my exact specifications.

So, I invited another carb-avoiding colleague along for the experience and we went into the meal thinking “Oh, we won’t eat the whole thing … just a small slice or two.”

At the end of the meal, I had consumed every morsel except a few small pieces of crust I left behind — and even a piece from my colleague’s pizza!

Visitors to Your Pie in North Augusta are funneled into a “cafeteria line” to await a turn to place their order for a custom pizza, panini sandwich or salad.

I’m sure the salads are great, as you can select a classic like a Caesar or Greek or create your own custom blend.

However, I didn’t observe anyone ordering a salad during my visit. I did see a few grilled panini sandwiches.

Once your vehicle-for-goodies has been chosen, selections are made from a “salad bar” of toppings, including types of sauce, about a dozen vegetables, several types of cheese and a wide variety of proteins options.

With so many ingredients to choose from, the variations for customization were almost limitless. The 10inch pre-made pizza crusts are available in white, wheat or gluten-free options.

If you don’t want to customize your pizza, there are a half-dozen interesting-sounding specialty choices such as the Ischia, topped with extra-virgin olive oil, fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil and garlic; and the Lineage, topped with marinara, mozzarella, mushrooms, red onions, green peppers, black olives, pepperoni and Italian sausage.

My colleague chose a specialty pizza that was advertised by a poster on the front door: the peach prosciutto pie. The pie was topped with sliced fresh peaches, prosciutto ham, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese and drizzled with a balsamic vinegar glaze. She added grilled chicken for additional protein.

For my pizza, I initially selected all vegetarian toppings since all of my very favorites were offered: fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and feta cheese.

Your Pie Rating is based on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best).

Food Price Location Networking Noise Level Your Pie in North Augusta is at 434 Georgia Ave. and is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Reach it at 803-373-2995 or visit www.yourpie.com. There is a second location of Your Pie in Grovetown at 9592 Bentley Dr.

Your Pie’s delicious peach prosciutto pizza serves up sliced fresh peaches, prosciutto, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese. Photo by Millie Huff

At the last moment, I added grilled chicken to my pizza, too.

Once your pie is built, it slides into a brick oven for a few minutes to warm and allow the cheese to melt and is delivered to your table almost as quickly as it takes customers to serve their own drinks and find a place to sit. We were there at the height of lunch hour and there was a lively crowd indoors, so we opted to sit outside on the patio where it was quieter.

The most tempting portion of the meal was the gelato case just at the end of the order counter — almost a dozen flavors were offered. We both passed on dessert this time, but I might make a special trip back just to try the gelato.

Overall, my lunch-time experience at Your Pie was excellent: friendly, efficient service; delicious, high-quality ingredients; and quick enough for an affordable, lunchhour meal. My meal cost less than $10. It will definitely be a new favorite when I hear the “call of the carbs!”

From downtown Augusta, Your Pie in downtown North Augusta is an easily accessible, quick choice for a business lunch, with the benefit of ample parking just

outside the restaurant. Inside, there are plenty of tables for both small and larger parties.

The single open dining room was somewhat noisy, with lots of conversation and upbeat music playing in the background, but a spacious outdoor patio provides additional seating if a quieter space is needed for more intimate conversation. Your Pie’s fun atmosphere, delicious food choices and convenient location make it a welcome addition to the area’s workday casual lunch options.

Millie Huff is a freelance writer, part-time teacher and new executive director of Sacred Heart Cultural Center. She has eaten lunches in the Augusta area since 1996 and loves any excuse to dine with friends and colleagues.

Her restaurant reviews are written with a businessperson in mind.

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September 2018 Buzz on Biz

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