Starting a Business Workshop in Ellijay

Covers important tools and resources a business owners needs to establish a solid foundation during its early formative years.
Grass-Fed Beef Producer Revives Old Business Model and Creates New Jobs

Will Harris’s day starts much like his father’s and his grandfather’s and his great-grandfather’s did: with his boots planted firmly in the same fresh-smelling, fertile soil of his ancestral farm in Early County, Georgia. Like a cherished family tradition, the natural cattle-raising method Harris follows at White Oak Pastures resembles that practiced a hundred years […]
Funding Your Small Business

Cash is to a business what oxygen is to a human…necessary for survival. Finding the needed cash for your business can be challenging, but with the growth of alternative lenders, there are more options available now for established companies. Startups on the other hand, may find it more difficult to gain access to cash without […]
Five-Step Operating Plan for the New Year
In December many businesses find themselves busy with year-end sales and shipments, holiday parties, tax and inventory considerations, and many other priorities. Finding a little time to plan for the New Year can put you in control in 2018. Create an operating plan now to map out the priorities for 2018. Many small business owners […]
UGA Outreach Program Helps Farmers Build a Better Business
Dennis Hollingsworth was fresh out of college the first time he tried running a farm. It was the early 1980s in south Georgia, and he stuck with it for four years in some of the roughest economic conditions since the Great Depression. Then he left for an IT job. “I went to Atlanta and I […]
Cybersecurity & Cybercrime for Small Business

I recently attended a presentation made by a manager from Microsoft. The topic was cybersecurity and cybercrime. It was eye opening and scary. She talked about what she called Level 100 and Level 200. Level 100 Level 100 is what most business owners are pretty much aware of. It involves protection, detection, and response. […]
Small Business Owner’s Checklist for Year-End

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As a Business Consultant with the UGA Small Business Development Center, I spend a lot of time with business owners looking ahead and planning how to implement improvements. So, with two months left in 2017, here are some thoughts for year-end planning and positioning yourself for 2018. Year-end taxes Get with (or at least […]
Strategically Grown: Operational Assessment First Step to Optimizing Expansion of Atlanta Gelato Business

Wes Jones and Jackson Smith grew up as best friends in their north Atlanta neighborhood. At some point, says Jones, “we thought it would be fun to start a business together when we got older.” Maintaining their friendship through college, they went on to jobs in education, for Jones, and gelato production, for Smith, who […]