CONTRIBUTING WRITER PROFILE

By Bill Simmons,  Founder, Thrive Business Strategies Does this sound familiar? You’re working really hard at your business across all areas -- trying to improve systems and processes, paying attention to your brand and pos... Read More

This year has been dramatically different than what we all expected for our families, communities and businesses. But what I’ve learned as a small business owner in the Lowcountry is that with the support from our local community, ... Read More

By Jenny Peterson Historically, homeowners looking to purchase a flood insurance policy have had largely one option: the federally backed National Flood Insurance Program. South Carolina legislators have passed key legislation ... Read More

Lately there has been confusion regarding whether businesses have the ability to refuse cash payments, instead relying solely on credit card transactions or electronic funds transfers such as mobile payment apps. This switch to “ca... Read More

COVID-19 has significantly impacted many of our day-to-day activities. It has changed how we shop, socialize, work, travel, and the list goes on.  But this pandemic doesn’t have to change the trajectory of your educatio... Read More

By Lorne Chambers Contributing writer Hemp is one of the strongest natural fibers in the world. It’s even stronger than some metal chains. Yet hemp’s supply chain still remains somewhat capricious in this country. A new S... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss Contributing writer Nearly every day of the week, the phone rings in Alisa Mosley’s Columbia office. On the other end is someone looking for help finding an affordable place to live. Mosley’s jo... Read More

By Holly Fisher Contributing writer Stephanie Summerson Hall’s strategy for a diversified business model was smart, but in the midst of a global pandemic, it was genius. Hall’s primary business, Ruth’s House Even... Read More

As we try to navigate through this COVID-19 pandemic, we probably don’t feel a lot of equilibrium right now. In a crisis, we experience sudden uncertainty, and we may feel a lack of control. By finding the balance between your i... Read More

By Barry Waldman Contributing Writer If you think there has never been a year like 2020, you might be right. But Charleston Southern University President Dondi Costin points out that our nation has seen elements of this year in the p... Read More

Over the past two months, there has been lots of discussion about which businesses and workers are essential. Health care workers, first responders, and countless others on the front lines are essential, and they are heroes. A linens man... Read More

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. — Viktor E. Frankl ... Read More

For employers, operating amid a worldwide pandemic is difficult. Managing the core business and doing so in compliance with the federal, state and local laws that govern the workplace is challenging enough. Now, employers also must close... Read More

When the economy is good, we all tend to be a little looser in how we spend our money. Small-business owners are no different with their business expenses. However, those times are now gone, possibly for a long time. Eliminating... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss South Carolina has a serious problem when it comes to keeping teachers in the classroom. In recent years, alarming numbers of public school teachers have left their jobs, causing shortages of instructors in ... Read More

Is it just us or does anyone else think Generation X should be renamed the Generation of Firsts? We were the first gamers, first bloggers, invented MySpace and Twitter. We practically gave birth to the internet. Well, that’... Read More

By Dudley Brown Contributing writer A new year and a new decade are underway, and economic development leaders across the Upstate expect the growth and progress from the 2010s to continue in 2020. Unemployment rates approached 12%... Read More

See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see. — Wayne Dyer I read a story about a farm boy who accidentally overturned his wagonload of corn in the road. The farmer who lived nearby came to investigate.&nbs... Read More

PGA of America, Nikki Haley, Kiawah Island Golf Resort Unveil 2021 PGA Championship Premium Hospitality Experiences for Charleston-Area Companies The PGA of America, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Kiawah Island G... Read More

Back when I started working for a community college in 1985, two-year institutions were often overshadowed by four-year colleges in the media and in the minds of many Americans. Since that time, two-year colleges have proved that they ar... Read More

By Barry Waldman First National Bank, a Pittsburgh-based bank with nearly $34 billion in assets, says it believes its business approach and an emergent market are a perfect marriage in a crowded Charleston banking market.  The... Read More

Imagine it’s Tuesday afternoon and there’s a big, beautiful sailboat streaming through Charleston Harbor. It’s in pristine condition and there’s a deep blue sail with the S.C. palmetto tree and crescent moon billo... Read More

“I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”  — Jerome K. Jerome According to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace, only 33% of full-time employees in the U.S. are engaged... Read More

BOOK OF EXPERTS | MARKETING FIRM Great Marketing Starts Here By Matt Thompson • Senior Partner With a name like Splash Omnimedia, it should come as no surprise that this team of marketing professionals is making waves i... Read More

BOOK OF EXPERTS | CONSULTING Offering guidance on complex issues, including harassment claims, performance evaluations, compensation and much more By Sharon L. Sellers • President If you want to make SLS consultants laugh, ... Read More

BOOK OF EXPERTS | FINANCIAL PLANNING Educating people about serious life decisions and options is key to successful planning By Tim Goldman • Sales Director & Financial Advisor When it comes to planning your financi... Read More

BOOK OF EXPERTS | SENIOR LIVING 100 years of commitment to highest quality of physical, mental and spiritual well-being at five locations across South Carolina By Denise Dickinsen • Vice President For anyone considering... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss Blythewood is 2,416 miles from Hollywood, site of the Academy Awards, and 4,550 miles from Cannes, France, where the world’s premiere film festival is held annually. For two days in April, however, hig... Read More

By Matt Chaney mchaney@sclawyersweekly.com A prominent personal injury attorney in the Lowcountry is suing his son for trademark infringement for using his birth name in advertising his new, independent law firm. George Sink Sr. a... Read More

By Matthew Chaney S.C. Lawyers Weekly When Cody Mitchell took a job out of law school in 2011 working for Lucas, Warr, White & Mitchell, he never considered working for a big city firm. Instead, he said, he chose to work at the H... Read More

The topic of Opportunity Zones is hot, hot, hot — and for good reason. The program is shiny and new, aims to bring prosperity to areas in need and creates significant tax benefits for investors. Lawmakers are touting this oppor... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss Imagine being able to settle a dispute with an annoying neighbor, a shoddy contractor, or even a spouse or family member without having to experience the stress and financial strain of going to court. Mediat... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss Entrepreneurs in the Midlands have a chance to boost their small businesses thanks to a new strategic alliance between the Small Business Administration and Richland County, the city of Columbia and Benedict Co... Read More

Customers benefit from lower costs, import fees Since 1934, US Foreign Trade Zones have been a benefit to our national economy. By providing an incentive for  foreign  manufacturers  to  establish factories on US s... Read More

By Kester Freeman and Megan Weis Former S.C. Lt. Gov. Glenn McConnell, in an address before the S.C. General Assembly in March 2014, said: “The issue of aging is the central pubic health challenge of our lifetime.” That... Read More

By Christina Lee Knauss Johnny Belissary recently met a woman trying to care for her husband, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. The man had recently started waking at midnight and walking to the kitchen, where he’d pul... Read More

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. — Kurt Vonnegut I read a report in Lighthouse of a survey of 1,000 American e... Read More

By Anna Linhoss When hurricanes like Florence, which hit the Carolinas in September, make landfall, the first things they hit often are barrier islands — thin ribbons of sand that line the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It&rsquo... Read More

Editor's note: This story, which appeared in the Dec. 3 print edition of the Columbia Regional Business Report, is being republished to include the project contractor and an updated expected completion date.  By Christin... Read More

By C. Grant Jackson South Carolina will see a good, if not a great, economy next year as the United States continues to experience what likely will become in July the longest economic expansion in its history, local experts say. &l... Read More

“Life is flux.” — Heraclitus of Ephesus, 500 BCE There have been multiple translations and paraphrasings of Heraclitus’ assertion over the centuries. For a time, the skate company Volcom Stone used “... Read More

By Christina Knauss Girl Scouts from around the state of South Carolina will reap the benefits when a new building on Williams Street in downtown Columbia is complete. Construction officially started today on the Cathy Novinger Gir... Read More

Unpaid internships are controversial. Proponents argue that they provide valuable opportunities for students to learn about an industry and for companies to scout up-and-coming talent; critics contend the practice is an unfair excuse to ... Read More

Wireless technology has come to play an exponentially more integral role in our daily lives. Our connected devices now allow us to stream videos, map real-time traffic conditions, remotely monitor our homes and stay in touch with our lov... Read More

On June 18, 2007, the Charleston Fire Department and the entire community suffered an unprecedented loss of nine firefighters in the Sofa Super Store fire. What followed would be a daunting task of helping a fire department reeling from ... Read More

Paul Fletcher is the editor-in-chief for S.C. Lawyers Weekly, which is in the news group managed by SC Biz News, which includes the Columbia Regional Business Report, Charleston Regional Business Journal, GSA Business Report, SCB... Read More

An emerging narrative about the state of higher education in South Carolina – and across much of the nation – depicts a landscape of slowing student demand, skyrocketing tuition and fees, and inflated college spending that ha... Read More

In an extraordinary will written in 1886 and put into effect three years later with state approval of the university that would bear his name, Thomas Green Clemson set out to transform his beloved South Carolina through education.  ... Read More