Business

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's mission includes attracting and retaining talent, and the organization is making a special effort to reach out to young workers, said Taylor Laws, chamber marketing and communications specialist. "We want to retain university students, but also give opportunities to high-school students, people who've moved away and are looking to come back," Laws said...

In an age of screens and keyboarding, when kids hardly learn cursive anymore, fountain pens -- along with their old-timey accoutrements such as blotters, bottled ink and fancy nibs -- are making a comeback. There are jazzy new colors and styles, and an array of affordable options...

You signed the papers, got the keys and opened the front door. Now, that quaint little place is all yours. But more freedom comes with more responsibility. A lot changes once you're a homeowner. Here's how to prepare for a few of the adjustments -- emotionally and financially...

MILWAUKEE -- A fight between beer giants escalated last week after MillerCoors filed a lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch accusing its rival of trying to "frighten" consumers into switching to Bud Light with "misleading" Super Bowl ads. MillerCoors said in the lawsuit filed in Wisconsin federal court that St. ...

For Kevin Fles, Financial Advisor at Montgomery Bank, financial advising is all about a personal connection and building relationships with his clients. From advising them on how to invest their money to learning about their family, Kevin views each client individually...

Five years ago, when Jason Huskey embarked on a long-time goal of learning to program, he was looking to meet the needs in his own office. But he wound up creating software more universal than he'd intended. Huskey is a certified public accountant at his father Jerry's firm on East Main Street in Jackson, and said he started making tools for the office as a way to learn how to program...

NEW YORK -- When small business owners want to divine what consumer spending trends will be months from now, their methods can be as sophisticated as internet analytics or as basic as plain old intuition. At Moriarty's Gem Art, co-owner Jeff Moriarty tracks searches on the jewelry company's website and on Google Trends, a site that analyzes what people are looking for online...

BEND, Ore. -- The Blockbuster store in a city near central Oregon became the last one in the U.S. last year. And soon it'll be the only one in the world. The Bulletin reported a Blockbuster store in Perth, Australia, is closing later this month, leaving the Bend franchise alone on the planet...

Lost or missing documents can turn tax season into a giant headache, but they don't have to stall you for long. Here are some common tax necessities that might go missing -- and what a tax pro says you can do if they give you the slip. What to do: Go to HR or your payroll department...

The familiar green-logo-on-white-truck of Strickland Engineering in Jackson is just one outward sign of a thriving company, one that's celebrating 40 years in business this month. Tom Strickland founded the company in 1979, and his sons Brian and Mark now run the company. Mark's son Caleb Strickland joined the team this year...

NEW YORK -- Amy Baxter's business took off after she appeared on "Shark Tank" with her device that blocks pain from injections -- orders flowed in and she bulked up her inventory. But after sales hit a temporary speed bump, Baxter learned there was no tax break for the merchandise she hadn't sold yet...

NEW YORK -- Mark Zuckerberg's abrupt Wednesday declaration of a new "privacy vision" for social networking was for many people a sort of Rorschach test. Looked at one way, the manifesto read as an apology of sorts for Facebook's history of privacy transgressions, and suggested the social network would de-emphasize its huge public social network in favor of private messaging between individuals and among small groups...

Chrystal McKay knew enough about medical care costs that she skipped the ambulance ride after a car accident. A friend drove her to the emergency room. That saved her one bill, but she faces another for more than $20,000 after her ER visit. The 29-year-old Stockton, California, woman must balance paying her debt with getting care for a sprained shoulder that may need surgery: "I have to weigh the pros and cons. I'm already $20,000 in debt, and any more treatment will just put me more in debt."...

Jim Dufek has worked with thousands of students in his time as a professor of mass media at Southeast Missouri State University, and he says the technology and industry have evolved -- and with it, students' readiness and potential. Students train with the same equipment as professional production studios, Dufek said. That's great preparation, as are the many real-world projects Dufek involves students in...

No, you're not smoking something. Martha Stewart has entered the fast-growing -- but still legally murky -- cannabis market. The domestic diva who brought us hemp yarn is now partnering with Canada's Canopy Growth Corp. to develop new products containing CBD, a compound derived from hemp and marijuana that doesn't cause a high...

The notion health care outside the U.S. could be good as well as cheap is a foreign one to many Americans. Kathleen Peddicord frequently hears from such skeptics as founder of Live and Invest Overseas, a site for people curious about living abroad. Actual expats like her, however, tell of good-quality care at a fraction of the U.S. ...

You might have read organizational consultant, author and speaker Simon Sinek's books or listened to his speech about "the why," defined as the purpose or core belief that motivates someone to do something. For insurance professional Marc Harris, "the why" is helping guys become the husbands, fathers and leaders they were meant to be. ...

Vital to the culture of a community are its not-for-profits and charities. These organizations help lift up the needy, provide support to the afflicted, commemorate the past, elevate well-being, brighten the mundane, open new possibilities and entertain. Much of their work relies on volunteers and outside financial help. And businesses, through providing volunteers, donations, sponsorships, strategic assistance and more, help these organizations and the communities they serve, thrive...

Practicing theater basics and putting on a performance. Learning the fundamentals of baseball while playing on Notre Dame’s high school field. Making tie dye shirts, programming robots, scoring stream-bed life in a creek. These are just a few of the possibilities for your child this summer at Notre Dame Regional High School’s summer camps...

Zickfield is more than the name on the sign outside a business that's been in operation for 80 years as of next month. It's also the family, now in its third generation, behind the softly-lit displays and glass jewelry cases. Wendi Zickfield Beussink said her grandparents started the company in 1939 as Zickfield & Sebaugh jewelry and gift store at 43 N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau...

NEW YORK -- As Nick Haschka bought four small horticultural businesses over the past two years, he had to help his new employees navigate almost constant change. "They've had to get used to a new owner, new management style, and many new processes and tools," said Haschka, owner of The Wright Gardner in South San Francisco, California...

Looking for an eco-friendly alternative to traditional plastics -- especially single-use items such as bags, straws and picnic tableware -- many supermarkets and vendors are offering an array of compostable alternatives made from plant fibers or starches...

Plenty has been written about American workers' failure to plan adequately for retirement. Their employers seem to be doing an even worse job. Only 1 in 10 large employers offers a formal phased-retirement program letting workers cut back their hours or responsibilities before they quit work entirely, according to the 2018 Longer Working Careers Survey by professional services consultant Willis Towers Watson. ...

Good cause marketing requires you to keep it simple, be authentic and engage with your customer. More for-profit companies in Southeast Missouri are marketing their business or product to benefit a nonprofit charity in support of a social cause. Few get it right. Here are key components among those who do:...

For better or worse, smartphones are the tools of choice, and the technology is ubiquitous with personal and professional responsibilities. Here are three apps to consider: Work in a collaborative space? Or maybe you're part of a thought-leadership group with counterparts around the country. Slack keeps the conversation going, tracks who says what and streamlines the sharing process without having dozens (or more) individual conversations...

As a lifelong learner of leadership, I was not disappointed when one of my police officers gifted me with "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win," written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Willink and Babin are former Navy Seals who honed their leadership skills on the streets of Ramadi during the Iraq War and now bring the lessons they learned to the business world...

Having a mentor in the business world can help young professionals navigate new situations, make connections within the community and have a sounding board for their ideas and questions. Being a mentor has its benefits, too: it's a chance to pass on the skills and lessons you've gained throughout your career and look at topics with fresh perspective, while helping a young professional better the community through their own gifts and skills...

Recruiters Websites, a local web design and development company, named Matt McKenzie its web design and experience manager. The company has also expanded its marketing services with the addition of Emily Blattel, marketing manager, and Sarah Shanahan, social media coordinator. ...

Giving students one-on-one encouragement as they learn to read through the Read to Succeed program. Providing a food pantry and tutoring program at the middle school. Funding an after-school bus at the junior high so students can stay after school to participate in extracurricular activities that can help keep them engaged in school. ...

It's generally true: grand gestures of kindness beget grand gestures of kindness. When Jim Eddleman, Vietnam veteran and native of Perryville, Missouri, donated his three-generation, 47-acre family farm to found Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in 2017, he kept only one acre for his and his wife Charlene's house. To him, his donation is a way to keep a promise he made to himself in 1968 while fighting in the Vietnam War...

In the process of researching for my book, I found a lot of inspiration in Robert D. Putnam's "Bowling Alone." This book chronicles how and why we said good-bye to the American culture made familiar by the mid-twentieth century. Change is inevitable, and I find it exhilarating. So, to my delight, Putnam also takes a look at the hows and the whys of the cultures we built in place of our foremothers' and forefathers'...

It's all a day on the job at the Show Me Center: doubleheader SEMO basketball games followed the next night by a 6,000-seat sold-out Kane Brown concert, followed the next afternoon by another doubleheader. A crew of 55 to 60 people will carry out the conversions of the arena. During these events, the Show Me Center will be in operation for 72 hours...

The following stories may or may not appear in a future edition of B Magazine: With creditors circling overhead, Sears stuns the entire world by announcing the no-profit company will be converted into a not-for-profit organization. The CEO of Sears says, "We haven't turned a profit since 2010, so transforming into a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization will be a piece of cake. ...

Congratulations! You found a house in your price range and are imagining all the ways you could renovate it to feel like your own, the perfect home that matches your needs, lifestyle and decorating sense. The only problem? The down payment and closing costs eat into the money you could be using to fix up your new home...

Teacher Gail Timpe says Notre Dame Regional High School's business law class isn't just about the legalities of starting, owning and operating a business. It's also about researching and building a business from the ground up, and students do exactly that over the course of a semester, in a "Shark Tank"-like "Dog Fight."...

NEW YORK -- Retailers and top fashion brands such as Gucci and Prada keep apologizing for products smacking of racial insensitivity. The big question is: Why does it keep happening? Experts say many of these fashion companies live in a sort of bubble and lack the diversity in their staff that could vet their fashions. ...

WASHINGTON -- Mitch Hungerpiller thought he had a first-class solution for mail that gets returned as undeliverable, a common problem for businesses that send lots of letters. But the process he helped develop and built his small Alabama technology company around has resulted in a more than decadelong fight with the U.S. ...

If you have a few extra bucks you don't need for necessities such as rent or loan payments, consider shopping for happiness. From ancient philosophers to current experts in behavioral economics, people have been pondering the link between money and happiness. Among them is author Gretchen Rubin, who thinks about happiness for a living. She's written several books on happiness, including "The Happiness Project" and the forthcoming "Outer Order, Inner Calm."...

Congratulations! You landed your first job and you’re settling in, putting your knowledge, skills and creativity to use in the ways you’ve always dreamed about. Believe it or not, now it’s time to start planning for retirement. It’s important to take some time to imagine how you want your life to look when you are in your 50s, 60s and beyond, and to put pencil to paper to see how much money that lifestyle will realistically cost. ...

Howard Danzig, president of Employers Committed to Control Health Insurance Costs, or ECCHIC, a St. Louis-based company, says employers are up against high costs in providing health insurance to their employees, and to address it, employers should consider breaking up insurance costs to get to the cost per unit...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Get ready to say good riddance to the checkout line. A year after Amazon opened its first cashier-less store, startups and retailers are racing to get similar technology in stores throughout the world, letting shoppers buy groceries without waiting in line...

If you're getting a divorce, it pays to keep quiet on social media, New York divorce attorney Jacqueline Newman says. Trashing a soon-to-be ex or boasting about your great new life can complicate divorce negotiations. One client's husband, for example, insisted he couldn't afford a proposed settlement. Then, he inadvertently gave Newman leverage to get a better deal...

Food delivery services such as Uber Eats and Grubhub are taking off like a rocket. But some restaurants aren't on board. Last week, Jimmy John's sandwich chain launched a national ad campaign promising never to use third-party delivery. Jimmy John's says its own drivers -- which number around 45,000 at its 2,800 U.S. restaurants -- can best ensure fast, quality service...

NEW YORK -- A bankruptcy judge Thursday blessed a $5.2 billion plan by Sears chairman and biggest shareholder to keep the iconic business going. The approval means roughly 425 stores and 45,000 jobs will be preserved. Eddie Lampert's bid through an affiliate of his ESL hedge fund overcame opposition from a group of unsecured creditors, including mall owners and suppliers, that tried to block the sale and pushed hard for the company's liquidation...

The Small Business Technology Development Center, or SBTDC, office at 920 Broadway, Southeast Missouri State University campus, has a workshop series coming up that director Jakob Pallesen hopes will offer a big benefit for a little investment of time and attention by members of the business community in and near Cape Girardeau...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Entering the year-old workspace ModernWell feels like coming into a comfortable spa. Clean lines give way to cozy touches such as footstools covered with faux fur and a roaring fire surrounded by comfortable armchairs. Women type away on laptops at tables scattered throughout...

DENVER -- Two years after jumping into a fight with the Trump administration over public lands, the U.S. outdoor industry is turning up the political pressure -- though its impact is difficult to measure. Thousands of manufacturers and retailers gathered in Denver last week for the annual Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show, and some of the biggest names vowed to keep pushing to preserve public lands...

Recessions are like natural disasters: They're inevitable, but smart preparation may reduce the impact on you. The U.S. economy has grown steadily since emerging from the "Great Recession" in June 2009, but expansions can't continue forever, and this one is already the second-longest on record. Only the expansion from March 1991 to March 2001 lasted longer...

Saxony Lutheran High School exists to center students on Christ and God’s Word, to strive for excellence in all phases of education and to prepare students for a life of Christian discipleship using God’s Word as their guide. It’s their mission. And they do it really well...

Recent Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year honoree Bug Zero at 213 Clark Ave. in Cape Girardeau has been in the pest control business since 2009, and is building a new facility to house its growing operation. Owner Chris Horrell said his uncle started the business in Springfield, Missouri, and then he, Chris, opened the Cape Girardeau location...