Economic downturn stokes home-cleaning services

Feature story for The Memphis Daily News

Aug. 2, 2010

For many people, having someone else to sweep floors and mop bathrooms might be considered a luxury, and possibly the first item crossed off any budget when the economy spirals downward and times get tough.

Kip Uhlhorn, co-owner of 2 Chicks and a Broom, has a different take, however. “If you’re working a lot more, I guess your personal time becomes more precious.”

“People are working two jobs or more hours, so instead of me going home at lunchtime to let the dog out, could you add that to the time allotted,” Kip’s wife, Kelly, said people ask her. “Also, people don’t want to spend their time on weekends cleaning their house.”

The Uhlhorns purchased the eco-friendly home-cleaning business 2 Chicks and a Broom, where Kelly had worked in the past, from Candace Mills in September 2008. They have managed in nearly two years to grow their client base to about 2,000 clients and have expanded their reach further east.

“We tripled the client base,” Kip said. “Everything is pretty comfortable now, as far as the flow of new clients, but for a while there we were just too slammed for the amount of people we have.” ... (read more)

Love of running inspires unique tour company

Small Business Spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

July 26, 2010

John Lintner loves to run.

“I run about four to six miles a day, and nine to 10 miles on the weekends,” he said. “I’ve run four marathons.”

A certified personal trainer and head of sales for Breakaway Running’s bulk embroidery division, Lintner recently trained his wife, Crissy, for her first major race, the 13.1-mile Germantown Half Marathon.

“Whenever we weren’t fighting, it was fun,” John Lintner said.

The two newlyweds – married last September – have recently taken their love of running, the outdoors and a healthy lifestyle to a new level by starting Rockin’ Running Tours.

The idea is simple: take visitors to the city on a three- or six-mile tour of Downtown Memphis at their own pace, at street level, where they can take the time to see all there is to see.

There are several ways to see the sights of Downtown, including horse and carriage tours, a riverboat ride on the Mississippi River and Backbeat Tours, a music-themed tour company ... (read more)

Jurex's Rudolph unites nursing and legal professions

Memphis Standout story for The Memphis Daily News

July 16, 2010

Elizabeth Rudolph used her training as a nurse and an attorney to found Jurex, a Memphis-based company that trains nurses to be expert witnesses, review medical records in legal cases and become legal nurse consultants.

She developed the course in four formats: live, which is usually two full days of instruction, and by video, audio or an online e-course.

“What the course teaches is the legal and the marketing knowledge, and that’s combined with the nurse’s nursing knowledge,” Rudolph said. “The course comes with 15 accredited continuing education credits.” ... (read more)

Jim's Place East finds new home on Perkins

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

(with Eric Smith)

July 15, 2010

Jim’s Place East – a Memphis tradition since its founding nearly 90 years ago – is opening a location at Poplar Avenue and Perkins Road, having signed a 10-year lease for the 5,900-square-foot space that recently housed Harold’s women’s boutique.

The restaurant, a popular site for events such as wedding receptions, parties, business meetings and intimate dinners, has operated at 5560 Shelby Oaks Drive since 1976.

The move is a relocation from Shelby Oaks, yet the current location will remain open until the doors open this fall at 518 Perkins Road Extended.

“We want people with special memories to know that we’ll continue to operate the current location and that people should come back and visit,” said Sam Taras, son of co-owner, Dimitri Taras ... (read more)

Development partners reunite on Midtown project

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

July 13, 2010

Community Capital and Architecture Inc. have teamed up again, this time to build Community Capital’s new headquarters at 1708 Monroe Ave. between South Belvedere Boulevard and South Evergreen Street.

Located just behind Outdoors Inc. and half a block from Idlewild Presbyterian Church, the area is zoned commercial, although the new office space of Community Capital is designed to look like homes in the area and will keep the integrity and feel of the Midtown neighborhood.

“It’s primarily commercial use in there, but many of the buildings are converted residential structures, so in talking to OPD (the city-county Office of Planning and Development), they felt that going into that area with an office-type building would be inappropriate and they asked us to design a building that would be more residential in appearance, so that’s what we did,” said David Schuermann, lead architect on the project and co-owner of Architecture Inc.

Community Capital, whose president is Archie Willis III, is a boutique firm offering real estate financing, development prospectus packages, financial and affordable housing advising to municipalities and private companies alike. The firm also develops real estate ... (read more)

Flying high

Memphis in May festivities end with air show

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

May 21, 2010

Airplanes seen flying through the skies is a part of the daily tableau for Memphians. Odds are they are FedEx or Delta planes lining up for landing or beginning an ascent into the clouds at any hour of the day.

But anyone who looked closely this weekend might have seen the bright red stunt plane of Fagen Inc. turning loops and performing corkscrew maneuvers over the Downtown skyline.

Saturday’s Memphis in May Sunset Symphony and air show this Saturday ended the month-long festivities.

The air show has been part of the Sunset Symphony, the longest-running program for Memphis in May, since 2007. Diane Hampton, executive vice president of Memphis in May, said it usually draws some 25,000 spectators.

“It’s part of a whole day of family entertainment,” Hampton said of the air show ... (read more)

Cockadoos brings southern spirit to downtown

Small business spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

May 31, 2010

Between John Bradley Wells and his wife, Lana, the two have nearly 40 years of experience in the restaurant business.

He owned Como Steak House in Como, Miss., for 10 years, worked for B.B. Kings for six years and has been general manager of Huey’s Downtown for the past four years. Lana was a nationwide corporate trainer for Ruby Tuesday and general manager of the Wolfchase location.

Their latest foray into the restaurant business brings them to the intersection of Union Avenue and Second Street, just steps from the Huey’s John Wells managed, and a place called Cockadoos.

“Being Downtown for the last 10 years or so, I always had people asking me where they could get breakfast and with nothing right here on this main drag that did breakfast, we just felt like it was a great opportunity,” he said.

Breakfast at Cockadoos includes Belgium waffles, Texas French toast, buttermilk pancakes and, of course, grits, as well as cathead biscuits and gravy, and catfish and grits. In addition to the traditional fare, a coffee bar is also on site for caffeine fiends.

“We have the full array of the lattes and cappuccinos,” Wells said. “We wanted to make sure that we covered the whole gambit as it pertained to breakfast, so we wanted to offer all the coffees as well. Our coffee is a small roaster out of St. Louis called Mississippi Mud Coffee.”

The restaurant is only three doors south of Union on Second, in the building that used to house Café 61. The walls have been painted a light yellow, with some left bare brick, and bright floral patterns adorn the tablecloths and throw pillows in the two seating areas filling the two large bay windows looking out on the foot traffic. A mezzanine balcony overlooks the main floor of the dining room ... (read more)

Technology takes Ridgeway Middle music to new level

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

May 21, 2010

The walls of a cinderblock city school classroom in East Memphis are hung with posters of John Coltrane, King Oliver, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday and a 78-inch interactive whiteboard called an ActivBoard.

In a medium whose foundation is built on the bar chords of the blues and sound of the sax, technology has been introduced to engage children and introduce them to those a world away in Ken Greene’s music class.

Greene, music teacher and choir director at Ridgeway Middle School, recently demonstrated how technology is used to teach students and connect with other programs.

“Do you mind if we jam with you?” Greene asked his counterpart from Weyanoke Elementary School in Fairfax, Va ... (read more)

'Change is inevitable'

Spot news reporting for The Memphis Daily News

May 14, 2010

Expo encourages job seekers to adapt -- even when discouraged

“They aren’t making buggy whips anymore.”

That’s what Tom Wilson, career counselor for careerhands.com, tells people who have lost or left jobs and are looking for something else in the workplace.

He then brings it around to the 21st century: “They aren’t making electric typewriters anymore, either.”

The message he conveyed at Thursday’s Second Annual Opportunity Expo at The Pink Palace Museum was one conveyed throughout the day-long event’s seminars and by speakers and company representatives on hand to talk to job seekers about potential opportunities.

OppCity.com, a job-listing site for the Memphis area currently attracting 250,000 hits a week from all over the country, put on the expo, which was sponsored by the local Talent Trust Foundation ... (read more)

Ritchey, MED Foundation get gritty for hospital

Memphis Standout Profile for The Memphis Daily News

April 30, 2010

When Memphians and those in the surrounding areas are faced with the trauma of a gunshot wound, life-threatening burn or car crash, chances are good that they’ll end up at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

For most of them, that visit is the difference between life and death.

Because of this, there is a scant degree of separation between most Memphians and The MED, said Tap into millions of public records, notices and articles on The Daily News.

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“There are not too many people who haven’t been touched by The MED in Shelby County,” she said.

To do the work the doctors and nurses of the trauma unit perform, tending to patients in what is known as “the golden hour” – those 60 minutes when critical care is at its most urgent – a certain “grittiness,” as Ritchey put it, is needed ... (read more)

Restaurateurs find opportunities in new technology

Feature story for The Memphis Daily News

April 22, 2010

Nowadays there’s a cell phone app for nearly everything – and restaurant reservations are no exception.

That’s not been lost on local restaurateurs, who are embracing online reservations and finding that they are weathering the struggling economy better as a result.

“In an economy like this, we can’t leave any stone unturned, especially when people are cutting costs on dining,” said Josh Spotts, catering sales and conference service manager for The Madison Hotel, which operates Grill 83.

“You can get full off a hamburger at McDonald’s, but is that the experience that you want?”

Among the most popular apps available is OpenTable.com, a Web-based program offering reservation and table management services in real time for more than 12,000 restaurants worldwide.

Founded in 1998, OpenTable now seats about 4 million diners per month and has done so for more than 130 million since its inception.

The mobile app was launched in November 2008, and has been used by more than 2 million, a number that represents about $100 million to restaurant partners, according to OpenTable ... (read more)

Art infusion: local artists look to beef up market in Midtown

Small business spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

April 6, 2010

Frank Roberts, the owner of nine businesses in six buildings known collectively as The Palladio Group, understands the way to best use retail space.

When his tenant at 2256 Central Ave., Artists on Central, with its various art vendors and flea market feel, fell on difficult times in 2008, Roberts felt that the century-old house could be used better. He wanted to upgrade the offerings and inject the Cooper-Young area with fine art.

“Artists on Central had an image that was not consistent, nor could it be made consistent with our vision, and where there’s no vision, people perish,” said Roberts, whose background is in architecture and home building. “So we wanted to be sure there was a very clear vision and a deliberately chosen and focused point to reach that vision: a true fine art gallery, a sophisticated gallery, not intimidating and stuffy.” ... (read more)

Firm wants to bring top talent to Memphis

Small business spotlight for The Memphis Daily News

April 5, 2010

Chris Chotard sees himself as a coach recruiting members to business teams throughout Memphis.

He founded his company, Top Notch, last year to bring the brightest college students to Memphis to spend eight weeks working for some of the most well known mid-level companies in the city.

“Some of the best marketers, best recruiters out there are college football coaches and their staff, or college basketball, and they’re selling very similar things,” Chotard said. “They’re trying to sell the city of Memphis as a place to live for a short period of time and they’re trying to recruit the best talent from cities around the country as well as locally.”

Chotard employs the same tactics to get the best to Memphis. And the mid-size businesses are his bread and butter ... (read more)

Cody named co-chair of Society of Attorneys General Emeritus

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

April 1, 2010

Michael Cody of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC was recently named co-chairman of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE).

SAGE is an organization formed in 1990 as a compliment to the National Association of Attorneys General, the 50-member group of active AGs. Cody was attorney general of Tennessee from 1984 to 1988. His co-chair is former attorney general and governor of New Hampshire, Stephen E. Merrill.

“What we (SAGE) do is a nice relationship, because current attorneys general can use our group as sort of a resource to talk with, we help them with programs,” Cody said. “It serves the purpose of us actually being a helpful part of their organization and giving us an opportunity to get together twice a year.”

Cody began his career with Burch, Porter & Johnson in 1961 under Lucius Burch, whom Cody considers a mentor. Except for his years in public service as attorney general, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee (1977-1981) and Memphis City Council (1975-1977), his entire law career has been spent at the law firm housed in the old Tennessee Club building overlooking Court Square ... (read more)

Stephenson finds success in Memphis

Feature profile in The Memphis Daily News

March 29, 2010

Susan Stephenson grew up in East Tennessee and followed her heart to Memphis when a young man she knew decided to attend graduate school here.

She ended up falling in love with a city instead.

“You don’t get to pick where you start, but you get to pick where you end and this is the place where I chose to build my life and my family and my career, and it’s where I choose to end,” Stephenson said. “I really genuinely love this city.”

The CEO and co-founder of Independent Bank never intended to enter the world of banking. Her liberal arts education in history and English from the University of Tennessee suggested a different track altogether, one that might have included teaching had she not ended up in the corporate training program at First Tennessee ... (read more)

Carpenter finds new creative life with latest venture

New small business profile for The Daily News

February 26, 2010

Seven months after leaving the advertising agency that bore his name, Doug Carpenter has quietly hung out the shingle for his new venture, Doug Carpenter & Associates.

Devoted to advertising, public relations and consulting, Carpenter used social media to get the word out.

“My coming out was in the form of an e-mail to my database and a Facebook page,” he said. “And the response has been overwhelming.”

Carpenter in July sold his interest in the advertising firm carpenter | sullivan | sossaman – now known as CS2 – to fellow managing principal Brian Sullivan ... (read more)