GBJ Staff

Kaiser Permanente of Georgia Expands to Athens

Kaiser Permanente of Georgia announced Wednesday, it will invest $3.5 million to open a new medical office in Athens.

The Kaiser Permanente Athens Medical Office, located at 2142 West Broad Street, Building 200, will be the organization’s first location outside of metro Atlanta. Kaiser Permanente is Georgia’s largest non-profit health plan, serving more than 240,000 members state-wide.

“What makes Kaiser Permanente unique is our ability to meet all health care needs. Our model integrates affordable health insurance with high-quality health care services,” explained Kerry Kohnen, president of Kaiser Permanente of Georgia. “Bringing Kaiser Permanente to Athens provides our members who are living, working, or attending school in Athens-Clarke County and the surrounding area with more convenient access to our services.”

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Gwinnett Magazine Staff

Shoe Still Fits in Buford: Okabashi Stays ‘Made in America’ Strong

Spotting the phrase ‚ ‘Made in China’, stamped on the back of thousands of products lining American retail stores isn’t difficult these days.  Those three little words reside on the back of your flat screen TV or on the tag of your dress or shirt.  The phrase is seen blowing in the patriotic wind of any July 4th parade in small towns across the country as many of those handheld stick American flags are in fact ‚ ‘Made in China’.

The ever-shrinking manufacturing presence across the country is no secret.  Since 1979, the US has lost nearly eight million factory jobs.  Still, the National Association of Manufacturers shows the US leading the world as the largest manufacturing economy producing 21 percent of global products – China is second producing 15 percent.

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Gwinnett Magazine Staff

YSS Athletics Started With A Challenge, Still Going Strong

A loud buzzer sounds, bringing play to a halt – it’s halftime of any sports contest. Coach of the YSS Athletics team, CEO and President, Torey Rose, gathers her teams around to talk strategy, level of performance and what needs to be done differently in the second half.

While this analogy is fitting for a sports apparel-manufacturer, make no mistake – team YSS Athletics isn’t losing at halftime.  They aren’t down a basket.  They don’t foresee needing a Hail Mary pass as the clocks ticks down.  They won’t have to rely on their best player in a shootout for a tiebreaker. Instead, the 19-year-old company located in Snellville, is going into a halftime with exceeded expectations, ahead of the game and optimistic about the next half.

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Gwinnett Magazine Staff

Lehigh Technologies; Tucker Manufacturer Takes Eco-Friendly Focus

If you’re in the business of reducing waste and recycling materials. but in doing so, consume more energy and produce more waste, you’re not exactly doing the planet a favor. That’s a motto Lehigh Technologies has put into motion since first entering the manufacturing scene in 2003.  The phrase has also played a major role in their Tucker plant since 2007.

Still considered a small manufacturing company with only 75 employees, Lehigh Technologies’ impact on the environment can be seen two fold: recycling tire material provided by tire recyclers, which would otherwise crowd local landfills, into a new raw material called micronized rubber powder that is used in the production of new tires, asphalt, plastics, rubber goods, and construction materials.  The other impact is seen through Lehigh’s closed-loop services, taking manufacturers’ post-industrial rubber, processing it, and shipping it back to the manufacturer where it is incorporated into new products. This closed-loop process is an integral part of manufacturers’ zero-waste initiatives.

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GBJ Staff

Surviving the Financial Drought

Since lines of credit are not as readily available in this economy, we’re going to explore how you can use your bank’s technology and treasury management products to survive this financial drought we’re mired in and improve your cash flow.

1. Remote Deposit refers to the ability to deposit a check into a bank account from a remote location without having to physically deliver the check to the bank. It involves a scanning device, a computer and an Internet connection.

One of the biggest benefits of remote deposit is the extension of the business day cutoff to about 5 p.m.  If you’ve ever come in to the bank at 2:15 p.m. only to find them on the next business day, you know what I’m talking about.  Getting the current day’s collections in the bank that day can increase your cash balance.   In addition, calculate the amount of time and expense of driving to the bank daily. It can be significant.

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GBJ Staff

Leadership Tips for Troubled Times

Here are my top three tips for leaders who find themselves challenged by the unprecedented events and markets of 2011.

1. Leverage leadership opportunities into enhanced career value – Assert yourself as a leader by accepting even greater responsibility without being asked. Go beyond the call of duty to support the performance of coworkers, teams, and bosses. Do that and you become the strongest link in the human resource chain and the most valuable player on the team.
That virtually assures that you will be recognized as a true leader by everyone around you. In fact, they will want to see you rise in leadership because they know that with you at the helm their own careers will be more successful and rewarding.

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GBJ Staff

There are Hidden Costs to Employee Turnover

National studies indicate that employee turnover is costing corporations in excess of $25 billion a year. The average turnover rate in any given company is 12-15 percent.

With Gwinnett County a hub of Georgia’s business activity and growing every year, even a slight improvement in employee retention can yield significant savings for our business owners. The cost of losing and replacing a strategic or critical employee starts at 150 percent of the value of that employee’s compensation package.

To put the issue into perspective, let’s use the example of losing an employee whose salary and benefits are worth $100,000. Losing and replacing this person at the cost of 150 percent will actually deplete your earning power by at least $150,000.

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GBJ Staff

Four Tips for Leading a New Team

Many years ago, at the ripe old age of 24, I was given my first titled leadership position. I was quite proud and excited to finally “lead” a team, and I didn’t waste any time getting started. I spent much of my first few weeks in my new position talking about what was wrong with the organization and how I was going to change it. I demanded that my teammates either join me or get off the bus altogether.

Well, you can imagine how well my leadership style worked. Many teammates became resistant. Some quickly left the organization. But most of them simply checked out and quit producing at their previous higher-preforming levels. I began to despise my teammates and my leadership position. Then a mentor of mine handed me John Maxwell’s book, “Developing the Leader Within You.”

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GBJ Staff

Eat Your Way to More Sales

In today’s environment, the cost  of acquiring new accounts has skyrocketed.  Studies show that selling additional products and services to an existing client base can be more cost effective than investing in new client development.  With existing accounts, we have already absorbed the cost of acquiring the business.  Our existing client base would utilize more of our services if only we had the foresight to ask for the business.  Yet, we seldom ask.

So, how should we bring up the subject?  One of the most successful ways to do this is to take your client to lunch.  This enables the buyer-seller relationship to change.  Inside the office, your client has a role to play and many demands to meet.  Inside the restaurant, you can focus on selling the additional business.
Follow these suggestions for a successful business lunch with your client:

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GBJ Staff

Dodging the Sales Tax Bullet Over the Internet: Fact or Myth?

Have you recently gone to a retailer in Gwinnett County and spotted a sweater you just had to have and thought to yourself, “I can buy this sweater over the internet and save the 6% sales tax”?  Many people still believe that sales over the Internet are not subject to state and local sales tax.  That belief is simply not true.

The sweater you purchase over the Internet and have shipped directly to your home in Gwinnett County is just as much subject to sales tax as the sweater that you purchase from a Gwinnett retailer. Sales tax is imposed on the purchaser of the property – in this case a sweater – and that tax is often collected by the seller and remitted to the state. The Internet seller may not have enough contact with the State of Georgia to allow Georgia to require the seller to collect the tax from you. That does not mean, however, that the tax is not still due.

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