It's a relatively small symbol, but it turns out to be a powerful one. The little chocolate-covered coffee beans given out with beverages at The Human Bean give the chain a name and a hook. Now the franchise locations stretch from here to New Jersey, with more opening all the time.

We explore the human part of the operation and its growth with Dan Hawkins, the Human Bean President and CEO. He sits for a visit with Management Consultant Cynthia Scherr in the latest installment of The Ground Floor, our business and entrepreneur segment.

It's a relatively small symbol, but it turns out to be a powerful one. The little chocolate-covered coffee beans given out with beverages at The Human Bean give the chain a name and a hook. Now the franchise locations stretch from here to New Jersey, with more opening all the time.

We explore the human part of the operation and its growth with Dan Hawkins, the Human Bean President and CEO. He sits for a visit with Management Consultant Cynthia Scherr in the latest installment of The Ground Floor, our business and entrepreneur segment.

Nobody much likes the term "landlord," but we keep using it. Whether you like the label or not, it describes a role in a particularly personal, and legally complicated, business relationship. Now there is a new tool for people managing rental property to help keep the business part organized.

Rentec Direct in Grants Pass makes software used all over the country now. Founder/President Nathan Miller came up with the idea when he got overwhelmed managing his own rentals. He tells the story in the latest edition of The Ground Floor, our business segment, hosted by management consultant Cynthia Scherr. Listen for details of the origin story, and the growth of the business that continues today.

The things that robots can do on assembly lines and elsewhere in the workplace can boggle the mind. But if you don't currently use robots, who sets them up for you? One answer is 7robotics, based in Roseburg. There were not six previous versions of the company, they chose 7 for... well, you should listen.

Cynthia Scherr returns with another version of The Ground Floor, our business segment. Cynthia's guest is Joey Koenig, Business Director at 7robotics. He explains the name and how the company helps other companies step into the brave new world of robotics.

There's money to be made in providing services to people. There's potentially BIGGER money to be made in providing services to other businesses.

Just think about all the regulations that they have to follow; Elizabeth Cope did. She noticed through previous jobs how much work it took for businesses to keep up with the requirements of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. She ended up forming her own company, Ashland-based SEC Compliance Solutions.

The story of the business and what it does for other businesses is the focus of the latest edition of The Ground Floor, with host Cynthia Scherr of Scherr Management Consulting. We get the story of what the SEC needs, and how SEC Compliance Solutions helps meet them.

Long before there were wine coolers and sparkling seltzers, there was mead. It's a simple drink, but with many complex potential flavors, and one key ingredient: honey. So bees are involved, but so are people, like the people at Oran Mor Artisan Mead in Roseburg.

We learn about the business and the drink in the latest edition of our business segment, The Ground Floor. Host Cynthia Scherr visits with Lilly Weichberger, CEO and Head Mead Maker.

Long before there were wine coolers and sparkling seltzers, there was mead. It's a simple drink, but with many complex potential flavors, and one key ingredient: honey. So bees are involved, but so are people, like the people at Oran Mor Artisan Mead in Roseburg.

We learn about the business and the drink in the latest edition of our business segment, The Ground Floor. Host Cynthia Scherr visits with Lilly Weichberger, CEO and Head Mead Maker.

The Beatles song I'll Follow the Sun made for catchy song lyrics, but it's also a good practice for solar energy creation.

Just as the sun beats down hardest in the summer, it produces the most electricity in solar cells when the pathway is direct. So Stracker Solar of Ashland installs systems that track the sun across the sky over the day. Business is growing, as we find in this month's edition of The Ground Floor, hosted by management consultant Cynthia Scherr.

Jeff Sharpe, Founder and COO at Stracker, returns to talk about a proposal to put some juice from the sun directly into Ashland's city-owned electric grid.

When you grow up in a relatively small town and have big dreams, reaching them often involves moving away. Which may be great for the person, but it's a brain drain for the community left behind.

That's why Emerging Leaders Internship is setting up in Southern Oregon: to help keep local talent in the region, with an emphasis on young people from rural and/or lower-income families.

The program is the focus of this month's The Ground Floor, with Cynthia Scherr. Two organizations, The Contingent and Project Youth+, head up the effort, and PY+ Executive Director Kurt Hildebrand is Cynthia's guest.