Writers are hustlers. When you get paid cents per word, you’ve got to write a lot of words to make ends meet. And that’s getting harder to do in a crowded market. Anyone can blog. We all learn to string a few sentences together in high school. What’s the point in paying a professional? In…

In Acadiana, business is a tradition and tradition is a business – often the family business. There’s a long heritage of musical families around here, dynasties of fiddlers and accordion players handing down the tools and tricks of the family trade to generation after generation. Here our Acadiana musical families are household names, every bit…

There can be a lot of pressure to take on the family business, especially when the family name becomes synonymous with the industry they work in. Imagine what it must be like to be a Hilton or a Disney or a Manning. Everybody copes with it differently. Some embrace it. Some make their own mark…

We’ve always been told that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. In 21st Century America you can add one certainty: the ever changing face of healthcare. Apparently, back in the dim distant past, people used to get sick, go to a doctor, get cured, and go home. We’d pay the doctor…

One of the things we’re proudest of in Acadiana is our culture. And our family. We even talk about the family relationships between our cultures as being first cousins: Cajun and Zydeco. There are similarities and notable differences between Cajun music and dance, and Zydeco music and dance. Leaving aside for the moment the intertwined Acadian…

If you’re like most people, you found out very early on, probably in pre-school, that things go a lot better when people like you. Nothing much has changed since you were 4.  From the factory floor, to the boardroom, to the halls of regulatory government, to million-dollar marketing campaigns, being successful in commerce is very…

How many thousand times have you heard someone talk about working remotely, saying, “The great thing about the internet is you can work anywhere.”  Well, working in the oil field brings a whole new meaning to working “remotely.” It’s remote alright, and it’s still tech, but it’s of necessity, tech Acadiana style. If you started…

If you had a dollar for every time someone on radio or TV said, “Here in Acadiana we’re known for our food,”  you probably would have made about a hundred dollars this month already. You wouldn’t be as wealthy, though, if you were collecting a dollar on the sentence, “Here in Acadiana there is a sizeable…

You’d be forgiven for wondering what a show about Acadiana business would be doing examining biographies. Or boxing. And especially biographies and boxing on the same show. Because you’re human, you’re pre-disposed to look for a link between subjects. To try and make order out of chaos. The chaos of ordinary – or extraordinary –…

Oil is still big business in Acadiana, even if it’s not quite as big it used to be. The IT business is quietly growing here too, specially in Lafayette. What’s interesting about both the natural resource industry and the broadband-based-business is the way they’re growing beyond our borders. We’re now looking at Acadiana-based business from…