A Memphis company is bringing outdoor guide services to the Digital Age and just got a huge infusion of cash to do it.
AnyCreek connects outdoor enthusiasts with guides and outfitters for experiences such as hunting and fishing. The platform has already reached thousands of adventurers in 183 markets to discover, book, and pay for fishing and hunting experiences.
The company completed a $1.8 million round of seed funding last month. The money brings AnyCreek’s total funding to $3.3 million since its launch in 2022.
“With so many guides and outfitters offline, it can be challenging and intimidating to find great, local guides,” said Nick Larson, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at AnyCreek. “Our platform is stress-tested by the best guides and outfitters and makes discovering, booking, and paying for high-quality hunting and fishing trips easy and convenient for any adventurer.”
The platform offers guides and outfitters a set of tools — calendar management, payments, referrals and easy guide assignments, SEO, marketing, customer communication, CRM, and 24/7 support.
Credit: AnyCreek
It gives consumers an online experience similar to AirBnB. Type your destination (such as South Carolina) or your activity (such as fly fishing) into the website’s search bar. It returns a host of guides and outfitters working in the area who offer the experiences that you’re looking for, giving you prices, guide bios, and reviews.
Credit: AnyCreek
With its new round of funding, AnyCreek says it will continue to enhance its technology and expand its services into new markets.
””We believe that humans in nature represent the best of human nature, and we have a profound respect for the businesses facilitating this connection,” said Benjamin Lazarov, co-founder and CEO of AnyCreek. “It’s our mission to equip guides and outfitters with the latest technology to get more people outside. This funding will help us continue this momentum as we expand into additional markets and offerings.”
More work for business owners (Photo: Towfiqu barbhuiya| Unsplash)
Because business owners don’t have enough on their plates already, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will add another reporting requirement to keep you all busy. The CTA, which goes into effect on January 1, 2024, will require a wide range of businesses to file a report providing information on their beneficial owners. The requirement is intended to improve transparency in entities and combat money laundering, tax fraud, and other illicit activities.
Who must file?
CTA applies to a wide range of businesses, including:
• Corporations
• Limited liability companies (LLCs)
• Limited partnerships (LPs)
• Limited liability partnerships (LLPs)
• Business trusts
• Certain foreign entities that do business in the United States
What’s reported?
Information regarding each beneficial owner of the business is required to be filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). A beneficial owner is an individual who, directly or indirectly, either exercises “substantial control” over a business or owns or controls at least 25 percent of the ownership interests of a business. An individual exercises “substantial control” if they satisfy any of the following conditions:
• They serve as a senior officer of the business.
• They have authority over the senior officers or a majority of the board of directors of the business.
• They have the ability to direct the business’ financial transactions.
• They have the ability to exercise veto power over important business decisions.
For each beneficial owner, the following information will be required:
• Full name
• Date of birth
• Current address
• Unique ID number, such as a driver’s license or passport ID, as well as a photo of that document
When is the report due?
If the business is established before the CTA goes into effect in 2024, the first report will be due within a year. If a business is formed once the act is in place, the first report will be required within 30 days.
After the initial report, there’s no annual reporting requirement. However, any changes to the beneficial ownership of a business will require the filing of an updated report with FinCEN within 30 days. That includes a change of address of any owner.
If no report is filed, the CTA establishes criminal and civil penalties. The failure to file penalty is currently set at $500 a day (up to $10,000). These costly penalties make this an item not to ignore!
The CTA will have an impact on many businesses. Being aware of the required reporting will help your business comply with the law while avoiding costly penalties. You also still have time before the end of the year to clean up and close any existing unused LLCs that may have been formed for a potential business endeavor, thereby removing any filing requirement and preventing an unexpected penalty.
Gene Gard, CFA, CFP, CFT-I, is a Partner and Private Wealth Manager with Creative Planning. Creative Planning is one of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Advisory firms providing comprehensive wealth management services to ensure all elements of a client’s financial life are working together, including investments, taxes, estate planning, and risk management. For more information or to request a free, no-obligation consultation, visit CreativePlanning.com.
One of Memphis’ biggest drivers of change is about head off to a new challenge. On Thursday, Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Beverly Robertson announced that she would be stepping down from her role in December 2022. That same day, the Chamber board of directors voted to name the organization’s chief economic development officer, Ted Townsend, as her successor.
Robertson, the Chamber’s first Black president and CEO, took over the reins in 2018 in unfortunate circumstances following the death of former president and CEO Phil Trenary. She then had to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. But despite this two crises, in 2021, she led the Chamber to its best year ever for economic development and its best financial year.
“My tenure at the Chamber has occurred in the midst of protest, politics and the pandemic,” said Robertson in a statement. “I stepped into the organization at a critical time. This work was more of a mission than a job. But my administration has been marked by inclusion – on our staff, in our community, and in the diverse voices we’re listening to – and by an entrepreneurial spirit that has led me to launch initiatives that others may have never considered. I am so grateful for the relationships that I have built over the years, along with new ones that I have fostered. The work would not have been possible without their support.”
“We are very fortunate to have a deep bench when it comes to leadership at the Chamber,” Robertson continued. “Ted is a strong, skilled professional who deeply cares about Memphis and this team. He is an expert when it comes to economic development and he knows this community. I’m looking forward to his future leadership of the Chamber.”
Under her tenure, the organization followed the mantra of “prosperity for all,” and focused much of its efforts on leading inclusive and economic workforce development. For the remaining few months in her role, Robertson will aim to raise $10 to $15 million that will mostly go towards economic development work. Afterwards, she plans to return to TRUST Marketing, the business she founded with her husband Howard Robertson.
Ted Townsend (Credit: Greater Memphis Chamber)
The Chamber recently revealed its Prosper Memphis 2030 plan, which seeks to add 50,000 regional jobs, and have Memphis leverage its status as one of the largest minority-majority cities in the country to attract businesses that place an emphasis on diversity in their workforces. Townsend was a key player in drafting that plan, and was also a huge part of securing Ford and SK Innovation’s $5.6 billion BlueOval City project near Memphis.
“Greater Memphis, the Chamber, and I all owe Beverly a debt of gratitude for the work she’s done to put inclusion and diversity at the heart of the Chamber’s work,” Townsend said. “In a majority-minority city, the only sustainable growth is inclusive growth, which is why we included bold minority inclusion goals in our recently announced Prosper Memphis 2030 plan to add 50,000 new, quality jobs.
“Memphis has momentum and it’s about to get even better,” he continued. “We have fully recovered the jobs we lost in the pandemic, we just had our best year ever for economic development, and we have more projects in our pipeline than ever before. A tsunami of opportunity is coming, and when it does, the Chamber will be leading the charge to make sure this prosperity is felt across Memphis.”
“Beverly Robertson is an incredibly tough act to follow, but if there’s anyone who can carry forward her work to make Memphis more prosperous for all, it’s Ted Townsend.” added Doug Browne, chairman of the Chamber’s board and president of Peabody Hotels & Resorts. “Ted has both the passion and the economic development experience to make Memphis one of the fastest-growing and prosperous cities in the nation. The board is 100-percent behind his vision to make our region an economic powerhouse.”
“After Phil’s death, the Chamber needed a leader with both a strong vision for this community and a deep compassion for an organization that had just suffered a tremendous loss,” said Richard W. Smith, president and CEO-elect of FedEx Express and past chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. “We needed a champion to carry on the growth-focused ‘prosperity for all’ mission that Phil had started, and to build and improve upon it. Beverly was that champion. A trailblazer who became the right leader at the right time, she leaves our Chamber better than she found it. And I know Ted is determined to build on that solid foundation and not stop until Memphis is the city of choice for business. We are very fortunate to have our Chamber under the watchful eye of these two leaders.”
The Greater Memphis Chamber is looking ahead, and it envisions a bright future. At its Mid-Year Chairman’s Forum Monday, the organization unveiled Prosper 2030, a strategic growth plan that aims to make the Memphis region more prosperous and inclusive.
The plan looks to leverage Memphis’ status as one of the largest minority-majority cities in the country to attract businesses that place an emphasis on diversity in their workforces. Specifically, Prosper 2030 will promote the city’s diversity and upskill its workforce to attract high-growth advanced industries like automotive or medical device manufacturing, which rely on workers with talents in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
“Equity is at the very center of this plan to create a more prosperous, more inclusive Memphis,” said Ted Townsend, chief economic development officer of the Greater Memphis Chamber. “As last year showed, we’re already in the economic development playoffs, but we want the championships. By the end of 2030, we want to be able to point at our regional scoreboard and do the Ja Morant victory dance.”
The Chamber is centering its plan around three key priorities.
Inclusive jobs: A prosperous Memphis is an inclusive Memphis. Goal: Create 50,000 high-quality jobs, with half of those jobs going to minorities.
Diverse industries: A healthy economy has a healthy mix of businesses. The Chamber plans to add to the goal: Add 700 new firms in advanced industries.
Future-ready talent: 20,000 STEM graduates per year, with 45 percent of those degrees going to Black students.
Currently, per the Chamber, Memphis is working on a total of 55 economic development recruitment projects, which represent almost 15,000 new jobs with salaries averaging more than $58,000, and capital investments of more than $10.6 billion. And 80 percent of those projects are in advanced manufacturing.
Jay Myers lives, learns, and teaches by example. And he loves to tell about all that knowledge he’s accumulated running his own successful business.
He’s just published his third book on his adventures as a company man, first for other firms and then running his own show, a production that became so successful that he sold his business (even though he resisted, a little).
The book, being launched this week, is Rounding Third and Heading for Home: The Emotional Journey of Selling My Business and the Lessons Learned Along the Way, and the grist for his tales are the obstacles that came at him like wild pitches — yes, he loves his baseball metaphors — and how he managed to use skill and a bit of luck to turn them into hits.
Myers founded Interactive Solutions Inc. (ISI) in 1996, an “audio-visual integration firm” that developed expertise in the swiftly evolving field of videoconferencing.
He recounts that in nine months, beginning with the day he got fired from his job, he put together his business starting with no money, secured/lost financing on the way, got a melanoma diagnosis, and endured a supplier embezzlement.
It did get better. He got ISI into distance learning and telemedicine and grew the company. Still obstacles found their way. In 2003, the accounting manager embezzled $257,000 and nearly killed the business. Then the Great Recession came along and messed up everybody’s plans.
Yet Myers — now a member of the Society of Entrepreneurs — was not going to suddenly turn risk averse. When the recession hit, he doubled down and doubled sales, coming out stronger than ever. He was deft at pivoting and reinventing.
And he wasn’t planning to sell the business. There were plenty of inquiries, but when one of the top companies in the field came courting, he had to listen, and he liked what he heard.
The process was both profound and instructive for him. “Selling the business is way more than a financial transaction,” Myers says. “It is a life-changing event.” After going through it, he decided he had another book in him. “I thought, ‘How did we get here? Why us?’ And that’s when I started reflecting on the lessons learned.”
The book is as much an encouragement from a mentor (he loves doing that) as it is a how-to when it comes to selling a company. The people he wants to reach are “working so hard every day to build their business and grow it. I want them to understand how you build value in that business.”
And that could be to eventually sell it, or maybe to hand it over to the next generation or the employees.
Rounding Third is an easy read, told in Myers’ engaging voice and chock-full of insights that have value whether you want to sell a business or just run a business well or even if you aren’t in business. Life presents obstacles no matter where you are and these are adaptable tips.
“I think one of the advantages I had in writing this is that I went into a fairly good amount of detail,” he says. “I got educated about this process because I had to understand what the endgame was.”
His first book, from 2007, was Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur’s Story of Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Small Business Success. In 2014, he published Hitting the Curveballs: How Crisis Can Strengthen and Grow Your Business.
“I feel like I’ve stepped up my game considerably with this book because it’s so instructive. The other ones were storytelling and fun and inspirational, but this one, you can take notes and a small business owner can be helped with some options.”
Meanwhile, Myers is plenty busy now that he’s not in the CEO’s chair. He’s continuing to write for an industry magazine, he’s a volunteer mentor with the Service Corps of Retired Executives, and he also mentors through the Fogelman College of Business & Economics at the University of Memphis where he’s the executive in residence.
And he’s started a podcast interviewing business executives, including local luminaries such as Duncan Williams, Dr. Scott Morris, and Carolyn Chism Hardy. The podcast is titled Extra Innings, but the content is all business. Again, the die-hard New York Yankee fan loves his baseball metaphors.
Shelby County led the charge of a record-breaking surge of people starting new businesses in Tennessee, according to new data from the Tennessee Secretary of State.
New business filings in the first quarter of 2021 were “the highest in history,” said Dr. Bill Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. In the first three months of the year, new business filings were up 55.1 percent over the same period in 2020.
In the first quarter 19,652 entities filed papers to start new businesses, according to state data. It marks the largest year-over-year gain in the 28-year history of the collection of this data. State officials called it “astonishing” in a news release.
“This data is an encouraging sign and a strong vote of confidence by Tennesseans and people worldwide investing in our state’s business and entrepreneur-friendly environment,” said Secretary Tre Hargett.
The first quarter marked the third straight quarter of new business filings in the state. Officials said a strong annual gain in new business filings in any quarter is 15 percent. In the last three quarters, new businesses filing have been up 30 percent. “The record-breaking boom over the last three quarters has roughly doubled or tripled top quarters from the past,” officials said.
The growth in new online businesses during the pandemic across the country “likely” explains Tennessee’s new business surge, officials said.
Shelby County saw the largest number of new filings, followed by Davidson, Knox, and Hamilton counties. These four — the most populous counties in the state — accounted for 47.9 percent of new filings statewide.
“COVID-19 has complicated how we compare economic activity over the past year, but initial filings for new businesses during the first quarter of 2021 were the highest in history,” said Fox. “This strong rate of growth signals that Tennessee is experiencing a rapid economic rebound from the pandemic.”
For Kermit Throckmorton, 30 years at the helm of Southern Spray Company gave him an intimate knowledge of the challenges facing companies when trying to communicate with customers. With social media apps like Facebook and Twitter tricky to use when it comes to maximizing a message, he sought a solution: a new app called Knowtice, aimed to bridge the communication gap between businesses and consumers, while also providing a philanthropic boost along the way.
“Communication and marketing are so important for businesses,” says Throckmorton. “And especially during the pandemic. With other tools like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, there are so many other things to navigate. Stuff you might want to see can get lost in the shuffle.”
Throckmorton’s Knowtice app dispenses with many of the distractions you’d find elsewhere. Gone are the sponsored ads, targeted posts, or frivolities. When a user creates an account on Knowtice, they can choose which local businesses to follow, and nothing else will get in the way.
“Normally, on places like Facebook, you’re seeing hundreds of posts from your not-so-close friends,” says Throckmorton. “You have to wade through political posts, pet pictures, recipes, and there are so many moving pieces. When speaking with businesses and chambers of commerce, we found there was just this disconnect with the community sometimes, so we want to fix that.”
For example, when deciding to follow Crosstown Brewing Co. on Knowtice, a user’s page will only show updates from the brewery. That includes items like specials, upcoming events, what they have on tap for the day, and other similar things. If several other establishments are added, the page will again only include updates from those specific businesses. That doesn’t change, unless the user decides to bring more companies into the rotation.
Knowtice founder Kermit Throckmorton
It’s really easy to curate a select group of favorite spots and stay up to date on what might be going on. And for the businesses, it guarantees that people will have eyes on their content, rather than accidentally scrolling past it. Any business that does choose to participate will receive a Knowtice sticker to place in their building. That will let visitors know that they can keep up with their favorite spots on the app.
“We’ve got 24 categories that businesses can choose from,” says Throckmorton, “that can range from Dine, to Schools, to Religious. And creating a profile is free for any business. Business owners should never have to pay money for people who want to follow them.”
Where Knowtice does make a profit is when a company decides to upgrade to a paid plan, for either $30 a month, or $250 a year. That gives companies a customization suite of 150 extra options for their profiles. Some cool extra perks come with things like coupons, that are assigned on the app. Meanwhile, Knowtice’s calendar will alert a customer when the coupon is set to expire, or if there’s a specific timeframe it needs to be used.
“We wanted to make it affordable,” he continues. “We’ve worked with the Shelby County Chamber Alliance and Arlington Chamber of Commerce to create a good model for what we’re doing.”
While subscriptions are Knowtice’s only revenue stream, the entirety of that money doesn’t go straight back into the app’s coffers. Instead, it will be reinvested into the community. Forty percent of each subscription fee is earmarked to go towards a scholarship fund for students at participating colleges in a company’s home state. When business owners pursue a premium plan, they’ll be asked which school they’d like to have the money go toward. Participating colleges in Tennessee include University of Memphis, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Tennessee State University, and Austin Peay State University. So far, Knowtice has partnered with 39 colleges across 12 states, and is also working to create internship positions for students at those schools.
Some of the categories that can be found on Knowtice
Interns for Knowtice will reach out to local businesses and explain the benefits of the app. In addition to being compensated for their time, some students have found that their participating university may allow class credit for the work. Interns will also be eligible for scholarship money generated by Knowtice.
“I think it ticks a lot of boxes,” says Throckmorton. “Students are getting compensated; they’re coming right out of the gate with a startup in the technology world, but they’re also learning how to give back to the community. We’ve been receiving a lot of interest from schools and potential interns.
“What it comes down to is that we’re ‘communication with a mission,’ he says. “We have the capability to help others — businesses, schools, students — so, we’d like to see this grow even more.”
Knowtice is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play. knowticeapp.com
Last month, PayPal announced that its users would be able to buy, sell, and hold four prominent cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin – via Paypal.com. Through its website, users will be able to buy and manage their cryptocurrency in one place.
Globally cryptocurrency has quickly been growing in popularity as an alternative form of currency since its inception in 2009. Cryptocurrency, as the name implies, is a digital form of currency that is meant to take the place of, and function as, a real form of currency. Unlike traditional forms of currency, nothing physical exchanges hands, and its value is not backed by a bank in the same way most modern currencies are. Instead, users hold their “currency” in digital wallets and make all their transactions digitally, with the vast majority of cryptocurrency being backed by their communities.
The “currency” in cryptocurrency, usually referred to as tokens, is a unique string of numbers and letters that is tied to the specific cryptocurrency being used. While in a traditional transaction users would exchange money, cryptocurrency users exchange tokens. When users trade tokens, the transaction is sent to a continuously growing list of transactions called a blockchain. The transactions added to the blockchain are then verified by users through a process called mining. Users’ work for mining does not go unrewarded and the “miners” are rewarded in tokens for each successful transaction that they verify.
Buying is as simple as a few button clicks.
Due to the various steps and knowledge needed to jump into the cryptocurrency world crypto had long been pursued by few. As the popularity of cryptocurrency began to grow in early 2018 websites began popping up advertising easy ways to buy and sell crypto but PayPal is one of the largest and most recognizable names to join the cryptocurrency wave.
I tested out PayPal’s new crypto service, throwing in $10 for the opportunity to play around with buying and selling. For someone that has never bought cryptocurrency, the entire process was quick and easy. Within minutes I was the proud owner of $10 worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The Crypto screen gives an accurate representation of the market trends for PayPal crypto partners.
After setting up my account, I was presented with a screen showing my present balance, as well as guides explaining the ins and outs of crypto. For someone less familiar with the technical aspects, the guides were helpful and gave me a better understanding of where my $10 had gone. They also assured me that the prices would rise and fall naturally depending on the current exchange rate of my specific currency.
The move to PayPal has made breaking into the cryptocurrency sphere a reality for the average person. It’s cool and an easy process, and PayPal recommends investing just a dollar to play around with it before making more rash decisions. Though it may not be the most feasible way to diversify your assets, PayPal’s expansion into the crypto market is a great way for the average person to jump into the world of cryptocurrency.
Five businesses — all along Winchester Road — were closed over the Labor Day weekend on violations of COVID-19-related directives from the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD).
“All these business had complaint calls into the Mayor’s Action Center and the County Attorney’s Office,” said Chip Washington, public information officer with the health department’s COVID-19 Response Unit. “These were the first businesses closed by the health department and there have been no previous closings to this point.”
Here are the five business closed this weekend:
• The Indulge Lounge, Winchester Road
• In Love Memphis, Winchester Road
• Dubai Hookah Bar, Winchester Road
• Menue Club, Winchester Road
• Height Lounge, Winchester Road
Washington said eight other businesses were visited over the weekend and were deemed to be compliant.
Here they are:
• Lafayette’s Music Room, Madison Avenue
• The Blues Club, Airways Boulevard
• Sweet Noshings, Madison Avenue (Only noncompliance was allowing self-service from candy jars)
Tennesseans, especially those outside metro areas, are returning to travel levels seen before the first case of COVID-19 arrived in the state, according to the latest analysis from researchers at Vanderbilt University.
Those researchers have been issuing public health policy papers since early April. Those papers have focused largely on the spread of the virus, predictions on the possible surge of patients in hospitals, and when the state may reopen the economy.
However, the newest paper focuses on travel. For it, the researchers relied on “anonymized cellular device data” to analyze travel habits in the state.
“Tennesseans dramatically scaled back their movements just after the first coronavirus case was reported in Tennessee and as reports of transmission more broadly in the U.S. began to emerge in early March,” reads the paper. “Moreover, the chart makes clear that mobility decreased statewide seven-10 days before the statewide Safer at Home policy was announced on March 31st.
“Finally, mobility began increasing in mid-April, and in some regions has now returned to levels last seen in February 2020. Non-metro areas of the state have seen larger increases in movement after the Safer at Home order expired on May 1st.”
Travel in the regions around Shelby County and Davidson County are the lowest in the state, according to the data. Travel in the rest of West Tennessee, south central Tennessee, and Upper Cumberland regions is now back above February levels. Vanderbilt University
Researchers wondered if travel changes were different in areas most affected by the virus. They found travel patterns were the same before the first case arrived here in early March. But “sustained mobility differences between these areas emerged just after the first case, and differences became larger over time.”
Vanderbilt University
“Our results underscore an important point about the virus and its impact on the Tennessee economy,” reads the paper. “Mobility changes in areas with the most COVID-19 cases occurred at the same time as changes in areas least affected by the virus to date.
“However, through May 26 the most affected areas continue to see substantially lower economic activity. A top priority for the state and for Tennesseans must be suppressing the virus to avoid further and prolonged negative economic effects across the state.”
Hardest hit by lower travel numbers have been religious organizations, museums and historical sites, day care centers, doctors’ offices, and department stores. The study looked at 16 of the top commercial categories identified by the North American Industry Classification (NAIC) and compared travel to those types of businesses to 2019 levels. Vanderbilt University
“… visits to many places across Tennessee began a steep decline just after the first COVID-19 case was announced in early March,” reads the paper. “These declines leveled out in mid-April, but visits to some types of places have recovered to the levels observed for the same week in 2019.
Vanderbilt University
“Even outside of Davidson and Shelby counties, visits to restaurants remain 20 percent below comparable amounts from the same week in 2019, while across all areas visits to churches remain 40 percent – 50 percent below their usual levels for mid-May, presumably due to limits on large gatherings.”
The Vanderbilt researchers explained the information they used came from anonymized and privacy-protected cellular device data from SafeGraph, a data analytics firm. The firm tracks 40 million smartphones, and location movements “are recorded in terms of travel among census block groups, which are geographic areas containing between 600 and 3,000 people.” The data is only collected from these census block groups, “and thus we do not track individuals’ movements across the state.”
Photo by Bitcoin BCH 
Vanderbilt University 
Vanderbilt University 
Vanderbilt University 
Vanderbilt University 
Vanderbilt University