If you’re gonna be first, you’re gonna take a risk. All the more so if you’re going to market with a foreign concept. People are creatures of habit. We look to the world we know to understand new concepts. And if something we’re trying is unli

CGI Can

15 days ago 28m

I had a journalism student approach me a while back for a story. I asked him, “what kind of a journalist do you want to be when you grow up?”He said, “A food writer. Because AI won’t take my job.” Won’t it though? I suppose if they create a n

Knocking Around Downtown

Mar 19th, 2024 29m 50s

America has had a complicated relationship with Downtowns. When we invented the suburbs in the mid-20th century, Downtowns were left behind, only to make a roaring comeback in the 21st century. That story should sound familiar for folks in Laf

P.E. Joins The Circus

Mar 12th, 2024 28m 50s

Fitness is a big industry. Over the last decade, the global market for fitness has nearly doubled to around $100 billion. You’ve probably seen the results of that boom around town. Think of the world of 24/7 gyms and fitness centers, smoothie

Sweet Charity & Nina

Mar 5th, 2024 29m 30s

Who doesn’t want a taste of the sweet life? Most folks are looking for a chance to indulge. Even when times are tough. Maybe especially when times are tough. When the economy goes down, ice cream sales go up: in the two years after the 2008 mo

Pig Stand Bank

Feb 20th, 2024 28m 10s

Ask any business owner in a small town: What’s the secret to success? And they’ll tell you: relationships. When everyone knows you, where you go to church and whether your mom can make a roux, you're trading on a reputation bigger than your own

A Teaching Moment, Or Two

Feb 13th, 2024 28m 45s

Kids hate math. You’ve probably heard that before. Except, it’s not exactly true. One survey commissioned by Texas Instruments found that kids were twice as likely to say they like math than hate it. Now, Texas Instruments sells calculators. Ma

There's No Place Like Home

Feb 5th, 2024 30m 55s

East to New York City. West to Los Angeles. Pick your poison as the saying goes. Out of one swamp. Into another. For the Louisiana diaspora, home is hard to quit. Home is where the heart is, after all. Many transplants become boomerangs, a dem

Coffeeweed cobbler

Jan 23rd, 2024 28m

There are few words in the english language that more poetic when strung together than "coffee" "weed" and "cobbler." Yes, this is another "only in Acadiana" episode of Out to Lunch. So let's dive in.For a lot of entrepreneurs, the dream of ow

Acadian Ingenuity Goes RVing and Fishing

Jan 16th, 2024 30m

Acadiana is famous for ingenuity. Look no further than a crawfish boat to see what I mean. You might say that innovation is in the water. And that’s because the peoples who settled here needed to be clever to survive. Of course, these days, ne

Drive to Happiness

Jan 9th, 2024 28m 50s

We all like to think of our businesses are unique. We come up with a value proposition or a mission statement designed to stick out in the market. But the reality is, pretty much every industry is crowded with competitors and copycats selling p

Sober Savings

Nov 20th, 2023 32m 10s

Service businesses are tricky. For the most part, you’re selling assistance. And even when folks know they need help, things can get tense. Imagine making a living when your clientele is by definition struggling. When someone brings you a mess

I'm Also In A Band

Nov 14th, 2023 28m 15s

Follow your dreams. It’s what they tell you as soon as you learn to dance or play guitar. What they don’t tell you is — prepare for building maintenance and customer service. For entrepreneurs of any stripe, reality is coming and it’s a cold d

Bonk: You've Gotta Start Somewhere

Nov 6th, 2023 30m 20s

Every business has an origin story: the moment where it all clicked and made sense. Most of the time, it’s the stuff of myth and legend. Successful businesses rarely fall from the sky and bonk you on the head. Unless, Sir Isaac Newton had it in

Skin and Steel

Oct 24th, 2023 29m

You know the saying: They don’t build them like they used to. When it comes to homes and buildings, that’s usually said like it’s a bad thing. But with a changing climate and changing marketplace, building things like we used to — brick by bric

Balance

Oct 17th, 2023 27m

Balance is everything. Greek philosophers thought of it as the key to happiness — the Golden Mean, the happy medium between extremes. When you’re out of balance —emotionally or physically — things can go wrong real fast. In the context of hea

Placenta Pilates

Oct 10th, 2023 29m

Making a living in healthcare is a pain. Whatever side of it you work in, at some level you’re dealing with people. That’s the case if you’re a doctor, a researcher or even an entrepreneur. When people buy what you’re selling, theoretically a

Skincare Spice

Sep 19th, 2023 28m 30s

Sometimes the best business ideas are hereditary. And I don’t mean family businesses. Every family has a secret sauce or skill: maybe a green thumb or a gift for gab. Turning the family tradition into a business may not be so easy — unless you

Bougie Lingerie

Sep 12th, 2023 29m 40s

A good product doesn’t just solve problems, it makes a customer feel good. And that can start with the buying experience itself. Smart retailers know how to balance a hard sell with a soft touch, making customers believe that they are in contr

Hub City Health

Sep 4th, 2023 28m

Lafayette is home to two hospital systems and has a deep bench of medical providers. It’s the Hub City in a new kind of way. It’s Acadiana’s medical hub. So it might surprise you to learn that access to health care is still a problem. Every par

Nobody Ever Regretted Buying Quality

Jul 25th, 2023 28m

What’s new is new, but what’s old can be timeless. We can get obsessed with new ideas in business. An innovation. A technology. A new place to put cheese on pizza.But sometimes, a good business model is sourcing an old idea and bringing it ba

End of Life

Jul 18th, 2023 28m

There’s a well documented nursing shortage in the U.S. When Shelley Henry first started nursing, it was pretty common for one nurse to manage 10 patients. Today, it’s closer to 20. We tend to think of the nursing shortage as something impactin

Thank You For Your Service

Jul 10th, 2023 28m

Leadership is a big deal in business. It’s actually a business all its own: Companies big and small operate executive training programs and the world’s most successful entrepreneurs write best-selling books about how they got to the top and wha

Hey, Teacher

Jun 19th, 2023 28m

You know the cliche: Knowledge is power. Even Alexander the Great had a tutor while he conquered the known world. It helped that it was Aristotle. A good education is a strong indicator of future success in business and in life generally. So i

And Now For Something Completely Different

Jun 13th, 2023 28m

Let’s say you’ve accomplished all of your professional goals. You’re at the top. Business is good. Life is good. What do you do? How about…something completely different? Success breeds success, but it can also stir up an appetite for new chal