June 2022

Cover Story

Your Business & the Law

The upheaval of the past couple of years has required businesses to adapt and adopt a lot of change to survive. Some of this comes from social pressures as attitudes and habits change, and some comes from new regulatory guidelines and … [More]

Features

Tasks, Tasks – and Non-Promotable Tasks

Anyone reading this article has done work that wasn’t promotable. Maybe it was handling a low-revenue client or spending another day dealing with that one customer who can’t be satisfied. Or staying late one night to reformat the very … [More]

BCBSAZ’s Foundation for Hope and Health

Our healthcare system has been through the most strenuous of times. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed communities to the brink, with many healthcare professionals receiving the worst of it. Despite this, one healthcare company has somehow completed a … [More]

The Unknown and Underutilized COVID Business Stimulus

The Employee Retention Tax Credits, or ERC, was first enacted by the multitrillion-dollar CARES Act in March 2020 to address the economic impact of COVID on many businesses. When first enacted, the ERC gave employers the opportunity to qualify for up … [More]

Phoenix and Arizona Are Ripe for Franchise Growth

Each spring, the International Franchise Association and FRANdata, a leading market research firm, produce an annual Franchising Economic Outlook. Among the findings in 2022, Arizona ranks third in predicted franchising growth, with the number of … [More]

Roundtable

The Rise of Recruitment Marketing

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic upended the culture in the United States, flipping the labor market on its head. The Great Resignation, … [More]

Economy

Eye on Arizona’s Economy

From inflation and Arizona’s local real estate market to the national energy scene and other global geopolitical issues, every day seems to bring new … [More]

Legal

(Not) Business as Usual: Corporate Political Activity in 2022

Inflation, the economy, taxes, gas prices, labor and supply shortages, education, immigration. Today’s state of affairs is rife with motivation to … [More]

From the Top

Lilach Mazor Power Brings the Power to Cannabis

Lilach Mazor Power is the founder and CEO of Mazor Collective — the only woman-majority-owned Arizona cannabis company. The collective includes vertically integrated Arizona-based Giving Tree … [More]

Startups

BitFire Studios: Cutting-Edge Tech Serves Video Content Creators

BitFire Studios opened its doors in Phoenix in Oct. 2021. At that time, BitFire Studios joined BitFire Networks, which came to be in July of 2020. BitFire Networks & Studios is the only combined … [More]

GVC Creates Non-Insurance Healthcare Membership

GVC (Give Virtual Care) Health Tech is a non-insurance, best-in-class, virtual healthcare solution offering a comprehensive healthcare membership of unlimited virtual access for general health, mental … [More]

Nonprofit

Cultivating the Generosity of Seasonal Residents

As people become more mobile, so does their attitude toward giving. The notion that seasonal residents with homes in multiple communities are an unlikely source of philanthropic support is just false. … [More]

CRE

Phoenix Is the Next Area of Opportunity for Chicago-Based Development Group

The Phoenix metro area is home to some of Chicago’s greatest exports — Chicago Cubs Spring Training, Portillo’s and Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, to name a few. Soon, Phoenix will also be home to Belgravia Group’s first out-of-Chicago development — … [More]

Upscale Retail Town Center for Verrado

A major retail center is due to start taking shape mid next year at the Verrado development in Buckeye. DMB Associates, the master developer of the 8,800-acre Verrado master-planned community, is partnering with Vestar, the largest privately-held … [More]

Dominium Addresses Area’s Affordable Housing Need

With the grand opening last month of Solstice of Mesa, Dominium celebrated its first new construction project in Arizona — a 289,840-square-foot, 237-unit apartment complex for seniors earning no more than 60% of area median income. Located at Hawes … [More]

Healthcare

Detox Centers Expand as Overdose Epidemic Increases

A May 2022 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021 than any previous year. Out of the 107,622 casualties, more than 80,000 people died using opioids, including pain pills and … [More]

Technology

Scale Up E-Commerce

All e-commerce businesses hit a plateau at some point. They grow rapidly but, once they hit a certain amount of revenue, they can’t seem to scale beyond it. Plateaus are scary but completely normal and totally fixable. With a good e-commerce … [More]

By the Numbers

Population Growth and Office Construction Are Thriving Together

The last 10 years have brought about many challenges, beginning in the depths of the financial crisis and culminating with the beginning of one of the … [More]

Briefs

Is a Business Equipment Subscription the Way to Go?

One of the barriers to starting a business is enormous, front-loaded capital outlays for equipment. Business owners can expect to face this capital expenditure (CapEx) again when equipment needs to be replaced. Equipment also incurs additional costs … [More]

Driving Electric Vehicle Advancement

A 100% electric transportation future is critical to reducing carbon emissions in the Valley, yet existing technologies don’t meet the power and cost requirements that will drive widespread electric vehicle adoption. If EVs don’t have enough power or … [More]

Pickleball Kingdom Builds Its Base with Free Classes – in Indoor Comfort

Arizona’s first dedicated indoor pickleball facility opened one month ago. One of the largest such facility in the country, Pickleball Kingdom sports the outdoor surfaces that pickleball players know and love with all the benefits of playing indoors. … [More]