Business

Roane County was among 90 Tennessee counties who saw a drop in their unemployment rates for April, according to figures released late last month by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Roane County’s rate was 4.4 percent — a 0.4 percent decrease from March’s 4.8 percent. The numbers are much improved over the same time last year, when Roane County registered a jobless rate of 6.4 percent.

It’s much the same story with the state rate, which was 3.9 percent in April.

“Do you know me? Do you really care?”

I believe that this is one of the basic things that your customers ask themselves every time they interact with your business.

Most of the time, it is asked subconsciously.

It is a good way to differentiate your business from competition. I avoid doing business with companies that treat me like an inanimate object on an assembly line.

For the past eight years, I have been conducting a three-part workshop series titled, “Getting Ahead at Work by Growing Your Value as an Employee.”

Rustic country weddings are a popular hit, and there is the perfect setting for such an event now in the neighborhood.

Bacon Farms Barn, just south of Rockwood on Hwy. 27, already hosted one wedding.

“Our son got married back in September,” April Gilley said. “We just liked the way it looked.”

The barn features gleaming white tobacco cloth and white lights, a small dance floor and much more.