Category Archives: News

Image stylist saves client’s time

If you’re tired of how you look, go in a slump every time you open your closet, or have a mental meltdown thinking about what to wear to an event, image stylist Lillyan David might be someone you want on speed dial. She was born with the fashionista gene and loves sharing her passion with clients. In business for herself as Closet Couture for the past three years, David recently…

Read More

Trade secrets and intellectual property

Intellectual Property includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade names and trade secrets, patent attorney Susan Ochoa Spiering told a Technology Ventures audience in Edinburg. “Treat IP like real property. You can buy, sell, lease and license IP and pass it on by inheritance,” Ochoa said. While a patent is not a monopoly, it can help you corner the market. “It is an exclusive right to make, sell or use. It must…

Read More

Mobile Crane plays it safe

With the company tag line of “Our business is picking up,” Mobile Crane Services Inc. has a built-in positive outlook. Since 1972, the Pharr company has done much of the region’s heavy lifting, deftly swinging highway overpass beams, derailed train cars and oil field compressors into place. “Back in early ‘70s, there just wasn’t any crane service in the Valley to speak of,” Jimmy Shawn recalled. He had an old truck with…

Read More

Texas Treasures Awards to Seven Valley firms

Created in 2005 by the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Treasure Business Award program pays tribute to businesses that have provided employment opportunities and support to the state’s economy for 50 years or more. Seven Harlingen businesses located in the city’s historic center were presented with the prestigious award this fall: three law firms, three retailers and a service company. To date, only 119 businesses in Texas have been named…

Read More

Texas Citrus – How sweet it is!

When it comes to Texas citrus, the Rio Grande Valley has no competitors. While consumption of Valley red grapefruit is growing nationally, sales of Florida and California grapefruit are decreasing. This season, Valley packing houses expect to ship between nine and ten million cartons of citrus, primarily grapefruit. Marketed under the names Ruby Red, Rio Star and Rio Red, Texas grapefruit attracts consumers because of its color, but the naturally…

Read More

Lost in Translation

Every Human Resources Department writes employment advertisements that paint the same dream candidate.  In one way or another, every job posting looks and sounds like this. GREAT EMPLOYEE WANTED “Top company is looking for a person who wants to work!  Someone who understands workplace values, like showing up on time, respect for authority and meeting deadlines.  We expect our employees to dress appropriately, be goal oriented and follow through on…

Read More

Brownsville Scrap Paper finds cash in trash

The bottom line is not the only measure of a successful business. Keeping more than 13 million pounds of waste annually out of a landfill means success to Ruben Guerrero Jr., plant manager of his family-owned business, Brownsville Scrap Paper, Inc. The dynamics are two-fold, no matter how you say it – reuse, repurpose, recycle, upcycle.  Trash comes in; trash goes out. The lucrative business has plenty of markets in…

Read More

Genco stars in national ad

When a Genco Energy Services salesman realized a generator belonging to the oil-field-service company had disappeared overnight from a site near Encino, he notified the main office in McAllen.  President Murray Meggison, who started Genco in 1996, called Equipment Deport in Donna which had leased him the generator.  Equipped with a GPS unit, the missing generator was easily tracked to a Hidalgo warehouse and found that day at a freight…

Read More

Suitably dressed for success

The rigid businessman’s dress code of 50 years ago — dark suits, hats, cuff links, long socks — has faded away.    Today business clothing for men and women seeks to convey tasteful, effortless style. The goal still is to look professional, confident and worthy of clients’ trust. Business attire is trending to natural shoulders, flexible collars and comfort, with greater leeway accepted in the creative fields and on Casual Fridays. …

Read More

Tapping crowd funding and venture capital

A kitchen accident requiring emergency room stitches led Sam Shipp and his wife Jen to invent the Knife Glider, a tool designed to prevent injuries while using a sharp knife.   To raise money to develop and fine tune their kitchen accessory, Sam Shipp, who has an MBA, turned to non-traditional resources: crowd funding and venture capital funds. Shipp choose Indiegogo, an international crowd funding platform, to solicit $10,000 in contributions…

Read More