The Experts

By SCOTT CRUZ The Illinois Workplace Transparency Act (IWTA) took effect on Jan. 1, 2020, with the impetus to protect employees who truthfully report alleged unlawful discrimination and harassment or criminal conduct in the workplace, by prohibiting nonnegotiable confidentiality obligations, waivers, and mandatory arbitration of allegations of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation (i.e. “unlawful employment practice”),…

By CAROLYN GREEN One of the hottest things in online information sharing over the last 6 weeks has been a Learning Management System (LMS) called Skool. Created in 2019 by business coach Sam Ovens, Skool is an all-in-one platform where people are making hundreds of thousands of dollars with courses, communities, and events. The recent…

Running a small business can be incredibly rewarding, incredibly exhilarating and sometimes … incredibly complicated. With so many details to oversee and so many plates to keep in the air at once, it can be easy to make mistakes, both big and small. Take a look at the six most common mistakes that plague many…

By SCOTT CRUZ Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed two new bills that create new leave obligations for Illinois employers: On Aug. 15, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law the Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (the “Act”), which takes effect on June 1, 2026; and On Aug. 1, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law what…

By CAROLYN GREEN As your business grows, your marketing needs to evolve with it. But you know what happened to me? I built up years of experience, brought in new team members and refined what we do best. Then one day I actually looked at my own website and found it reflected how we started,…

By CORY JOBE, President/CEO Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau As summer is coming to an end, we are already turning the page to the fall travel season in Southwest Illinois. Fall travel accounts for 30% of total business sales for the year for many of our destination drivers in the Great Rivers & Routes…

No matter how you slice it, there are only three ways to increase the profits you derive from your business. You can raise prices, you can sell more products or you can cut costs. Understandably, you may be inclined to point to things like launching a mind-blowing marketing campaign or upselling existing customers to increase…

By SCOTT CRUZ If you are an employer who has Illinois employees that incur work-related expenses as part of their job, did you know that the Illinois Department of Labor (“IDOL”) has had regulations in place since April 2023 governing provisions under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (“WPCA”) that require employers to reimburse…

By CAROLYN GREEN You’ve been putting in the work. Your marketing, your engagement, your presence—it’s all coming together. But here’s the thing: The best businesses don’t just set a plan and forget it. They regroup. They refine. They make small but powerful shifts that lead to bigger wins. So before the summer ends, let’s take…

By DARREN WRIGHT, CFA ®, MBA Think about how different growing up is now compared to 30 years ago. Back then, there was a clearer, more linear path to adulthood: Finishing school, starting a job, getting married and having children. Society had specific expectations of when these milestones should happen. With such structured societal norms,…