Welcome to AVL BIZ Weekly—your local cheat sheet for what’s happening in Asheville’s small business + creative scenes.
Each week: hand-picked events, marketing ideas that actually work, and a little local flavor to keep things fun.
My name's Jason and I'm writing this (connect with me here).
Hey friends,
Quick housekeeping: clocks fall back Sunday morning, and Tuesday is Election Day. So you get an extra hour of sleep and then civic duty right after.
🚨 Big news this week: Vesta Property Management is joining us as a sponsor! Friends ask me if I know of any rentals more often than you'd think (about four times last month). Now I can just send them Vesta's list, which turns over regularly and right now has almost 30 homes from West Asheville out to Waynesville and Marion. This week's listing is right below the Business Events.
On the business side, NCWorks is running a free, in-person workshop Thursday on finding remote work that isn't a scam, with recruiters from A-B Tech and Best Buy hanging around for Q&A afterward. Worth forwarding to anyone you know who's job hunting.
Let's get into it.
📋 On Deck
Business: NC's Flood Resiliency Blueprint gets explained over lunch, plus a free remote-work workshop with real recruiters in the room.
Fun: Urban legends with cocktails at AMOS, and a costume contest hosted by Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.
Music: Beck at Thomas Wolfe, Neal Francis at Grey Eagle, and Hawthorne Heights playing a 20th-anniversary emo night on Election Day. (Vote first.)
🙋 Want your biz featured in front of a few really smart AVL business owners?
❓ Question of the Week
You get a free hour Sunday when the clocks fall back. Are you doing anything with it other than sleeping in?
🗓️ Business Events
🗓️ Building Flood Resilience: NC's Flood Resiliency Blueprint — Wed, Oct 28 · 11:50 AM–1 PM (Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville) — AIA Western NC walks through the state's new flood planning tools and how they'll shape where and how we rebuild.
🗓️ NCWorks Career Workshop: Working Remotely — Thu, Oct 29 · 10 AM–1 PM (ACNC Wellness & Opportunity Center, 216 Asheland Ave) — Free in-person session on landing legit remote jobs, with recruiters from A-B Tech, Best Buy and others for Q&A.
🗓️ ADA Member Mixer: Reflecting & Looking Ahead — Mon, Nov 2 · 4–6 PM (Location TBA, Downtown Asheville) — The Asheville Downtown Association's year-end hang to compare notes on 2026 and set priorities for 2027.
Plan ahead (next week):
🗓️ Happy Hour: Muddy Boots & Managing Moisture in Residential Construction — Thu, Nov 5 · 5:30 PM (Asheville) — Building science over drinks for builders, remodelers and anyone who's ever found mold behind drywall.
🗓️ Mountain Raise — Thu, Nov 5 · 6–9 PM (Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy) — Mountain BizWorks' pitch night, all food and beverage founders this year, five minutes each. $30.
🗓️ Pitchgiving Asheville — Tue, Nov 17 · 6 PM (Hatch Event Space, 45 S French Broad Ave) — Free pitch night where founders test early ideas on a friendly crowd. RSVP requested.
Have you ever considered how difficult it is to find a job after prison? Did you know that you could get turned down for a housing application if you have a criminal record? Many of us do not understand just how hard it is to reenter society after incarceration. According to the UNC School of Government, these types of barriers mean that 36% of people who are released from prison will return to prison within 2 years. This panel discussion will provide valuable information about re-entry work in WNC and how some local organizations are helping people overcome these challenges and reduce recidivism rates. The panel will feature Attorney Ed Treat from Pisgah Legal Services, Reverend Phillip Cooper, Founder and Director of Operation Gateway, and Daniel Conway, Diversion and Reentry Supervisor for Henderson County.
Hosting something cool?
📬 Hit reply and tell me what you think. Or share an event!
🏡 Featured Rental of The Week
Sponsored by Vesta Property Management
Vesta manages rentals all over WNC out of their Haywood Road office in West AVL, and their list changes week to week as homes rent and new ones open up. Here's the one they want you to see this week.
About 2,028 sq ft, available now. The main-level primary suite has a walk-in closet and a custom tile shower, and there's a bonus room upstairs. The kitchen is stunning: quartz counters, a center island, stainless appliances, soft-close cabinets and a propane gas range. A propane fireplace, covered porches, a deck and a 2-car garage means this place won’t stay on the market for long.
Rent: $2,850/mo · Deposit: $2,850
Pets: Dogs and cats considered case by case (separate pet application)
Housing Choice Vouchers accepted
Utilities: Tenant covers electric, water/sewer/trash, propane and lawn care. No smoking.
Application: $58 per adult, applied after a showing
Want to see it? Request a showing at vestapm.com/homes-for-rent, or call/text (828) 882-2707 · [email protected]
Not quite the one? The full list has 1- to 4-bedroom places in Asheville, Candler, Swannanoa, Fletcher, Canton and Waynesville. Check it out!
Vesta Property Management · 329 Haywood Rd #05, Asheville · 828.492.3916
💡 Marketing Quickies
Brought to you by Pixelated Stories
Websites + Follow-Up Systems for Home & Professional Service Businesses | PixelatedStories.net
This week is about your Google Business Profile, the box that shows up when someone searches "electrician near me" or "CPA near me." Contractors and professional service businesses both win or lose a lot of calls there before anyone clicks through to the website.
Pick the right primary category. Google leans on your primary category more than anything else on the profile. A remodeler listed as plain "Contractor" is competing with everybody, while "Kitchen remodeler" puts you in the searches for the work you actually want. Same goes for an attorney picking "Estate planning attorney" over "Lawyer." You can add secondary categories for everything else you do.
Post one job photo a week. Open your profile, hit "Add update," and post a photo from a recent job with one sentence about what it was and where, like "New gutters on a 1920s bungalow in Montford." A bookkeeper or a law office can post a deadline reminder or a quick answer to a question clients keep asking. A profile that gets updated looks open for business to Google and to the person deciding who to call.
Set your holiday hours now. Thanksgiving is four weeks out. Go to Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours, and plug in Thanksgiving through New Year's while you're thinking about it. When Google shows you as open and nobody answers, that caller moves to the next name on the list. Keeping the profile tuned up is part of what we do in the Show Up and Follow Up System, because "near me" searches get decided right there.
Want missed-call text-back, SMS confirmations, website chat, a unified inbox, and a follow-up system that keeps working after you close the laptop?
Reply to this email and we'll help you build it.
🎉 Fun Stuff Around AVL
🎃 AMOS After Hours: Conspiracies, Urban Legends & Local Lore — Thu, Oct 29 · 6–9 PM (Asheville Museum of Science, 43 Patton Ave) — Scientists and folklorists "bunk or debunk" history's weirdest stories, with specialty cocktails. $25, 21+, first drink included.
🎃 LazrLuvr's 4th Annual Halloween Party — Fri, Oct 30 · 8–11 PM (Highland Brewing Taproom) — Highland's Taproom goes full laser-lit costume party the night before Halloween.
🎃 Eliada Corn Maze & Festival — Fri, Oct 30–Sun, Nov 1 (49 Compton Dr, West Asheville) — Get lost in a corn maze for a good cause. Last weekend of the season, so this is your last shot.
🎃 Full Moon Equestrian's Halloween Party & Haunted Trail — Fri, Oct 30 · 4–10 PM (Blackberry Stables, 45 Elevacres Rd, Leicester) — Pony rides, a horse costume contest, face painting and a food truck, then a kid-friendly haunted trail at 6:30 and the scary one from 8 to 10. RSVP on the Facebook event.
🎃 Wicked Spooky 5K & Creepy Crawly Climb — Sat, Oct 31 · 9 AM (Wicked Weed Funkatorium, South Slope) — A costumed 5K that ends with a Wicked Weed beer and helps fund MountainTrue. The kids' climb starts at 8:40.
🎃 Little Monsters Costume Contest w/ Secret Agent 23 Skidoo — Sat, Oct 31 · 2–5 PM (Highland Brewing Meadow) — Asheville's favorite kid-hop artist hosts a costume contest for the under-four-feet crowd.
🎧 Bands on the Horizon
Wed, Oct 28
Beck: Ride Lonesome Tour — 8 PM @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Boy Harsher — 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Ethan Regan: Young Regan Tour — 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
Thu, Oct 29
Neal Francis w/ Sam Fribush — 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
Genitorturers — 8 PM @ Eulogy
Fri, Oct 30
Night of the Living Covers (benefit for AVL Prison Books) — 7 PM @ Fleetwood's
The Arcadian Wild — 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
glaive (benefit for Conserving Carolina) — 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
An Evening with Full Cord — 8 PM @ Pisgah Brewing
Sicard Hollow's Eve w/ Airshow — 8 PM @ Third Room
Sneezy — 9 PM @ Asheville Music Hall
Sat, Oct 31
Wednesday w/ Snail Mail (solo) & Harvester — 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Dana and Alden w/ Alex Amen — 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
Jerry's Dead Halloween Show — 8 PM @ Pisgah Brewing
Magoo w/ Suns of Stars — 9 PM @ Asheville Music Hall
Sun, Nov 1
La Sonora Carolina — 2 PM @ Highland Brewing Meadow
Russ Wilson's 14th Annual Swing Birthday Bash — 7:30 PM @ Highland Brewing Event Center
Mon, Nov 2
Sam Shackleton — 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
Yung Gravy w/ Terror Reid — 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Tue, Nov 3
Hawthorne Heights, letlive. & Creeper (If Only You Were Lonely 20th Anniversary) — 7 PM @ The Orange Peel
Want your biz in front of a few really smart AVL business owners? Reply with what you're up to and we'll see if it's a fit. (Vesta did. Look at them go.)
Go vote Tuesday. Until next week,
Jason De Los Santos
Pixelated Stories Digital Marketing
(828) 585-4293
