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,
Quiet week on the business calendar, so here's the one to forward. Thursday night, AmeriHealth Caritas on Asheland Ave is serving a free dinner and a job-search workshop with local author Jeff Percival. If you know someone between jobs (or you're hiring and want to meet people who are actively looking), send it their way. Planning & Zoning also meets Wednesday, if you like knowing what's getting built next.
Wednesday night, the Orange Peel gets turned into a free night market (art, vintage, a DJ, and a tarot reader, in case you need a second opinion on Q4). And the music side of the week is stacked: Trombone Shorty at Sierra Nevada Friday, Thundercat at the Thomas Wolfe on Tuesday. (Cannons is also Tuesday and already sold out. I'm choosing to believe that's because of this newsletter 😜 .)
Let's get into it.
📋 On Deck
Business: Free SCORE Sales Fundamentals class Saturday morning
Fun: A kudzu basket-weaving workshop at the Arboretum, a strenuous Blackrock Mountain hike with SAHC, Elizabeth Kostova's book launch at A-B Tech Tuesday and LAAFF all weekend in Pack Square
Music: Bright Eyes, JJ Grey & Mofro, and Chelsea Wolfe
🙋 Want your biz featured in front of a few really smart AVL business owners?
Featured Event
Sun, Oct 18 · 4–8 PM (Pisgah Brewing Company, Outdoor Stage, Black Mountain)
Empire Strikes Brass is bringing its brass-funk-rock wall of sound to Pisgah's outdoor stage, and every dollar goes to Homeward Bound of WNC and its work to prevent and end homelessness in our community. It's a homecoming, so there's a kids' dance-off for the title of "Homecoming Dance Master," plus Junior and Adult King & Queen voting. (I'm not campaigning. I'm just saying I'm available.)
Tickets: $25, and kids 12 and under get in free
Schedule: Doors at 4, first set at 5:15, second set at 6:45
Raffle: A 4-night stay at a mountain cottage on 26 acres in Franklin. Tickets are $10 for one, $25 for three, or $100 for 15.
Silent auction: Online, so you can bid from the couch
Sponsored by iHeartRadio, Town and Mountain Realty, KP3 Mosaic, Infinity Wealth Management and 221 Partners LP.
❓ Question of the Week
What's the one book that actually changed how you run your business? Help me choose my next book.
🗓️ Business Events
🗓️ Asheville Planning & Zoning Commission — Wed, Oct 7 · 5 PM (City Hall, 70 Court Plaza, Asheville) — Where the stuff that decides what gets built next to your business gets decided; agenda's posted on the event page
🗓️ FREE Workshop + Dinner: Your Combination for Successful Employment — Thu, Oct 8 · 5:30–7 PM (AmeriHealth Caritas Wellness & Opportunity Center, 216 Asheland Ave, Asheville) — Free dinner, then an hour of job-search exercises with local author Jeff Percival; registration required
🗓️ SCORE: Sales Fundamentals — Sat, Oct 10 · 9 AM–12 PM (A-B Tech Small Business Center, Enka) — Free three-hour class on building a sales process that doesn't feel gross, with a workbook to walk out with.
Hosting something cool?
📬 Hit reply and tell me what you think. Or share an event!
💡 Marketing Quickies
Brought to you by Pixelated Stories
Websites + Follow-Up Systems for Home & Professional Service Businesses | PixelatedStories.net
Last week we cleaned up the Google Business Profile. This week is about the reviews that sit on it, because for contractors and professional service businesses alike, the star count is usually the first thing a stranger reads, before your name.
Ask while they're still happy. The best moment to ask is the day the job wraps or the return gets filed, when the customer is still relieved. Send a text that afternoon with your direct review link (in your Google Business Profile, it's under "Ask for reviews"): "Thanks for trusting us with the deck, Sarah. If you've got 30 seconds, a quick Google review helps a small shop like ours more than you'd think." Wait a week and they've moved on.
Make the ask specific so the review is too. A review that says "Great service!" helps a little. One that says "Fixed our leaking chimney flashing in Weaverville the same week" helps a lot, because Google reads the words for the services and towns you want to show up for. So prompt them: "If you mention what we did and where, it helps neighbors find us." An attorney can ask a client to mention "estate planning" and "Hendersonville" the same way.
Answer every review, including the 3-star one. Reply to each one within a couple of days, and use the customer's name plus the service in your reply. When a lukewarm one shows up, thank them, name the fix, and offer to talk offline. People shopping for you read your replies to bad reviews more closely than the good reviews. The 5-Star Google Reviews piece of the Show Up and Follow Up System sends the ask automatically and follows up up to four times, so reviews keep landing even in the weeks you're too slammed to remember.
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
🗓️ Weave Kudzu Vines Into a Basket — Wed, Oct 7 · 10 AM–4 PM (NC Arboretum, Asheville) — Finally, a use for the stuff eating the South: a full-day workshop where you harvest kudzu and leave with a basket you made. Bring pruners.
🗓️ Show & Tell Fall Night Market — Wed, Oct 7 · 5–9 PM (The Orange Peel, Asheville) — Free indoor market with local art, handmade goods, vintage, food, a live DJ, and tarot readings.
🗓️ Robert's Totally Rad Trivia — Thu, Oct 8 · 7–9 PM (Highland Brewing Taproom, Asheville) — Trivia with a name that sets expectations very high.
🗓️ Blackrock Mountain Hike with SAHC — Fri, Oct 9 · 10 AM–3 PM — Strenuous 6-mile out-and-back to the Blackrock summit with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy; $10 for non-members, registration required.
🗓️ Cake & Cocktails: Crafting Variance Opening + 30th Birthday — Fri, Oct 9 · 5:30–8 PM (Center for Craft, Downtown Asheville) — The Center for Craft turns 30 with cake, cocktails, and a new show of art made from fungi, bacteria, and recycled plastic; free, RSVP required.
🗓️ LAAFF: Lovely Asheville Annual Fall Festival — Sat–Sun, Oct 10–11 (Pack Square Park, Asheville) — Free two-day festival with a procession, multiple stages of R&B, jazz, Afrobeats, and reggae, and a vendor village.
🗓️ Malaprop's Presents: Elizabeth Kostova Book Launch — Tue, Oct 13 · 6–7:30 PM (Ferguson Auditorium, A-B Tech, Asheville) — The author of The Historian launches Mystery Play, a Vlad the Impaler thriller, in conversation with Terry Roberts; your ticket includes a hardcover.
🎧 Bands on the Horizon
Pierce Edens — Wed, Oct 7 · 6 PM @ Highland Brewing (Meadow)
Whitney — Wed, Oct 7 · 7 PM @ Revival Asheville
Sunnyside String Band — Thu, Oct 8 · 6 PM @ Pisgah Brewing
Fruition — Thu, Oct 8 · 7 PM @ The Grey Eagle
The Brook & The Bluff w/ The Sways — Thu, Oct 8 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Theo Katzman — Thu, Oct 8 · 8 PM @ Asheville Music Hall
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue w/ Abraham Alexander — Fri, Oct 9 · 6 PM @ Sierra Nevada Brewing, Mills River
Free Throw & Microwave — Fri, Oct 9 · 7 PM @ The Orange Peel
JJ Grey & Mofro — Fri, Oct 9 · 7 PM @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Free Planet Radio (25th Anniversary) — Sat, Oct 10 · 7 PM @ AyurPrana Listening Room
Squeaky Feet w/ Domocile — Sat, Oct 10 · 7 PM @ Asheville Music Hall
Bright Eyes w/ Lullaby for the Working Class — Sat, Oct 10 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Celebrating John Prine w/ Gill Francis & Friends — Sat, Oct 10 · 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
Asheville Jazz Orchestra — Sun, Oct 11 · 7 PM @ White Horse Black Mountain
Vincent Neil Emerson w/ Hayden Redwine — Sun, Oct 11 · 8 PM @ Asheville Music Hall
Chelsea Wolfe w/ Jonathan Hultén — Mon, Oct 12 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel
Nate Hadley — Tue, Oct 13 · 5 PM @ The Grey Eagle (Patio Stage)
Cannons w/ Caroline Kingsbury — Tue, Oct 13 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel (sold out)
Thundercat — Tue, Oct 13 · 8 PM @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Jeff Coffin, Jordan Perlson & Viktor Krauss w/ Bob Lanzetti — Tue, Oct 13 · 8 PM @ The Grey Eagle
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.
Until next week,
Jason De Los Santos
Pixelated Stories Digital Marketing
(828) 585-4293
