The Brew – Coffee and Conversation about all Things Laurens County

Last week, the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Main Street Clinton, hosted another session of The Brew. The Brew is a bi-monthly meeting providing a unique opportunity for local entrepreneurs to receive feedback and advice from an audience of mentors, community supporters, and fellow business owners. Coffee for this edition of The Brew was provided by The Vestibule.

This edition of The Brew was held at the City of Clinton Council Chambers and the Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices trio of Susan Tallman, Heather Tiller, and Susan Raynal, presented their business story and led a group of business owners and community leaders in an energized discussion of the challenges facing Laurens County along with ideas to overcome them.

“Our mission was to create a substantial BHHS-C. Dan Joyner presence in Laurens County and to grow and promote the lifestyle that Laurens County offers,” said Susan Tallman.  “Our challenge was to infuse top management with our vision and passion for Laurens County so they would support the mission. They supported our mission and now we have the privilege of working with other business owners in the county to promote Laurens County.”

After a brief presentation highlighting their journey to opening a BHHS-C. Dan Joyner office in Clinton, the trio listed three challenges and opened it up for discussion among those attending.

The challenges identified included:

• Dreaming big-and being told, ‘we don’t want that’, ‘no one will come here’, ‘we cannot afford that’
• Staying informed about the happenings of City/County, hold each other accountable, but not come across critical?
• Collaborating, working as a team-Laurens County Team not Clinton Team and Laurens Team

The conversation about the challenges was robust and energizing and always respectful. At the end of the meeting, it was clear that more “brewing” is wanted and needed for Laurens County to come together as one and work together for a future that will be good for residents of the county.

“Heather, Susan and I, have so much passion for Laurens County and are looking to collaborate and build a vision for the future that is still rural and full of green space, but also provides quality housing at various price points,” said Tallman.  “It may surprise people, but folks are choosing to live here. Laurens County has so much to offer, and we all need to work together to create and then support the county wide vision. If we don’t someone else will.”

The Brew initiative is led by Graysen Martin, Communications and Marketing Coordinator for the Laurens County Chamber of Commerce. Martin hopes the program will continue to grow.  “We’ve had great participation thus far,” said Martin.  “We hope to continue the meetings and grow participation and collaboration among business owners and community leaders. Everyone is encouraged to come out and get involved in the discussion.”

The next session of The Brew will be held in August at a location to be determined. For more information contact, Graysen Martin (864) 833-2716.