If you've been around for a while, you may recall how we worried our computers would crash at the stroke of midnight on the last day of 1999, wiping out our bank accounts and shutting down the infrastructure as every digit of that year vanished into the weirdly futuristic-sounding 2000.

When EPB launched its Internet, video and phone services a decade ago in conjunction with efforts to build a smarter electric grid, the city-owned utility projected it would speed internet service and attract about 30,000 to 35,000 customers for its telecom services.

The hemp industry took root in a big way in 2019, sprouting businesses across Tennessee, and many people are betting on that trend to accelerate in 2020 despite some growing pains.

The biggest companies headquartered in the Chattanooga area with annual revenues last year near or more than $1 billion included:

Based on student enrollment in the current 2020 school year, less than half of the biggest 4-year colleges in the Chattanooga region grew student enrollment this year compared with last year.

Ask any couple running a business together the secret to their success, and they might tell you they create time and space for themselves apart from the job. Ask Brian and Jamey Elrod, though, and you'll get this answer:

His career in logistics and transport set up George Abernathy to know Chattanooga well. His first trip to the city was in 1997, and he returned many times over the years to work with US Xpress, Covenant Transport and Kenco, among others.

Dylan Pollack and Rebecca Brooks wanted to play outside and launch a business. For them, that added up to living in Chattanooga.

Ashley Farrar knows it sometimes takes a little dirty work to run a business that cleans up. The owner of the Molly Maid cleaning service in Chattanooga, Farrar grew up working alongside her mother, who launched a Molly Maid franchise in Franklin, Tennessee, a generation ago.

Traditional thinking tells us people don't like change.

The members of Sankofa, a local giving circle, pool their own money and decide collectively how to best direct those dollars to strengthen communities of color. But there's more than money at work when it comes to the power of this giving group, says Lakweshia Ewing, a member of the fund from its beginnings in 2015.

Editor's note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

You could be forgiven for feeling a little nervous when you meet Donna Van Natten. After all, she is 'the body language doctor,' and she can read the signals you're inadvertently sending through your stance, your gestures, even your eye movements.

Step inside the REV Optimal Living chiropractic office on Frazier Avenue and it feels like an urban oasis. From the paneled accent walls, to the soft ambient music, to the dry erase boards filled with tips and topics for healthy lifestyles, REV is designed as a respite from the chaos of daily life.

Sybil Topel, marketing communications vice president for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, has contributed to an international career blog, earned a Master of Fine Arts in writing, and led a Chattanooga Chamber team that garnered national and local awards with its tongue-in-cheek "Literally Perfect" video as the centerpiece of a recruitment campaign. She serves on a number of boards including ArtsBuild, Girls Scouts of Southern Appalachians and the Pop-Up-Project, a start-up arts organization.

Martha Leiper says she starts each work day catching up on the news on the CNBC morning program "Squawk Box" before heading into Unum where she's the insurer's chief investment officer.

Chattanooga Small Business Networking at The Chattanooga Event Center

Passion for better, more sustainable or more transparent products and processes inspire hard-working Chattanoogans to embrace entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are scrappy, using every resource and spare minute to propel their business forward.

Digital agency Viget has announced Chattanooga and Hamilton County as the company's newest office location, with plans to eventually hire 25 local employees.

The Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and a volunteer-led committee recently honored both Chattanooga Whiskey and FreightWaves as 2019 Spirit of Innovation Award recipients, the second tie in the award's nearly 20-year history.