Sarah313’s Weblog

Liz Blondy is a Detroit entrepreneur, who started Canine to Five dog daycare in 2005. It is located in the Midtown area of Detroit on Cass Avenue south of Martin Lutheran King Boulevard. Canine to Five offers an array of services for man’s best friend. Services include daycare, grooming, a dog park, boarding, and also newly added retail.

Canine to Five came to fruition when Liz Blondy had learned that her friend, who lives in downtown Detroit, was taking her dog to daycare when working out in the suburbs. Blondy then saw an opportunity for such a business in the city of Detroit. Not owning a dog herself, she had to do some serious research to understand the industry and learn what owing a business was all about. She visited several dog daycare centers from Michigan, Ohio to Canada and volunteered at places such, as the Humane Society to understand her clients needs better. Not only did Blondy have to do research, but she also had to raise capital for her new vision. She was working at Verizon Wireless at the time and she patiently saved enough money to do business for a year and half. She received a home equity loan and spent $40,00 on her credit cards for building renovations. Liz also had to refinance her house to start the business. In other words, she made some major sacrifices to get her dream off its feet.

Canine to Five is the only business of its kind in Detroit. The competition is in the suburbs, with maybe 20 competitors in southeast Michigan. Blondy feels that Canine to Five stands out next to the competition due to the close relationships they hold with their customers. Also, the marketing that she had done has given her a good foot in the door to gain a good clientele. Liz went all over downtown and talked to project managers, realtors, and company managers. Business has increased from the first day she opened business. In the daycare, she started with nine dogs and two years later she now averages 25 dogs a day. In May 2006, Liz bought the neighboring 30 year-old grooming business for $30,000, which has given Canine to Five 1300 grooming customers.

Liz Blondy has started a new business for the city of Detroit and has marketed the business well. You can see Canine to Five at the local festivals, taking pictures on the river for Pooch-a-Palooza, or just drop by for the dog park. Blondy is dedicated to the city of Detroit and is also responsible for starting the Open City Network, which is a great networking opportunity that meets once a month through out downtown Detroit.

On November 15, 2007, which is National Recycling Day, ABC News covered the greenest story yet in major sports news. The Philadelphia Eagles are hitting the double green!

The Philly Eagles are making a green name for themselves in the NFL. The Eagles announced that they are taking the initiative to give their fans and staff a greener experience at the football games. Tim Sexton, Los Angeles Environmental and Marketing Consultant, who was responsible for helping create events for groups, such as American Idol and Philadelphia’s LiveAid concert has now guided the Eagles in where to make the most impact with their business practices.

Eagle owners since 1994, Jeffrey and Christina Weiss Lurie decided in 2003 that it was time to take the step forward for their franchise. “Game days have a huge environmental impact considering traffic, trash, energy and material consumption, and water use,” said Christina Lurie when they made the effort public this year.

Their initiatives include recycling bins every 46 feet. Beer cups are made from corn. The executives suites disposable foodware is now compostable made from sugar cane. For the time the team travels away on an airplane, trees are planted to make up for the emissions created. The Eagle’s stadium, Lincoln Financial Center is now powered by 30% renewable resources, which is from wind power. All game tickets are printed on recycled paper. The head office building is coated with solar panels. Employees are given benefits to participate in the green movement, such as reimbursements if they signed with up with their local utility company and purchase renewable energy for the homes.

The Eagles have been planning this new initiative for the last three years, however have not come out to public due to the fact of wanting to make sure that the program was nailed down before they became role models in the industry. The franchise has invested in over a seven million dollar figure into this new endeavor. They felt that it was the best investment that they could possibly make, because it is for the future generations. Better yet, it is for the future Eagle fan!

GO GREEN!

(Sited from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3648383)

Lisa Toenniges from the Innovative Learning Group stood out as a presenter. Her willingness for open discussion made it that much easier when discussing her company, who helps train large companies and their staff to become more productive workers. She was easy going and well knowledge in the company in which she owns and diligently oversees. The Innovative Learning Group (ILG) is a human resource incubator of solutions and modules. ILG makes it possible for large companies such as Dow Chemical to offer their employees opportunities to become more productive and innovative in the work place. ILG outsources consultants to produce job aids, hour long web based training modules, or complete curriculum classroom based materials. ILG and their consultants look at performance analysis which consists of skill, knowledge, resources, pay structure, and physical or mental capacity when producing and assisting with learning modules for their clients.

The Innovative Learning Group has been established for three years and has successfully made 2.5 to 3 million in the last three years. Their smallest client makes a 1/2 billion in revenue to their largest client making up to 40 billion a year. ILG gets 60- 70% of their clients from outside of SE Michigan, and only 20-25% from the automotive industry. Because of this diversity in their client base, ILG’s staff gets exposed to all types of industries. Toenniges was quoted to say, ” New or different performance, brings better performance,” when talking about her diversified workplace.

Lisa was an empowering and motivating women who led the presentation in a layout that not only felt comfortable, but was also compelling. Toenniges carried the presentation as a basic open discussion, where she intimately answered our questions making it a more personable and informative presentation compared to others. She is a passionate woman who has led many Fortunate 500 companies and their employees to execute at their highest level.

The theory “Six Degrees of Separation” states that one person is no one is more then six steps away from knowing another person. With this concept in mind, CEO Michael Melfi created Six Degrees Magazine, a free, high-end pocket size fashion magazine. The magazine is published as a hip, progressive high end publication distributed to over 90,000 people in Miami, Detroit, and Atlanta. The magazine is able to draw in the “hipster” that wants to read into the new fashion, local events, technology, and of course the Hollywood lifestyle, interviewing the famous. Six Degrees distributes the lifestyle magazine to high end boutiques, spas, hotels, trendy bars and restaurants.

Experiential marketing, which is creating consumer experiences to drive sales and brand awareness, is used by Six Degrees when promoting the magazine and its content. The magazine marketing includes a website, online newsletter, promotional vehicles, and special events. Melfi and Six Degrees realizes the importance of branding and marketing. The magazine creatively attracts both the reader and advertiser at the same time. Six Degrees has the ability to attract high end advertisement, creating another outlet to reach the buyer in an upscale market. This is very attractive to the advertiser because the magazine is becoming a huge success and Six Degrees is looking to expand their readership into other cities.

You can check out the magazine at www.sixdegreesmag.com.

David Bing, a former Detroit Piston came to our class Thursday September 20, 2007. Bing is originally from Washington D.C., went to Syracuse University starting in 1962, and played professional basketball from 1966-1978.

In 1966, he made $15,000 in the NBA. A graduate of Economics and Marketing from Syracuse, David Bing productively used his time in the off season to work in finance and learn the steel industry. After he retired from basketball, Bing started his own company in Detroit called The Bing Group (http://www.binggroup.com) which is a supplier of metal stamping for the auto industry. His three daughters currently help him run the business.

David Bing has a “let’s get done” attitude when doing business in Detroit. The summer of his Rookie year being a Piston, he experienced the riots in 1967. He said after that he knew he needed to make Detroit home and be part of the revitalization. Bing has stayed with his word and continues to do business in the city of Detroit.

David Bing is just as successful as an entrepreneur as he was on the basketball court. His genuine attitude shows through his way of doing business and giving back to the community. He is responsible for building 40 new homes in a neighborhood adjacent to his plant and is building a $60 million 112-unit luxury condominium development with some local heavy hitters, such as Roger Penske and Joe Dumars. The Watermark Development will be located on Detroit’s East Riverfront.

John Ferchill with the Ferchill Group, a Cleveland real estate developer is going to bring over 400 employees to the city of Detroit starting in the Fall of 2008. The group bought Detroit’s legendary hotel the Book Cadillac in 2006. The 33-story luxury hotel hasn’t been open in over 2o years. There were will be 60 condos, and a Westin Hotel added to this historical renovation. “Everybody’s got a story about the Book,” said John Ferchill, the Cleveland-based developer behind the renovation. “I think that’s probably our No. 1 marketing tool.”

The day the Detroit Tigers were going to the World Series last year, the Ferchill Group put the Book-Cadillac condos on the market., which were marketed as real estate on top of the Westin Hotel. The 60 condos were forcasted to be sold in 3 years. The developer sold 40 condos in four hours the day they went on the market, earning the Ferchill Group $22 million. Prices have ranged from $279,500 to $1,375,000. The renovation will include recreating the Grand Ballroom and the Italian Garden.

The Ferchill group has the niche of developing in the rust belt of the Midwest. John Ferchill followed cities who recently constructed new baseball parks, such as Cleveland and Detroit. He has seen results of sold out hotels, when of course the home team is winning. Ferchill had also developed Detroit’s Hilton Garden Inn, which opened in 2004. Ferchill has over 75 projects costing over $1.5 billion with the track record of only one project failing.

Bizdom U had the opportunity to listen to John Ferchill last week. He has the business attitude of a solid rock and nothing will get in his way. It is impressive to know how much success he has had with only nine employees. His success of work in the Rust Belt shows that the Blue Collar market is still vibrantly alive. He has found his niche in the real estate business, and won’t stop there. The urban cities are where he would like to stay, mixed retail maybe the next thing coming for Ferchill. Being an entrepreneur he has seen the window of opportunity here in Detroit.

References:

The USA Today: Developer unveils revival of shuttered Detroit landmark hotel, November 11, 2005.

Good Morning!!

I am starting to prepare for my first day being an “entrepreneur” at Bizdom U. The excitement and anxiousness has been building inside of me these last few weeks waiting to meet the others who were accepted into this once in a life time experience.

These are going to be some challenging times. In the next two years I will be completing the Bizdom U program full time, and also completing my undergrad part time at Wayne State University. Let’s just say I will be learning to meditate so I can be relaxed through the stressful times.

The best advice I have heard living here in the “D” and I have to continuously remind myself …and now I would like to pass this off to my new “co-entrepreneurs…”

“If you can’t make it here…you can’t make it anywhere.”

Just in case…New York said, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” Sorry folks they are two different sayings… completely different!

The salt on the road makes us “rusty” around our edges and it takes a strong soul to understand “Detroit time.”

Welcome to the city with “Spirit.”

Once you get it you will never want to leave.