With Sister Pie recently winning the 2014 Hatch Detroit contest, I wanted to check in with a past winner to see how their business is doing since they won the contest. I recently interviewed 2012 Hatch Detroit winner, Elias Khail, owner and operator, Detroit-based La Feria Spanish Tapas, about their business and what’s happened since…

I feel conflicted. Why? Because I’m beginning to see two Detroits emerge–one with the emerging vibrancy of a growing downtown, Midtown, Corktown areas and, conversely, a city where certain neighborhoods continue to struggle while others strive. Thus, my conflict. As a native Detroiter, I have fond memories of a city that was humming with people,…

For small business owners, it’s easy to begin “working in the business” versus “working on the business”. The former is focused on focusing on the daily details while the latter addresses the longer-term vision for your company. Regardless, for most small businesses, it creates stress derived from addressing business growth, controlling expenses and attaining sustainability….

IS YOUR BUSINESS FOCUSED ON GROWTH? I recently conducted a survey among 350 businesses regarding their practices with the intended purpose of understanding challenges confronting them. While those surveyed were 80% plus small businesses–defined as less than $10 million in revenue–responses were received from medium to large organizations as well. When asked the most significant…

Entrepreneurship continues to play a critical role in Detroit’s economic revival and transformation. With recent emphasis and dollars flowing into the city focused on developing the small business ecosystem, it’s clear small business and the entrepreneurial spirit will have an integral part in Detroit’s future. In particular, minority-owned businesses are a critical driver in job…

Detroit is under the spotlight and the glare has never been more intense and brighter. Detroit entrepreneurs, Jeff Smith and Donald Levitt, Ph. D. are hoping to use the glare of the spotlight to show the positives of Detroit by developing Enterprising Detroit–a proposed Detroit Public Television (DPTV), one-hour documentary to tell the story focused…

Are you ready to launch your business and take it to another level? There is a program that can help you. The Blackstone LaunchPad–a program aimed at creating jobs in communities hardest hit by the financial meltdown. Blackstone built the Michigan program with the hopes it would become a national model for promoting entrepreneurship through…

Generally, people have good or great ideas. Whether it’s personally and/or professionally. However, how many times has an idea been developed, but not been properly executed? This happens more times than not. To this end, there are two stats that struck me recently: According to Entrepreneur.com, 27% of small businesses don’t have a strategic marketing…

I recently wrote a blog on creating a personal brand and its potential impact on generating business. We discussed the need to view yourself as a brand–specifically, understand your personal vision, mission and what you stand for. Additionally, I asked the following question: Would you ever buy yourself? The obvious answer is yes–however, the point of…

Detroit’s a great sports town. Many call it the best sports city in America. The passion for the Tigers, Lions, Red Wings and the Pistons is second to none. I believe, this stems from Detroit’s history as a hard-working, manufacturing city. One where the fans went straight from the auto factories to watching the teams…