Canine To Five and Liz Blondy

Canine to Five is a doggy heaven.  Canine to five is a convenient place for pups and the pups owners.  Dogs of all ages can come to Canine to Five and visit for a day or stay as long as needed.  The dogs can run around indoors in the 4700 square foot building in the winter time and have the biggest back yard setting with all the doggy chew toys that Canine to Five offers in the summer.  Basically if you need a pet sitter you just found the best one that Detroit offers and it’s only 25 dollars per day.

Now a little more about Liz Blondy and the biz.  Liz worked for Verizon Wireless prior to opening Canine to Five.  She had a great job but did not like working for someone else.  Liz decided to become a business owner in May of 2005, when Canine to Five opened.  Liz says “this was one of the hardest things she has ever done but well worth it.”  I could only imagine that with 14 competitors in the Metro Detroit area it was quite the challenge.  To overcome the numbers fear with the competition Liz has to make sure her relationships are solid with her customers during every visit.

To total things up Liz has 8900 square feet for the dogs of all breeds to enjoy.  Liz is an extremely hard worker, dedicated worker, and has a passion for what she does.  Liz was a motivational speaker and inspired me to bring my puppy (Lexy) to Canine to Five net time I go out of town. 

Thank you Liz for speaking for the Bizdom students.  We really appreciate all of the heads up that we can get before going into the business world. 

Purrfect or Dog Gone ? You be the judge

Robert Mazur, the inventor of the Purrfect Opener and the Dog Gone Opener is an interesting man with interesting ideas.  He and his brother back in the day watched grandma struggle to open pill bottles to help her arthritis.  This lead them to inventing several different products that allows not only elderly people but people of all ages to have an easier more efficient way to open pill bottles and do several other things too. 

The first proto type was made out of clay by B.A. Mazur Inc., which was Robert and his brothers C-Corp company.  This then allowed the actual forming from plastic to happen.  Robert went to a  business fair at The University Of Michigan and won $10,000 dollars.  That is where he received all of his funding.  He was also backed by his father but even to this day Robert says “my father is still asking where is my money that I loaned you”?  The money that he won and that his father loaned him made the first prototype.  Robert’s knowledge in engineering of 7 years where he worked in the automotive industry helped to launch the first initial product. 

 On January 4th, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. QVC aired the purrfect and the dog gone openers.  Air time on t.v. is extremely expensive and hard to come by.  To get this was a really big help for the companies reputation.  The product had been out for a little while prior to QVC but now people all across the nation had heard about it.   

The Purrfect Opener is shaped like a kitty cat and can do more than just open pill bottles.  It can also: open soup cans, cut taped card board boxes, take out the cotton in pill bottles, cut pills in half, and catch pills when popped out of the back of the plastic that the pills are held in.  The Dog Gone Opener can do all of the same things but is shaped like a dog.

Robert and his brothers company now have 8 different products and you can find a few of them at purrfectopener.com

Lisa Toenniges and the Innovative Learning Group

Lisa owner of Innovative Learning Group visited the BizdomU students on October 9th.  She enlightened us with her knowledge and experience.  Lisa graduated from Michigan State University with a music education major.  She was a teacher for a couple of years and then went to work for General Motors for 7 years. 

After G.M. Lisa went to work for the Innovative Learning Group.  The Company was good for a while but then was going to shutdown.  This meant Lisa was out of a job.  So she decided to become the owner instead of letting it shutdown.  The company was shutting down on Friday and Lisa wanted to start it right back up by that upcoming Monday.  The innovative learning Group does not sell a product but offers labor.  The group spends time with major corporations and figures out what needs to be done to help these company’s take the next steps to get to the next level.  Lisa has worked with LaSalle Bank, DOW Chemical, and several other big name corporations.  

Lisa says she loves what she does and it really shines from her passion and desire to make the company better in any way that she can.  It was great that Lisa could speak to us and I think I can say for the entire BizdomU students we really appreciated the time and enjoyed every word Lisa had to say.

360 Degrees Minus 354 Degrees Gives you…? 6 Degrees

Mike Melfi the man that started it all.  Mike Melfi is a rather unique man and so is his magazine.  The magazine has an interesting 195 pages and is filled with advertisements.  Mike does not charge a cent for his magazines but still has a booming demand for them.  The magazine is pocket sized and people ranging from teens to adults love them. 

Mike has made his fortune by networking.  He says “networking is extremely important” especially for a business like this.  His adds are what make him all the money.  So if he had no sources or networks, six degrees magazine would be pointless.  He also informed us on how to build a team around you that is knowledgeable.  Having a team to find adds makes it a lot easier than having to do it all on your own. Mike has seen that through the challenges and tribulations if your team members are happy they will work harder.  This is one of several learning opportunities that Mike shared with us.  A few others are:  Client is always right, Are you selling or being sold, and always Go with your gut.

To round up a magazine full of tips from Mike Melfi the top three lessons are: Integrity, Humility, and Responsiveness will take you far.  These three tips alone without the rest of his presentation I think lets all of us know what it takes to make it big in this day in age.  If you have integrity it will allow you to be strong.  If you are humble people will recognize your passion through your desire and drive.  Last but not least responsiveness always allows us to stay connected to our sources. 

Dave Bing

Dave Bing 

Dave Bing is a very inspirational man.  He speaks extremely well and seems very passionate about what he does.  He started off at Syracuse Private College, studied economics and marketing, and played twelve years in the National Basketball Association.  Dave was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.  After his career in the NBA he found himself back in the world full of entrepreneurs.  He is a Jack of all trades and has lots of great advice.

A couple of points that Dave emphasized on were:  An entrepreneur always has to have access to capital.  An entrepreneur has to know and understand what his or her own talents and weaknesses are so he or she can surround themselves with the right people to do the jobs that they might not know how to do. Be ready and willing to take lots of risk.  Never be afraid to fail it will keep you from doing anything.  Failure comes along with the job.

As of right now Dave Bing is in the steel industry and does not plan to retire anytime soon.  He called it “coasting” for the moment.  I believe his idea of coasting would be any normal persons idea of working really hard. 

John Ferchill

John Ferchill privately owns his own real-estate company and has made billions from it. Mr. Ferchill, O what a truly genuine man.  He has a uniqueness about him that not everyone can get away with.  The most to the point man I have ever met.  He is unique to a point with his straight forwardness, but this is what makes him different from the pack and what took him to the top.  He started off with Sam Szell who graduated from University of Michigan.  Sam and John started in the development business and the subsidized housing business. 

John said, “I like to find niches in ugly areas.”   This way he can develop them and make a large profit.  John calls Detroit an ugly area with a beautiful niche that needs to be developed.  He developed one location in Detroit where he sold $20 million dollars worth of condominiums in four hours.  That’s true talent in the working.

 The thing that I found most amazing about Johns business is that it is all website based.  He does not have to go looking for customers, his customers looked for him.  The reason why is because people know that John has a flourishing business and he is very loyal to his word.  If he says he will do something he keeps his word and does it.  John Ferchill was inspirational to listen to and had great advice.  Thank you for enlightening the Bizdom Team with your knowledge.

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