Have you ever wondered what your dog is doing while you’re at work? That is a question that many people have found the answer to with companies like Canine to Five. Canine to Five is a dog daycare that has found its home in Midtown Detroit. Liz Blondy is the proud owner of this company, which she began in May of 2005. By November of that same year, she expanded to open a dog park; which gives dog owners and lovers the ability to network and share common interests with each other. Her product line currently offers daycare, grooming, some retail, boarding and a dog park. Liz eventually wants to expand her retail offering at some point in the near future.
Liz spoke to our class in detail about her life experiences and how her concept for Canine to Five came to fruition. Liz had been in the corporate world for many years, when she realized that she was not really satisfied. She knew that she was tired of working for someone else, so Liz set her sights to entrepreneurship; she then put a plan and her vision into action. She began by setting aside funds to sustain her quality of life during her start-up phase. While having a conversation with some friends, she learned about dog daycare providers and how well some establishments were performing. This is when Liz started doing her research. At this point, she knew nothing about dogs, she had never evened owned a dog before. So, she began by visiting several different daycare providers to see what this industry had to offer; she also became very involved in volunteering to get a feel for her market. Liz feels her target market is downtown Detroit, as well as commuters who work in or the city. Liz has made the commitment to make Canine to Five the avenue to give her clients the best service she can to them as well as their pets.
Liz is a proud Detroiter; she has also worked very hard to promote entrepreneurship within the city. She is the Co-Founder of Open City Network Group which is an outlet for Detroit entrepreneurs and future business owners to get together and talk about the challenges they face, and how to overcome them. I feel that this is definitely a motivating factor that will lead to sustained growth within the city. I think it is especially essential for those who tend to have more fox like thinking to help them narrow their idea’s and will eventually help them focus on their hedgehog concept as we have discussed in Good to Great. Detroit is grateful to have people like Liz Blondy to help them to enable their voices to be heard within the community, and offers them pride which will help with sustained growth and support of local entrepreneurs.
