Thu, May 2, 2024 • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
In today’s rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for Human Resources to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. This webinar aims to delve into the reasons behind DEI initiatives, emphasizing the significance of fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace for all. Attendees will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of learning tools to advance DEI goals within organizations. Through the exploration of practical strategies, participants will learn how to effectively engage with diverse team members, build lasting relationships, and create inclusive spaces where everyone feels valued and heard. This webinar will explore how individuals can play a pivotal role in driving positive.
May 16, 2024 – The Henry, Autograph Collection
The MichBusiness Women Thrive Conference is a day of celebration, informative panel discussions, facilitated networking opportunities, and knowledge-sharing. It is advised by a distinguished board of businesswomen and community leaders.
Building the infrastructure to support a growing startup can be very expensive. Young, cash-strapped companies need to focus a lot of resources on hiring the best employees. Things like cloud services, software, and flights are also critical for growing a business, so finding ways to get more bang for your buck is imperative.
In the past, many small businesses have received assistance from government organizations like the U.S. Small Business Administration or nonprofits like chambers of commerce. Today, corporations are getting in on the startup game.
Big companies understand the value of startups. Besides becoming loyal customers, startups also have the potential to become acquisitions or long-term partners. Therefore, it’s in corporations’ best interests to support startups as early as possible.
These four corporations offer great programs for startups, which can help founders stretch their resources even further:
Autodesk: Autodesk is a software company that helps inventors design, visualize, and simulate their ideas. Product innovators use Autodesk tools like Fusion 360 to develop and present their best design work.
Autodesk’s Entrepreneur Impact Program helps early-stage startups get to market faster in social, clean tech, health and well-being, and environmental sectors. Qualifying companies receive up to $150,000 in free digital prototyping software, as well as training and co-marketing opportunities.
IBM: The IBM Global Entrepreneur Program offers up to $10,000 a month in credits for 12 months for infrastructure and platform services.
For chosen companies, $1,000 or more of credit 12 times a year is a huge win. Once companies receive the credit, IBM can also provide mentorship in business services, including public relations, human resources, accounting and financing support, and even venture capitalist connections.
Rackspace: Rackspace is a managed cloud company used by some of the biggest companies around. It has always been friendly to startups, and through the Rackspace Startups program, companies can apply for discounted hosting and special offers with Rackspace partners.
Rackspace also often sponsors big events like SXSW, using that opportunity to offer discounted hosting to early-stage companies.
American Airlines: For the past three years, I’ve been a strategic manager for American Airlines and its involvement with startups. Through the innovators initiative, American Airlines provides travel perks to U.S.-based companies with high travel needs.
Select companies are awarded Business Extra program points. These can be redeemed for travel awards, Admirals Club membership or day passes, and AAdvantage Gold status for employees.
There are a lot of companies out there looking to support startups and build brand loyalty. When choosing which to work with, always consider long-term partnerships. These companies are looking to cultivate future clients, and once you get locked into software, cloud infrastructure, or a travel program, it can be difficult to switch.
However, if you know you’re happy with the services, taking advantage of one (or all) of these corporate programs can save serious money in the early stages when capital is so critical.
Will Alllen, who runs GrowingPower.org based in Milwaukee, Madison, Wis., and Chicago, spoke last fall at “Greening the City” in Detroit.
Feeding more people efficiently and sustainably through urban agriculture is a good idea, but you need more farmers and more for-profit entrepreneurs engaged. That is the message from Will Allen, who runs, by many accounts, the largest urban agriculture operation in the world.
“Urban agriculture right now is still very small scale in terms of the amount of food we are producing, the good food, the food we want to eat,” says Allen, who quotes a recent survey that 86 percent of people prefer locally grown food.
“People are aware of issues with food … and prefer to know where it comes from,” he adds.
Allen, whose organization GrowingPower.org is based in Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison,Wis., was one of several local-food movement luminaries participating in a panel at “Greening the City: The politics and possibilities of greenspace,” an event organized by Culture Lab Detroit and held last fall at the College for Creative Studies.
The evening featured Allen, Food to School star Alice Waters, and Patrick Blanc, the French inventor of the vertical garden. The panel was moderated by Stephen Henderson from the Detroit Free Press.
Allen, a 2008 MacArthur Fellow (sometimes referred to as a “Genius Grant,” although the term is discouraged by the MacArthur Foundation), has been involved in urban agriculture for 22 years and wrote the book “The Good Food Revolution.” He said his family has been continuously involved in farming for 400 years.
Growing food near you or your community is valued on many levels, especially considering that more than half the world’s population lives in cites. In the United States, the figure is 80 percent, according to a 2010 report by the U.S. National Academies. In another report, the average distance to bring food to a major retailer in America was cited at 1,500 miles. Urban and peri-urban agriculture can be defined as the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around cities.
“It makes sense, because that was the way it was. It used to be urban farms,” Allen said on the panel. “People always grew food close to where they lived, but we have gotten away from there. Now we are trying to get back to that, but there are so many issues, such as land policies cities have set up that are anti-farming.”
But discouraging land use policies are changing. Allen cited Milwaukee as “probably the best example in the country,” where farming and composting is allowed in every zoning district. In 2013, Detroit adopted its first urban agriculture zoning ordinance, legislation that defines farm stands, farmers’ markets, greenhouses, aquaculture, greenhouses, hoop houses, urban farms, orchards and gardens.
“It’s about food and social justice,” Allen continued, responding to a question about the broad impact of urban agriculture. “I believe food is a way of making sure people’s lives and communities improve, changing the food system and creating jobs so that people can have good food. It’s a shame that in America three out of 10 young people go to bed without a meal. We should all be ashamed of that and try to fix it.”
On an even broader scale, an estimated 800 million people worldwide practice urban agriculture, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Another report, this one from the Worldwatch Institute (worldwatch.org), cited that 15-20 percent of the world’s food is grown in and around urban areas. Both of these references were mentioned in a 2014 article by Elizabeth Royte on ensia.com.
From Allen’s view, the “fix” to the food system and its impact on social justice will come from more startup businesses involved in urban agriculture, as well as adding more farmers to the mix.
“I believe it is going to come from entrepreneurs. Non-profits are good for training and educating and to show people that it can be done. We have 4,800 farmers’ markets in the U.S. We have to bring the good organic food into the retail grocery stores. We have to get money in the next farm bill to train farmers on the sustainable side of this.”
Detroit and Michigan
While Detroit may be known as the Motor City, it is now gaining a name as the Urban Ag city. Within city limits alone, there are nearly 1,400 community gardens – and some say the number is closer to 2,000 – pumping out fresh produce for neighborhoods, schools and other organizations. Add to that the commercial market gardens, with growing schedules and processes geared to getting food to markets, restaurants and retail outlets, not to mention family gardens.
As the name of this garden venture suggests, urban agriculture can, in itself, contribute to a new level of optimism among those involved.
In 2014, that mix of growers produced more than 400,000 pounds of produce in Detroit, enough to feed 600 people, according to Royte’s article in ensia.com. And in 2015, that production increased. The Detroit-based Garden Resource Program reported a production of 550,000 pounds of fresh produce from its 1,375 member gardens. The organization added 540 new gardens to the mix this year, which includes 424 community gardens, 90 market gardens, 805 family gardens, and 56 school gardens, with some 15,600 residents involved in tending to those gardens. Other reports estimate the involvement at nearly 20,000 Detroiters.
Those numbers have put Detroit among the top 10 cities for urban agriculture. In a study from seedstock.com, Detroit topped a list of 10 cities that are leading with innovative urban agriculture ordinances, rules that point the way for “a new economic future grounded in sustainable food production in urban centers.” Detroit’s urban farming ordinance and abundance of vacant lots contributed to that distinction.
In another study, this one reported on inhabit.com, a design, innovation and environment website, Detroit ranked fifth in a list of top 10 cities for urban agriculture. The report listed the community garden sties at 1,350, pictured retailer Detroit Farm and Garden, and cited the Hantz Woodland project to build an urban farm on 1,500 parcels it bought.
The Garden Resource Program is part of Keep Growing Detroit (KGD), a non-profit organization “dedicated to cultivating a food sovereign Detroit … where food and agriculture are a driving force in resident-led community and economic development,” according to their report.
Their membership had 200 acres under cultivation in 2015. The organization is involved in education and training through numerous agriculture and gardening-related workshops, production and distribution of plants and seedlings throughout the season and much more.
Billie Hebron manages Oakland Avenue Community Garden in Detroit. They work on 15-20 city lots and, among many activities, host a farmers market, have a commercial kitchen and sell their produce to workers at Chrysler plants.
This summer’s 18th Annual Tour of Detroit Urban Gardens and Farms had more than 400 visitors touring 36 gardens and farms. In another example, Keep Growing Detroit worked with the Fair Food Network to develop a training program that resulted in 22 Detroiters receiving on-the-job training in hoop house construction (unheated greenhouses) while helping five growers in the construction process.
Another part of Keep Growing Detroit is the market sales collective, Grown in Detroit. In 2015, 45 gardens and farms from across the city earned nearly $50,000 at 54 markets.
The non-profit organization Greening of Detroit has a mission of sustainable growth of a healthy urban community through trees, green spaces, food, education, training and job opportunities. Among their many activities are their 2.5-acre Detroit Market Garden, urban agriculture apprenticeship and internship programs, soil improvement, and work with school gardens and parks. They have planted 85,000 trees in Detroit since 1989. Their other farm gardens in Detroit include Lafayette Greens downtown and Romanowski Farm in southwest Detroit.
For these organizations, the city’s open spaces are an opportunity. In 2014, KGD helped Oakland Avenue Community Garden and Neighbors Building Brightmore build their heated greenhouses, one each, which increased their capacity to grow more transplants. Ashley Atkinson is a co-director at Keep Growing Detroit.
“We would like to see the city embrace the notion that 5,000 of its existing 13,000 vacant acres be available for appropriately scaled agriculture,” she said.
A Michigan State University study recently concluded the city could grow 75 percent of its vegetable needs and nearly half its fruit consumption on less than half the available vacant land.
Atkinson, who has been involved in local agriculture and community garden initiatives since 2000, beginning in Flint (where she started the Flint Urban Gardening and Land Use Corp.), is among many in the movement that say urban agricultural statistics tell only part of the story. Being involved in gardening and growing has social and health benefits.
MSU’s Michael Hamm is an expert in sustainable agriculture.
“Some of the major findings are that it definitely has a large health impact, many people report having a reduction in weight, (lower) blood pressure, being able to reduce medications or come off medicines completely, along with an increase in physical activity,” she said. “There are significant savings (compared with buying produce retail), and a lot more access to fresh healthy food. People talk about the connection to nature and feeling connected to other gardeners.”
Economic scale
Indeed, any measure of the economic impact of urban agriculture must go beyond the numbers, explained Michael Hamm, professor of Sustainable Agriculture at MSU.
“There is not an easy way to look at economic value,” said Hamm. “It is not as high as what many people would like to see. It’s not a magic bullet. It will create some jobs (but) it is not like the auto industry opening a factory. It is important in urban agriculture that you talk about the multiplicity of benefits, not just any one, because any one by itself doesn’t stack up in comparative analysis – as the highest and best use for land.”
Hamm offered an example in the city of a reasonable use of a half-acre, using about 20,000-21,000 square feet. With about 9,000 square feet of high tunnels (unheated greenhouses or hoop houses), and the rest grown outdoors, the endeavor may provide hourly wages for a few people and a living income for a small family – if market conditions are right.
“Economic impact is dependent on what markets they sell into and what are the price points for those markets,” he said. “Like any business – profits depend on expenses relative to sales.”
While a factory on that land would produce more money and employ more people, Hamm said there are other factors to consider, including the greenspace a farm provides for the community as well as ecosystem services, rain absorption, less sewer system uses for water dispersal, and higher real estate value.
“There are four or five avenues that urban farms provide value into a city that other uses do not,” he said.
Statistics on urban agricultutre, statewide and nationally, may be difficult to assess. But this is partly because of the different definitions involved and the fact that no single national organization brings it all together, Atkinson explained.
While a number of organizations may be identified as “community gardening” organizations, that category is further segmented into allotment plot organizations and communally operated organizations. Then there are urban farming organizations that tend not to identify as community gardens. There are also for-profit models and not-for-profit models, adding to the differentiation.
However, one study defines the impact of “local agriculture” in Michigan, basing its numbers on recorded transactions across farms and processors to retail, food service and to consumers. The study, conducted by the Center for Economic Analysis and the Center for Regional Food Systems at MSU, defined local food as “fresh and processed food that originates from Michigan farms, and is processed and ultimately consumed within the state.”
As recently as 2011, the study said, farms in Michigan produced $9 billion in commodities, $5 billion of which was exported. Of the remainder, about $2.5 billion went to processors.
Also from the study: Michigan’s local food system supported 18,627 jobs along the agri-food value chain, with unprocessed foods making up the largest share. The system resulted in $680 million in wages and income for growers, representing about 17.7 percent of Michigan’s total food consumption sales.
For-profit in Detroit
Brother Nature LLC, located in Detroit’s North Corktown neighborhood, is one of the for-profit farms in the city. Just a few of the for-profit operations on a growing list include Rising Pheasant Farm, Food Field, Hantz Woodlands, Fresh-Cut Flower Farm, Buffalo Street Farm LLC and Labrosse Farm.
For Brother Nature, owned by husband and wife Greg Willerer and Olivia Hubert, viability has come from a tenacious mix of available land, community supported agriculture (CSA) and hard work. They cultivate on 10 lots, two of which they own. Their bread and butter is a salad mix made from a variety of field greens along with pea tips, and then seasonally extended with hoop house plantings such as spinach.
Willerer, a former middle school teacher in language arts, started selling in the summers in 2005 and then went full-time as a grower in 2009. Hubert studied horticulture at MSU and in England. Along with 14 CSA members, an intern in previous years, a couple of hired assistants, their dog, Watson, and toddler, Wren, they get it done. Seasonal snowplowing work also helps with the overall budget.
With CSAs, members invest in the farm, work a designated number of hours and go home with produce every week or another periodic distribution.
“Most small organic farms don’t exclusively do one thing,” said Willerer. “Some do, but most have at least three ways that they market and sell their produce. CSA is the easiest.”
There’s also a somewhat flexible rate for those wanting to rent the land, although $500 seems to be the going rate for participation in a CSA operation, said Willerer.
“But that’s hard to find in an economically stressed city like Detroit – so we let people put down $100 if they want to join and we go longer than other CSAs, about 25 weeks. Now we have about 14, down from 20 when we first started.”
Most of their sales are at Detroit’s Eastern Market, Wayne State Market, and also in Corktown Market, which opened in the summer of 2015. They also sell wholesale to a handful of restaurants, a third way to move produce.
Each week, they produce between 125 pounds and 175 pounds, earning them an income in the mid-$30,000 range. “We are still peasants,” Willerer said.
Considering Detroit’s top-10 national reputation in urban agriculture, Willerer sees future growth if the city takes the right steps.
This summer’s Tour of Detroit Urban Gardens and Farms visited 36 gardens and farms in the city. About 400 people turned out.
“The city needs to basically get out of the way, embrace it and foster it in certain areas,” Willerer said. “They will find that more people who want to live differently – without the suburban lifestyle – will stay in the city and other people will come to the city.”
He also noted the security and stability urban farms bring to a neighborhood.
“There’s the safety factor,” Willerer said. “We confront people regularly. In terms of keeping the block and surrounding homes safer, if we are out there working, doing stuff around the farm; that’s at least two sets of eyes, plus Watson [their dog] being vigilant, checking things out, and that helps everyone and adds value to the neighborhood.”
While Willerer may be optimistic, MSU’s Hamm is guarded when it comes to the viability and impact of urban agriculture, making the point that core cities, where the city council has sway, were never meant to be the dominant provider of food for the people who live there. Period.
But that doesn’t mean that there should not be community gardens and the greenspace they create, the fruits and vegetables they create, and beekeeping and the great benefits it provides, he said. “And it also doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be the gathering places – in New York City, Boston, DC, wherever – and the huge amount of social capital built around those places.”
It also depends on the city.
Scores of cities in U.S. are losing population in their core cities, Hamm said, citing Detroit, Flint, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toledo and his own native St. Louis, Mo., as places where “out migration” usually means vacant lots, abandoned buildings, with the usual solution being to tear them down and mitigate the negative activities that can occur.
Olivia Hubert, pictured with her daughter Wren, and her husband Greg Willerer, are proprietors of Brother Nature LLC, a for-profit grower in Detroit.
“But in Detroit, and other places, you can think more robustly about what to do with that space. You want to preserve some room for development, because you want some infill occurring,” Hamm said. “The loss of population will never return to what it was (in Detroit) so you have the opportunity to add large amounts of greenspace, and that includes opportunities – where you want greenspace, and where you want to rebuild density. It (also) means greater amenities for people who want to live there, to recreate, to walk and enjoy.”
What’s true is the potential to improve fruit and vegetable access, especially for the people of Detroit, Hamm said, adding that he thinks it will be a long time before there will be either the political will or the capacity to grow a large percentage of the fruits and vegetables for the residents of Detroit.
“I think that in a place like Detroit, urban agriculture will be a part of the mix of what happens in the city on a robust basis, where you can see it wherever you go in the city. And, realistically, that is probably what is going to happen.”
The importance of new entrepreneurs
Hamm, Willerer and Allen all underlined the need to establish viable for-profit models for urban agriculture, in addition to successful non-profits. Allen, whose Growing Power organization farms 300 acres and 25 acres of greenhouses, said there is a need for more farmers.
“That’s the biggest problem,” he said. It’s going to be the entrepreneurs who buy up four or five lots and begin to learn to farm. This change you are trying to do in Detroit will take time (and) it will take patience. A great place to cut your teeth in farming is in cities where land is available almost for nothing.”
Hamm said new farmers need to see examples of viable, for profit businesses so that they can see a pathway for them to make a living, and one that is not dependent on foundations.
“The challenge is to have examples of truly for-profit, private businesses that are doing it. That is what we need. They are out there.”
While he praised the intentions and outcomes of not-for-profit urban agriculture, Willerer, between bites of Thai-spiced noodles with fresh cilantro and tending to his daughter, Wren, said those organizations spend a lot of time with accountability and the business of running a not-for-profit.
“The boots on the ground effect and what actually gets done is negligible sometimes. When it’s your own money, you are going to work 80 hours a week at it.”
Willerer also agrees, to a point, with Will Allen’s view that the impact of having more entrepreneurs involved may help reduce the number of people who are dependent on someone else for their livelihood.
“To me, I wouldn’t say more corporations, but more mom and pop type businesses that have a consciousness about them can create a lot of change.”
Social media platforms aside, the one-on-one, face-to-face business meeting remains an integral part of the professional landscape and presents a singular opportunity to personally connect and ultimately advance critical interpersonal relationships.
Think of business meetings as fertile judgment grounds where others almost relentlessly judge behavior because business opportunity is on the table, so to speak. Preparation should be both tactical and strategic.
Let me invite you on a preparation journey from the parking lot to the boardroom:
Reconfirm meeting the previous day and prepare an agenda to include them! Learn their company’s dress culture and dress a notch above. You want to “fit in” yet present yourself so others look up to you as the consummate professional in your field. Remember, professional attire is “never wrong.”
Think: quality … from attire, business cards and hand-outs to briefcases and yes, even pens.
Select briefcase size to match your mission. Carrying a large, full briefcase to a 20-minute meeting suggests they are one of many. Your goal is to make them feel like your “one and only.” Arrive 15 minutes early, but no more than 15-minutes … they are not literally your only client!
Upon arrival, cell phones, pagers: Off! NO one else is more important.
Introduce yourself to the receptionist and offer your card. Visit restroom for a final visual and wash and dry hands thoroughly to help eliminate clammy hands – the “kiss of death!” Pop a breath mint.
STAND in the reception, briefcase in your left hand, leaving your right hand free to shake hands.
In The Meeting Room, exchange business cards before the meeting and strategically align them around your portfolio to use (perfectly pronounced) names when speaking. Your attention to detail is noticed.
Engage in small talk, placing others at ease and make personal client notes. This information can be used in subsequent communication to further relationships.
Sitting/Seating:
Remember, the host, always seated first, sits at the ‘head of the table’ – facing the doors.
The most important person is seated to host’s right. The second most important person: host’s left. Co-presenters sit opposite the host to gesture/exchange silent signals and together, control the meeting.
Sit (focused) forward and consume much “space.” The perception is powerful. Good posture and eye-contact are imperative. Remember, hands belong on the table; you are not “under handed” or going to draw a sword/weapon! (origin.)
Refrain from fidgeting, inattentiveness and touching face/hair. Hosts should stand to introduce versus announce, those present. Guests should stand for self-introductions.
Hosts walk guests to door/elevator/car, referring to the “meeting after the meeting” when it all comes together. Remember to send email and hand-written “thank you” notes within 24-48 hours.
You are now prepped, and properly positioned to personally connect, counter and close at the table.
Renew Sit-to-Stand Table with Embody Chair and Thrive Accessories
Stuck working in an office with no time to hit the gym on a regular basis, or is the cold weather keeping you confined to your desk? There are ways to burn off a few calories during office hours, says Selen Razon, a physical education professor at Ball State.
Selen Razon
“Studies have shown that long periods of inactivity – including sitting at your desk – increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer,” she says. “I suggest that people do a few simple exercises to get their bodies moving and then stretching and toning at your desk. Moving a little goes a long way.”
Razon suggests:
1. Start exercising before arriving at your desk by first parking your car as far away from the building as possible and then walking. Take the stairs whenever possible.
2. Do exercises at your desk, including flexing arms, legs and abs on 30-second intervals. Get rid of a chair and sit on a medicine/fitness ball while working. Sitting on a ball will tone and strengthen your abs.
3. Stand up and/or take short walks every 20 minutes at desk. Studies show even simple frequent standing breaks significantly decrease your chances of getting diabetes.
4. Exchange the typical desk for one that allows you to stand, which burns more calories.
5. Bring gadgets to the office. Hand grippers and stretch cords are relatively cheap and can provide great outlets for keeping active while you look at your screen.
Razon says incorporating these exercises in your daily work routine could help keep off the pounds. Nearly 27.5 percent of the American adult population and 31 percent of the adult population of Indiana reports being obese, ranking the state eighth worst nationally in terms of percentage of population severely overweight, says The Burden of Adult Obesity in Indiana.
There are many examples of how companies have added adjustable desks to the workplace. For instance, The Farbman Group, a Southfield Mich.,-based real estate company, began introducing adjustable standing desks in its company headquarters last year. The desks are part of the company’s Health & Wellness Committee. Founded in 2013, the group of Farbman employees works to help integrate healthy options into the workplace.
There also are a variety of adjustable desks on the market. Prices range from the IKEA Bekant Sit/Stand Desk, which starts at around $500, to the high end Stir Kinetic Desk, which has USB ports, WiFi and Bluetooth as well as a tracking device that reminds users when to sit and when to stand for best health practices.
Herman-Miller recently introduced its Renew Sit-to-Stand table. A comfortable paddle-shaped switch raises or lowers the desktop to a range of adjustments. The desk, starting around $1,200, also manages and hides cord chaos with an easily accessible system. The power to raise or lower the table uses less power than a cell phone charger left plugged into the wall, according to their website.
Maybe you are looking for something to do outdoors. Maybe you are interested in seeing the growing number of businesses in Detroit’s Midtown and nearby neighborhoods. Perhaps you are curious about who this “Nain Rouge” who haunts the city might be.
For those reasons and many more, one of the best bets for fun, festivities and a family-friendly outings is the “Marche du Nain Rouge,” the annual party and parade that will start at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at the corner of Second and Canfield streets in Detroit.
This is the seventh year that organizers including Francis Grunow and friends have put together the parade, which not only highlights the start of spring but the city’s growing resolve to bond together in order to improve Detroit.
“With every Marche, we have seen more Detroiters participate in bolder, more creative ways,” Grunow says. “Our grants and workshops have helped plant the seeds to make this the best display of Detroit love, yet.”
The Marche began as a small group of revelers who came together to oppose the “harbinger of doom,” or the Red Dwarf who was said to have brought Detroit bad luck since the city was founded. Today, the parade is a sizable event, drawing thousands of Metro Detroiters to the Midtown/Cass Corridor area.
New this year is a community-funded float competition. Community groups from all seven Detroit districts will join in the revelry, thanks to seven $1,000 grants from the parade organizers. The grant money was donated through the parade’s first crowdfunding campaign, and matched by Midtown Detroit Inc., a sponsor of the Marche du Nain Rouge.
Detroit’s Caribbean Mardi Gras Productions hosted a free Neighborhood Marche Workshop to share its expertise, tips, and creative genius to help participants be Marche-ready.
“I love to help people take their most creative visions and make them into reality,” says Ralph Taylor, President of Caribbean Mardi Gras Productions. “You don’t need much more than a good idea and some simple materials to make stunning visual displays.”
The Marche du Nain Rouge sponsors include: Midtown Detroit Inc., Masonic Temple, The Auburn, Quicken Loans, Skillman Foundation, Zipcar, Roxbury Group, Traffic Jam & Snug, Honest John’s, Canfield Lofts, Hop Cat, Slows To-Go, Third Man Records, Selden Standard, Yelp, Cass Café, Detroit Fire Collective, Good Vibe Tribe at TV Lounge, Green Dot Stables, Iconic Tattoo, Jolly Pumpkin, Majestic Theatre, Old Miami, Temple Bar, Go Sy Thai, Noir Leather and more.
Many Detroit businesses also will offer specials to usher in Sunday’s Marche du Nain Rouge. Some highlights:
City Bird and Nest – 460 W. Canfield St.: Throughout the Fete du Nain Week, City Bird will feature their exclusive, limited-run Nain Rouge-themed merchandise, including a new t-shirt in honor of the 2016 Marche du Nain Rouge, designed by Detroit artist, Don Kilpatrick. From 11am to 2pm on Marche day, both stores will host their 7th annual Fête du Nain Rouge. Each offers complimentary Nain-themed refreshments, as well as free Nain Rouge beads with every purchase. In addition, City Bird will feature amazing vintage-style paper masks and costume accessories with free mask-making table for any finishing touches to your costume.
Hopcat – Detroit – 4265 Woodward Ave.: Go to HopCat all Fete du Nain Week for fiendishly delicious Nain Wings and check for Nain drink features. Don’t miss the special 11 AM Saturday March 19th tapping of the special Nain beer and mead.
Jolly Pumpkin Pizzeria and Brewery Detroit – 441 W. Canfield St. #9: All Fete du Nain Week, enjoy our Nain-inspired food specials! Celebrate the Nain with a “Blood Bath Beer” or a Watermelon Peppercorn Bloody Mary. On Marche morning we will be doing a special opening at 10AM.
Majestic Theatre – 4120 Woodward Ave.: Prepare for the Nain with 15% off brunch in the Majestic Café on Marche Day, including bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys. Want to take out your disgust for the Nain, throw some bowling balls down a lane afterwards – free bowling with your brunch receipt.
Stella Good Coffee – 3011 W. Grand Blvd. #110A: Don’t miss the Nain Rouge Latte dusted with cinnamon – available all week. Nain Rouge Roast – whole bean coffee will be available all week too. Look for Stella’s Nain in a Cup which will be appearing around Detroit all week.
Traffic Jam & Snug – 511 W. Canfield St.: Get ready for the Nain with specials Fri to Sun. Crawfish Boil – A devilish mess of fiery red hot crawdads just up from NOLA with Redskins, corn on the cob and Andouille sausage. Devil in a Red Dress – Devil’s food cake filled with chocolate ganache clothed in a red raspberry cream frosting and vanilla ice cream. Happy Hour pricing at bar from 2:00-close.
Engine 32 in Detroit received donations from Gardner White. Among those at the ceremony were: Matthew Osterbeck, firefighter; Sean Kletzka, firefighter; Michael King, driver; David Fornell, Deputy Commissioner; Lt. Raynard Miller; Kenneth Sunisloe, Batallion Chief; Kenneth Brooks, firefighter; Steven Kirschner, Rachel Tronstein, President, Gardner-White, Batallion Chief (holding Gardner-White mascot, Trone).
Engine 32 in Detroit received donations from Gardner White. Among those at the ceremony were: Matthew Osterbeck, firefighter; Sean Kletzka, firefighter; Michael King, driver; David Fornell, Deputy Commissioner; Lt. Raynard Miller; Kenneth Sunisloe, Batallion Chief; Kenneth Brooks, firefighter; Steven Kirschner, Rachel Tronstein, President, Gardner-White, Batallion Chief (holding Gardner-White mascot, Trone).
Every job has its challenges, whether it is difficult deadlines, stressful situations, physical demands like those in the landscaping or construction industries as well as life-threatening situations like those faced by emergency-medical technicians, nurses, doctors and others.
A profession that includes all of those obstacles along with many others is that of a firefighter. Much like a police officer, a firefighter risks his or her life in service of others. They work with families, businesses and communities under difficult circumstances. They have tons of paperwork, write numerous grants and work daily to better the lives of both their co-workers and the areas where they work.
That attention to detail along with the need to have downtime to recharge their proverbial batteries are among the reasons why Auburn Hills-based Gardner-White Furniture wanted to do something special for these men and women of local fire departments.
As such, two groups of firefighters in Detroit and Taylor received the gift of new recliners and beds recently to outfit their firehouses. The donation of a total 14 beds and 13 recliners to Detroit and Taylor firehouses is valued at more than $20,000.
“As a family business, we have tremendous appreciation for the great work and services our local fire departments provide to families in our communities,” said Rachel Tronstein, president of Gardner-White.
Gardner-White has served the Metro Detroit community since 1912 when it opened its first store. The company now operates nine stores and a warehouse in Southeastern Michigan.
“We are proud to support our firefighters by providing them with comfortable beds and recliner chairs to make the firehouses a welcoming home away from home and ensure they are well-rested to tackle whatever challenges their shifts may bring,” Tronstein added.
The stations that received the donation were Engine 32, 11740 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Medic 22, 17800 Curtis Street in Detroit, Engine 53 / Ladder 25, 15217 Greenfield Road in Detroit and Station 1, 23345 Goddard in Taylor.
With its immigrant roots, its diverse population and its love for good times, Metro Detroit is the ideal place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
If you’re Irish or if you just enjoy green food and drink, there is something for everyone this year. The celebrations start early, typically around March 13 for the annual parade in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood.
But the good times continue well into the actual day itself, which is March 17. So if you want music, dancing, food or just plain on family fun, there is an event for you somewhere in Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties. In Detroit, everyone is welcome to wear a bit o’ the green, eat some traditional Irish fare and drink lots of green ale that day.
Corktown Paddy’s Parade Party
Get there early and get a good spot. This St. Patrick’s Day tradition, scheduled this year for Sunday, March 13, grows larger every year, and that’s no joke. Every restaurant along the route down Michigan Avenue has an outdoor tent, every bar is fully stocks and an estimated 20 DJs will be all along the parade route to fill your ears with song. 2000 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 855-536-5433; 248-566-4499; corktownpaddy.com
Irish Gaelic League
Everyone knows the Irish Gaelic League will serve beer from the moment the doors open at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 13. There will be a variety of entertainment, including live music, traditional dance and so many creative outfits. The people watching is spectacular. It’s $10 to get in, or free if you’re a Gaelic League member. 2068 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-964-8700; gaelicleagueofdetroit.org
Old Shillelagh
Even if you have other stops planned on March 17, no St. Patrick’s Day celebration could be complete without the Old Shillelagh. This mainstay always has the largest and arguably the best party on the actual day. The bar, which has a small interior and two large heated outdoor tents, will open for the day at 7 a.m. and will stay open until the next morning. Prepare for music, many beers and a ton of fun. Old Shillelagh, 349 Monroe St., Detroit; 313-964-0007; oldshillelagh.com
Ackroy’s Scottish Bakery
Ackryod’s Scottish Bakery has been a Metro Detroit classic since it opened in 1949. It recently received some fresh eyes and new blood, so it is worth visiting on St. Patrick’s Day for a little nosh. This year, its Irish offerings will include a corned beef and cabbage pasty as well as Irish stew pies made with potatoes, ground beef, peas, carrots, pickled onion and brown gravy. Ackryod’s Scottish Bakery, 25566 Five Mile Rd., Redford, 313-532-1181, ackroydsbakery.com
Dick O’Dow’s
If you want to include your kids in the festivities around St. Patrick’s Day, this upscale Birmingham pub has you covered. Family Day is on March 16 with live Irish music and dancers, $10 corned beef dinners, and fish and chips. On March 17, you can dig into a traditional Irish breakfast starting at 7 a.m., with music kicking off at 10 a.m. Dick O’Dow’s, 160 W. Maple Road, Birmingham; 248-642-1135, dickodowspub.com
Atulya Pandey co-founded a tech startup in New York, but lost the visa lottery. Now, he is attempting to run his U.S. business from Nepal, according to the New York Times. Last year, Yasin Unlu, an employee at Llamasoft, a Michigan-based IT company, lost the visa lottery. He spent a year working at the company’s London office. This year, he won the lottery, so he will move back to Michigan, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.
In 2015, Disney IT worker and U.S. citizen Leo Perrero was laid off. He and the other 249 laid off IT employees have been blacklisted. For a year, none of them can apply for contract work or employment with Orlando’s largest employer, Perrero said. Training an H-1B worker was a condition of his severance.
Perrero said that if he had not trained the new worker, he would have lost 90 days of pay, health insurance, pension and 401(k), as well as four weeks of pay from severance and 10 percent of his annual salary for a “stay bonus.”
Mark Orttung, CEO of Nexient, says the software company prefers recruiting and growing local talent.
Stories like these are at the heart of the controversy over the H-1B program. Authorized in 1990, the program was designed to give employers a bridge to the global workforce, but only in cases where local workers did not possess the skills needed. With H-1B visas, employers can hire “nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). H-1B visas are held by employers. To acquire an H-1B, the worker must have an employer-sponsor.
Overlooking the fashion model distinction, the H-1B debate centers on the term “specialty occupations.” A specialty occupation “requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree,” per the DOL. For a while now, many workers and activists have questioned the “distinguished merit and ability” of H-1B visa workers. On the other hand, many businesses and visa workers question why the U.S. government would send talented foreign workers back to their home countries when their skills are needed here in the U.S.
The cap and the lottery
The 65,000 H-1B visa cap applies to foreign workers with a bachelor’s degree or above awarded by a non-US institution. (In the early 2000s the cap was raised for several years to 115,000 and then to 195,000). An additional 20,000 visas are set aside for foreign workers who have earned master’s degrees from U.S. institutions. Then, there are the cap-exempt organizations, universities and non-profit or governmental research organizations. In 2008, about 129,000 visas were issued, according to a 2011 Government Accountability Office report.
In most years, the number of applications exceeds the caps, so visas are awarded via a lottery system, “a computer-generated random selection process,” according to the GAO.
Temporary worker to resident innovator?
The H-1B is a critical stepping stone for bringing the world’s best technology entrepreneurs and innovators to the U.S., say supporters of raising the cap. And, they say, if these workers cannot enter or stay in the US, then they will take their skills to another country.
Workers seeking an H-1B must have an employer sponsor their visa. However, the GAO report states that foreign entrepreneurs not employed by a separate company are ineligible for the H-1B. “For example, for the earliest stage ventures, when the person who needs the H-1B visa is the entrepreneur, there is sometimes no ‘firm’ in existence yet that can meet legal criteria for employing H-1Bs,” reports the GAO.
According to lawyers interviewed by the GAO, some of these entrepreneurs had to move their projects abroad or shut them down entirely. This loss of potential prompted some of the businesses interviewed by the GAO to suggest the creation of an entrepreneur visa.
For workers on an H-1B, the visa is good for a maximum of six years (two three-year terms). But workers can apply for permanent residency (also known as a green card). As with the H-1B, they must have their application sponsored by an employer. The path from temporary worker to permanent resident can be long and is definitely expensive.
Once the green card application has been submitted, workers stay in the U.S. on extensions until a green card decision is made. If the worker is from India, China, or Mexico, though, the wait time is longer, reports the GAO. A worker from one of those countries “could remain in the United States for over a decade before obtaining a green card,” according to the GAO. As for the expense, filing an H-1B petition can cost between $2,300 and $7,500 and combined with the green card process, can be up to $16,000, states the GAO.
Proponents of raising the cap say immigration is the end goal. However, opponent companies point out that large IT staffing firms take the majority of visas each year, and they apply for few, if any, green cards. In fiscal year 2013, the top two visa takers were Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. In that year, Infosys took 6,269 visas; Tata took 6,163, according to Ron Hira of the Economic Policy Institute. In that same year, Infosys applied for seven green cards, and Tata for zero, reported Hira.
The H-1B market
Opponents of raising the cap often point to the large IT staffing and solutions firms (like Tata and Infosys) as being the problem, since they have the resources to apply for a large number of visas and thus a greater chance of winning the visa lottery. (The guy who buys 100 lottery tickets has a better chance of winning than the guy who buys just one, for example).
The business of a staffing firm is providing labor to client companies. Sometimes that labor is provided in the U.S.; in other cases, it is located overseas. In some cases, the labor is initially provided in the U.S. and is then transferred overseas. Infosys and Tata are both based in India. In 2012, Tata’s workforce was over 90 percent Indian, according to the company’s own report, which was published by Patrick Thibodeau of Computerworld, an online IT magazine. In fiscal year 2014, 66 percent of all new visas went to workers born in India, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s 2014 report titled “Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers.”
Ron Hira from the Economic Policy Institute urges more discussion of the flaws in the H-1B program.
Rather than thinking of IT staffing firms as purveyors of inexpensive labor, Adams Nager contends they capitalized on a different market. Nager is an economic policy analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. From his perspective, large IT staffing firms provide expertise on navigating a complex visa process. The process involves two applications, three governmental agencies, cumbersome documentation, and, as noted above, thousands of dollars per petition. Add to these investments of resources and time, the reality that the whole thing culminates in a lottery—only a chance at getting the visa.
Of late, two highly publicized cases have grabbed the attention of the IT world, if not the general public. In 2014, Disney informed 250 of its IT employees that they would be laid off. But their work was not eliminated. Instead, it was handed-off to contract workers from HCL, an IT staffing firm based in India. In that same year, Southern California Edison (SCE) announced that it would lay off 400 employees. Their work has been transferred to contract workers from Tata and Infosys. (In either case, it is not clear how many replacement workers were hired).
Disney and SCE are “in their own category,” said Nager. When looking at abuses that can take place within the program, “there haven’t really been many other cases like that, that are so clear cut,” he said. Yet, this case yielded no negative consequences for Tata and Infosys. The DOL investigated a complaint filed on behalf of the SCE workers and found no wrongdoing.
There is so much focus on the cap that there is little discussion of the flaws within the H-1B program’s design, said Hira. “Restricted agency oversight and statutory changes weaken protections for U.S. workers,” reported the GAO in 2011. Echoing those concerns, in March 2015, Hira testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee: “There are no requirements to demonstrate a shortage of Americans prior to hiring an H-1B. Employers do not need to recruit American workers for a job filled by an H-1B. In fact, a job can, and often is, earmarked for an H-1B worker.”
Developing innovators at home: Nexient
Nexient builds software using an “agile” business approach, said Mark Orttung, the company’s chief executive officer. The term refers to a “very collaborative” way to “rapidly build software,” he said. With an agile approach, developers, testers, and business staff collaborate frequently every day. In a typical offshore model, though, these teams may meet only once a week and are separated by multiple time zones, said Orttung. That means they may only have one hour a day of overlap. (Bangalore, India is 10.5 hours ahead of Eastern Time and 13.5 hours ahead of Pacific Time).
“There’s always a million little details that you need to collaborate on when you are building great software,” said Orttung. The agile approach means that the business people, developers, and testers are in close proximity. Not necessarily in the same building, but within a few hours of each other. “You can bridge distance much better than you can bridge time zones,” said Orttung.
The agile approach can be done by large staffing firms who hire H-1Bs, but Nexient has decided to recruit and grow local talent. Although its hub is in Silicon Valley, the rest of its offices are in the Midwest region (Ann Arbor and Okemos, Mich., and Kokomo, Indiana). It invests much time and effort in recruiting not only new graduates but also experienced professionals and self-taught coders.
At the college level, Nexient focuses its recruitment efforts on 20 Midwest universities across five to six states in the region, including Eastern Michigan University, Michigan Technological University, and Western Michigan University. “We get fantastic people out of the 20 colleges we recruit from,” said Orttung. These new graduates undergo a training program at Nexient, so they can “become really solid” engineers, developers and testers, said Orttung.
Nexient also focuses on hiring more experienced workers who have project and engineering management experience or who have an expertise “which only comes with years of experience,” said Orttung. Creating teams that have experienced professionals as well as new graduates is “a better way to build software,” said Orttung.
Some of their best recruits, said Orttung, have been those who hail from non-technology majors and professions. These are people who have taught themselves to code and program in their off-hours, he said. They have made a “habit” of continuous learning, and that mentality serves them well in the technology industry, said Orttung.
None of which is to say that Nexient does not hire H-1Bs. They do, although visa workers make up less than 15 percent of their staff, said Orttung. Typically, Nexient hires H-1B workers if a client project requires “a fairly niche kind of tech, and the only people you can find are here on H-1Bs,” he said, and, occasionally, when a graduate from a U.S. university has a unique specialty. Typically, the company sponsors these workers for green cards, so most of them become part of the growing domestic talent base.
Nexient’s daily price for a developer is higher than that of an offshore company. But Nexient is not competing on price, said Orttung. Nexient’s unique value lies in its ability to deliver context and locality. Nexient staff use the products and services that their clients sell; they shop in their clients’ stores and sign up for their phone plans, he said.
That context is invaluable when developing software for these companies. Additionally, Nexient teams can work together throughout the day because they are within three hours of each other. Those advantages mean that “we have a much, much lower amount of re-work that we have to do and that becomes really a critical piece both in terms of the quality of what you get as well as in time to market and ability to move quickly to keep competitive,” said Orttung.
Nexient’s clients include Fortune 500 and mid-market firms and most have used the offshoring model. Now, those clients want a different approach, “for at least a portion of their portfolio,” he said. “A lot of the IT side of big companies are hearing from the business side that they’re not happy with the results they’re getting currently,” said Orttung. “When they hear about what we’re doing, it really resonates,” he said.
Understanding the H-1B debate is no comfort to those whose lives hang in the balance: American IT workers and H-1B visa workers. Both groups sit at the center of the storm with little power to do much more than hang on. But, if Nexient’s model can become the standard, perhaps there will be some hope for both groups.
Confidence: it’s difficult to define but easy to detect. With it, the world is your oyster. Without it, you live in the shell sitting by the shoreline. Confidence is that quality that sets people apart. Neurologists say it’s rooted in our DNA. Psychologists decree that it’s the product of choices we make, sports authorities and performance coaches declare it comes from practice and hard work. It’s true, some of us are born more confident than others and it is partly genetic, however, confidence can be acquired; it’s part science, part art. General confidence is an attitude, a way you approach the world; self-confidence is a sense you can accomplish anything.
Sports and Confidence
Assuming the basic physical components are in place, the secret ingredient of success in sports is mental confidence. World class soccer pro Alex Morgan, Team U.S.A., awarded Soccer Player of the Year, told herself she wanted to be the “best soccer player in the world.” She then set her priorities and told fiancé, family and friends they were all #2 – in terms of her time and attention; soccer was #1, as she has a finite window to play (age factors, etc.)
To win you have to set goals, evaluate priorities and above all, believe in yourself … believe you can win. Excellence is precise, practiced, measured, judged.
As athletes practice and train, we too, can train our minds and literally change our brain structure to be more confidence prone.
Studies show confidence is more important than competence and ability when it comes to getting ahead at work. Projecting confidence can affect your rise up the corporate ladder – – you have to have it to be good at your job. Higher status means you are more admired, respected, and have more sway; confidence sways people. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we all give confident people an inordinate amount of admiration and respect; confident people are highly prized.
According to Katherine “Katty” Kay, English journalist, lead anchor of BBC World News America and author of “Confidence Code,” when people are confident, “when they believe they are good at something, regardless of how good they actually are, they display behavior (non verbal and verbal) which makes them appear confident in the eyes of others… whether they truly excel or not is irrelevant.”
Note: over-confidence can be misinterpreted as arrogance.
When you genuinely believe you are good, this comes across. Conversely, when people don’t genuinely believe in themselves, others pick up on this quickly.
Top tips:
Train your mind – every day – to think positively. (Positive thoughts also release endorphins …happy hormones!)
Believe in yourself.
Dismiss past negative thoughts and behaviors (you can’t think negative thoughts and lead a positive confident life).
Articulate goals, and write them down.
Use expansive body language.
Speak in clear audible vocal tones … speak early and often in a calm, relaxed manner.
Expect people to respond positively; expect the right connections.
Open the oyster, venture out of your shell and into the sea of life. Decide to swim. Decide to win. Be a part of the Sea Change. You can affect change.
Time … life (!) is flying by. Put on a fresh new attitude and re-set your mind. Believe in yourself. Be willing to take a risk, … be willing to fail, but try, for in trying, we develop true confidence.
I recently talked to the CEO of a large multinational financial services company — agile information technology was not something he knew. However, he fully understood the challenges of the 21st century: the need for agility, the danger of business being disrupted, the need to reinvent one’s business model for digital, and the need for innovation and continuous change.
During our conversation, he realized that in order to deal with 21st-century challenges, a 21st-century organization is needed — and fast.
That’s where agile comes in, and not just in IT.
Agile is more than just some buzzword. The overarching objective is to decrease time to market, which keeps your business ahead of the pack and enables it to rapidly respond to market changes.
Once IT streamlines, the business and the rest of the organization also must adapt. In many organizations, the business still sits far away from IT, which can be detrimental to a team.
However, with many companies transitioning to digital, business is becoming IT. The most effective companies are those able to continuously deliver value to their customers with the shortest lead times possible, from “concept to cash.” To achieve this, the whole organization must become agile.
Agile misconceptions Agile started as an alternative way to do software development. The most well-known agile method — scrum — was conceived in the early ’90s, while the Manifesto for Agile Software Development was created in 2001.
Many people still think agile is only IT-based, simply because that’s the space in which it’s most often applied. The misconception about its definition persists because IT vendors and consultants continue to use it as a buzzword without grasping the essence.
Agile needs to be redefined as an organizational operating system that equips companies for the 21st century — and it’s a long overdue change.
The responsibility of expanding agile beyond the IT department ultimately falls on C-suite executives. They’re the only ones in the company who can take the holistic view of the organization necessary to enact these high-level changes.
The sad truth is that in many large organizations, only a small percentage of the workforce is actually doing something that creates value for the customer. A C-suite executive’s prime objective should be to make sure the people involved in creating value for the customer are able to do their jobs as effectively as possible.
Removing bureaucracy and unnecessary approval processes gives employees more power to make decisions. This shift is applicable to all departments, not just IT. Here are four ways agile enriches other disciplines:
1. It instills a companywide mindset and innovation culture. Agile isn’t so much about changing processes and systems; it’s more about changing people’s mindsets to focus on business value (and to get rid of everything else that’s not necessary). There’s a big difference between “doing agile” and “being agile.”
A behavioral change in management is also needed. If employees get fired when they try something new and it fails, innovation wanes. C-suite executives should foster an environment that promotes learning from failure — any other approach will leave them in the dust.
2. It forces the company to be customer-centric. In today’s climate, brands that continually satisfy customers with engaging and innovative digital presences inspire loyalty. Adopting a holistic agile approach can help companies accomplish that. Several big companies are currently shifting their marketing departments toward agile.
The art is to maximize the work not done. For example, test a hypothesis quickly when thinking of new products. Bring a prototype to a customer as soon as possible to collect feedback, and pivot the product in the right direction. Putting this kind of emphasis on customer opinion makes your audience feel valued and ensures you’re building the right thing.
I’ve studied the operating models of young startups in Silicon Valley. This way of developing and marketing products is firmly rooted in the agile DNA of those companies and is well described by Eric Ries in “The Lean Startup.”
3. It helps employee retention. Agile enables autonomy, mastery, and purpose for the people involved. In 2020, millennials will represent nearly half of the workforce, and the last thing they want to do is work in hierarchical organizations where they make no impact. Google’s human resources department uses the people-focused dimensions of agile in everything they do, which allows them to attract and retain top-tier talent.
4. It minimizes risk. Agile reduces risk through shorter iterations and transparent progress. Agile teams have fixed monthly costs, so spending is easy to forecast. If teams use data to measure and continuously improve their businesses’ value impact, ROI is easily calculated.
You don’t want your company to be on the wrong side of history. Stop marching forward, and start sprinting to a brighter future: Implement agile into every facet of your business.
No matter what you do or where you work, you hear it all the time: mental health diagnoses to describe everyday behavior.
“First the CEO loved the idea, now he hates it; I think he’s bipolar!”
“She’s so ADD, she’s all over the place in our meetings.”
“Jamie and Casey would make really great managers because they are OCD about details and schedules.”
In the United States, full time employees spend an average of 47 hours working, in some cases, spending more time with colleagues than with family members, making emotional responses and hasty conclusions about behavior all the more prevalent but not any less problematic. The inherent challenge: Some of these symptoms do resemble qualities of mental illness, making them easy to apply to nonclinical circumstances.
However, the consequences of such a flippant attitude and a lack of understanding about the mental health of employees and colleagues can have significant consequences, including financially, for employers, co-workers and sufferers, leading to losses in productivity, absenteeism and employee turnover.
In fact, according to studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, depending on the mental health issue, mental illness can cost 4 to 28 workdays lost and 11 to 35 days of reduced productivity per employee. Employees who have Attention Deficit Disorder are 18 times more likely to be disciplined and 2 to 4 times more likely to be terminated. Depression alone can cause as many as 200 million lost work days to employers each year, costing $17 billion to $44 billion.
To reduce the costs and maintain a healthy work environment, it is not enough to simply offer mental health provisions via the company’s health benefits plan. Employers and human resources teams need to be proficient in mental health literacy, that is, know when to help. Especially in the post-recession work environment, employees can be more reluctant to seek treatment out of fear they may jeopardize their jobs.
One way companies can address the imperative of mental health literacy is to host Mental Health First Aid sessions in the workplace, with a provider certified by the National Council for Behavioral Health. Mental Health First Aid teaches participating employers and employees how to recognize and respond to the most common workplace mental health challenges, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and substance abuse.
The eight-hour training course uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect individuals to professional, peer and social supports as well as self-help resources. The program instructs the principles of ALGEE:
Assess for risk of suicide or harm
Listen nonjudgmentally
Give reassurance and information
Encourage appropriate professional help
Encourage self-help and other support strategies
By creating an environment supportive of mental health needs, employers can create a more productive workplace. In fact, a Harvard Medical School Study found that at-risk employees assigned to telephone intervention counseling were more likely to keep their jobs and demonstrated improved productivity by nearly three extra hours of work per week. This additional work was calculated to have a value of an additional $1,800 per year to employers at a nominal cost of approximately $100-$400 per employee. In other words, it pays for itself.
By better understanding what mental health and mental illness are and are not, employees can be equipped with the appropriate language to identify and resolve an issue. Maybe Jamie and Casey would make great managers, but it’s not because of their “OCD,” it’s because of their talent for careful decision making. The CEO isn’t “bipolar” because he changed his mind, he’s responding to new information but needs professional development in pragmatism and communication. Perhaps your manager does have ADD, but better identifying her challenges and skills could improve her managerial prowess. Without the benefit of mental health literacy, a company may never know the difference, to its own detriment.
The Bosch GLM 30 was the author’s choice among several laser measuring devices.
The Bosch GLM 30 at $70 was my choice among several laser measuring devices.
We’ve all been there. You are trying to measure the distance from the floor to the ceiling and the tape measure keeps flopping over. Or you are cutting a 2X4 inch stud for a wall you are building and you can’t quite get an accurate measure and have to keep making kerf-wide cuts to make it fit. Frustrating and time consuming.
Or you are a real estate professional and want to give a client a quick, accurate record of the square footage of a room or whole building. Or you might be the client trying to double check what the property description says.
And here’s a good one: You’re wanting to cut down a tree and are worried its height might be more than the distance from your home or garage, if it should fall toward them. You want an accurate measure.
Solving these situations is easy and quick with a laser tape measure, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good one. Measuring distance, area and volume is relatively easy, and you can use their continuous measuring feature, which gives you read-outs as you move the device or walk on a path from a wall or property line. If you work alone on home projects or on the construction site, these tools are a major help. One simple advantage: You don’t have to keep walking back 25 feet because the tip of your tape measure keeps falling off and you have no one there to hold it.
There are many great choices to pick from, but the Stanley TLM 99, with a range up to 100 feet, gets solid reviews. Its accuracy is plus/minus 3/32 of an inch at that distance, reviewers say. I tried the Bosch GLM 30. It’s $70 at Home Depot, a bit cheaper than the Stanley TLM 99. It has an accuracy of plus/minus 1/16 inch at 100 feet, which was fine for my needs. I quickly measured square footage of rooms and made precise 2X4 stud measurements and cuts. Of course, you must complement the laser measurement with your tape measure to transfer cut lengths to the saw. It worked great, I must say, and I was quickly using it to take quick measurements for other projects. The screen is a little hard to read, but I got used to it. The tool is compact, about the size of a small flip phone, and came with two AAA batteries to get you up and running.
At the same price, Ryobi makes the Ryobi Phone Works, a laser measurement tool that plugs into your iPhone. You download an app and you are ready to make and view measurements on your phone. I wanted to keep my iPhone for more protected situations.
Search online for “laser tape measure reviews” and find out more. Here are a couple places to start:
Great leaders appreciate every job that is done well; it doesn’t matter whether it’s in the C-suite or the mailroom. Great leaders also understand that respect isn’t an entitlement linked to a particular job title. They need to respect others before others will respect them.
“One of the critical lessons I’ve learned in life and it extends beyond the workplace is the importance of respect,” said Ritch K. Eich, author, military veteran and businessman. “This may seem old-fashioned or trite in the days of, ‘I got mine, go get yours,’ but if you treat people right, you will get the results you want.”
Eich is the former Chief of Public Affairs for Blue Shield of California and is a Captain, U.S. Naval Reserve (Ret.). He is the author of three books: “Truth, Trust + Tenacity: How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary Leaders” (2015); “Leadership Requires Extra Innings: Lessons on Leading from a Life in the Trenches” (2013); “Real Leaders Don’t Boss: Inspire, Motivate and Earn Respect from Employees and Watch Your Organization Soar” (2012).
So, how do you earn respect in business? Here are five ways:
1. Lead by example. Embody the qualities and traits you expect from the people you lead and people you deal with. You want your workers and peers to be honest, so be honest yourself in all your business dealings. If you want your employees to be hardworking, set that example and quit taking long lunches or leaving the office early all the time. Model the traits you want others to show, such as integrity, kindness, creativity, inventiveness and industriousness.
2. Be humble. Don’t expect anyone to care about where you went to college or your past successes. Plenty of businesspeople went to top universities and graduated with honors, and plenty more win awards and honors from chambers of commerce all the time. Braggarts are boring and turn people off. Get over yourself and do it quickly. Avoid self-promotion and publicity stunts. They are obvious and obnoxious and can damage your reputation.
3. Show your commitment every single day. Work alongside the people you lead. Work longer and harder than they do. Get in the trenches and get your hands dirty once in a while. If you manage a warehouse, manufacturing plant or factory, make it a point on a regular basis to get off the phone, get out of your office and visit the production floor. Talk to the employees, get to know their names so you can address them personally, ask them how things are going, and pitch in if needed. Ask them if there are any glitches that need correcting.
4. Help people succeed and advance. Promote your staff. Help your employees gain exposure and give them opportunities for development and advancement. Great leaders let their teams shine and are confident enough not to need the spotlight.
5. Be a teacher or mentor. People always have other work or educational opportunities regardless of the economy and will leave your business unless they see an investment is being made in their future. Focus on those people who are bright, hardworking, dedicated, reliable and creative, and have skill sets that you don’t, or those who show potential. Mentor them at work or support programs that allow them to earn a new skill certification or degree.
In case your calendar is looking a little bare, here are two suggestions to fill it up. The first is National Pancake Day, which is celebrated March 8. The second is International Waffle Day, which is celebrated March 25.
If you want to honor both days, here’s a suggestion: Head over to New Center Eatery. The restaurant at 3100 West Grand Boulevard serves fluffy pancakes every day. They also make fantastic waffles, according to those in the know.
But what makes New Center Eatery a must-stop location on March 25 is that the first 100 customers will receive free waffles as part of the longtime eatery’s special events. New Center Eatery opens at 8 a.m. that day.
“The International Waffle Day giveaway is just a fun way to celebrate our cuisine, and show our customers how much we appreciate them,” said Johnny Cannon, Owner of New Center Eatery. “We pride ourselves on our popular Chicken & Waffles combos, and this gives people a chance to sample our specialty and celebrate the waffle’s amazing contribution to the world of food.”
New Center Eatery is has been delighting the taste buds of customers with their “Original Chicken & Waffles” since 2003. The restaurant features a dozen chicken and waffles combinations, along with a multitude of waffle flavors, breakfast entrees, and lunch and dinner options.
International Waffle Day began in Sweden as Våffeldagen, actually due to confusion between the Swedish “vårfrudagen” meaning “Our Lady’s Day” which falls on the same date. The day historically marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated by the eating of many waffles.
New Center Eatery has a wide selection of Belgian waffles, with extraordinary combinations including red velvet waffles drizzled with cream cheese icing, Caramel Apple infused waffles with fresh apples and hot Caramel Sauce, Banana Nut waffles with Bananas Fosters Sauce and fresh strawberries, and the light, fluffy, buttery Original, all of which can be combined with their famous fried chicken, boneless tenders, and spicy wings for a one-of-a-kind taste sensation.
The restaurant has become a staple in the city, attracting local residents and celebrity guests from as far away as New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Their menu extends far beyond the signature Chicken and Waffles, to include traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner offerings, as well as signature home-cooked favorites like Barb’s Spicy Gumbo and Fried Green Tomatoes.
Mary Liz Curtin has an impressive resume by any standard: Store owner, retail consultant, history lover as she carefully restored the former roller rink that now houses her beloved shop, Leon & Lulu.
Now she can add one more title: A national honoree during the Global Innovation Awards. Curtin, proprietor of Leon & Lulu, won the newly created “Gift Retail” competition, sponsored by Gifts and Decorative Accessories.
A bevy of global retailers and product experts were honored recently at the 2016 gia (Global Innovation Awards) at a gala event, in conjunction with its global sponsors, the International Housewares Association and the International Home + Housewares Show.
In product awards, gia honored 60 product finalists in 12 categories. This is the first time the IHA has combined its product innovation awards with the gia retail excellence program at the gala, which was held at the Radisson Blue Aqua Hotel. The 12 finalists are on display at the Hall of Global Innovation in the Lakeside Center of the McCormick Place Convention Center.
“Congratulations to these winners of the IHA Global Innovation Award for product design,” Phil Brandl, IHA president and CEO, said. “They are excellent representatives of the cutting edge innovation and creativity that is driving the housewares industry today.”
On the retail side, 25 stores from 23 countries around the world were lauded for excellence in the following criteria: overall mission statement, vision and strategy; store design and layout; visual merchandising, displays and window displays; marketing advertising and promotions; customer service and staff training; and innovation. These honorees were selected by co-sponsoring trade publications with targeted distribution in more than 30 countries on five continents.
Retailers across the globe were honored, inlcuding: Lake House, Canada; Illums Bolighus, Denmark; Kitchen Shop, Malaysia; K’OOK, Netherlands; and Lords, United Kingdom. Cooking, from Spain, was honored for Excellence in Online Retailing. Karaca Home, from Turkey, took home the Martin Pegler Visual Merchandising Award. It was announced that Pegler, a staple of the annual awards, is retiring this year.
Set in the historic Ambassador Roller Rink in downtown Clawson, Mich., Leon & Lulu offers one-of-a-kind, high-end furniture and an incredible selection of unique gifts, accessories and women’s clothing. Leon & Lulu is serious about good design, fabulous service and great pricing.
Leon & Lulu is celebrating its 10 anniversary 6-8 p.m. April 1, 2016, by donating $10,000 to 10 local charities. It’ll also be hosting Let Them Eat Cake, a baking contest from noon-4 p.m. April 3 at the store. The competition is open to pro, home and student bakers. The public is invited to shop and sample cake in celebration with shopping proceeds benefit the Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan that day.
In ten short years, the restoration and rehabilitation of the 1941 15,000 square-foot Ambassador Roller Rink in Clawson has sparked growth and excitement, helping revitalize a city’s entire downtown area. This during a mostly downturn economy. Leon & Lulu is expanding into the former Clawson Theater, also built in 1941, which is being mindfully renovated. “The Show” is slated to open this year and will feature a cafe and an animatronic ticket taker in the old ticket booth. The replica Clawson Marquee was already installed last spring.
Mary Muliett is the kind of leader who cares deeply about treating everyone with dignity, respecting people’s civil rights and providing for the welfare of children, the aging and the poor. These causes, along with animal welfare, are the reason she works so diligently to help others.
Her hard work and dedication to her job hasn’t gone unnoticed. Recently, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan promoted Muliett to the position of vice president, Home and Community.
“In this position, I would love to continue to build on and offer innovative, and the most inclusive, services we can provide,” Muliett says. “I want to be able to allow for individuals to have a sense of community no matter what level of support they need in that community to be successful.”
Raised in metro Detroit and currently a Battle Creek resident, Muliett has been with LSSM since 2008, most recently in the position of director, Southwest Michigan Children and Family Services.
“My real passion is to give voice and choice to those that may find themselves in an oppressed or less advantaged situation,” Muliett says. “My passion is to see individuals reach their highest potential. This fits with our theory of change map. All of us deserve that shake at life – meeting your highest potential, treating each person we meet with dignity and respect.”
Before coming to LSSM, Muliett worked for the Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall, Mich., for Family & Children Services in Battle Creek, for Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and for the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center in Augusta, Mich. Muliett has a B.A. in Art Education and a Master of Social Work from Western Michigan University.
“Mary’s commitment to excellence and increasing LSSM’s services to persons with disabilities, those in need of home health services, and the growing number of people in need of affordable housing is sure to bless those her program areas served,” says Sam Beals, CEO of LSSM.
“I am excited to have Mary on the executive team,” says Vickie Thompson-Sandy, LSSM president. “She brings an operational leadership style that will position the organization to truly grow services for those living in their own homes with needed support to remain there. Mary has a proven track record for quality, growth, and team-building that I am eager to see applied in our home care and housing continuum.”
LSSM is one of Michigan’s largest and most wide-reaching faith based non-profits. In the past decade, LSSM’s growth is attributed to expansion in senior living services, the addition of affordable housing units and the acquisitions of home care, home health and a therapy company. As well, the organization has been involved in the redesign of child welfare in the state of Michigan. LSSM touches the lives of approximately 20,000 people every year throughout the Lower Peninsula. LSSM’s Refugee Resettlement Services constitute the nation’s 4th largest service provider to help refugees settle in America.
Started as the Lutheran Inner Mission League in 1934, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan is the social ministry arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Lutheran Social Services serves children and families, senior adults, refugees, persons with disabilities, and others in need without regard to their religion, race, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. With more than 60 program sites in 43 cities, Lutheran Social Services constantly seeks new opportunities to improve quality of life; promote mental, physical and spiritual healing; and encourage human growth and development.
As Patrick Anderson, CEO of Supported Intelligence, an East Lansing-based maker of analytical software, puts it, “Michigan is a hotbed of innovation — we don’t feel like we need to go to Silicon Valley for inspiration.”
Indeed, Supported Intelligence and the other winners of this year’s DiSciTech Awards presented by Corp! magazine are tangible and plentiful proof that it’s possible to thrive as a high-tech operation in Michigan.
However, a common refrain from many company leaders is that to keep the momentum going, the state needs to produce or attract more qualified workers.
For example, Detroit-based STEM.org, an international science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education improvement body, typically strives to hire from the local talent pool.
“However, as demand for Web developers and IT personnel increases, we anticipate that we will continue to experience a talent shortage and may have to consider employees/contractors who reside outside of metropolitan Detroit and/or abroad,” said Andrew B. Raupp, founder and executive director.
Detroit Labs, which builds user-centric apps for iOS and Android products, has hit upon one solution: an in-house, paid apprentice program, said CEO Paul Glomski.
“Creating the best apps means we need the best developers, so we mentored and taught our own,” he said. “We selected apprentices based on drive and cultural fit, rather than technical proficiency.”
That type of adaptability is common among our DiSciTech winners.
Consider the evolution of the Michigan Film Office into the Michigan Film & Digital Media Office. It expanded its scope to support more of the creative industries and now provides assistance to filmmakers, digital media enthusiasts, and other creative sectors to ensure they have an environment to be sustainable and grow.
“Last year we were solely known as the Michigan Film Office, administering the highly political film incentive program,” said Jenell Leonard, Michigan film commissioner. “With the film incentive program ending in July, this provided us the opportunity to expand our efforts to include more of the creative industries, specifically the digital media sector. This has been an innovative approach in response to a very political situation.”
Many award winners are introducing technology into traditionally low-tech industries.
For instance, Wixom-based LawnGuru provides on-demand lawn care and snow-removal services ordered through “Uber-like” mobile applications. With the click of a button, LawnGuru instantly connects consumers with local outdoor service providers to take care of their lawn and snow-removal needs within hours of each request.
“LawnGuru was built around the idea of disrupting and improving an archaic industry,” said CEO Brandon Bertrang. “Every day we focus on delivering the best possible experience to our customers while providing tools of real value to our service providers. We are building a better service platform.”
Other companies are putting a new spin on emerging technologies.
Take Ann Arbor-based Accio Energy. Its turbine-free offshore wind power systems offer a cost-effective alternative to wind turbines with blades, and as a result they eliminate the visual, noise and wildlife impact of those blades, said CEO Jennifer Baird.
“With the right resources, this technology has the potential to completely disrupt the existing global utility-scale wind power industry and realize a significant share of the forecast $100 billion offshore wind market,” she said.
Plymouth-based Celsee Diagnostics also is aiming to bring “game-changing” technology to the market.
“Liquid biopsy is a less-invasive alternative for capturing rare circulating tumor cells from blood samples, especially in cases where patient monitoring is critical to therapeutic decision making,” said CEO Kalyan Handique. “Liquid biopsy is a game-changing concept that has the potential to not only positively impact the health care system by helping to usher in a new realm of precision medicine but also to positively impact the lives of patients suffering from metastatic cancers.”
As the name suggests, DiSciTech Awards recognize innovation in the digital, science and technology sectors. Winners gathered for an awards ceremony April 7 at VisTaTech Center on the Schoolcraft College campus in Livonia.
Here are synopses of the 2016 DiSciTech Awards winners.
Digital Award Winners
Atomic Object
Atomic Object
Ann Arbor www.atomicobject.com
Atomic Object helps companies innovate and grow with custom software that the company describes as beautiful, reliable and easy to use. It states on its website that it will work with clients to mitigate risk, make smart trade-offs and get the maximum value for their budget. The company has created more than 200 applications for more than 120 clients, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Commercial Progression
Commercial Progression
Northville www.commercialprogression.com
Commercial Progression is focused on designing, developing and supporting world-class Drupal-powered websites. With headquarters in Northville and offices in Grand Rapids, it services clients from its local communities and nationally. Its growing client list includes a portfolio of recognized brands such as National Geographic Channels, ZF-TRW Automotive and the University of Michigan, according to the Commercial Progression website.
E Digital Designs LLC
E Digital Designs LLC
Ferndale www.e-digitaldesign.com
E Digital Designs provides graphic, Web and interactive design services for small- to medium-sized business across the metro Detroit area and statewide. The company states on its LinkedIn page that it keeps clients in constant contact and informed on what is going on throughout the entire project. Services it provides include website design and redesign, Internet marketing and consulting, search engine optimization and marketing and branding and identity.
Elefant, Design & Strategy
Elefant, Design & Strategy
Troy www.elefant.design
Elefant, Design & Strategy is a multidisciplinary design and marketing firm that translates visual communication into various channels, such as static print, digital platforms and interactive Web applications.
“Marketing strategies are uniquely created based on clients’ needs and objectives,” said Elena Kapintcheva, co-founder and creative director. “Flexibility, creative thinking and problem solving are applied to each solution.”
Technology is also key to the creative process.
“Technology surrounds us and accompanies us in every aspect of the business,” Kapintcheva said. “It helps in speeding up processes, streamlining communication and improving workflow. About 75 percent of our work is digital and without technology we’d be back to the drawing board full time, literally. We have clients from other states as well as overseas, and technology makes that possible. It is not a convenience any more — it’s a necessity.”
Future Help Designs
Future Help Designs
Pontiac www.FutureHelpDesigns.com
Future Help Designs’ mobile app software design and development services focus on Apple and Android mobile smartphones and devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android Smart Phones & Tablets). As a member of the Apple Consultants Network, it has created products for the education, health and wellness, and enterprise business verticals. It also has offered complete consulting and development services for Big Three automotive and Fortune 500 companies.
Ginkgotree
Ginkgotree
Detroit www.ginkgotree.com
Ginkgotree is a content management application that, as the company puts it, helps educators teach beautifully. It solves the high cost of university textbooks by allowing professors to build textbooks online from their own handouts, material in the public domain or material Ginkgotree has negotiated the rights to republish. The result is 70 percent off standard textbook prices, Ginkgotree’s website states.
Jon Mackay Design
Jon Mackay Design
Tustin www.jonmackay.com
Jon Mackay a freelance Web and graphic designer specializing in sharp, user-friendly, organized websites. With more than 12 years of experience, McKay currently works in the comfort of his home studio in Northern Michigan. He calls himself a Photoshop addict, a color fanatic and a Dreamweaver neophyte. He works with clients and agencies around Michigan to help design and develop custom solutions to fit their Web design needs.
Lakeside Software
Lakeside Software
Bloomfield www.lakesidesoftware.com
Lakeside Software empowers end-user computing teams in IT organizations worldwide with comprehensive end-user analytics and endpoint telemetry, enabling them to optimize user experience, mitigate risk, minimize cost, automate operational tasks and make better decisions.
“Our market space is highly competitive,” said CEO Michael Schumacher.
“Those firms that don’t constantly innovate don’t remain leaders. We stay on top by encouraging innovation at every level of the organization and in every initiative we undertake. We hire the very best, and then give them wide latitude to achieve their maximum potential.”
The company has grown consistently year after year. “Our biggest challenge will be to continue our growth despite our growth: to implement new processes necessary to streamline and sustain growth without diminishing our innovation-focused, ‘take charge’ culture,” Schumacher said.
Mania Interactive
Mania Interactive
Chesterfield www.maniaweb.com
Mania Interactive is a full-service provider of digital technologies. Its website states that it caters to businesses that want to effectively communicate their message through digital and traditional media sources. It offers complete new media services, including professional branding and message development for products and services through video and multimedia programs. Its staff offers a wide variety of experience, including graphic design, photography and Web development.
Michigan Film & Digital Media Office
Michigan Film & Digital Media Office
Lansing www.michiganfilmoffice.org
The Michigan Film & Digital Media Office has recently expanded its scope to support more of the creative industries. It now provides assistance to filmmakers, digital media enthusiasts and other creative sectors to ensure they have an environment to be sustainable and grow.
“Last year we were solely known as the Michigan Film Office, administering the highly political film incentive program,” said Jenell Leonard, Michigan film commissioner. “With the film incentive program ending in July, this provided us the opportunity to expand our efforts to include more of the creative industries, specifically the digital media sector. This has been an innovative approach in response to a very political situation.
“Our biggest effort has been our recent partnership with Google to advance computer science education in Michigan schools,” Leonard said. “This partnership has benefited nearly 3,000 students around the state in just a few short months, and the effort continues to grow and have a strong impact on this high-tech, high-wage industry that is in high demand in our state.”
Passage Inc.
Passage Inc.
Detroit www.gopassage.com
Passage is a platform that powers ticketing and payments both online and at the door for specialty events. Passage caters to niche event verticals with category-specific branding and features, creating the top of mind brand in each category. Examples include HauntPay for haunted attractions, PintPay for beer festivals, SoccerStub for semi-pro soccer and EscapeTix for escape games.
CEO Alex Linebrink said the Passage platform was built from the ground up to help event organizers in three main ways: 1) More easily engage directly with fans and attendees, and also to reach new fans looking for their category of event, 2) Allow quicker access to their money (in one or two business days from every sale, rather than one or two weeks after the event ends), and 3) Let them handle all of their ticket, merchandise and concessions sales, both online and at the door, on one simple system.
“For us, innovation comes from putting ourselves in the client’s shoes,” Linebrink said. “By keeping close communication with our clients and regularly brainstorming from their perspective (rather than what technically makes the most sense), we’re able to work from client feedback toward outside-the-box innovation to solve problems.”
As a venture-backed company with early success, Passage’s next step is to scale what it’s already started. “We built the Passage platform so that we could easily launch customized versions for each event vertical that we work with,” Linebrink said. “Over the next year we’ll launch into two or three new specialty event verticals, and up to 12 more over the next five years. By creating customized and innovative ticketing and payment solutions to unique problems in each event vertical one at a time, we’ll be able to stand out in an industry currently led by generic one-size-fits-all solutions.”
Quikly
Quikly
Detroit www.quikly.com
Quikly is a marketing platform helping retailers and brands drive traffic and sales over a short period of time. A Quikly is a real-time event that drives sales and conversation around a brand. The company rewards consumers who act fastest with exclusive deals, coupons and gift cards. Participants have to opt in if they want to play, and the rewards can be released at any moment, the Quikly website states.
S2 Games
S2 Games
Portage www.s2games.com
S2 Games is a video game development company founded and led by serial entrepreneur and game enthusiast Marc DeForest. A leader in the free-to-play MOBA genre, S2 Games is composed of experienced and passionate professionals from diverse backgrounds that include game development, programming and animation, according to the company’s website.
Status Creative
Status Creative Grand Rapids www.statuscreative.com Status Creative is an award-winning public relations agency whose first project won Best Use of Video in Social Media from PRNewswire. Building on that success, it has worked with Chrysler, Chevrolet, P&G, Pure Michigan, Amway, the Detroit Lions and more. In addition to Grand Rapids, the firm has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Copenhagen, Denmark, according to its website.
Team Detroit
Team Detroit
Dearborn www.teamdetroit.com
Team Detroit was formed in 2007 as a merger of three advertising brands, JWT, Y&R and Ogilvy, with one-to-one marketer Wunderman and one of the world’s leading media planning and buying networks, Mindshare. That means Team Detroit’s skill sets are rich and diverse and all under one roof. Team Detroit maintains 36 offices across the United States and employs more than 1,300 workers.
TempoRun
TempoRun
Detroit www.temporunapp.com
The founders of TempoRun would like exercisers to meet their training partner: their application that promotes the use of music to improve speed and endurance. The TempoRun app will sort users’ songs by tempo by automatically categorizing music into levels from 1 to 10, based on tempo. Level 1 is a walk, 5 is a jog and 10 is a sprint. The company’s website states that the app’s interface is clean and easy to use, so exercisers can get in, get out and get back to your run. It also allows users to keep track of stats, including an at-a-glance view of their progress and details of their training history.
The Edit Lab
The Edit Lab
Ottawa Lake www.theeditlab.net
The Edit Lab describes itself as a small Web development and Internet marketing company. It services all types of businesses large and small, with many of them based in Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio. Its concentration, the company states on its website, has been delivering high-ranking, revenue-generating websites, focused on beautiful design while creating more usable and accessible websites. Since it does not have a large staff and does not want to grow into a large, faceless fly-by-night firm, the company says it wants to focus more on long-term business relationships with growing and startup businesses.
Tylar & Company is a creative digital marketing agency with a focus on proprietary, future-forward and innovative technology solutions. Its services include website, mobile app and database/software design and development, search engine management, digital promotion and social media engagement and creative design.
One noteworthy client is Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, said Tylar Masters, Tylar & Company president. “They needed an updated online assessment program that was not only more user friendly, but programmed to integrate all survey data, algorithms and calculations into a database that measured results in an organized table of data and charts,” she said. “This complex program is now being utilized daily by thousands of schools across the country, and we are implementing a new Chinese version that will be launched in China in 2016.”
Masters said her company offers industry exclusivity to all clients, allowing them to stay ahead of their competition. It also finds unique audiences and opportunities to engage with them. “From back-end structures through to what a customer or client sees on the front end, there are countless hours of creativity and valiant innovation involved,” Masters said.
One challenge the fast-growing company faces is locating top-notch, dynamic talent, she said. “Our goal is to set up career tracks for development teams, designers and project managers that contribute to the metrics that run all projects profitably,” she said.
Science Award Winners
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center Institute
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center Institute
Detroit www.karmanos.org
The Karmanos Cancer Institute is a unique, integrated center of research, patient care and education, dedicated to the prevention, early detection, treatment and eventual eradication of cancer. Karmanos is one of 45 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States. It is the only hospital in Michigan dedicated exclusively to fighting cancer. Caring for approximately 12,000 new patients annually and conducting more than 800 cancer-specific scientific investigation programs and clinical trials, the Karmanos Cancer Center is ranked among the nation’s best cancer centers. Karmanos offers access to more than 90 cancer treatments that no other local hospital has, the center states on its website.
Celsee Diagnostics
Celsee Diagnostics
Plymouth www.celsee.com
For many metastatic and recurrent cancers, procuring repeat tissue biopsy samples is extremely challenging. Liquid biopsy is a less-invasive alternative for capturing rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples, especially in cases where patient monitoring is critical to therapeutic decision making. In addition, downstream molecular and genetic analysis on single cells is a crucial component in the development of personalized therapy.
Celsee Diagnostics offers a fully automated, label-free CTC detection and analysis platform. The Celsee PREP platforms perform all the required processing steps to isolate and execute downstream single-cell analysis, including immunochemistry, DNA FISH and mRNA FISH, while the Celsee ANALYZER scans and analyzes the prepared slide automatically.
“Liquid biopsy is a game-changing concept that has the potential to not only positively impact the health care system by helping to usher in a new realm of precision medicine but also to positively impact the lives of patients suffering from metastatic cancers,” said Kalyan Handique, Celsee Diagnostics CEO.
Innovation is by necessity a key part of the culture when a small company is developing a new platform for use in an emerging market, Handique said. “Employees, by default, must wear many hats, and stretch beyond their comfort zones, facilitating the innovative culture and the creation of new ideas and processes,” Handique said.
Celsee Diagnostics began commercialization efforts in 2015. Short-term challenges include continuing to build a global network of distributors and revenue stream, in addition to achieving ISO certification and CE marking. The company’s longer-term challenges are completing the Federal Drug Administration’s regulatory process, including clinical trials, to get the Celsee PREP and ANALYZER products approved for routine clinical use.
Functional Fluidics
Functional Fluidics
Detroit www.functionalfluidics.com
Functional Fluidics is commercializing a clinical protocol for advanced antithrombotic diagnostics. Its goal, according to its website, is to develop and commercialize a clinical diagnostic tool that will accurately predict disease severity in a wide range of bleeding and clotting disorders, screen patient blood samples to select the most efficacious therapy for an individual patient, and monitor the effect of therapy over time. Founder and CEO Patrick Hines is assistant professor of pediatric critical care medicine and associate in the Department of Physiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
Infection Prevention Technologies
Infection Prevention Technologies
Auburn Hills www.infectionpreventiontechnologies.com
Infection Prevention Technologies (IPT) designs and markets a product family of the most powerful ultraviolet (UV) disinfection robots in the world. These germ-killing UV robots — using the clinically proven technology of powerful UV light — sanitize areas where hidden colonies of dangerous microorganisms reside, and by doing so, reduce the incidence of health care-associated infections (HAIs).
NextGen UV robots are used in acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, long-term care facilities and other health care settings where unsafe microbes such as viruses, bacteria, molds and fungi may reside. Other environments that benefit from the germ-killing energy of UV robots include nursing homes, schools, day care centers, gyms, spas and incarceration facilities.
“Reducing and eliminating the populations of contagious pathogens provides for a safer environment for patients and health care workers, lowers the economic costs of HAIs on the health care system, and most important, saves lives,” said Tom Kenny, ITP CEO.
“IPT has developed and patented several technologies that enable our automated robots to generate the highest germicidal UV output available on the market,” he said. “Several technologies were inspired by our Motor City roots, such as an onboard power boost system to increase the generation of germ-destroying UV light, utilizing the same type of battery technology used in today’s electric vehicles.”
IPT’s biggest challenge is to continue the expansion of its domestic and international distribution channels. “Our objective is to align with major organizations that have a strong national footprint and can benefit from adding our high-power disinfection products to their own product portfolio,” Kenny said. “Our other ongoing major challenge is educating the market about the qualitative and quantitative differences in the type and amount of ultraviolet energy that is created, and how it is most effectively deployed in the treatment area.”
Limno-Tech Inc.
Limno-Tech Inc.
Ann Arbor www.limno.com
Limno-Tech Inc. is an environmental and water resources science and engineering company that provides state-of-the-science solutions to clients with water resource management challenges.
And those solutions are becoming ever more sophisticated, said CEO Paul Freedman, with data collection and analysis systems and computer simulations of groundwater, stormwater, watersheds, lakes, rivers and estuaries helping to identify economical and best management decisions for maintaining the health of complex ecosystems.
Not that technology is anything new for the company. “Our services have depended on computer, Internet and sensor technology development since our inception 40 years ago,” Freedman said. “We have been successful in fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation that depends on smart, self-motivated, interdependent and resourceful employees.”
Going forward, Limno-Tech will strive to continue to stay ahead of the curve in client service and in the development and application of ever-evolving technologies for evaluating and solving complex environmental management issues.
Michigan Science Center
Michigan Science Center
Detroit www.mi-sci.org The Michigan Science Center (MiSci) is a unique and dynamic hands-on museum, offering programs that inspire curious minds of all ages to discover, explore and appreciate science, technology and math in a fun, dynamic learning environment. Through an interactive approach to science with engaging, hands-on exhibits, live shows, an IMAX dome theater, a planetarium, lab experiences and more, MiSci strives to help launch the next generation of Michigan’s engineers, scientists and innovators, and significantly impact the cultural and economic renewal of Detroit and Michigan, its website states.
STEM.org
STEM.org
Detroit www.stem.org
STEM.org is an international science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education improvement body that provides professional development, hands-on curriculum materials and consulting services, thus impacting a student’s life from preschool through career.
“Fun, interaction and interesting situations are the core things that children look forward to, and when their learning experience imbibes all of that, they would come to love what they learn,” explains Andrew B. Raupp, STEM.org founder and executive director. “And that is precisely where STEM.org plays its part.”
STEM.org has created a series of universal, K-12 STEM education benchmarks while utilizing technology to connect educators globally. “Due to the recent popularity of the STEM acronym in education, it is often used by schools, districts and organizations as a way to market — ultimately increasing participation and enrollment,” Raupp said. “Our goal is to ensure that STEM-centric organizations have a thorough understanding of STEM education to better serve their constituents.”
STEM.org also applies technology internally. For example, incorporating an “Employee Portal” link onto its corporate website has automated a series of processes for team members to upload their curriculum (securely online), check email, order uniforms/items such as coffee mugs, sweats, etc. (free of charge through an annual allowance), review payroll/HR information and download the employee handbook. “This provides employees with instant access to critical information, while freeing up our operations personnel to better serve our clients,” Raupp said.
Locating and retaining the top technology talent is the organization’s biggest challenge. “STEM.org typically hires locally,” Raupp said. “However, as demand for Web developers and IT personnel increases, we anticipate that we will continue to experience a talent shortage and may have to consider employees/contractors who reside outside of metropolitan Detroit and/or abroad.”
Swift Biosciences Inc.
Swift Biosciences Inc.
Ann Arbor www.swiftbiosci.com
Swift Biosciences specializes in sample preparation for next-generation sequencing (NGS). Its website states that it is focused on creating products that are well-regarded by both customers and multiple industries, such as the agrigenomics, pharmaceutical, academic, biotechnology and oncology research fields. The company was created with the support of experienced life science investors and opened its doors in February 2010.
3D Biomatrix LLC
3D Biomatrix LLC
Ann Arbor www.3dbiomatrix.com
3D Biomatrix says that its products make it simple to integrate 3D cell culture into discovery research. Its Perfecta3D 384- and 96-well Hanging Drop Plates, assays and other tools incorporate important features that allow a more physiologically relevant, human-mimicking environment for cell biology, cancer and stem cell research and more, the company’s website states.
Technology Award Winners
Accio Energy
Accio Energy
Ann Arbor www.accioenergy.com
Accio Energy is a world-leading innovator in renewable energy, aiming to transform the way offshore wind power is harvested — namely through turbine-free offshore wind power systems. “Accio’s systems eliminate the wind turbine blades, and, as a result, eliminate the visual, noise and wildlife impact of those blades,” said CEO Jennifer Baird. “Ultimately, this is a tool in the global fight against climate change.”
The company is in contract negotiations to receive $4.9 million in nondilutive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E), meaning Accio’s patent-protected EHD wind technology is poised for the first-ever subcommercial-scale offshore demonstration that ARPA-E has awarded funds to support.
Generating high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) electricity using wind and a charged water mist, EHD systems will operate on seawater; be built using high-volume, low-cost automotive heritage advanced manufacturing; offer deep-water deployment options; and be sufficiently robust to survive storm conditions. EHD systems have no moving parts (e.g., no turbine) and are transportable and scalable from kilowatt to gigawatt arrays.
“With offshore renewable power market opportunities measured in billions of dollars, Accio Energy’s world-class team has created a novel method of power generation and is excited to bring this new tool to market directly as an OEM or with a strategic partner to help address the challenges of climate change across the globe,” Baird said. “With the right resources, this technology has the potential to completely disrupt the existing global utility-scale wind power industry and realize a significant share of the forecast $100 billion offshore wind market.”
Appropos
Appropos
Grand Rapids www.appropos.com
Appropos specializes in business-to-business (B2B) software retail systems for footwear and apparel companies, making software designed to help footwear companies sell products at wholesale to retailers, rather than to customers. Its flagship app, Envoy, replaces stagnant platforms with a real-time, cloud-based, enterprise B2B system that will increase companies’ speed of sale and bring them closer to their customers, the Appropos website states.
BizStream
BizStream
Allendale www.bizstream.com
BizStream came to life in 2000 to design a highly customized intranet portal for a multinational company. Just a year later, BizStream’s staff had grown and it became a full-service software and Web development company. Today, clients include industry leaders, both big and small, as well as nonprofit agencies and family-owned businesses, its website states.
Blue Medora Software
Blue Medora Software
Grand Rapids www.bluemedora.com
Blue Medora creates software that extends the visibility of industry-leading cloud system management and application performance management solutions. When integrated, every element of a client’s IT ecosystem unites into one comprehensive solution, Blue Medora’s website states. This enables IT teams to visualize every platform, every system, every aspect, all the time. Blue Medora’s primary focus is on the development and distribution of product extensions for VMware vRealize Operations, Oracle Enterprise Manager and IBM Tivoli Monitoring.
CBI
CBI Detroit www.cbihome.com
The folks at CBI proudly wear the “tech nerds” label. Since 1991, CBI has worked with some of the world’s largest brands to prepare for, manage and navigate issues that can damage their business, reputation and brand. CBI takes an assessment-led approach, working directly with clients to vet their concerns and to prescribe and implement custom IT risk management and data security solutions.
“Information security has never been more critical to protecting intellectual property, and the reputation and brand of all types of organizations,” said Steve Barone, CBI CEO. “Hacking, cracking and data loss can literally ruin an organization in a short amount of time. The impact of what we do and the importance of our success has never been greater.”
Barone notes that there are no cookie-cutter solutions to effective IT risk management, and that innovation is part of each project.
“Our biggest challenge is recruiting for information security positions,” he said. “By some counts, there are more than 1 million unfilled information security (InfoSec) positions. We addressed this situation by successfully launching our CBI Academy, which provides a fast-track way to effectively train the next generation of InfoSec professionals. CBI Academy is a game changer.”
C-Net Systems
C-Net Systems
Shelby Township www.cnetsys.com As a trusted adviser on all aspects of business technology, C-Net Systems provides a competitive edge to the 100-plus small to midsized businesses it serves. Its services include professional on-site IT support, 24/7 monitoring and maintenance, off-site backup, managed firewalls and SPAM filtering, network and server leasing, remote support, and on-site business computer repair.
“A sense of security, which is truly priceless, will be the biggest impact to our customers in 2016,” said CEO Nick Tobin. “Our customers gain this not only from the products and services we offer to keep their company’s data safe, but also through the level of customer service our technicians provide. It doesn’t matter what time, what day or where you are; our team members are there for our clients no matter what. If your computer is down, or something isn’t working, our team won’t stop until it’s fixed.”
Nick Tobin, C-Net Systems CEO
Innovation has allowed C-Net to grow to provide a new standard for IT service, Tobin said. “With this new standard, a technician can script out exactly what changes they want made to a server and then implement it across 50-plus servers with just a push of the button,” he said. “Traditionally it would take a technician three to four hours per server to make the changes manually. The time saved allows our technicians to plan proactively for the next needed update, and always stay one step ahead of the game.”
Tobin said the ever-evolving technological landscape provides a welcome challenge to the company. “We’ll take the challenge presented in tech growth and turn it into a better experience for our clients,” he said.
Collective Idea
Collective Idea
Holland www.collectiveidea.com
Collective Idea builds custom software for Fortune 100 companies, startups, local businesses — and itself. The company prides itself on quality software built by working closely with customers.
“Our aim is to solve real problems for our customers,” said Daniel Morrison, president. “Software is the primary tool we use, but our goal is to identify and solve business problems. When we do our job, we save people hours per day or increase revenue.”
Collective Idea invests in innovation and encourages its team to try new things, Morrison said. “We have built our own software apps and services to help us experiment with new technologies and business models,” he said. “We also encourage learning and are actively sending our team through innovation and design thinking training.”
As with many Michigan employers, a short-term need for Collective Idea is to attract talent to the state, Morrison said. “Over five years, our challenge is to codify our values and culture so we can continue to scale our team while keeping our reputation for quality software and great customer service,” he said.
Data Fact Z
Data Fact Z
Northville www.datafactz.com
Data Fact Z says that it can do it all, from architecture to algorithms. It describes itself as a company driven by inquisitive data scientists, having developed a pragmatic and interdisciplinary approach that has evolved over the decades while working with more than 100 clients across multiple industries. It produces solutions by combining several Data Science techniques from statistics, machine learning, deep learning, decision science, cognitive science, and business intelligence, with its ecosystem of technology platforms..
Detroit Labs
Detroit Labs
Detroit www.detroitlabs.com
Detroit Labs builds user-centric apps for iOS and Android products, thereby connecting brands and services to the world.
“As experts in the development community, we have an extreme learning culture that has led us to our in-house, paid Apprenticeship Program,” CEO Paul Glomski said. “Our developers don’t just write code, they learn it and teach it constantly. Creating the best apps means we need the best developers, so we mentored and taught our own. We selected apprentices based on drive and cultural fit, rather than technical proficiency.”
After two successful cohorts became professional developers through the Apprenticeship Program, clients began to ask how they could get involved to grow their own in-house teams, and Detroit Labs OnSite was born. “The quality and caliber of team members produced from the Apprenticeship Program is exceptional, and our clients report results far beyond what is expected from typical staffing placement services,” Glomski said.
Innovation can manifest itself in different ways, especially in a company culture, he said, adding that the only way that people will buy into company-wide innovation is if leadership has a commitment to change and to do things differently. At Detroit Labs, leadership provides the time and the tools to developers, accepting and embracing new ideas as they emerge, Glomski said.
“Apps, as a technology medium, are playful,” he said. “Users interact with phones, tablets, TVs and wearables constantly,” Glomski said. “They play games in waiting rooms, order dinner for their family after soccer practice, check the status of their car before a long drive, design, connect, and use apps for everyday tasks. In order to be creative problem-solvers in this space for users, we have to be allowed to play and explore as users.”
The company’s main challenge is always the same: the ever-changing mobile technology landscape. “At Detroit Labs we already have expanded our definition of mobile to include consumer devices such as automotive in-dash units and wearable technology,” Glomski said. “This challenge is also our biggest opportunity. A driving force in the unique organizational structure, benefits and programs we create for our team members, and the high value we place on invention, innovation and nontraditional organizational structure allows us to adapt and enter emerging markets with ease.”
Duo Security Inc.
Duo Security Inc.
Ann Arbor www.duo.com
Duo Security Inc. says its mission is to be the worldwide leader in secure access for companies of all sizes. It protects organizations against data breaches by ensuring only legitimate users and appropriate devices have access to sensitive data and applications . Duo supports thousands of customers and millions of users in organizations such as Accenture, Boston Medical, Emblem Health, Facebook, NASA, Toyota, Twitter, Virginia Tech and Yelp. Duo’s website states that it is the fastest-growing SaaS security company, tripling year over year for three years in a row.
FarmLogs
FarmLogs
Ann Arbor www.farmlogs.com
FarmLogs says that its mission is to help growers use technology to create a better future for their farms. It says its tools — including field mapping, rainfall tracking and soil composition maps — provide timely, unbiased information to help growers improve yield and eliminate waste with minimal effort.
FutureNet Group Inc.
FutureNet Group Inc.
Detroit www.futurenetgroup.com
FutureNet Group is an energy and environmental, construction, technology and security company that provides infrastructure improvement and protection. Its subsidiary, FutureNet Security Solutions, acquired the assets of Smith & Wesson Security Solutions, which gave FutureNet a manufacturing facility in Franklin, Tenn., that engineers and builds perimeter security products.
Gentex Corp.
Gentex Corp.
Zeeland www.gentex.com
Gentex opened its doors in 1974 as a manufacturer of high-quality fire protection products, and then became best known, as the pioneer of the electrochromic, automatic-dimming mirror industry. Today it is a global, high-technology electronics company that is vertically integrated in highly automated electronics, CMOS camera development and manufacturing, vacuum coatings, and glass bending and fabrication. It specializes in a broad spectrum of technologies and processes to deliver products to the automotive, aerospace and fire protection industries.
Inteva Products LLC
Inteva Products LLC
Troy www.intevaproducts.com
Inteva Products LLC is a leading global automotive supplier providing automakers with products that enhance vehicle quality, safety and performance. Employing more than 12,500 people in 18 countries and headquartered in Troy, Inteva has global resources for engineering, manufacturing and customer service for closure systems, interior systems, motors and electronics, and roof systems.
“Customers recognize Inteva as their leading global supply partner for value-based innovation and environmentally friendly products that enhance quality and performance,” said CEO Lon Offenbacher.
For example, for several years Inteva Products has worked with customers to create an alternative approach to glove box release devices that provides flexible styling, enhanced placement options, less noise and a more assembly-friendly package. As today’s vehicles continue to seek more “electrified” features, this type of device is what consumers are beginning to look for — particularly for high-end vehicles, such as General Motors’ Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac brands.
The assembly improves vehicle crashworthiness because it eliminates hard surfaces from the knee bolster area, protecting passengers from potential harm during a crash. The assembly is absent of the inertia issues that exist with conventional release devices; its electromechanical technology ensures that the glove box will not open from external acceleration events during vehicle impact conditions, thus not creating a hazard to passengers during the event.
ITS Partners
ITS Partners
Grand Rapids www.itsdelivers.com
ITS Partners is a Symantec, ServiceNow and Microsoft partner specializing in the delivery of license procurement, design, training, implementation and ongoing support for some of the industry’s best solutions. Leading product and service offerings include Symantec Altiris and mobility management, Symantec Security solutions, Microsoft System Center, ServiceNow IT Service Management, IT Process Automation and IT Asset Management.
JEM Tech Group
JEM Tech Group
Clinton Township www.jemtechgroup.com
JEM Tech Group is dedicated to helping customers with IT products and services to transform data centers and office areas into energy-efficient areas. In 2012, after more than 30 years in business, JEM Computers Inc. changed its name to JEM Tech Group. The old name led prospective customers to think that JEM sold computers, the company states on its website. Rather, JEM specializes in data center infrastructure products and services.
Kickstand LLC
Kickstand LLC
Grand Rapids www.kickstandsystems.com
Kent Intermediate School District partnered with Kickstand LLC to develop Edify, a learning management system. Edify gives students the opportunity to explore their own needs, the Kickstand website states. Several resources are generated to aid student learning targets. Students can then choose the resource that best suits their unique learning style. Edify also is individualized for teachers. It is designed to be a tool that is part of a teacher’s pedagogy. It is a platform to host, share and deliver courses, lessons, resources, assessments and data.
LawnGuru
LawnGuru
Wixom
www.lawnguru.com LawnGuru provides on-demand lawn care and snow-removal services, ordered through “Uber-like” mobile applications. With the click of a button, LawnGuru instantly connects consumers with local outdoor service providers to take care of their lawn and snow-removal needs within hours of each request.
“LawnGuru was built around the idea of disrupting and improving an archaic industry,” said CEO Brandon Bertrang. “Every day we focus on delivering the best possible experience to our customers while providing tools of real value to our service providers. We are building a better service platform.”
LawnGuru instantly connects consumers with local providers who are already working in their neighborhoods. Consumers trace out their lawn or driveway using the LawnGuru map, which then provides pricing based on the size of the consumer’s property. The consumer requests service with the tap of a screen, and multiple local providers are alerted.
Within minutes, the job is accepted and the turnaround for service is same day, often within just a few hours of submitting a request. Customers are kept updated and informed on their job’s progress via automated text alerts. After each job is completed, a photo of the finished work along with a receipt is submitted to the customer. Payments are handled automatically via credit card, and customers rate the work and their experience after each job.
Going forward, the companies biggest challenges are competition from similar companies in its space, and the chance of a big player with unlimited resources stepping in.
Liquid Web Inc.
Liquid Web Inc.
Lansing www.liquidweb.com
Liquid Web Inc. is a web hosting company founded in 1997 with three wholly owned data centers in Lansing, and a fourth location in Scottsdale, Ariz. It has appeared on the INC. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list of the fastest-growing privately held companies for nine years in a row. Liquid Web has generated a 64 percent growth rate and added 141 new employees to its workforce during the past three years. Of all 5,000 companies on the 2015 list, only 22 companies have been on it longer than Liquid Web.
Locqus
Locqus
Detroit www.locqus.com
Locqus offers a free field service solution for small and medium businesses, such as contractors, electricians, plumbers and landscapers. Its real-time GPS vehicle and fleet tracking management software helps businesses track mobile workers, dispatch and schedule jobs and integrate invoices and payment processing. Its en-route notification lets customers know when workers are going to arrive.
Maestro
Maestro
Kalamazoo www.meetmaestro.com
Maestro designs high-tech training and support materials, including systems that facilitate continuous learning, sales enablement tools, performance support and virtual training. The services are custom built to meet the needs of clients, including Stryker Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Amway Corp. and Facebook.
Mobile Monday Michigan, a nonprofit networking and education organization, is the local branch of an international organization founded in Helsinki, Finland, in 2000 that currently hosts branches in more than 100 countries. The Michigan branch currently hosts four chapters: Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing. Mobile Monday Michigan is a subsidiary of the Mobile Technology Association of Michigan (MTAM) a nonprofit trade association for mobile/wireless technologies.
“Mobile Monday Michigan’s focus is on education and connecting people; therefore we expect our impact is on helping to broaden knowledge and awareness about mobile/wireless technologies across all industry verticals in Michigan, as well as enabling the ability for relationship development and new business opportunities,” said Linda Daichendt, CEO and executive director.
Mobile Monday Michigan chapters are run by teams of volunteers in each local community with assistance by the staff of the MTAM. “All of these entities are very focused on ensuring that each chapter provides great speakers on all areas of innovation related to mobile/wireless technologies use in every industry vertical,” Daichendt said. “This ensures that technologists in our state are kept up to date on global advances as they continue to work in their own organizations.”
Modustri
Modustri
Grand Rapids www.modustri.com
Using the latest sensors and data analysis software, Modustri can turn heavy equipment, such as a bulldozer, into a smart, connected machine that predicts maintenance needs, understands operator behavior and optimizes uptime. Coaching users on appropriate operations allows heavy equipment managers to overcome some of their most costly challenges. Modustri’s first-to-market mobile hardware-software suite is an upgrade to previous methods of providing the heavy equipment industry with a streamlined system for measurement and data collection, a company press release states.
My Dealer Service
My Dealer Service
Detroit www.mydealerservice.com
My Dealer Services offers a Web-based customer engagement platform that connects automotive service departments to their customers via text or email with real-time updates on vehicle status throughout the repair process. For example, it allows repair facilities to send photos and videos of needed repairs to customers. The company’s MDS Notify platform also handles every aspect of repair order management in an automotive service department and can be integrated with any other automotive repair management system.
Netlink
Netlink
Madison Heights www.netlink.com
Founded in 1999, Netlink is a provider of information technology, supply chain and business process solutions. Its model is called the Delta Platform, a proprietary set of processes, systems, prebuilt technologies and Web-based tools that enables virtually distributed team integration for IT delivery. Netlink states on its website that it is one of the few technology solution providers that use a fixed-bid model. Its 20:20 rule guarantees 20 percent cost savings and 20 percent service improvement as a result of using the Netlink model.
Nextek Power System Inc.
Nextek Power System Inc.
Detroit www.nextekpower.com
Nextek Power Systems is dedicated to providing others with the power to save energy. Its systems leverage high-efficiency power converters and smart controls to optimize energy usage while drawing power from renewables, batteries and the grid. Nextek’s website states that the company’s technology reduces lighting ROIs and improves control functionality.
NuWave Technology Partners
NuWave Technology Partners
Kalamazoo www.nuwavepartners.com
NuWave Technology Partners designs, installs and services state-of-the-art communications and information systems — including data center/cloud solutions, networks, PCs, servers and voice over IP telephone systems — from top manufacturers in the industry. NuWave’s website states the company serves clients of all sizes and from many industries — from small businesses to major corporations, and nonprofits serving a variety of missions — each with unique challenges and needs.
PITSS
PITSS
Troy www.pitss.com
PITSS is an Oracle Gold Partner, a member of the Oracle Modernization Alliance (OMA) and the only Oracle Forms Migration Partner for automated migrations. PITSS, founded in 1999, has more than 1,000 customers worldwide. With offices in Michigan, Germany and the United Kingdom (along with its certified international partners), PITSS has successfully supported IT projects of all shapes and sizes, from medium-sized companies to large corporations, its website states.
PROLIM Corp.
PROLIM Corp.
Farmington Hills www.prolim.com
PROLIM is a provider of end-to-end PLM and engineering solutions to global Fortune 1000 companies. It focuses on business process and technology and helps customers improve their profitability and efficiency. Its website says that the company aims to apply thought leadership to help companies build innovative products by leveraging PROLIM’s IT and PLM solutions.
RCC Business IT
RCC Business IT
Romeo www.rccbusinessit.com
Romeo Computer Co., the parent company of RCC Business IT, was founded in 1994 by Steven L. Eaton and his wife, Cynthia. At the time, Steven Eaton had sold a successful industrial electronics business that he had started with a partner when he was only 22 years old. Looking for an opportunity in rural Romeo, the Eatons opted for computers and networking since businesses were beginning to build out networks and needed help. Around 2007, according to its website, Romeo Computer formalized a strategy to build out the company into two departments: an IT managed services department and an e-marketing program. The e-marketing program was established as RCC Web Media Agency. In 2015, the IT managed services strategy, after gaining many more parts and establishing its own structure, was rebranded as RCC Business IT.
SalesPad LLC
SalesPad LLC
Grand Rapids www.salespad.net Since 2003, SalesPad has helped business owners increase productivity and efficiency with enterprise software solutions that work with the leading applications, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics GP. Originally, SalesPad started as a partnership between a business owner and a developer. One needed more from his business management software and the other knew how to build it, the SalesPad website states. Now SalesPad creates software solutions for businesses everywhere — from startup to enterprise companies — helping them move their businesses forward. With more than 120 employees, SalesPad is one of West Michigan’s largest and fastest-growing software companies.
Sakti3 develops solid-state battery cells that have high-energy density, and are smaller, safer and more powerful than the batteries currently found in most consumer devices. The company has joined Dyson and will be working to advance the energy storage in existing Dyson products, as well as developing new applications for solid-state batteries.
“Up to this point, the liquid-electrolyte systems that have been selected by manufacturers and the marketplace have been pursued for one principal reason: high-energy density,” said Ann Marie Sastry, Sakti CEO. “But they have clear limitations in terms of weight, expense, safety and so on. The continuous improvement in lithium batteries has enabled safe operations of an electric car, for example, but the batteries carry a high cost, and provided energy density that’s appropriate for some ranges but is not equivalent to an internal combustion engine. To continue to develop on that platform, as with any manufacturing process, is going to result in marginal gains at best.
“At some point in any industrial process you have to ask, ‘Are we on the right platform?’” Sastry said. “We needed to eliminate the liquid-electrolyte system while still producing batteries at low cost and enabling out-of-the-gate safety. Our aim is no less than changing the way battery cells are made globally. We see all the verticals for battery applications increasingly converging around the same needs: for portable systems with low environmental impact, high energy density, and safe, stable operations.”
SilkRoute Global
SilkRoute Global
Troy www.silkrouteglobal.com SilkRoute Global describes itself as a passionate team of designers, machine learning scientists and software engineers with tremendous industry knowledge of manufacturing, distribution and retail. Its industry-specific predictive and prescriptive analytics platform creates operational and strategic value for customers, and applied machine learning, business process automation and mobility is woven into the fabric of everything it builds, the company’s website states.
SPLT
SPLT
Detroit www.spltrides.com
SPLT is an enterprise-first ridesharing platform that connects employees within organizations to share their commute. SPLT fills empty seats in vehicles for employees traveling from similar origins and creates inter-corporate connections. The product functions as a 21st-century B2B commuter “smart” carpool service for employers seeking to provide a much-needed transportation solution to employees. SPLT records the amount of CO2 emissions reduced as well as miles saved, helping companies meet CSR requirements.
Employees save approximately $5,000 a year when using SPLT moderately and arrive to work in improved moods, causing greater productivity, says CEO and founder Anya Babbitt. Advanced features will allow users to share rides with companies located in similar vicinities or along common corridors. SPLT allows users to pick whom they share a ride with, eliminating a common hesitation to ridesharing.
“The SPLT platform lets users connect with someone new to potentially spice up their otherwise boring commute,” Babbitt said. “SPLT gives users complete control over their ridesharing experience.”
In states where applicable, SPLT can allow companies to meet the requirements of commute trip reduction laws and receive business energy tax credits.
“Innovation can take on many different meanings but our definition focuses on the constant improvement of ourselves,” Babbitt said. “We do this through lean methodologies that keep our end goal in mind: changing the way people meet and move in cities. We are a small team of six, but we know that in order to truly innovate, we can’t just say we’re innovating. We have to set our environment to promote the changes the way we want to create in transportation, mobility and environmental awareness. It’s our solid foundation that we pride ourselves on, and that comes through with our product to customers, partners and the public.”
While SPLT has determined demand at the enterprise level, it is in the process of crafting the appropriate messaging and incentives to compel employees to change their commuting behaviors. “Although surmountable, we do not underestimate how difficult this might be and view it as our biggest risk factor,” Babbitt said.
Supported Intelligence LLC
Supported Intelligence LLC
East Lansing www.supportedintelligence.com Supported Intelligence provides breakthrough analytical software products that help businesses make decisions in situations of great opportunity, great risk or both.
The company vows that its patent-pending Rapid Recursive methods will change the way businesses make decisions involving investment opportunities, management options and risk. The method thrives on uncertainty and the existence of “real options.”
“Supported Intelligence is founded on innovation,” said CEO Patrick Anderson. “Our core product is the first of its kind in the world. From our first day, we have insisted that our products live up to three core characteristics: They must be powerful, innovative and reliable. We are constantly exploring new ideas from all of our employees. For example, SmartBracket — an application designed to increase your chances of winning an NCAA Basketball Tournament pool — was the brainchild of Lead Developer Neal Anderson and COO Jeff Johnson.”
The company’s challenge is to attract investment capital to bring its breakthrough technologies to market, Patrick Anderson said. “Michigan is a hotbed of innovation — we don’t feel like we need to go to Silicon Valley for inspiration,” he said. “We’ve innovated in Michigan, we’d like to grow in Michigan, and we hope to attract investors to help us build a world-class company headquartered in Michigan.”
Tebis
Tebis
Troy www.tebis.com Tebis, a process supplier in the CAD/CAM sector, is relied on by most automotive companies and their suppliers, as well as companies in the aerospace and mechanical engineering sectors, for design and manufacturing process optimization. The company, founded in 1984, operates globally from Martinsried near Munich, Germany. Tebis America, located in Troy, is the largest of its subsidiaries and covers the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Tebis develops complete consulting, software, implementation and support solutions for manufacturing companies of all sizes. Nearly 9,000 Tebis CAD/CAM systems are installed in more than 2,000 companies worldwide. Tebis CAD/CAM and viewer stations are well-established as integral components of highly efficient design and manufacturing process chains.
“We have a new product out called Version 4.0,” said David Klotz, CEO and president. “It is a game changer in the CAD/CAM industry for tool, die, mold shops, along with companies doing machining for the aerospace industries. Tebis Version 4.0 opens up completely new perspectives with a clearly structured, ergonomic user interface as well as application-specific industry and special packages with performance levels and optional add-ons.”
Training remains a huge factor in the industry, Klotz said. “Manufacturing companies invest in the software and update that software but many employees are using it on how they were trained on it three or even six to seven years ago,” he said. “There are so many new features that will help companies be more efficient and more profitable if they took advantage of them and employees were trained to use it.”
Tebis America in the past few years has made a big push in regard to training and on-site consulting. “If we have improved users, then they … in turn will bring more opportunities for Tebis America on new sales and ideas to better the product. Continuous improvement is a must to be more efficient and profitable.”
The Most Group
The Most Group
Southfield www.themostgroup.com The Most Group (TMG) provides software solutions and services to national health plans and third-party administrators that address challenges presented by the rapidly changing landscape of health insurance and benefits. The company’s leaders are all health plan professionals themselves with hands-on expertise in benefit data synchronization, implementation of new value-based payment models, and execution of complex reimbursement strategies.
For example, the Affordable Care Act requires health insurance issuers to track and submit medical loss ratio (MLR) data — the proportion of premium revenues spent on clinical services and quality improvement. If issuers do not meet the minimum 80-85 percent standards, they are required to issue rebates to enrollees and are subject to tighter limits on rate increases. As a result, health plans and third-party administrators are looking for benefit plan management software that will reduce administrative costs through automation that streamlines existing disjointed, highly manual processes.
“TMG corporate culture enables talented benefit architects and engineers to take risks and embrace the ups and downs of technology development,” said CEO Mohammed Vaid. “The R&D efforts have produced groundbreaking innovations in the benefit plan management space, which will transform the way the health plans and TPAs configure benefit plans.”
The company is committed to maintaining a small, energetic team that moves quickly to solve problems, so The Most Group must balance the need to meet growing market demand with a relatively flat organizational structure and low management overhead, Vaid said. “As a result, the compact, nimble organization must find exceptional talent to ensure that the company’s technologies evolve in step with the rapidly changing health insurance and benefits landscape,” Vaid said.
TOGGLED
TOGGLED
Troy www.toggled.com
TOGGLED is focused on next-generation solid-state lighting technology. The company was formed in 2007 as a spinoff venture and wholly owned subsidiary of Altair with initial products based on Altair’s intellectual property for the direct replacement of fluorescent light tubes with light-emitting diode (LED) lamps.
Tome Software Inc.
Tome Software Inc.
Royal Oak www.tomesoftware.com
A passion for connecting hardware products to software applications led Jake Sigal and Massimo Baldini to launch Tome Inc. in April 2014. The company develops connectivity products to keep people mobile and active, and creates value as a focused niche within the larger Internet of Things movement. Sigal and Baldini sold their previous startup, Livio, to Ford Motor Co. in 2013, Tome’s website notes.
Vector Tech Group
Vector Tech Group
Holland www.vectortechgroup.com
Vector Tech Group provides service such as systems engineering, systems security, supplemental staffing and network engineering. Its website states that it is committed to providing clients with the solution that fits both their technical and budgetary requirements. Vector Tech Group services a vast array of industries, including distribution, manufacturing, nonprofits, education and medical. Working with a cross-section of customers allows it to have a broad-based working knowledge of different technologies that can be beneficial to all customers.
Vigilant Technologies LLC
Vigilant Technologies LLC
Troy www.vigt.com
Vigilant Technologies is a global IT services firm specializing exclusively in Oracle technologies. It helps customers envision, plan, implement and support Oracle-based applications, databases and middleware systems across a variety of industries. Vigilant says that its global presence provides customers with a wide range of service delivery options, including on-shore, near-shore and off-shore models, as well as 24/7, “follow the sun” service for post-deployment support.
Windemuller
Windemuller
Wayland www.windemuller.us
To accommodate its growth, Windemuller — an advanced technical and design services provider — late last year finalized the purchase of an office building in Traverse City. The company is relocating its northern Michigan headquarters to the building, while Windemuller’s corporate operations will continue to be led from the main office in Wayland. The new facility will allow Windemuller to expand on its existing capabilities of prefabrication, building information modeling, engineering and design-build services. These integrated and advanced approaches to construction maximize efficiency, minimize on-site errors and speed up project delivery times, ultimately creating value for clients, a Windemuller press release states.
Worksighted
Worksighted
Holland www.worksighted.com
Worksighted says that it aims to provide responsive, innovative and strategic IT support and services to businesses seeking a valuable partner. Since 2000, the Holland-based IT company has supported organizations throughout Michigan with the technology and strategy they need to grow. Its website states that it emphasizes each client’s unique business situation in crafting the best IT solutions to help them achieve their business goals.
World Source Tech LLC
World Source Tech LLC
Grand Rapids www.worldsourcetech.com
World Source Tech develops website and Internet marketing programs that drive leads and get results, it states on its LinkedIn page. It specializes in custom Web design, real estate Web design, custom Joomla development and inbound marketing for real estate agents, small-business owners and custom mid-market applications.
Search Engine Optimization consultant touching SEO button on whiteboard
Is SEO (search engine optimization) still relevant? You may have heard the rumor that SEO is dead. Google and the other search engines have made the quest to rank on the front page of the search engines meaningless. Well, don’t believe it. I’m here to tell you that SEO is alive and well, and should be an important part of your business marketing strategy.
Let’s clear the air: SEO is not dead. It will die when people stop using search engines to find information. SEO will be irrelevant when search engines stop listing one website above another. There is always a reason one site ranks higher than another.
Search engine optimization is not easy. The search engines, specifically Google, are smarter than they were 10 years ago. The tricks don’t work like they did in the past. This is where the death of SEO rumor got started. If Google notices an old SEO trick, such as keyword stuffing or paid links; your website receives a penalty. If this happens to you, there is a way to help fix it, which I will explain later.
Much of the discussion in this article focuses around Google. The reason for SEO’s focus on Google is that the company owns more than 65 percent of the search market. In some industries and for many websites, that number is much higher. Considering Google is the leader, many of the other search engines follow its lead. In most cases, if you make Google happy, you will rank well in other search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo.
The pace of search technology changes daily. Chances are high Google has served a search query answer to you using artificial intelligence. It’s a process called deep learning and is designed to understand the searcher’s intent. Two people from different industries or parts of the world can ask a similar question with the intent of receiving a different answer. The solution is complex and Google is fixing this problem with their algorithm called Rank Brain.
What does this mean to your website? Now, more than in the past, it is important for you think about the intent and needs of your customer. Why are people looking for you? Stuffing your site with keywords is not as important as offering an answer, or presenting a solution to your prospect’s problem.
The Basics
There are three parts to the SEO puzzle: research, on-page, and off-page SEO. Research is your starting point.
It’s common for business owners to believe they know what customers are searching for and be completely wrong. This is why good research will help kick-off your SEO campaign in the right direction. On-page SEO is about hundreds of possible factors, such as the structure of your website, page headlines, how quickly a page loads and the overall user experience.
Off-page is about links, and how your company, products, services and people are talked about on other websites. The topics connected to, and around, the links pointing to your website are also important.
Research
Your first step is to see how your website measures up. I recommend you use the moz.com tool Open Site Explorer (https://moz.com/researchtools/ose) to review the number of links, their quality and domain authority pointing to your website. Compare your result to your keyword competition to gauge the amount of work needed to rank well in your field.
Next, expand your research by reviewing Google trends (https://www.google.com/trends). What are people really looking for and is that trend increasing? Hopefully, you are not surprised that most people are not searching with terms related to industry jargon.
Understanding how many people are searching for your product or service helps to determine how you approach your website SEO. Visit Google AdWords Keyword Planner (adwords.google.com) to gauge how many searches per month relate to your website. Don’t take the numbers too literally. Instead, try to figure out which keywords are more effective.
Research what your competition is doing. I review what companies are doing for related products and similar industries. I find new tactics, testable ideas, and, sometimes, one word that makes a big difference in the search results. Websites such as ahrefs.com, spyfu.com and semrush.com offer good information to help you look under the hood of your competition.
On-Page SEO
Keep every page on your website focused; it will serve to not confuse Google. Create a new page for each topic, and don’t hold back on the details, photos and videos. Most pages on the Internet are less than 1,000 words. If you want to get noticed, pack more quality information on each page than do your competitors. The concept of quality over quantity has never been more true than today. However, a website with both quality and quantity will win every time.
Let’s start at the top. Your title tag is the most important real estate on your web page. It sets the tone for the rest of the page and Google takes it very seriously. This is the headline you see in search results, in your bookmarks and on tabs on your browser. If your page title is home, Your Company Name or a basic page title, you have an SEO problem. SEO is about being found by people who don’t know you, and unless you are a well-known brand, chances are that you don’t need the name of your company in the title tag of your website.
A web page title tag must be descriptive and contain your target keyword. Use your location if you are a local entity or professional. Also, consider the intention of the people searching for your product or service. What do they want? This is where Rank Brain, Google’s artificial intelligence algorithm, comes into play. For example, I added “for hire” at the end of a client’s title tag, and traffic increased by more than 30 percent the next month. This is something I don’t think would have happened a few years ago. Continuous testing is a must for a successful SEO campaign.
The description tag is also important. It’s not as much of a ranking factor as it is your sales pitch to the people searching for what you offer. It’s important to remember that being found on the search engines is important, but search engines don’t buy from you; the people who use them do. This is why your descriptions and information must be interesting to the people you want to attract as customers.
There are other tags to consider, such as the alt, H, and keyword tags. Unfortunately, the keyword tag was abused and now is ignored by the search engines. However, there are other ways to help the search engines understand more about your website and offer more opportunities to display information from it.
One of the best methods is to follow the best practices found at schema.org. This website is a collaboration of many key Internet companies, including search engines. The site is designed to help maintain well-structured data on websites, and improve search results. Using schema mark-up helps the search engines understand what is on your web page. When the search engines understand and trust your page, there are more opportunities to be found online.
From this point, on-page SEO is all about the content you share on your website. It’s important to make sure that your pages are well-written and easy to read. Use headlines to break up your copy and subject topics. Start with a large headline, which includes your keywords, known as an H1 tag.
In developing your content, it is vital not to copy information from other websites. Google will penalize your webpage if you are not the first to display the original text. This is the case even if the copy was originated by you, such as information from a parent company, or a franchise headquarters’ website.
Google likes pages that offer a multimedia experience. Good imagery is important for your visitors. However, Google can’t read the thousands of words your photographs represent – at least, not yet. The search engines are getting closer each year. Until then, make sure to describe your imagery well, and use alt tags to help image search results.
Videos are significant to the multimedia experience. I prefer to use YouTube and tag my videos well with good headlines, descriptions and tags. Google does play your video and considers its quality, topic and words–no matter your video hosting source.
The search engines love fresh, up-to-date information. A company blog can help provide the material for content-hungry search engines. How often should you post? My first recommendation is consistency. The reality is that, the more that you post (using the same on-page SEO rules), the more effective and valuable it is for driving traffic to your company blog. I’ve found that a good company blog can account for more than 50 percent of new traffic to a company’s website.
Off-page
Off-page SEO is about everything that is happening on other webpages. At its inception, Google gave value to the number and quality of links pointed to a website through a system that they called Page Rank. Today, how Google and other search engines rank your website involves many other factors, but they still rely on quality links to your website.
Over time, the value of a direct link may diminish. For now, however, it is important to earn quality links. In some cases, Google doesn’t need a link to give more authority to your website. A mention of your brand on a high-authority website, with or without a link, can help. The search engines are getting smarter, and they recognize your name and the context in which it is shared.
Social media is an important part of a good SEO strategy. Developing a social following by becoming a thought-leader in your industry can increase the chances that people will visit and link to your website. Social media is an excellent distribution channel for your new blog posts and announcements. However, you must do the hard work of community-building before you can expect solid SEO results from social.
There are many ways to proactively develop links to your website. Consider asking vendors or people in your network or industry to connect to you. Sign up for social media sites, update online directories and ask to be a guest blogger. The search engines do give weight to different types of links. I recommend that you not spend too much time figuring out the value of each link pointed toward your website. If a website seems spammy, avoid it. If you are still unsure, refer to the Moz.com Open Site Explorer. Unless the link is from a trusted source, avoid actively seeking links from domains with domain authority less than 20. Remember, more authority is always better.
The best practice is to not depend on one link development solution and do not pay for links. Ever. Think of your link development process as creating a well-rounded profile of different link sources.
The tools
Once your campaign is under way, it’s important to track and analyze your progress. This means you must have your tools in place before you begin making adjustments to your website. Begin with confirming that you have http://analytics.google.com installed. Google analytics offers helpful statistics about the visitors to your website, such as the number of visitors, how long they stay, and how many and which pages they view. Analytics gives you tools to measure your success.
When you measure your progress, compare year over year statistics. Comparing month to month is not the best sign of success or failure. SEO takes time and each month has its own characteristics, such as seasons, weather and holidays. It’s best to compare the month of March to March, for example.
Next, review the data in your Google webmaster tools (www.google.com/webmasters). The value of webmaster tools is often overlooked. It is your best daily connection to Google and how it views your website.
Remember that I mentioned that there is a way to fix your relationship with Google? If Google penalizes your website, webmaster tools is the place to fix it. Here, Google will let you know if they find an issue and while they won’t tell you how to fix it, knowing why your entire website is missing from the Google index is helpful.
The value of seeing how the search engines view your website is extremely valuable. Which keywords does Google consider most relevant to your website? Review how many impressions your website receives in Google search results, your keyword rankings, and their click-through-rates. A click-through-rate represents the number of times searchers click your website link per one-hundred search result impressions. The results are usually a combination of your ranking, relevancy of your title tag headline and description.
What is SEO success?
The purpose of search engine optimization is to drive quality traffic to your website. Once visitors land onto your website, and you must consider issues with the landing page, website, your offerings or call-to-action, if you are not earning sales.
The three metrics I like to track are my website’s year-over-year search engine traffic results, found in Google analytics; the number of impressions my website receives in search results, found in webmaster tools; and my keyword rankings.
SEO takes time and is a never-ending process. It is time-consuming and expensive, due to the fact that effective SEO requires the creation of content, itself a labor-intensive practice. However, the results from new earned business can make a big difference in your company’s revenue.
Businessman through the keyhole - Creative solutions concept
Everyone wants to be liked; it’s in our DNA. Nobody wakes up with the intention of upsetting a roomful of co-workers. But for CEOs, making people mad is sometimes part of the job. Although you may want your staff to have positive feelings toward you, being the boss means doing what’s right for the company — and that sometimes means making unpopular decisions.
Certain decisions are unpopular because people tend to resist change. If you propose radical-sounding ideas about where you want to take the company, some employees may balk. They fear what they don’t know, especially when they’re unsure how it will impact their employment statuses.
You can’t assuage everyone’s nerves in those situations, but you can gain each person’s trust by taking smart risks. Here’s how to make tough but responsible decisions:
1. Understand the value. Take the long view toward how the decision will impact your company. What seems like a good idea in the present may harm your organization a few years from now — and vice versa. Unpopular decisions should serve the overall vision for your business.
I’m responsible for deciding where my company holds clinical studies. I once chose a small, lesser-known clinic instead of a well-known university hospital for a trial site. My team questioned the choice, but I insisted we’d find more recruits at the clinic than the hospital. That prediction proved correct, and my employees trusted my unorthodox thinking in the future. Knowing the value we’d gain guided my decision-making, even in the face of opposition.
2. Combine logic and imagination. Allow yourself to think outside traditional business models when devising your implementation strategy. Your team still may resist, but you’ll energize them with innovative solutions. But don’t promise value or returns you can’t deliver. The best ideas break new ground while working with the resources available. Be realistic (but not boring).
3. Study previous successes. Look for examples of how other leaders succeeded in what you’re proposing, and be sure your decision will create new opportunities. Otherwise, you’ll lose your employees’ confidence, and they really won’t support you the next time you take an uncharted path.
4. Isolate the variables. Consider your decision as a single, nonsequential event. The more variables you allow in the early decision-making stages, the more likely your vision will be diluted. Get clear on what you want to achieve and why you think a particular course of action is best. Then, strategize how to accommodate the potential obstacles.
5. Anticipate the unexpected. Unpopular decisions lead to new possibilities. Be agile enough to jump on them by allocating resources for last-minute research, travel, and meetings so you don’t miss out when opportunities knock.
6. Prepare to fail. Be ready to lose something when you make hard choices because change can be volatile. However, your willingness to lose in the short-term could ensure your company’s stability in the future.
Of course, just because you make hard decisions doesn’t mean you have to deliver the unpopular news in a cold or detached way. Don’t just drop a bomb and walk away when delivering bad news to your staff. Explain the situation in empathetic terms and address their core concerns. Be transparent about your thought process, but stand firm on your decision.
As a leader, you must be willing to take the risks for the sake of the big picture. But you also have to be there for your team. Respect them enough to explain your rationale, and they’ll recognize that your ability to make hard decisions is why the company thrives.
Everyone has a comfort food – the delicious dish that instantly makes you feel better and fills your stomach at the same time. And, most likely, macaroni and cheese is at the top of many lists for its warmth, flavor and texture.
Lorraine Platman has made a career out of her expertise in this satisfying dish. Platman is an award-winning chef and founder of Sweet Lorraine’s Café & Bar, a Metro Detroit mainstay. Then, she added Sweet Lorraine’s Fabulous Mac n’ Cheez!, expanding her macaroni and cheese empire.
Now, she has opened her third brand, Sweet Lorraine’s Fabulous Mac n’ Brewz! The new restaurant, at 4870 Cass Ave. in Midtown, will serve 15 of Platman’s signature macaroni and cheese dishes, the restaurant will also offer more than 30 Michigan-brewed craft beers, spirited infusions and wines by the glass.
“Throughout my entire time as a chef, I’ve always been very animate about using locally made products,” said Platman. “Michigan is a hot bed for locally brewed craft beers, so when the opportunity presented itself to serve local beers with our signature mac and cheese, we instantly jumped at the opportunity.”
The first week of operation was inspirational, Platman said.
“The first days have been great and we are so excited to incorporate home-brewed craft beers that pair with our specialty macaroni and cheese dishes,” Platman said. “We actually had to close early due to the massive crowd that showed up – we ran out of our ingredients within just a few short hours.”
Sweet Lorraine’s Fabulous Mac n’ Cheez! is a chef-driven, fast casual dining concept that specializes in creative and exciting macaroni and cheese dishes.
New additions to the menu also include Sweet Lorraine’s fair-trade organic “world beat” coffees and teas, breakfast wraps, and sweets and pastries. The restaurant features 88-seats that accommodate both lounge and bar patrons. Customers will have the option to dine-in or carry out in the space that features a bright color palette, exposed ductwork and walk-up counters.
Founded in 2010 and franchising since 2013, the Detroit-based restaurant chain offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free soups, salads, sandwich wraps, grilled cheese and 14 different kinds of meat-topped and vegetarian macaroni and cheese, all made fresh to order. There are currently six locations open and operating throughout Michigan with several more in various stages of development.
Sweet Lorraine’s plans to expand even further with the opening of its second Mac n’ Brewz location scheduled to open this March in Waterford. The mac and cheese concept has six locations open and operating throughout Michigan, and plans to open locations in Vernon Hills, Ill., and Toledo, Ohio this year.
“I’ve spent 30-plus years perfecting my recipes, so it should come as no surprise that our goal is to continue to offer our customers a high level of customization with the new flavors for their macaroni and cheese,” said Platman. “By offering local craft beers, breakfast, and delicious sweets, we want to give our customers an experience in quality and options that is far from the standard quick-service restaurant.”
But discouraging land use policies are changing. Allen cited Milwaukee as “probably the best example in the country,” where farming and composting is allowed in every zoning district. In 2013, Detroit adopted its first urban agriculture zoning ordinance, legislation that defines farm stands, farmers’ markets, greenhouses, aquaculture, greenhouses, hoop houses, urban farms, orchards and gardens.
Statistics on urban agricultutre, statewide and nationally, may be difficult to assess. But this is partly because of the different definitions involved and the fact that no single national organization brings it all together, Atkinson explained.
For Brother Nature, owned by husband and wife Greg Willerer and Olivia Hubert, viability has come from a tenacious mix of available land, community supported agriculture (CSA) and hard work. They cultivate on 10 lots, two of which they own. Their bread and butter is a salad mix made from a variety of field greens along with pea tips, and then seasonally extended with hoop house plantings such as spinach.
There are many examples of how companies have added adjustable desks to the workplace. For instance, The Farbman Group, a Southfield Mich.,-based real estate company, began introducing adjustable standing desks in its company headquarters last year. The desks are part of the company’s Health & Wellness Committee. Founded in 2013, the group of Farbman employees works to help integrate healthy options into the workplace.
Maybe you are looking for something to do outdoors. Maybe you are interested in seeing the growing number of businesses in Detroit’s Midtown and nearby neighborhoods. Perhaps you are curious about who this “Nain Rouge” who haunts the city might be.
New this year is a community-funded float competition. Community groups from all seven Detroit districts will join in the revelry, thanks to seven $1,000 grants from the parade organizers. The grant money was donated through the parade’s first crowdfunding campaign, and matched by Midtown Detroit Inc., a sponsor of the Marche du Nain Rouge.
Hopcat – Detroit – 4265 Woodward Ave.: Go to HopCat all Fete du Nain Week for fiendishly delicious Nain Wings and check for Nain drink features. Don’t miss the special 11 AM Saturday March 19th tapping of the special Nain beer and mead.
That attention to detail along with the need to have downtime to recharge their proverbial batteries are among the reasons why Auburn Hills-based 
“We are proud to support our firefighters by providing them with comfortable beds and recliner chairs to make the firehouses a welcoming home away from home and ensure they are well-rested to tackle whatever challenges their shifts may bring,” Tronstein added.
With its immigrant roots, its diverse population and its love for good times, Metro Detroit is the ideal place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Old Shillelagh
So, how do you earn respect in business? Here are five ways:
In case your calendar is looking a little bare, here are two suggestions to fill it up. The first is National Pancake Day, which is celebrated March 8. The second is International Waffle Day, which is celebrated March 25.
International Waffle Day began in Sweden as Våffeldagen, actually due to confusion between the Swedish “vårfrudagen” meaning “Our Lady’s Day” which falls on the same date. The day historically marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated by the eating of many waffles.
A bevy of global retailers and product experts were honored recently at the 2016 gia (Global Innovation Awards) at a gala event, in conjunction with its global sponsors, the International Housewares Association and the International Home + Housewares Show.
As Patrick Anderson, CEO of Supported Intelligence, an East Lansing-based maker of analytical software, puts it, “Michigan is a hotbed of innovation — we don’t feel like we need to go to Silicon Valley for inspiration.”
As a trusted adviser on all aspects of business technology, C-Net Systems provides a competitive edge to the 100-plus small to midsized businesses it serves. Its services include professional on-site IT support, 24/7 monitoring and maintenance, off-site backup, managed firewalls and SPAM filtering, network and server leasing, remote support, and on-site business computer repair.
LawnGuru provides on-demand lawn care and snow-removal services, ordered through “Uber-like” mobile applications. With the click of a button, LawnGuru instantly connects consumers with local outdoor service providers to take care of their lawn and snow-removal needs within hours of each request.
Tebis, a process supplier in the CAD/CAM sector, is relied on by most automotive companies and their suppliers, as well as companies in the aerospace and mechanical engineering sectors, for design and manufacturing process optimization. The company, founded in 1984, operates globally from Martinsried near Munich, Germany. Tebis America, located in Troy, is the largest of its subsidiaries and covers the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Most Group (TMG) provides software solutions and services to national health plans and third-party administrators that address challenges presented by the rapidly changing landscape of health insurance and benefits. The company’s leaders are all health plan professionals themselves with hands-on expertise in benefit data synchronization, implementation of new value-based payment models, and execution of complex reimbursement strategies.
Everyone has a comfort food – the delicious dish that instantly makes you feel better and fills your stomach at the same time. And, most likely, macaroni and cheese is at the top of many lists for its warmth, flavor and texture.
“Throughout my entire time as a chef, I’ve always been very animate about using locally made products,” said Platman. “Michigan is a hot bed for locally brewed craft beers, so when the opportunity presented itself to serve local beers with our signature mac and cheese, we instantly jumped at the opportunity.”
New additions to the menu also include Sweet Lorraine’s fair-trade organic “world beat” coffees and teas, breakfast wraps, and sweets and pastries. The restaurant features 88-seats that accommodate both lounge and bar patrons. Customers will have the option to dine-in or carry out in the space that features a bright color palette, exposed ductwork and walk-up counters.
