STRAIGHT-UP SERIES : LIZ BONDY
In our Straight-Up Series, small business owners and entrepreneurs in Detroit and Cleveland share their stories. Learn how the pandemic has specifically impacted them and some positive changes that stemmed from it.
I was born and raised in Metro Detroit and have lived in the city for over 20 years.
It feels to me like Midwesterners just want to be helpful to each other. I’ve never been to a place where people are so welcoming and so eager to provide expertise, but don’t act like they know everything. The small business community in Metro Detroit, is just a group of people helping each other.
Located in downtown Detroit and Ferndale, Canine to Five, is a pet-care facility. We offer dog daycare, boarding, and grooming. I wanted people to have services available downtown that people took for granted in the suburbs. I can’t imagine building a business like Canine to Five in 2005 in any other city but Detroit. At first, I really relied on other business owners to basically tell me what to do.
The most rewarding thing about my job at Canine to Five is definitely the relationships that I get to build. The relationships with the dogs is amazing. The relationship with the employees is amazing. The relationships with customers has completely elevated my life over the last fifteen years.
I never dreamed that I would get to be such an active part of so many people’s lives. I have some clients where their dogs are 14 years-old and I’ve watched these people get their first dog and then find the love of their life, and then get married and have a baby. It was like I was with them for every milestone of their adult life from the unique perspective of being the girl who takes care of their dog. It’s been a really special way to get to know the community for sure.
The pandemic dramatically impacted Canine to Five. We spent the months of March and April providing daycare and boarding services for essential workers only. So, we saw a ton of hospital workers, police, fire, and other essential workers.
I think the biggest change during the pandemic has been in the relationship I have with my managers. They did a bang-up job of taking care of things in some really tough times. They were incredibly supportive of their teams and of the business. The organization flourished when it could have been the absolute worst time for the business.
The pandemic has definitely changed the way that I look at life. The last year really proved that life is too short and kind of volatile to not do something that you love every day. Having a job, a career, and a business that I love so much, even after all this time, makes me feel very grateful. And I think the pandemic really shined a spotlight on that.
The pet population really increased during the pandemic. We have tons of new customers and a lot of new dogs to serve, so that’s something I’m really excited about and enjoying.
What I think is bullshit is businesses pretending to be woke or making a big show of being inclusive and not actually putting their money where their mouth is. We spent the last year talking about it and now we have to actually put the work in and make the effort to be supportive of all communities and make the effort to have diverse employees and a diverse team to better serve a diverse community.
My advice to makers…
You need to just be 100% confident in your belief that the business you’re starting or the product you’re making is the right thing to do. Because with your belief and passion things will happen. People will believe in you.
You have to believe in yourself before anyone else is going to believe in you. You have to believe in your product, before anyone else is going to want to buy it, and you have to love what you do because otherwise people are going to see right through that.
“With your belief and your passion things will happen.”