Small Plates making Big Moves
Todd Stern, owner of Small Plates restaurant in Detroit, is the true definition of a successful entrepreneur. Us fellow Bizdomites had the opportunity to hear Todd’s magnificent story of rags to riches, and the trials and tribulations he faced on his journey. Small Plates is a Tapas style restaurant with an array of foods from across the world. Tapas s is simply small portions of food (comparable to appetizers) that are traditionally shared family style around the whole table. In addition they serve oven brick cooked pizza that is absolutely incredible and full of taste. Stern has been in the restaurant industry for years, and is planning on taking his restaurant Small Plates to the next level.
Ever since Stern was a child, he has had the burning desire and bug to own his own restaurant. He got the idea to open up a Tapas restaurant while he traveling through Spain when he was 19 years old. After returning from his travels, he became the youngest manager ever at The Rattlesnake Club in Detroit at the young age of 20. What was so impressive and inspirational about Todd was his passion and dedication he has for Detroit, and the risk he took when he opened Small Plates in Detroit.
Small Plates is located off Broadway Street, right across from the Detroit Opera House. Todd decided to gut out the old Eureka building (a portion of it), and put his restaurant in that area. People called him crazy. There were no street lamps at that time there, not much foot traffic aside from the Opera House, and overall was a depressed location. It didn’t matter to Todd. He had the confidence and vision of what his restaurant would become, and he got it there. He is now opening his second location in downtown Royal Oak, and continuing to expand in Michigan before he takes it over State borders. I truly admire his dedication and passion that he has for his business, and I look forward to Small Plates expanding.
Google and Salesforce join forces
Two of the largest web-based applications have joined forces to dominate the internet even more. Those two sites are Google and Salesforce. So, the next issue, how it works. It’s broken down as follows: businesses advertise through Google adwords, potential customers then click on the advertisement, you capture leads on your website, and then businesses convert the leads into new customers. It’s absolutely genius and I am confident that their business model will be mutually beneficial for them, and the businesses that use this service.
If you are a small to mid-sized business, attracting new customers can often be a difficult challenge. On top of that, figuring out the most efficient way to stay organized with potential leads and customers can also be a challenge in itself. This collaboration will help these types of businesses and will in turn generate more revenue for them.
Here’s how www.techcrunch.com breaks it down (just in case I wasn’t clear enoughJ
“Businesses will handle their Adwords campaigns through Google, as usual, but Salesforce takes over from there. When potential customers click through to the businesses site, Google tells Salesforce what search terms brought the user to the page and where they navigate throughout the site”.
The application is going to cost $600 for 5 user accounts and will come with $50 of adwords credits. I am personally excited to watch this monster grow and to be driving force for businesses to grow.
Sam Gerace and Flashseats
“For Flashseats to succeed it MUST make history”. Those were some wise words spoken by a true entrepreneur named Sam Gerace, CEO of Flashseats. Flashseats is an online ticketing company that allows consumers to buy tickets without receiving the actual ticket and checking in at the game. The process is similar to E-Tickets when you fly. You go to the airport, swipe your credit card, and they print your ticket. Same with Flashseats. Customers go the sport venue and the folks at Flashseats print out a small ticket to get in the stadium. Along with that convenience, Flashseats does much more. They allow consumers to transfer tickets, trade tickets, and sell tickets on their website. It reminded me of a legitimate way to scalp tickets and to allow the sporting team to track every single ticket.
Sam Gerace, CEO of Flashseats came to speak to us Bizdomites about the vision of the company and about his background. Currently Flashseats has twenty two employees and are growing. Sam told us a very interesting fact about ticket holders inside sports venues. The fact is this; “fifty five percent of people inside stadiums, aren’t the original ticket purchaser”. That fact was crazy to me.
Gerace has quite an extraordinary and impressive background. Sam received a B.S. from Harvard University has been successful ever since. His passion is in start ups and taking them from one level to the next. Gerace taught us many great business concepts such as the four main types of businesses (growth, operating, lifestyle, and cash cow). Gerace likes to take his profits from business and put them right back into the company to help it continue to grow. Sam Gerace was extremely informative and was a very impressive speaker.
Mentorship-The Forbes Company
The best way to learn is from observing. Bottom line. In Bizdom U, the program directors partnered up us fellow budding entrepreneurs with mentors to show us the ropes and to guide us in the right direction. They tried to partner up each individual with someone that compliments them well, and is involved in a particular field of interest of the students. For example, my background and interest is in Real Estate. I know Real Estate well in regards to brokerage, but I have always wanted to get into the development side. I find that side of the business to be extremely interesting and have always aspired to be a Real Estate developer. So, Bizdom linked me up with Nate Forbes, owner and developer of Somerset Mall in Troy, the Mall at Millenia in Orlando Florida, The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens Florida, and the Waterside shops at Pelican Bay in Florida. Nates malls are in a class all by themselves. They are one of a kind in design, beauty, and elegance. They have extremely high end tenants such as Burberry, Gucci, Armani, and Cartier. That is what sets Nate and his malls apart. The second you look at one of his developments, you know it’s his right away.
I feel extremely fortunate and lucky to have been partnered up with Nate. He is a great person to learn from and has a wealth of knowledge in the Real Estate development industry. So far, I have met with Nate twice; both times very exciting in there own regard. The first time was a two hour sit down with the two of us getting to know each other. He told me about his company, how he got started, the direction they are headed, and much more. I told him about my background, what I want to get out of the mentorship, how I got to where I am today, and much more as well.
The second meeting was very cool. I can’t disclose too much information about the meeting, but what I can say was that it was an incredible experience. Seeing someone of that power and stature interact with people about business and development is astonishing. I look forward to our next meetings and learning all I can from him.
Magic Johnson
“Outwork everyone, over-deliver every time” Those were some words of wisdom from the one and the only Magic Johnson. Us fellow Bizdomites had the opportunity to meet Magic last week and discuss business and how he got to where he is today, and we hashed out some misconceptions that people have of him. Simply put, the Man is a freaking Business genius and knows how to make a dollar out of fifteen cents. Here are some of Magic’s business adventures (prepare to be blown away): over 110 Starbucks across the world (he is the only person to ever franchise a Starbucks), 31 Burger Kings in the South, six movie theatres, a dozen 24-Hour Fitness centers, and about $1 Billion worth of real estate projects. His is a no nonsense, well rounded articulate business man that found his niche and drills down on his target market.
A common misconception that I had of Magic was that he was a rich athlete that invested money in business ventures. A real life example of this was when tried raising money from 10 business people and instead of working with him, they asked for his autograph. Magic was truly inspirational and was a phenomenal speaker. Even Dan Gilbert who has seen his share of speakers said that Magic was the best speaker that he has ever seen.
