Latest / Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals / What’s Driving Detroit’s Small Business Comeback - Ep. 145 w/ Sean Gray of Detroit Economic Growth Corporation

Transcript

What’s Driving Detroit’s Small Business Comeback - Ep. 145 w/ Sean Gray of Detroit Economic Growth Corporation · Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because if you have a special business model and you offer something to people just haven't seen or can't get some rules.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You can be wherever you can be right in your community.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, look at what's the deal.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like brilliant business model cool delicious food.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to be downtown.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is bought to you by our friends at Bamboo.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I am sitting in the podcast room at the Bamboo Detroit location right now, which is where you have seen a ton of the Black Friday's podcast episodes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's time for you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You to join the Bamboo community.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Time to get into the show.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When I build Black Friday family, welcome back to another installment of the Black Friday's podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into today's episode, I need you to hit that like button, subscribe, drop a comment, and make sure that you share this video so that we can keep this thing going.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, now that I got that out of the way, we are on location.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing a very special Black Business Month edition of the Black Friday's podcast from the lip bar location in downtown Detroit Black woman owned business, Melissa Butler.
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[SPEAKER_00]: and who has been able to accomplish some amazing things in and around the city with the brand and they'll also be able to take that worldwide.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So shout out to them for being our host for today and we have a very special guest.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Who better to talk about a small business in the city than the VP of small business affairs?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Sean, great of the Detroit economic growth corporation.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How you doing?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing great.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much for the introduction.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I always great to be here at the lip bar.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The lip bar was an early Motor City match awardee for us and also watching Melissa grow our business and her journey and her social media and other endeavors has just been amazing and I'm really excited about what this business means for Detroit, but also for low girls like my daughters.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So look at everyone to look up to like Melissa.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So really exciting to be here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, and thank you for being here as well.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And first, I want to start with for the folks who may not know what the DEC is.
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[SPEAKER_00]: DEC is Detroit economic growth corporation.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Could you break that down and explain to us what does that mean for the city Detroit?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So the DEC oversees a number of authorities for the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So a city will typically have a downtown development authority or a brownfield development authority or a number of other authorities.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And the DEC is a good place to host those for the city because what can happen?
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[SPEAKER_01]: We know when a city does its business is that sometimes you get a layer of other concerns be they political or other economic realities of a city should have that oftentimes the work of a development authority kind of takes a twenty or thirty year cycle of development.
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[SPEAKER_01]: to be achieved, where it starts to see the types of traction and development you want to see.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so having a group like the DEC manage a number of these authorities helps to keep the work consistent and give continuity to the work so that development deals and oftentimes take
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[SPEAKER_01]: you know, five or six years to come together or, you know, deals when you start talking about attraction.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we also do attraction.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we go out and talk to Ivocali who goes out and talks to businesses in Germany or England or Canada about why they need to build their next plan or build their next building or their next headquarters in Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that word isn't work that happens in kind of political cycles, which tend to be two or four years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So you need a place where people can work on those things over the course of several years to see things come to fruition.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And especially when you think about where downtown Detroit was, you know, for the years ago or so, you saw a lot of people leaving Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, well, you know, right now we do a lot of work to make sure that we are balancing our investments across the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we aren't just investing downtown.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We do, you know, I oversee Motor City Match and a number of other programs that make investments on corridors across the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But a lot of the work that we've done to kind of hold our place downtown and keep downtown to try to place that would be viable for development where you could do things like the draft where we saw record attendance and you know, I was out there watching people kind of who and all over our city to be able to do that you had to have.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Hell, that's some point.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You couldn't have losses in losses in losses on top of where we were in say, in I think, seventy eight.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we kind of slowly and strategically kind of climb back and sustain what we could.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And we've lost some things to it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're very sensitive to that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But we're very hopeful that the work that we've done will help us rebuild.
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[SPEAKER_00]: for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And what are some of those programs that or programs and resources that come from DGC?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them, you mentioned one earlier in the Motor City match, but there's a plethora of opportunities for people to tap into.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm very much in charge of most of that plethora.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like I'm very aware of data data of all the programs.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And we try to make sure it's accessible and not confusing, but honestly, it is confusing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So we have Detroit means business, which has been a program whereby people were able to get business assistance.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So if they did marketing, support legal support, they were able to tap into that program.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it's also a program that really helps people get oriented digitally.
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[SPEAKER_01]: One thing we learned from the pandemic was you can have a great brick and mortar where the people can't come in.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Literally cannot come in.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to have a digital strategy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So DMV helps us work through that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: March City Match is phenomenal.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We've opened I think it's a hundred and ninety three brick and mortar businesses through that program over ten years and it's been great to be able to help people launch their visions on corridors across the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The really fun thing is come out of that and I used to kind of be at these ribbon cuttings, you know, I'm going to have to do a fashion somewhere and I look across the street and I see a business that needs investment in their fifty years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And the question would always come, what when is it there turn?
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[SPEAKER_01]: So now we've got to trade legacy business fund where we just opened around of that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So businesses that have been around for over thirty years or thirty years enough can apply to that and get access to either five, fifteen or even possibly fifty thousand dollars to invest in their business.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And the amazing thing for me about that growing up and a family of small business owners in Detroit is just, you know, we know that business owners sometimes make sacrifices to keep their doors open and they know, you know, all of my infrastructure, my windows, my roof, but there's a thing that I've been kind of letting sit for twenty years that I wish I could afford to fix.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so this gives them an opportunity to say, hey,
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[SPEAKER_01]: You've got this grant.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I can put twenty thousand dollars with this grant, get my roof fixed.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I can fix this thing in my parking lot that causes it to flood every, you know, if it thinks about raining.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's really amazing to be able to help people keep their journey going.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We've got folks in the business for a hundred and seven, forty years, you know, fifty or sixty years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it's important because for me, when we think about what these businesses are, it, you know, gave us a sense of what
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's important what we listen to and inform what we ate and inform what we wore.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Some of these businesses and so it's exciting to be able to help them go into their next journey.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We also have by Detroit, which is a procurement initiative that helps Detroit based businesses figure out how to do business with some of the larger purchasers in the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So the city of Detroit being one and a number of other partners from DTE and every for help and several other partners that we help people get connected to contracting our opportunities with.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We've also got the district business liaison team.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're in a corridor in this city, running your business and something happens at your business where you're like, I got to get on the city about this.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But if I call, they're going to be on me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Some of those things where you feel like you might put a target on your back.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You can actually talk to your business liaison and they can tell you, hey, here's the part we're going to go to.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to call this person asking this question hypothetically.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And if we're going to get some answer together, so you don't have to feel like you're out there alone.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We've also got the Green Roaster Project.
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[SPEAKER_01]: This project started several years back when we didn't have as many grocery options in the city and was a big part of helping to attract Whole Foods and Myers and others to come to the city.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And now we've pivoted to focus on helping people open up small scale full format grocery stores and neighborhoods.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We have
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[SPEAKER_01]: neighborhood grocery and a number of other grocery stores and people who are opening up really cool or data or slightly larger models where they can get people access to fresh produce right in their community.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so we got a lot of programs.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We got legacy business program I already mentioned.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We've also got next up three one three which is an opportunity for us to support and lift up entrepreneurs, eight teams and thirty.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So they know what's out there because the ecosystem of support for small businesses is huge and we want to make sure they know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And in terms of your journey, you've been in small business.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think we were talking earlier pretty much your entire career.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So what are some of the challenges that you see that our small businesses face specifically in the city of Detroit?
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[SPEAKER_01]: So the challenge is, of course, and I think why it's so important to always lift up this power as a color of women business owners.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's really difficult just starting a business is a difficult thing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so I always try to make sure that, you know, while we talk about the beauty of
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a business model like this or you know, when somebody's made it, we think about Carla Walker Miller.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's so many examples of people where we just like get so caught up on the beauty of that journey and for the company that we forget, sometimes every single day of that was a grind.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And you picked up where you left off day before and you built it one day to kind of maybe hopefully have what you built that toe hope the day before.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Help you get where you need to go the next day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me,
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm honored that the city trusts us to run things like legacy business program or see match all these amazing programs that other cities mind you don't have.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But I really want to make sure that we, that the business owners themselves are leaving a legacy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They can be proud of two and Billy something that they can have and be proud of because one thing I always tell business owners is that, you know, in my career, I've had, you know, over three hundred million dollars of resource.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've been doing this twenty years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So from when I was a Goldman Sachs and Thou small business program, when I was a US small business administration, I've always worked in small business support.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't all those millions of dollars at the government or federal government state, local whoever government sent me to deploy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They never sent me dignity to deploy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They never sent me autonomy to deploy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That comes from people being able to make decisions for themselves, not being boss.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was important for my grandfather, not to have a boss, to say what he wanted to do, to do what he wanted to do, to raise his family where he wanted to.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, the number one thing that I see that comes out of what I do is autonomy for black and brown people, autonomy for women, to be able to go where they want and say what they want and do what they want.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And they realize how they want.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Without people being able to be like, well, I don't like what you said to your fire.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That autonomy leads them having dignity.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That dignity leads children to aspire to more, to be capable of more.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, what I'm doing isn't just about helping someone open one store for it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's about improving the quality of the soil so that the next business owner can do the thing that they want to do in Detroit and grow in Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So where I lose a little sleep sometimes is that I think sometimes I see business owners getting the car before the horse and a little bit of that flash before
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[SPEAKER_01]: the grind.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, I think some to some extent the pandemic, you know, there were so many people online talking about running the play and doing certain things.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, don't run the play.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Just get into the grind.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, don't let it wear you down.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But get consistent build a beautiful business model that delivers value to the traders and Detroiters will turn around and take care of you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: for years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So you can run a business for decades where when you get that mix right of symbiosis where you're providing valuable services in a community or an corridor and the people see you striving to do that, they don't see you struggling to do it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But they see you striving and trying to care about them and give back to community hiring, returning citizens, hiring people with disabilities, hiring people with addiction challenges, they will take care of you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it can be a lifelong journey.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't have to be right now and doesn't have the pull up in a GWag and doesn't have to pull up with certain shoes on.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It can be beautiful and it can be a journey that you're on with the quarter with the community and that piece adds a lot of value and a lot of staying power.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's so many business owners would get that right, but I want to spread that mindset.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I love everything that you said.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I definitely resonate with all of that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So definitely shout to you for the work that you have been doing and DGC for offering these things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So before I get back into the serious questions, we got to have some fun on Black Friday's, which is my favorite part of Black Friday freestyle Friday.
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, China, I hope you came with bars.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I know you suited a wounded today, but we will need at least sixty eight, whatever you get.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You could say you could give us a poem, you know, whatever your creative expression is.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, looking for you, I got some rapid fire questions.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Prepare for you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm about to, I'm about to like steal all of the clips, Michael.
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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so what do you have a rotation right now?
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[SPEAKER_00]: What's your playlist?
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, my whole career has been fighting to me how much like
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like how much of how much GZ and clips music has been played for me and other young professionals while we had our desk job.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm also an audio file though, so I listen to a lot of singer songwriter music, so a lot of Johnny Mitchell.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, Stevie Wonder, a lot of Paul Simon.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Paul Simon's probably right now where I'm at.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He's trying to buy my way into the school year with my daughters.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's so funny because you meet parents after all these days and fly by.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh, I know.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, all this is TN and my younger sister, I'm like, if you think I know how they got, where they're talking, talking back and telling me what they're going, I'm like, look, I don't know how I got your, I didn't authorize it, but so listen to someone that singer saw where I said, I think about Stevie Wonder All-Time and it's like, so if you listen to some of the stuff he wrote when he was in his twenties, before he really lived, like, Philly is like, yeah, that's, you know, where you think like, wow, there's gotta be.
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[SPEAKER_01]: a god or some type of force that speaks to these people to give them talent to do poetry and to see into things before they really should have known.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I had to know some of the stuff that Steve talked about when he was twenty.
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[SPEAKER_01]: How did you know that he even talked about this?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it gets a forties and you're like, wow.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, so that's, that's your conversation.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Got you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If you could start a small business today and there are no barriers, no issues, what is that business?
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know what?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I got to keep it Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We're in the spoon.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We're in the spoon.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: We're in the spoon.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: We're in the spoon.
16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:19
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:20
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in the spoon.
16:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, the business, I would start just if I'm really being honest is a space where people could relax and connect each other, listen to music and probably not have alcohol per se, but maybe tea.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
16:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So probably like a tea room with music in Japan, they have a concept of a place called the Kisa where it generally just has a really impressive sound system.
16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Very small space tea.
16:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Some have alcohol, but
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So like, maybe like a team room in a place where really where I could sit and spend time with, you know, young man like yourself who are doing things, keeping it positive.
17:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's not enough spaces for young like men to share a positive engagement to talk about.
17:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Positive aspects of manhood, marriage.
17:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Fatherhood, there's so many things that we have to be grateful for, that we can share if we encourage each other.
17:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think a space where you could do that.
17:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't, very dope.
17:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And last but not least, what is your Coney Allen order?
17:26
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, I'm an order that I'd get.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what to say.
17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Or do it.
17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: We're on that.
17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
17:36
[SPEAKER_01]: But I mean, you know, honestly, I need to change my Coney Islander first off because I shouldn't have, I should have.
17:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, just, you know, one with everything.
17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Chili cheese fries with my daughter.
17:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I all this as ever sharing with me?
17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I should have a whole order chili cheese fries with me.
17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
17:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Treat yourself.
17:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, you know, I didn't do a little too much.
17:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You must have a countable action.
18:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm at the whole muscle countable place.
18:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, yes.
18:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I usually I'll do like a party with everything and a chili cheese fries.
18:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't go with my wife or somebody else listening and watching.
18:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Then, you know, the grill chicken greets out.
18:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Or the grilled chicken pita.
18:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, if I get too close to a Swarma, why not?
18:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, fair enough.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, appreciate you for partaking in freestyle Friday.
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you for engaging in the randomness, but I wanted to to in terms of the questions about work that you do.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to know.
18:35
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about some of the challenges that small businesses see, but in terms of the resources that the DEC offers, do you feel like they're utilized enough and then how are you are measuring the impact of those resources and programs?
18:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we try to really watch our outcomes really closely.
18:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, for me, it's really important that our programs, like mostly match touch everywhere in the city.
19:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I can't tell you where to be.
19:03
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were saying, I want to open, you know, we had a period of time where people were like, I want to open the restaurant.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
19:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I got to be an Easter market.
19:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, you don't have to be an Easter market to open the restaurant.
19:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
19:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You can get your food there and take it to six miles.
19:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, you can take it where you need to go.
19:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the thing that I've seen that honestly of market, the market has done this for people.
19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the rents crept up so much in midtown, you know, all these other places where now people are like, oh, I got to be, you know what, I could either pay
19:30
[SPEAKER_01]: three, four thousand dollars a month over here.
19:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I could be over here where that had come for half a year.
19:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
19:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm glad to see people kind of really rethinking where they need to be because if you have a special business model and you offer something to people just haven't seen or can't get some rules, you can be wherever you can be right in your community.
19:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
19:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I look at what's the deal.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Like brilliant business model.
19:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool, you know, delicious food.
19:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to be downtown every business.
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm grateful to see people really get in the message that I can go.
19:59
[SPEAKER_01]: six-mile and crash it, I can go parts of Southwest, I can go, there's so many places to be.
20:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, I think people are getting messages the way I track personally is our people opening businesses in corridors that are not the hot corridor.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I always want to see as people opening businesses in unique places with unique product offerings.
20:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're seeing that.
20:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And we track that through our programming, we just had a ten-year celebration for mostly matching.
20:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a whole report on our website that shows some of the outcomes.
20:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're really proud of that.
20:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But the other thing too is when we think about some of these legacy business owners, we're helping people, not just, you know, it's not just about necessarily that roof or maybe getting used to new fixtures in your shop, but the interesting thing that is, it's been a conduit for people that get compliant because of our city.
20:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a lot of barriers to help people open up a business.
20:48
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of regulations, a lot of things that, you know, big brother and government's going to be looking over to shoulder like, did you do this?
20:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you get this clearance or that clearance?
20:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, we have our just business liaison to help if you need help with it.
21:00
[SPEAKER_01]: even those legacy business owners sometimes have deferred conversations and compliance situations.
21:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this has been opened opportunity for us to open up the conversation where, and we've been fortunate to have the mayor's office and council president's office helping us with this, where they can go to treasury and say, hey, help this person understand what they need to do to get compliant.
21:19
[SPEAKER_01]: ASAP.
21:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that has been helpful.
21:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So one thing that we've learned is that, you know, sometimes if we just give that extra push of giving that person, you know, we've got the district business liaison, that's a good conduit into departments to understand what you need to do to get right.
21:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's nice to have that carry too of like, well, when I get this figured out, I got fifteen thousand dollars coming.
21:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's wrap it up.
21:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
21:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's great to have ways to kind of incentivize people to do right because as much as when your business owners, that's that you got to
21:46
[SPEAKER_01]: comply with all of these regulations.
21:48
[SPEAKER_01]: When you're the neighbor to a business and they're not meeting some of these regulations, you have to look at like a old sign or something, you know, you don't like that.
21:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's really about trying to strike that balance of having people have the right relationship with their customers and neighbors.
22:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But we track a number of things.
22:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I do feel like people are utilizing our programs, but then like in the having like ten programs.
22:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
22:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We're still trying to do more though.
22:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a number of projects that are going to come out over the next six months to try to help business owners get access to capital, specifically for the trade-based businesses.
22:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll have kind of one stop shop for people to learn how to get into, you know, working with a community development financial institution.
22:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a thing, but with more friendly standards or even insurance rates.
22:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
22:30
[SPEAKER_01]: sometimes better fees.
22:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But they're a little friendly.
22:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And you also provide technical assistance to you as a viral.
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're trying to help people figure out how to get access to capital or more efficiently.
22:41
[SPEAKER_01]: We're one of, we want to make sure people have a sense of all the ecosystem because there's so many places that are really set to help from businesses.
22:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And also we want to help people be resilient to the types of challenges that we're seeing at the federal level too.
22:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
22:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're
22:55
[SPEAKER_01]: We are tracking, you know, the number of businesses that are working with our programs.
22:59
[SPEAKER_01]: We are tracking the amount of dollars up there and a couple of the fear of massing one cool thing people don't think about mostly math for example is that we've granted twenty million dollars.
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And those businesses have gone out and invested a hundred and five million dollars.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's their own money.
23:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
23:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That's banks money.
23:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all this money that went into storefronts and went into our communities.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And we've catalyzed that with twenty million dollars.
23:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's so hard.
23:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I worked my whole career.
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Black on women-owned Detroit-based businesses get access to capital.
23:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to do.
23:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so if you could put two million dollars out there and people went and raised or self-funded, a hundred and five million dollars, I'd do it all over and over again.
23:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so yeah, people are accessing our programs.
23:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They can go to dgc.org to see some of these programs and see where they fit in and what type of support we have that might make it make sense for them.
23:45
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're tracking a lot of stuff.
23:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We're actually trying to build better data models so that we know exactly where people are following behind.
23:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and what support they need.
23:52
[SPEAKER_01]: because we know a lot of businesses, for example, are behind on lease payments and a number of times the things that don't show up.
23:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So you walk down the corridor and you're like, well job mission accomplished.
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's so many people struggling.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We also know sometimes when a corridor falls behind and then gets when we brush it up, we make it look better.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a stop traffic or we have to interrupt their business and that can be hard too.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're trying to create ways to mitigate the challenges of having a view of five streetscape.
24:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you look at some communities right now, are dealing with
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: They shut my road down.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't do business because there was only a little a narrow piece of sidewalk.
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We're trying to figure out new and invent ways to help people survive those types of things so that, you know, you're here for thirty years and they come through a beautify and you can't afford to be here anymore.
24:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to try to figure out ways to help businesses to be resilient.
24:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's dope.
24:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And real quick, because I know Morticity matches a flagship program and a resource and there's so many different marquee businesses in the city such as the lip bar and the kitchen with cue and boy bath fair, which I had dinner at last night.
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: that all came went through murder city match.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Could you just explain what murder city match is for people who may not have come into contact with what that program does?
25:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure, so murder city match is a kind of a multi-prong effort to help people through the ideation and start up phase of running a business.
25:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have effectively multiple tracks.
25:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're in the early stages where you're trying to get your plan and idea together, we have a plan track you can apply for that can grant you up to a few thousand dollars in support to help you develop your plan or even hire someone who can help you work on legal aspects or other aspects of your plan.
25:31
[SPEAKER_01]: then you can get to design track where you start to talk about designing your logo or your space or your business model and they can grant you support dollars to help hire people who will support you in building out your design or brand or business model.
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we also have people who can help you find in a forward space for your business.
25:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have a track that helps you kind of get locked in on where you're going to be.
25:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we have a cash track where you can apply for that track and get up to a hundred thousand dollars towards the fixtures and finishings and pain that will go into fleshing out your brick and mortar space.
26:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's really a program that grants people dollars that's, you know, not equity.
26:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not taking the equity position in your business.
26:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
26:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But the idea is to help level the playing field because what I saw being kind of a person who was in like Detroit one point, oh, as your professional was people would come to Detroit from the say gross point.
26:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And they would say, I want to put a shop here.
26:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I can do it.
26:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to sell all that stuff.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's cool or cute.
26:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Where am I going to get money for this?
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, hey, my mom and dad, can I get a hundred thousand dollars?
26:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
26:38
[SPEAKER_01]: No problem.
26:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And but a lot of folks who grew up here couldn't just call my mom and dad get a hundred thousand dollars.
26:43
[SPEAKER_01]: My mom and dad are a big mom and probably add it.
26:45
[SPEAKER_01]: But she won't let you all go without it.
26:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't know.
26:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
26:49
[SPEAKER_01]: You got a little Steve.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: What can you do with mom?
26:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And right.
26:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So we wanted to have an opportunity for people who maybe didn't come from deeper markets to be able to access that because we know they had the ideas and we know they had the passion and better.
27:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet, we know that people born and raised in corridors in this neighborhood know really well what people need or want for in corridors and communities.
27:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So, it's been great because it connects people to help, ideating, help, developing their ideas.
27:20
[SPEAKER_01]: One other challenge too, think I love about mercy and passion.
27:23
[SPEAKER_01]: is that we've brought online a lot of spaces that were derelict or disused.
27:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And the important part about that is people come to me all the time like, oh, you would DVC, I got a vacant such and such on my block that should be a flower shop.
27:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like,
27:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, describe it to me.
27:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's daylight coming down in and trees coming up on my own.
27:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Hold on.
27:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a long time before that's going to be a lower shop because you want to be a florist or developer.
27:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be a florist.
27:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So it takes a developer to purchase, renovate, you know, rehab that space.
27:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So the challenge is in Detroit for years, you have to basically become a developer.
27:56
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to dream, you have to first become a developer.
27:58
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
27:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Now,
28:00
[SPEAKER_01]: We've helped open so many spaces across city that, you know, even when one of our businesses fails.
28:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm honestly, I'm a realist about market realities and how we will teach you and what the market will bear.
28:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And so sometimes in TV, we didn't want that.
28:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to spill, we're not going to see.
28:18
[SPEAKER_01]: When I go out, when I close my room, it's somebody talking at the bit to put a model in there that will actually work, right?
28:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So to me, having all these spaces where people can dream and see themselves across the city is really important.
28:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we have a lot more spaces, and also we have cases where we've had, and we have relatively few closures through our sea match.
28:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, a realistic number that you would have, just small businesses, stuff, and you're interested.
28:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
28:45
[SPEAKER_01]: In many instances, we've had awardees go into spaces that awardees were leaving.
28:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So for me, again, it goes back to that enriching the soil.
28:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, trying to make sure that each neighborhood in Detroit.
28:57
[SPEAKER_01]: is a place where someone could put down roots and see them worse.
29:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And then not somewhere where they feel like they're fighting to get open when they have a vision or a dream.
29:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love that.
29:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to see if we can do a live case study here.
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's say, for example, on the audio for today, I got the homie, JJ Jonathan Galaway of audio wave network, holding us down on the audio.
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's say, for example, he has the he had the podcast studio on the east side, but let's say he, he, he ready to take it to state of the art.
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He, he, he would need all the bills and whistles, everything.
29:27
[SPEAKER_00]: How what is the first step he needs to take in order to get that implemented who was the first call you need to make and then how do we get the ball rolling and then we going we gonna continue with this scenario But how do we how does he even start that so let me add in a variable that is coming into like so I don't know if he's in a commercial space now.
29:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but if he's in a commercial space
29:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So that would be a business that's already in a commercial space already started.
29:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But if he were, let's say if he were saying, well, I want to go into a bigger space.
29:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
29:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's going into a bigger commercial space that is accessible to the public.
30:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Then he could actually go to murder citymatch.com and look at, I think we have a cycle opening up or actually did it just, we have one that just, it opens next month.
30:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
30:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
30:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So the rounds open next month, you go in, you apply.
30:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pretty straightforward application.
30:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and then you would be considered.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you know exactly what like his already a best smile, he's already in.
30:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So for example, one of the awardees at our last, uh, worst ceremony.
30:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The owner of Bob out there is now opening a different concept.
30:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
30:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's remarked.
30:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
30:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So for some business owners, they kind of skipped some of the planning phases and they're straight into like the cash application.
30:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
30:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So for a business where he's kind of like already in one location and maybe expanding to another location, he could probably go to the website and apply for the cash track and say, Hey, here's the space I want to be in.
30:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm investing.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's one thing, when we say more city match, we're matching you in terms of your investment.
30:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And in some instances, we're matching you to a space.
30:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you don't have a space, you can actually go on our website and see some of the types of spaces that are available around town.
31:00
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a match, we use match, you're domestically in two ways.
31:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So we can match you to a space and the matches of our lives will match you, match your investment.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Got you.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can go to our website if you isn't sure we want to be find a space.
31:13
[SPEAKER_01]: list that as where he'd be matching into and then we would be matching the investment in that space and it needs to be the budget.
31:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So we know what types of studio pictures and investment he would need to build out that studio space.
31:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but yeah, it's a pretty straightforward process.
31:29
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a team that actually, you know, they say, well, you know, you submitted your first step application give us a little bit more.
31:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have a supplemental piece where they answer some deeper questions.
31:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, understand where you are.
31:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But for the most part, it's a pretty straightforward process.
31:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be somewhat competitive.
31:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's become more competitive now because we ship it from American recovery plan funds to city general funds.
31:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so there's a little bit less sort of pots a little bit smaller, but we still are doing a very similar process and it's somewhat competitive.
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Very nice.
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So JJ, you heard that if you buy a room full of TV, they will match you with another own full of TV.
32:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So Dundeele, Dundeele.
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So we are doing this live.
32:12
[SPEAKER_00]: We have people in the store.
32:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just want to ask for the folks in the store.
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to have any questions for Sean while he's here?
32:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And you might not notice, but I do have prizes.
32:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have prizes for people who are participated today in asking questions.
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So would love to know if anyone had any questions for Sean?
32:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, thank you for the question.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: What's my favorite part of my job?
32:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you a job?
32:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So the problem with working with and for me is that I'm not really working.
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like a shop kid.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I grew up in my granddad's plumbing shop, my mom's ceramic shop.
32:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I tell my daughter who's staying my oldest is ten and she's like, well,
33:00
[SPEAKER_01]: What am I going to do for a living?
33:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I went, whatever you want.
33:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you literally are coming up with it now.
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll get there, you'll decide.
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And I never picked.
33:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I just knew I wanted to help my granddad.
33:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew I wanted to help business owners.
33:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I literally never chose.
33:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So my favorite part of my job is that I get to help small business owners.
33:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.
33:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not even really worth it.
33:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like I can't believe I get to do this.
33:19
[SPEAKER_01]: That's for sure.
33:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Any other questions?
33:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll take one more.
33:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And who asked the first question?
33:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, okay.
33:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay.
33:28
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
33:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to get for you.
33:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I got you.
33:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.
33:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to just repeat it real quick for the audio.
33:40
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the fire and the passion and the motivation that keeps you going in the work that you do?
33:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So for me, thank you for that perception of my work.
33:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I.
33:54
[SPEAKER_01]: love to see people going through challenging things.
33:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Not challenging or trying times are bad times, but I just was raised by people who had struggled a lot and who worked really hard.
34:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just raised that struggle and challenge is always making stronger.
34:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So for me, watching people go through the difficulties and entrepreneur goes through.
34:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, when I'm in here, you know, back office, my whole career has been this.
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been in the back of a lot of coffee shops or restaurants that people, I was behind the bulletproof glass a few weeks ago drinking tea with somebody and eating some little apricots and stuff.
34:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that there is a loneliness and a challenging element to the journey of an entrepreneur that
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Bill's inner strength and resilience and that's the part for me that keeps me going is that I know that the bruises you get in a journey of entrepreneurship are going to be instructive for where you're going to go and they're going to toughen you and make you stronger.
34:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think for me when stuff gets hard for me in my personal life.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know anything other than to put on some more plates, like from a weightlifting analogy, like I put on more weight because I'm going to get stronger and I'm going to survive it.
35:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think entrepreneurs have to be like that.
35:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And so most of the times people don't have to be like that, most of the time people can like, let's take somebody's way out this too much.
35:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Entrepreneurs have to always step up for their families, for their communities.
35:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, I get to be there with people when they want, they might want to quit.
35:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you've ever seen CT Fletcher like the kind of he's like a like a bodybuilder who's like had Oprah heart surgery blood vessels best and he goes back to lifting and one of the things he always says is it's still your set and for me when I look at entrepreneurs like oh man they close me down for this my the burner went out on this
35:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Order of food didn't come through.
35:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just sitting there like, and it's still your set.
35:53
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still on you to turn this around and figure this out.
35:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, those are very real situations and real conversations.
36:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I got somebody on my job, you don't want this work.
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're showing up lazy and drunk.
36:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll be like, have you looked in the mirror lately?
36:07
[SPEAKER_01]: How you showing up?
36:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this just been my whole career of holding people accountable, being an accountability partner.
36:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just love it.
36:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like that with my kids in my way, because I love when people are in those moments where you're either going to do right or lay it down and laying it down, you learn.
36:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But doing it right, you get stronger, you get motivation, and you keep that optimism going that you can figure it out.
36:31
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just always an exciting journey to deal with people.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a powerful word.
36:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So Sean, I work in the people who stay connected with you, work in a connect with the DEC, what are the websites, the emails, whatever information contact information you have for the DEC is that the EEC network, we have a number of programs on there, a number of oftentimes we're looking for partners, looking for people to do work with us.
36:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have requests for proposals where people can come and work with us as contractors.
36:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we have positions open as well to do really fun and exciting work.
37:00
[SPEAKER_01]: DGC.org people can reach out to me at sga y at dgc.org.
37:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a number of our programs that are available on our website.
37:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I usually try to stay in the background and just support folks, but people are welcome to reach out if they have questions or thoughts or suggestions for better programming or ways that we can better support Detroit entrepreneurs.
37:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Very nice.
37:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we appreciate you for being here for this, this live event and supporting all of our small businesses.
37:28
[SPEAKER_00]: in the city very grateful for the work that you've been doing.
37:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And here to continue to support what is that you're doing.
37:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Also leverage some of those programs that you got going on.
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So to be able to help with those metrics, but also be able to get in position as entrepreneurs mob owners.
37:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So here to continue to help amplify that.
37:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
37:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Great to appreciate.
37:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
37:50
[SPEAKER_00]: For sure.
37:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.