Tag Archives: Michael Shuman

Richard Florida visits Ann Arbor, advocates for affordable housing, warns “When places get boring, even the rich leave”

Richard Florida, the man credited with popularizing the belief that the so-called “creative class” is the primary driver of urban redevelopment, was in Ann Arbor yesterday to address a regional economic forum hosted by Ann Arbor Spark. As I didn’t take very good notes, and don’t have the time this evening to provide anything even […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Author Michael Shuman will be speaking in Ann Arbor on Wednesday on the importance of local business ecosystems

If you’re a regular reader of this site, you know that I think very highly of economist and author Michael Shuman, our nation’s foremost authority on the importance of cultivating, supporting and investing in local businesses. Well, he’s got a new book out called The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing Pollinator Enterprises Can Grow […]

Posted in Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Uncategorized | Also tagged , | 26 Comments

Fuck Small Business Saturday

Today is Small Business Saturday. According to executives at American Express, who dreamed the whole thing up in 2010, it’s a day when Americans should eschew big box chains and fast food franchises, and spend their money closer to home, at independent shops owned and operated by people in their own communities. While I’ll acknowledge […]

Posted in Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Marketing, Rants, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Big Business vs. Small Business…. who’s right?

Today, in response to an interview that I’d posted recently with the founders of the Ypsi/Arbor small business support group Small & Mighty, a reader by the name of KJC posted a link to an article titled “Small is not Beautiful,” implying, I think it’s pretty clear, that many of us are misguided in our […]

Posted in Economics, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Mark's Life, Observations, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Local entrepreneurs Jean Henry, Lisa Waud and Helen Harding on what it means to be “Small and Mighty”

We didn’t announce it until this evening, but the October recipient of the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation’s monthly $1,000 cash grant was Small & Mighty, the scrappy, little entrepreneurial support network created in the fall of 2012 by brilliant local shit-stirrers Jean Henry, Helen Harding and the cheese-loving Lisa Waud. What follows is a transcript […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Detroit, entrepreneurism, Local Business, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

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