Marcus Schulmeister may not have a traditional business background, but with over 10 years’ experience in armed security services, he’s uniquely qualified to lead Signal 88 Security of Flint. In fact, he credits the four years he spent in the United States Marine Corps — including two tours of duty in Iraq — for preparing […]

For nearly 10 years, Pharlon Randle had the same routine: wake up, make the rounds as a school bus driver in Mt. Morris, head home and oversee studio sessions for his business, Bangtown Productions & Recordings. During that decade, Randle helped produce about 60 albums by local punk rockers, rappers and R&B crooners. And while […]

When Frank Kizy and his wife, Dr. Amber Kizy, sat down to pick a location for her first dental practice, they made a profound discovery from a simple Google search. “We had originally considered West Bloomfield, where we have family,” says Frank, who previously owned a Papa Romano’s Pizza franchise in Oak Park. “But when […]

Bob Landaal spent summers during high school and college working in his grandfather’s plant at Landaal Packaging Systems, originally founded in 1959 as Flint Boxmakers. But after graduating from Western Michigan University in 1998, Bob was done with the family business. Or so he thought. “Four years into working for someone else, a lightbulb went […]

In the fall of 2011, Melissa Withey was working at a local salon when she learned she would soon be unemployed. “One day we came in to find a note saying that the owner was closing the salon in two weeks,” said Withey, who had previously taken business classes at Mott Community College and the […]