Using a home equity loan to fund her business, Liz Blondy is willing to do whatever it takes to make her business successful. Opening early 2005 with no employees and 14 competitors, Liz Blondy has still managed to make her business, Canine to Five, profitable. Liz Blondy is a great example of an entrepreneur doing whatever it takes to help her business work. Canine to Five is a daycare for dogs that also does training, grooming, and boarding. Liz Blondy says the most important asset to her business and to almost any business, in her opinion is the customer relationships, because the customer is the only reason any business is running. Canine to Five gives each of their customers a newsletter and pictures of their dog on a regular basis. Liz Blondy has quoted her customers saying that the main reason they like Canine to five is because they are very flexible, and will do an endless number of things to keep their customers happy. In addition to being very generous to their customers, Liz and Canine to Five are also very employee friendly. Liz makes it a point to give her employees a lot of freedom, especially in the area of the dress code. Canine to Five’s employees are allow to wear whatever they would like as long as it is not offensive to customers, or too revealing.

            Ms. Blondy left us with a few recommendations to help increase the chance of success in our journey to business ownership. Liz recommends us, in regards to leasing a building, to try and keep a good relationship with your landlord. She also recommends us to get very familar with employment laws. When it comes to marketing, Ms. Blondy recommends to market by relationship with current customers; according to her, we should start doing this even before our business even starts. Ms. Blondy left us with this final statement, which in my opinion is priceless: “You can never know too much about your industry.”