"You can't just go to your office and go home. You have to be in the community," advises Gina Wilson Steward, owner and publisher of The Telegram, based in Ecorse, to new small business entrepreneurs. 

"My number one thing is always support the small businesses because we're just like everybody else," says Georgina Garcia, president of Taco Especial Mexican Restaurant, based in Ecorse. "We're not trying to get rich and become millionaires. We're just trying to survive and, instead of always going to the big chain, support the small mom-and-pop shops, too."

"My father was an entrepreneur," says Que Shebley, founder of the brand by the same name, based in Dearborn, Michigan. "He owned small footwear specialty shops in the Middle East, and I always wanted to continue that journey, but bring a more modern approach to the new, modern shopper."