“I’m a much better person in the morning,” Mark Hodesh laughed after I approached him in his store around 10:30 am. Personally, it was still very much “morning” to me, but when you’re legendary Ann Arbor entrepreneur Mark Hodesh and show up to work around 4 am every day just because you want to, I guess 10:30 is pretty late. We agreed that I would come by earlier the next day in order to sit down and talk about his story. And talk we did. Mark is the founder of Ann Arbor’s beloved Fleetwood Diner, Downtown Home & Garden, Bill’s Beer Garden, and Mark’s Carts, all of which are located at the corner of Ashley and First Street downtown. We talked about his journey as an entrepreneur and his advice for anyone thinking about starting their own business. Here’s our full conversation:
How about we start with who you are and what you do?
“My business career has been associated with this street corner for forty some-odd years. I founded Fleetwood diner and started it in 1972, and three years later sold the diner and purchased Downtown Home & Garden, which at the time was Hertler Brothers. Then my wife and I lived in Maine and had a summer hotel there: it was a nice 20-room, 20 bathroom, full dining room, summer hotel. And when Hertler Brothers started to do poorly in the mid-90’s, my wife and I moved back to Ann Arbor, took over the store, and we’ve been doing well here since.”
Adjacent to Downtown Home & Garden sit two more of Mark’s ventures: Mark’s Carts, a collection of outdoor food carts founded in 2011, and Bill’s Beer Garden, a beer garden selling Michigan craft beer and wine, founded in 2012. To say he and his wife have been “doing well” is a bit of an understatement—Hodesh reigns over almost an entire block of Ann Arbor, and a highly-frequented block at that.
What are some things you like about being an entrepreneur?
“I didn’t have so many choices in life. I didn’t get out of high school, I’m kind of unruly…so a situation where I could take charge just suited me better…that’s what led me here. And I always work for the public. I love the public adoration, I like being in contact with my customers, and enjoy their applause when they choose to give it.”
And he certainly gets applause. Mark’s Carts won an award from AnnArbor.com Business Review just months after it opened, Downtown Home & Garden has received more than one Reader’s Choice Award from Current Magazine, and Downtown Home & Garden, Mark’s Carts, and Bill’s Beer Garden have Google reviews of 4.4, 4.5, and 4.6 stars, respectively.
What have you learned from starting so many businesses?
“So I’m not a great planner. I’m detailed when I get focused, but I don’t plan from the beginning to the end necessarily. I like to do part of a project, assess, and keep adjusting all the way through it. When we took over this store in 1997, I didn’t really have any idea about a Beer Garden or Marks’ Carts, those were incremental thoughts that came along later. And to a lesser degree, we now sell a lot of clothing—I wasn’t thinking about selling clothing in those days. I’ve learned that customers change, circumstances change, and I try to stay with them. But each thought appears as a good idea and I think, ‘Well, we can try that.’ Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting a business?
“Different people start businesses for different reasons. Sometimes it seems like a pretty straightforward path to riches—but it probably isn’t for a lot of people. So I think you have to face the reality that you might fail. And that scares people. If you grew up in a household where your parents worried about money, it might be hard to put down your pile of silver and bet on the future. But while my family certainly wasn’t wealthy, we didn’t worry about basic needs, and I’ve inherited that. When I start something, I figure that if it doesn’t work out, there will be another opportunity in 6 months and we can get going again. So be fearless. That may be impossible, but it certainly helps if you can be fearless going ahead.”
This sentiment has been echoed by both entrepreneurs and scientists alike. For instance, in cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot’s TED talk on optimism, she explains that “Optimism is not only related to success—optimism leads to success.” It makes us work harder towards our goals (and leads to better health, too)! So thinking about all the ways your business could go right, instead of worrying about all the ways it could go wrong, is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Anything else you’d like to add?
“It’s a rewarding life. I like it. It suits me. The work sometimes is dealing with employees: having employees takes some skill and some patience. They all have lives and needs of their own. But the reward is great. Watching people grow up—watching our high school kids turn into college kids, turn into entrepreneurs or working someplace…I like the whole continuity of the community. I just like, as life rolls on, watching the chances come and participating in the continuum. That’s my story. That’s my short and simple story.”
Personally, I’d call a 40+ year entrepreneurial career more of a “long and multifaceted” rather than “short and simple” story, but hey, I guess time flies when you’re having as much fun as Mark. Not only has he built up a wildly successful street corner, but he talks about it with such humble delight that it’s easy to see that this is exactly where he wants to be. To him, this life was never a question— 4am wake-up call and all.