Michael Jones

Michael Jones is the Director of Community Development at Bond Street, a company focused on making small business loans simple, transparent, and fair. Contact Michael at Michael@Bondstreet.com.

Latest

Small Biz Interviews: The Seattle Grind

The colors on the walls of Porchlight Coffee & Records might have changed since its 2009 inception, but the homey, DIY feeling inside hasn’t changed a bit. When owner Zack Bolotin bootstrapped the Capitol Hill…

Small Biz Interviews: Saving for a Rainy Day

The adage “Know what you do, do what you love” seems particularly appropriate for Freeman, a small Seattle-based company founded on a singular goal: design the perfect raincoat. From an ad hoc space in their…

Small Biz Interviews: Groomed for Success

The repertoire of a barber might have changed over the centuries (they no longer, for instance, offer bloodletting and leeching services, as they did in the Middle Ages), but a couple things have stood the…

Small Biz Interviews: Half a Century at the Drive-In

Dick’s Drive-In is no flash in the proverbial frying pan. A Seattle staple since Dick Spady, Warren Ghormley, and “Tom” Thomas opened their first outpost in 1954, Dick’s has been serving up old fashioned milkshakes,…

Small Biz Interviews: A Passion for Pencils

The archetype of a pencil is fairly standard in the American mind—yellow, with a dark pink eraser nub, number 2 (and often required for standardized tests). Walk into CW Pencil Enterprise, a small shop in Manhattan, and…

Small Biz Interviews: Anything But Your Average Hardware Store

There are few hardware stores that can brag of hosting 300-person art shows or can claim they have a pot-bellied pig parked in the backyard. Fewer still can be spotted in the background of Alexander…

The American Dream Embodied

Ah, the American Dream. As the stories of sacrifice, hard-work and struggle paying off with prosperity appear to be few and far between, it is always inspiring to see the underlying tenet of the magnificence…

Small Biz Interviews: Reaching for the Sky

Krissy Jones and Chloe Kernaghan opened a Sky Ting, a yoga studio in Chinatown, just over a year ago. Lifelong dancers, they both got into yoga in college as a way of training or managing stress,…

Small Biz Interviews: Build It and They Will Come

Architecture is a unique field that combines artistry with mathematical precision; it requires long days of bouncing between loosened up creativity and buttoned up exactness. Design too requires a similar blend of left and right…

In the (Green) House

If someone were to say the phrase “urban agriculture,” quaint community gardens would probably come to mind. A vital resource, especially in major metropolises like New York and Chicago, these gardens usually contain a row…