New Kind of Collaboration

BUSINESS

Steven Nelick

A New Kind of Collaboration Collaboration

Hybrid virtual and in-person networking platform helps business professionals connect.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shortly before COVID19 hit, entrepreneur Steven Nelick, former vice president and general manager of Enterprise Holdings, retired from his role.

At the time, Nelick relocated to Birmingham to be closer to his wife’s family, who originally hails from Metro Detroit. Though they were married at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, they lived in many cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“I wasn’t really sure if I was going to go back to work,” he recalls. “Then COVID hit, so I started looking for the next best thing because I became kind of bored.”

He managed to bump into an old Enterprise friend in Birmingham, Jim Lareau, and the two decided to look for a franchise together.

“We investigated a bunch of franchises, and we ran into this company called M3Linked,” Nelick says. M3Linked offers a unique twist on networking opportunities for business professionals with both virtual and in-person events. “We absolutely loved it because it was all about helping entrepreneurs, business owners and CEOS move their businesses forward.”

For Nelick, 52, who was always passionate about collaboration and business vice president and general growth, he felt that buying the Michigan franchise rights for M3Linked was the right move. “It felt like a really good extension of what I’ve done my whole career,” says Nelick, who managed more than 2,000 employees across 200 locations while at Enterprise Holdings. Together, Nelick and Lareau bought the franchise rights and got to know M3Linked’s business partners. “They basically asked us to come in and buy half the company and be the managing partner,” Nelick explains of the transition. M3Linked moved its headquarters from Scottsdale, Ariz., here to Birmingham, where it currently stands, making Nelick and Laureau franchisors instead of franchisees. Nelick became CEO, while Laureau became COO.

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

Now, M3Linked is live in nine markets across the country, including Detroit — and Nelick says his goal is for the company to grow even further. “I think it fixes a bunch of things,” he