I didn't just study business. I built, bought, expanded, invested in and reinvented it.
Entrepreneur. Business strategist. Real estate investor. Credit and funding professional.
“Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.”
portrait 4:5
A storefront in downtown Cincinnati.
My entrepreneurial journey began in 2013, when I opened my own pet care boutique in downtown Cincinnati. Not a side project — a storefront, with a lease, staff, clients walking in the door, and every operational decision landing on me.
That is where I learned what the books leave out: what it costs to serve people well, what happens to a business when cash timing goes wrong, and how much of running a company is simply deciding what to do next with incomplete information.
I didn't only start businesses. I bought them.
I completed two business acquisitions, one of which took us into another Cincinnati market. Buying an existing business is a different discipline from starting one: you inherit customers, staff, systems and problems at the same time, and you have to decide what to keep.
Then the market shifted, and so did we. I moved the business out of traditional storefront operations and into mobile and concierge pet services. Instead of waiting for customers to come to a location, we went to them — and that unlocked additional cities and states.
One relationship turned into a national contract.
Through an existing residential-building relationship, my company was introduced to a national concierge service company. That introduction became a national pet care services contract.
Under that one partnership, we ran active pet care service operations across more than 5,000 residential buildings nationwide. Not a list of buildings we could theoretically reach — an operating service footprint, delivered through a single commercial relationship.
Running that taught me things no program teaches: commercial partnerships, contract-based expansion, multi-location operations, vendor and service management, team coordination, and what it takes to hold quality together while a business grows faster than its systems.
- › Commercial partnership development
- › Contract-based expansion
- › Multi-location operations
- › Repeatable business systems
- › Vendor and service management
- › Team coordination at scale
- › National expansion
Schools, then property.
I also owned and operated dog grooming schools. Vocational education is its own business: you are responsible for curriculum, instruction, outcomes and operations at once, and your product is somebody's livelihood.
Alongside the operating businesses, I became a real estate investor. I have personally purchased real estate and participated in investment transactions, including the BRRRR approach — buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. That is where financing stopped being theory for me. When your own refinance depends on how your file reads, you learn very quickly what lenders actually look at.
3,000+ clients later.
I expanded into credit education, financial literacy, business development and financing — and I have worked with more than 3,000 clients across credit and related services since.
That work has spanned personal credit improvement, financial literacy, preparing for homeownership, financing for real estate investment, business credit, business funding, and building a business in the first place. I have guided clients toward six-figure business funding opportunities — by preparing the file properly, not by knowing a shortcut.
The same thing kept happening. Capable people, real businesses, told no, with nobody willing to explain which part was the problem. The information was never secret. It was scattered — across lenders, forms, and advice that contradicted itself.
So I built the thing I wished existed. Business Access Now turns readiness into something you can see: one assessment, an Access Stage, the specific gaps, and a roadmap. Around it sit Credit Access for personal credit, the Business Credit & Funding Program for the business, and the funding team for when the file is ready.
How one became the next.
Storefront
2013. A pet care boutique in downtown Cincinnati, and a first education in operating a real business.
Acquisitions
Two businesses acquired, including expansion into a second Cincinnati market.
The pivot
Out of the storefront model and into mobile and concierge services, across additional cities and states.
National operations
A national concierge partnership and active service across 5,000+ residential buildings.
Schools and real estate
Dog grooming schools, then real estate investing including BRRRR-method transactions.
Credit and funding
3,000+ clients across credit, financial literacy, business development and funding.
The readiness ecosystem
Business Access Now, the programs around it, and a funding team on the other side of the assessment.
Along the way.
- › Aviatra Accelerators alumni
- › LISC program participant
- › SCORE Client of the Year nominee, 2019
- › Cincinnati Business Courier 40 Under 40 recognition
Program participation and recognitions as reported by Henny Lo. Each organisation's own records are the authority on its programs and honorees.
Stay connected. Stay ready.
Join the Henny Lo email community for new episodes, credit education, business insights, program announcements, and opportunities — straight from me, not an algorithm.