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A sampling of offbeat, one-of-a-kind businesses

Budding entrepreneurs are all the rage these days. It’s hard to go a week without hearing about new pop-up shops, food trucks and artisan vendors, all highlighting the satisfaction that comes from “doing what you love.”

But these new businesses aren’t the only ones built on fun and passion. Here are four that have been around for some time, demonstrating that cool businesses have staying power too.

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Cool Digs: Workspaces inspire enthusiasm, fun

A lot be can be learned about a company by walking in the door. Few things signal a company’s culture more than it how it fits out its workspace — the trappings and colors geared toward creating a certain atmosphere.

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Local Flavor: Check out our food lover’s paradise

The Oakland County restaurant scene is a comprehensive one, representing every major category of eatery.

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Startup support: County provides expertise to entrepreneurs

The life of a startup business owner is anything but dull.

The tense moments last well beyond the initial difficulties of getting the company launched and into the first months or years of taking on customers. A startup business owner may be interviewing job candidates or handling tax issues one moment, and rushing off to take care of customers the next because someone called in sick.

For the past two years, Kristen Cronin, owner of a new Club Pilates franchise in Novi, has been learning this firsthand.

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Leading the way in job growth: Diversification is paying off

It was a lonelier time for a knowledge economy company back in 1996 when Scott Foster began his business of helping other businesses improve their employees’ health.

Foster’s Royal Oak-based company Wellco develops health and wellness programs for companies and has proprietary software systems to support these programs. This is a hot area nowadays when prevention and health care cost-cutting have taken on urgency, but it was an almost unheard-of business to be in 20 years ago.

As Oakland County’s knowledge economy has grown, things have gotten less lonely, and better yet, easier when it comes time to hire. Foster said it used to be hard to find local talent with both the skills and industry expertise Wellco needs.