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Communicating
page 106
For Singles

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French Designer
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Michael Fleischmann faces unique challenges
as a 14-year-old businessman.

LISA BARSON
Special to the Jewish News

A

nyone who has ever started their
own business will agree it is a
challenging task. There are legal
issues to contend with, start up
costs, not to mention the time and energy
one must expend to ensure the success of
the business.
It leaves little time for social plans, day-
to-day chores or ... homework.
The homework dilemma may be some-
what unique to 1-4-year-old Michael
Fleischmann of Bloomfield Hills.
In March 1998, at the tender age of 13,
Fleischmann started his own company,
Cosmos Computing L.L.C. (Web address:
www.cosmoscomputing.com . He came up
with the name not after extensive market
research, but after reading Carl Sagan's
book of the same name. His public rela-
tions efforts came not from a strategic mar-
keting plan, but by word of mouth,
through his family.
And now, a year and a half and 60
clients later, Fleischmann's business is soar-
ing.
When he was just 4, Fleischmann's grand-
parents bought him his first.computer. He
waited until he was 10, when his great-uncle purchased an even more
powerful computer, before he started attending seminars on how to learn
computer languages, Web site design, and the fundamentals of technology.
Cosmos Computing offers a variety of services, including PC trou-
bleshooting, set-up for new computer systems, installation of software,
hardware upgrades, tutoring for both adults and children, purchase
consulting, Internet access assistance, graphics
and Web page design, and PC networking and
intranets.
While he wants to be competitive in the busi-
ness, Fleischmann realizes that, because of his
young age, people may not take him seriously. He
explains that he charges his clients less than the
going rate because he feels "people have a precon-

ceived notion that because I'm young, I don't
have the same experience as someone doing
the same thing, but who is older."
Cosmos Computing currently has a staff
of two: Fleischmann and his mother
Martha Jo, who drives him to all of his
appointments. Martha Jo's job description
ends there, however. She claims she "con-
sidered it a triumph when (she) found the
on/off switch on the computer."
Fleischmann shares office space at the
Southfield Town Center with his father,
Yosef, a developer.
Fleischmann is fluent in three program-
ming languages: Visual Basic, C++, and
SQL. He is also proficient in good old-
fashioned English, having recently won an
award from Creative Communication Inc.
•
in a statewide poetry competition.
His poem, reminiscent of both Shel
Silverstein and Ogden Nash, finished in
the top 10 in his division.
While Fleischmann continues to devel-
op his computer knowledge by reading
every computer magazine and book he can
get his hands on, he is also developing his spiritual knowledge. Since
age 6, Fleischmann has been meeting with Rabbi Moshe Levinson, a
teacher at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, to study the Torah, Pirkei Avot and
Gemara. The rabbi now tutors Fleischmann and his brothers, ages 11
and 9, each Sunday morning for more than three hours. Martha Jo
feels this education gives her sons "a more profound exposure to the
faith and to traditional experiences."
Fleischmann agrees, saying he feels his overall
education is enhanced by the weekly sessions.
He is a sophomore at Andover High School
in Bloomfield Hills.
Lessons taken from the religious classroom
are the guiding principles Fleischmann fol-
lows in running his business: integrity,

A 14-year-old has parlayed
his math and c omputer skills
into a busy company.

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0. W er3:0 V

10/15
1999

Detroit Jewish News

103