A New World

A zeal for systems, processes and easily repeatable procedures helped Jim Abrams build one of the largest home services franchise firms in the country.

Abrams was actually so successful at Sarasota-based Clockwork Home Services that the largest energy supplier in Great Britain, Centrica, bought the firm in 2010 for $183 million. The one downside to the sale: It put Abrams, then 63, out of a job for the first time in 46 years.

Now Abrams is back in business, less than a year after he left Clockwork. Only he traded his plunger for a po'boy.