Runner Up - Lee/Collier

Runner's Up - Lee/Collier

Rick Collins

As an executive manager with the company that managed the Alaska oil pipeline, Rick Collins was tapped to lead the ultimate turnaround.

Shortly after the Exxon Valdez supertanker spilled its lethal cargo on the shores of Prince William Sound, Collins led the turnaround of the Valdez Marine Oil Terminal.

"It was a tremendous challenge," recalls Collins, who has dual masters degrees in arctic and civil engineering. "We had to rapidly improve the response and show the regulators that the operations of the pipeline were really solid," he says. "It was a situation where we had to perform and it required leadership at all levels."

If your business needs a savior, Collins is your man.

That's exactly what happened at Rolsafe, a Fort Myers-based manufacturer and installer of hurricane shutters. An Ohio-based private equity group hired the turnaround specialist in 2005 to lead the company.

Under previous owners, Collins says hundreds of unhappy customers had been virtually abandoned with incomplete jobs. Even as he wrestled with dissatisfied customers, Collins managed to grow Rolsafe's revenues by 46% to $22.7 million last year.

Rolsafe recently opened a Sarasota sales office and showroom on Washington Boulevard and a second one is planned for Tampa later this summer.

Collins is using many of the lessons he learned after the Exxon spill. "When you're in an industry that's regulated, the best way to operate is to run openly with the regulators," he says. "If they think you're holding something back, it's a lot harder to get things done. You have to be very open and proactive."

Another lesson is to communicate with employees and let them have a say in solving problems. "When things are really tough and seem dark, the more communication sessions you have the quicker you get out into the light," he says.

Most entrepreneurs are fast on their feet and serve customers with distinction. In a turnaround, Collins says, "You really try and rehabilitate the company and the people. At the same time, when time is of the essence, you have to cut people who can't contribute."

Collins is quick to point out that rank-and-file employees are usually not the ones he has to cut. "It's the managers who got the company in that situation," Collins says.

Entrepreneurial TIP: Good entrepreneurs inspire their employees to excel by setting a direction, communicating that well and getting them to buy into the vision.

Duane Swanson Sr.

Duane Swanson Sr. grew up on a dairy farm, learning the value of hard work by milking cows at 5 a.m.

But he ignored one lesson he learned on the farm: "My dad always taught me that you had to pay cash for things," Swanson recalls.

Swanson eventually graduated from college with an MBA and then learned the value of leverage as president of Eldorado International, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles.

So when Swanson bought Raymond Building Supply in Fort Myers in 1978, he loaded up the company with debt with a ratio of debt-to-assets of 17-to-1. "I put everything on the line," he recalls. "I don't think my wife had any idea of the risk we were taking."

But the risk paid off and Swanson built Raymond Building Supply into Florida's largest independent supplier and manufacturer of building products. Revenues last year grew 10% to $272 million. The year he bought the company it had $6 million in annual revenues.

Swanson, 68, is fond of saying that he'd rather be lucky than smart. "It was just blind luck that we landed in one of the best homebuilding markets in the U.S."

But don't underestimate Swanson's dry sense of humor. His success is due in part because he shares the profits of the company every month with his employees. "Everybody is a fellow entrepreneur," he says.

Because of the residential housing downturn, employees will have to be even more entrepreneurial. "Within the next 18 to 24 months it'll come back," Swanson predicts.

In the meantime, Swanson is busy acquiring competitors. He recently acquired Fort Myers-based Contractors Choice Supply and he's working on another deal with an undisclosed company. "I'm still taking risks, but I'm not gambling all my marbles," Swanson says.

The 68-year-old Swanson says he won't retire until the company reaches $500 million in revenues. "It's a lot of fun," he says.

Entrepreneurial TIP: Understanding how to use as much debt as possible to build a business can yield huge rewards.

Scott Fischer

Sometimes, children display their entrepreneurial zeal at a very early age.

Imagine a five-year old child zooming around the neighborhood in a go-cart, tearing up the streets and raising hell in Columbus, Ohio.

Now look ahead 42 years.

That wild child is Scott Fischer, president of Motorsports Solutions of Fort Myers, who runs one of the country's most successful Harley Davidson chains in the country. Revenues in 2006 were up 30% to $128 million.

"I've never done anything but work in the motorcycle business," says Fischer.

By the time he was 13 years old, Fischer raced motorcycles in enduros and motorcross events. At age 15, he was worked part-time for a Kawasaki dealer, sweeping floors. "I went to work there to get a discount," he says.

But Fischer got more than a discount. Instead of going to college, he worked in all the departments of a motorcycle dealership and eventually landed in Fort Myers with a wealth of experience in the business.

That experience served him well: He bought the Fort Myers dealership in 1990, backed by family friends and a loan from Barnett Bank. Fischer invested his savings, which totaled $50,000 at the time.

Fischer defines his entrepreneurial strategy in three parts: exceptional customer service, employee development and growth through acquisitions or expansion.

To get a lesson in customer service, Fischer sends his employees to car dealers and the mall and report back to him how they've been treated. Most of the time, of course, they're treated poorly. "That's exactly my point," he tells them.

Fischer estimates he spends $500,000 a year on employee development. Flat screen monitors in every store and at the company's headquarters flash ongoing sales results. The company tracks customers at every step of the sales process, from the minute they walk into the door to the time they drive out with a new bike.

But employees are graded more on their adherence to the company's values rather than financial performance. Fischer says people are either radiators or drains and the latter don't stick around very long.

By 2012, Fischer says he plans to have 13 dealerships, up from seven today. SunTrust Bank is the company's financing partner.

Fischer sticks to what he does best, which is service and sell motorcycles. He strayed several times, investing in a hair salon and a mulch company, both times losing millions of dollars. "I learned really, really the hard way," he says.

Entrepreneurial TIP: Success depends on careful budgeting and tracking performance on a daily basis.