Transatlantic Triumph

Times might be tough for Gulf Coast business owners, but local entrepreneur Ryan Skrzypkowski is willfully ignorant about the downturn.

After all, Skrzypkowski, who co-runs a property maintenance firm, is only 24, so a recession is essentially all he knows. Plus, Skrzypkowski and his sister/business partner, Leanne Varney, moved to Sarasota in 2010 from Nottingham, England — a depressed mining town they say is worse off than most places on the Gulf Coast.

“There are so many motivated people here,” says Skrzypkowski. “This place has opportunity written all over it.”

Skrzypkowski and Varney, 22, are confident the opportunity is in janitorial services. To back that up, the siblings bought Sarasota-based Boro Building & Property Maintenance in September 2010. Skrzypkowski declines to release what he and Varney paid for the business, which he says was stuck at about $750,000 in annual revenues. They paid for it with personal savings.

The brother-sister team worked quickly. In the first year, for example, Skrzypkowski and Varney have already brought in enough additional business to push Boro Building's annual
revenues past $1 million.

The siblings further project the 30-employee firm will grow sales by at least 30% in 2012. That stems partially from two new contracts it recently won, one each in St. Johns and Palm Beach counties. The firm specializes in cleaning, painting and pressure washing commercial buildings, from offices to public libraries. It will do everything from park maintenance to trash collection to cleaning restrooms.

Back in England, Skrzypkowski was a loan officer at a community bank, with a focus on small businesses. Varney, meanwhile, worked in residential real estate.

In summer 2008, Varney and Skrzypkowski traveled to Sarasota to visit their parents, who were on vacation in the area. Says Varney: “We just fell in love with the place.”

Varney and Skrzypkowski knew their quickest path to the States was to buy a business, so they could obtain an E2 investor visa. That allows foreign citizens who contribute to the U.S. economy permission to reside in the country.

The new entrepreneurs initially planned to buy a lawn care business. But that deal fell apart, says Skrzypkowski, so they turned to Boro Building & Property Maintenance.

Boro had several local maintenance contracts, says Skrzypkowski, but its marketing was nearly nonexistent. The firm didn't even have business cards, he says. Skrzypkowski, though, again saw those shortcomings in an optimistic light. “It was a blank canvas,” he says. “It was a way for us to make our mark.”

The firm made up business cards, and designed a series of glossy marketing materials. Varney and Skrzypkowski also aggressively networked in other parts of Florida, which led to the recent contracts in St. Augustine, in St. Johns County, and in West Palm Beach.

Still, the business owners say they realize the path to 30% annual revenue growth will take more than youthful exuberance and ambition. Varney, for instance, has already picked up an American business truism: The customer is always right.

“It's really a simple business plan,” Varney says. “Do what it takes to make the employees and the customers happy.”