Fly smart

When the recession hit the construction industry, Brian Rist flew to Cancun.

He wasn't there to lounge around the resorts. Instead, Rist's company, Storm Smart, won jobs to install shutters and other storm protection for the hotels in the hurricane-prone Yucatan peninsula.

“We built a plant in Cancun and that's really paying off now,” says Rist, who notes that the Mexican government now has mandated new stricter building codes in light of recent damaging storms.