Sold!

People are drawn to Southwest Florida by the water and warm weather, but not all are ready to retire. Many with the spark of self-determination launch their own businesses. But starting a company-even in paradise-can be risky business. We asked several entrepreneurs who built and sold their thriving companies to share their strategies with the rest of us. Here's what these happy ex-owners had to say.

In the driver's seat

For Steve Shelton, 55, and brother Tom, 60, it's always been about automobiles. Opening a dealership was an extension of their lifelong passion for racing-they've been behind the wheel of everything from go-karts to Porsches.

"We've had 30 years of motor racing in our family at a fairly high level," says Steve. "It was a passion we had growing up-to be involved in automobiles in some form."

Tom was a commercial real estate broker and Steve was running an office for an advertising firm in 1982 when they decided to buy a Ferrari dealership in their hometown of Fort Lauderdale. A decade later, they acquired rights to Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche franchises and opened Shelton Imports in Naples. In 1998, they built a Jaguar store in Fort Myers, subsequently adding Audi and Land Rover there, and Aston Martin in Naples.

They hadn't planned to expand to Florida's west coast, but they needed to expand "to stay up with motor-racing demands, family demands," says Steve, who handled the Naples and Fort Myers stores. Coincidentally, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche wanted to move into the Naples market-with someone who would provide the level of service expected of a Ferrari dealer.

"That marketplace is well-heeled, and those products were not represented there until we arrived," Steve says. "There was a lot of attention [paid] to hiring the right people who had a customer-care mentality, and doing it better than the next guy."

Naples might not have welcomed a "typical car-dealer mentality-doing big numbers, making big profits," says Steve. So they focused on service and the community, contributing time and money to various charities, which also helped increase their visibility.

Growth was steady until the Fort Myers store opened. The Naples facility was constrained by its size, and land costs were prohibitive for growth. So when the Sheltons built the Fort Myers dealership, they went large-too large. "We overestimated the demand for products and services in that market," admits Steve. "We actually didn't turn profitable there for about two years."

The Sheltons sold the west coast stores in 2004, amid growing pressure from Ford Motor Co., owner of five of the seven franchises, to expand and spend more capital. A timely offer for the businesses also influenced their decision to sell. The brothers still have Ferrari, Maserati and Land Rover dealerships in Fort Lauderdale, and they're building a new dealership in Coconut Creek. "Our earnings were up, and you always look to sell a business when it's doing well and commands the best price," says Steve, who cites a confidentiality agreement about the terms of the lease. "When we owned those businesses, our sales were about $200 million and we had probably 200 people total. About 60 percent of those two numbers was on the west coast."

Tips: Start conservative and provide for growth. Take personal responsibility for customers and their satisfaction. Be involved in the community.

taste of success

Most people in this country have heard of Bagel Bites, the popular pizza snacks now produced by H.J. Heinz Co. Far fewer people know that the snacks, a hit with "tweeners" from the Americas to Europe to Australia, were conceived by a couple of Fort Myers caterers.

"The gourmet food business back then was not all that successful, but we sold our product through catering," says 49-year-old Bob Mosher, who started catering with his sister in 1981. Their mini pizza bagels were especially popular, and people wanted to buy them. "After I got asked enough times, it was like a light went on," says Mosher.

By 1985, he and friend Stan Garczynski, now 54, had incorporated their new Bagel Bites business. "We took a product that other people had made, a pizza bagel, and we came up with a name, we came up with a concept, we came up with different toppings, and we gave it a brand identity," says Mosher.

They initially made the snacks with two employees, and dropped samples at local caterers, bars, restaurants and hotels. When enough people agreed to try them, they persuaded food distributors to carry Bagel Bites by providing lists of those customers. At food shows-where their booth had a strategic location next to beverage vendors-they used the same technique, collecting names of prospective customers and taking them to large food-service distributors.

"We knew people could copy us or buy us out, so we wanted to get the name out there and the product out there," says Garczynski.

Making the name known "would make it easier for them to buy us out than to go into the business," adds Mosher.

Breaking into wholesale clubs spun production upward. Within a year or so, they moved to a larger facility and had two shifts of 100-plus employees. "We got the attention of large food conglomerates, and we were approached by three different companies and one investor group," says Mosher.

Facing the threat of competition from the big boys, they sold to the Canadian company Labatt, which promised to take the product to the retail market and offered them employment, a percentage of sales, and good pay and benefits for their employees. Both stayed for more than a decade, and when Labatt got out of the food business in 1991, Bagel Bites was sold to Heinz. Garczynski and Mosher left a few years later.

The two have teamed up again, this time in industrial real estate development. Their Sox Development does 12 to 15 buildings per year, and many of them are close to home, so to speak-in Fort Myers' Billy Creek Commerce Park, where Bagel Bites are still produced.

Tips from Garczynski: Look big, not small. Give 100 percent. Do your research, but don't talk too much about it, because someone could steal your concept. Be passionate and make sure your family shares that passion. (Garczynski's wife worked two jobs while he launched Bagel Bites.)

Tips from Mosher: Having a partner is important. It's hard to always keep pushing yourself 100 percent of the time. Let economic development and other organizations help. There are places to call and get help, so don't be afraid to ask.

Sweating the details

If the key to success is long hours and lots of energy, one has to wonder how Liz Kagan, 49, has enough in the tank to pour into all her enterprises. Her background offers a clue: She was a registered nurse in pediatrics when a lawsuit was filed against the hospital where she worked. Wanting to understand the legal issues, she went to law school. She passed the bar and worked for a decade as a personal injury and workers' compensation attorney, launching a couple of aviation businesses on the side.

Kagan eventually left full-time law to focus on real estate development. Among her latest projects is the Fort Myers restaurant Crü. The ideas come from her business partner and husband, Dr. John Kagan. The 52-year-old orthopedic surgeon leaves the task of building, operating and growing the businesses to his wife. "I bring everything to fruition; I'm the detail person," says Liz, adding that she handles all the legal work and financials.

A lifelong aviation enthusiast, John was behind the idea to launch Fort Myers Jet Center and JetSouth, fixed-base operators at Page Field and Southwest International, respectively, in the late 1980s. Liz built a new facility and fuel farm for small recreational aircraft at Page Field, eventually selling it in 1996 to Lee County for approximately $1.6 million.

With JetSouth, Liz built a separate cargo building and fuel farm that, within a few years, was pumping fuel for Federal Express, Airborne Express (now DHL), UPS and Canadian charter companies, and providing on-call maintenance for about 15 major airlines. She sold the business in 2001, creating PrivateSky Aviation Services, where she retains an ownership interest.

"I never go into a business with the idea that I'm going to sell it," she says. "I go into it to make it successful."

Liz also developed the Devonwood Estates community in south Fort Myers. Nesting eagles derailed a developer's plans for the 200-plus acres the Kagans had accumulated, so she took over in the early 1990s. It's now sold out, with multimillion-dollar homes occupying one-acre-plus lots.

Lately Liz has turned her attention to the Kagans' restaurant, Crü, which has become a Fort Myers hot spot since opening last year-and she's negotiating to expand it. She's also fixing up buildings in Cape Coral to lease for medical office space.

Liz says she's "really hands-on. That's probably not the best model if you want a lot of stuff going on. But we like to get enjoyment out of the things we do, so keeping our involvement very personal is important."

Tips: Even if you don't know much about a business at first, you can surround yourself with people who do. But you have to work harder than anybody. It's your money, your business. You can't do it by remote.