Amy Schuldt

Owner, Kyle Kurtis Salon & Spa

“We are a full-service hair salon and day spa—we offer pretty much everything—and we’ve been in business in North Port for five years. Business is pretty good. When we first opened we had three hair stations and we were in one 1,000-square-foot unit in the Bobcat Village shopping center. Now we have six hair stations and we doubled our space to 2,000 square feet. Hopefully in eight or nine months we will move to a 3,000-square-foot free-standing building.”

 

Dean Burnside

President, Macy’s Termite and Pest Control

“Business is outstanding. 2011 was our best year ever, 20 percent over 2010; and 2012 through July is 14 percent over 2011. We attribute it strongly to the real estate market rebound. We are the leading [area] termite inspector for real estate transactions. People are buying houses again, and we’re doing over 200 inspections a month, which puts us in front of 200-plus potential new customers each month. That’s vs. 50 inspections a month the last few years. We’re the green leader in the area, and that’s the second leg of our stool for growth.”

 

Lynne Dowd

President, Cleaning Butlers of Sarasota and Cleaning Butlers International

“We sell cleaning-business franchises in Sarasota and Manatee counties—18 since 2009—and we also own a franchise.

“Business is very good. We did $780,000 our first full year, and this year we’re projected to do $1.6 million. Seventy-nine percent is commercial cleaning; the rest is residential by referral only. It’s been a lot of work. We clean the largest, 12-story high-rise in downtown Bradenton all the way to a 600-square-foot, one-man real estate office. We’re very selective of who we choose to own a franchise, and instead of being worried about being the fastest growing, we want to mentor people into being true entrepreneurs.

“We estimate the number of jobs we’ve created, between our six in-house employees and our franchise owners, at 50.”