Michael White

Owner, Precision Edge

“I sharpen and polish knives, scissors and tools. My wife mentioned that the Phillippi Farmhouse Market seemed really busy, so I got an application as a vendor and became their first service-order vendor. It was better than I could ever have expected. I am busy from start to finish. Because of Phillippi Farmhouse Market and showcasing the quality of my services, I was invited to participate in The Afternoon Market at Boatyard Village on the south bridge to Siesta Key.”

 

Carole Zoellner

Co-owner, Dieter’s Sod Service

“Right now, our focus is commercial and government work, and for the last couple of years, we’ve noticed that the contracts have been awarded to minority businesses. For 17 years my husband was the 100 percent owner, so we changed ownership of Dieter’s Sod Service to say that I am a 51-percent shareholder, president and CFO since women-owned businesses are considered minority. My husband now owns 49 percent of the company. I’m hoping that this will be a good decision.”

 

Samual L. Cione

President, Integrity Wealth Management

“We did some personality testing on the staff, and I reorganized so that we have people who are working in their areas of strength. It frees my time to service our client relationships, which is what I do best. There’s a better quality of service when everyone is working with their strengths. We also surveyed our clients about what we could do better, which exposed that some of our services were slow—from emails to check delivery. Now, we are sure that we have people who are working in their areas of strength, and we even ended up hiring two new employees.”

 

Michael Sloan

Owner, WG Wood Products

“The best decision I’ve made was to expand my company’s line of in-the-wall custom specialty cabinets to include build-your-own multipurpose units, since homeowners are looking for inexpensive remodeling ideas. Even with tight budgets, people want their homes to reflect their personal styles and personalities.”