Business Report

When an illness, a job loss or personal tragedy strikes, people suddenly face the prospect of dramatic life changes—and it’s happening a lot in Southwest Florida, where economic woes are leading to thousands of lay-offs and housing foreclosures.

But adversity is nothing new, and plenty of people have found ways to conquer it and emerge victorious. We found three such people: A casino supervisor forced by a car wreck to seek a new line of work, a business owner whose companies were pummeled by the housing market meltdown who turned to skydiving and a former software trainer whose career plans were derailed by a bout with cancer. Find out how these three professionals successfully reinvented themselves and their careers.

Cashing in on Green

"Green" is probably the hottest buzzword in business today, and, that translates to the color of money. While many companies are turning to more efficient methods and materials, some are finding new business opportunities from the green movement in a variety of industries, from manufacturing to finance.

In Southwest Florida, they include a company that has found a use for old tires, another that is giving new life to old wood and a third that is helping other businesses not only save money, but make money on what it throws away. We feature these and several other local enterprises that are making the most of green business opportunities.

A Growth Industry

For some people, it’s an image they remember of their grandparents’ garden: rows of delicate, leafy lettuce, mounds of squash, clusters of bright red strawberries and tomatoes, bursting with sweet aromas and fresh flavors.

These days, though, supermarket produce is the norm for most Americans. Grown far away, bred to withstand shipping, picked sometimes weeks before they ripen, mass-production fruits and vegetables can’t match their local, garden-fresh counterparts. But demand for fresher, more flavorful produce is on the rise, and as fuel and food prices soar, so do the numbers of "locavores," who choose locally grown food.

It isn’t easy to find in Southwest Florida, even though agriculture is an economic engine here. But Chris and Eva Worden are providing a solution. About five years ago, the couple started Worden Farms, Southwest Florida’s only state-certified participant in Community Sponsored Agriculture, where they grow more than 60 varieties of organic produce on 55 acres near Punta Gorda.

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