Bolt Up

Lisa and John Koen, owners of an electronics manufacturing business, are so confident in a local economic rebound they have staked $2.5 million on it.

But the financial side of the bet, big as it is, isn't what worries the Koens, who run Sarasota-based Mictron, a precision electronics machine shop. The real worry, oddly, given the high Gulf Coast unemployment rate, is actually staffing the firm with well-trained employees.

Says John Koen: “The hardest thing right now is to find more people.”