Work it

Skeptics sometimes creep up on Mark Pentecost and jab him with a disbelieving frown.

That's not a total surprise, especially considering Pentecost's firm has had some colossal growth recently, like a 590% increase in annual revenues, from $29 million in 2010 to $200 million in 2012. That makes the company, Bradenton-based It Works Global, one of the biggest, and fastest growing, privately held firms in the Sarasota-Bradenton region.

The firm had $1 million in sales in one day in March, a first-time feat. Then it did it several more times in April, when it set a monthly sales record at $45 million. More than 300,000 people have bought its products, and the firm has 50,000 independent distributors worldwide. “It's going crazy here,” says Pentecost. “We're killing it. We've become a customer-generating machine.”