Relax max

When David and Julie Nodland opened the Relax the Back store in Bonita Springs in 2007, they didn't realize how tough the economy was going to get.

The couple, both 66, had sold their interest in a summer vacation resort they managed in Iowa and put their savings into the new store, investing about $350,000 to launch their retail venture. They had considered working for someone else, but took the entrepreneurial route instead.

Only now, seven years later, are they close to realizing their goal of $1 million in annual sales. “With the recession, we basically lost three years,” says David Nodland.